Revolution Cafe – Mod Sin Chef Shen Tan is Back with her Nasi Lemak!

Celebrity Mod Sin Chef Shen Tan is back in action again! We have been supporting her at various pop-up events because we miss her food. And finally, she has found a place to call home! She will be taking over the kitchen at Revolution Coffee in One-North. And of course, she’ll be bringing her famous Nasi Lemak to Revolution Coffee.

I knew Shen back in her Wok & Barrel days when I did a story on her Nasi Lemak in the newspapers. I even went into the kitchen to cook the rice with her. Oh man, it’s really tedious. Shen has developed this Nasi Lemak recipe after loads of research to get the “Lemak” rice.

Her nasi lemak is steamed with fresh coconut every day, instead of being thrown in a rice cooker with coconut milk.
Only the best Fragrant Jasmine rice is used and each grain of rice is distinct and fluffy but richly lemak and deserves to be called Nasi Lemak! It is so well flavoured that you will want to eat the rice on its own!

The 5 Nasi Lemak rice sets feature dishes such as crispy pork, crispy fried chicken, 5 spice pork confit, beef rendang and chicken rendang. Instead of going for the usual beef rendang, I went for the crispy pork instead. It’s so crispy on the outside yet juicy on the inside.

Each set comes complete with the Nasi Lemak rice, omelette, ikan bills, homemade sambal belachan and coffee sambal on cucumber slices. Coffee and chilli gives a unique earthy flavour. You have to sample Shen’s extra spicy Sambal Belachan with its nuclear explosive kick. Shiok! The price of nasi lemak ranges from $4.90 to $9.90.

With a love of incorporating local and South East Asian flavours into her dishes, Shen has come up with brand new creations such as Buah Keluak Pasta ($19.90). Al dente ribbons of tagliatelle is generously slathered with the black paste made with turmeric, blue ginger, garlic, shallots, prawns, minced pork. Served with twice cooked pork belly, it has got that addictive umami. There is also Bak Chor Mee Pasta ($19.90) and Fish Curry Pasta ($19.90).

Don’t forget to try the Shendol Delights ($10). Shen’s version of local dessert, Chendol, is a creamy smooth panna cotta with the gula melaka syrup and super yummy red bean ice cream.

Revolution Coffee is the only café in Singapore to offer coffee from the Caffeine Dispensary, a Jakarta-based roastery. With such good coffee, Shen will be using the coffee powder to create coffee-based sauces such as coffee sambal and coffee-barbeque sauce. There is also coffee-kaya, where additional dimensions of brightness and mocha put a new spin on this much beloved local spread.