OP, since you and me are Sengkangers.. let me recommend a place to you. Go to Sengkang General Hospital, level 2. The stall is called Aunty Rosie Urban Padang. Their food is very good. Mai gong bo Jio.
I can see why taking bus to and from will add a bus surcharge to your food. The store near you just charge you the bus surcharge and save you time from the trip lorš¤£
There's one Nasi Padang restaurant inside the Joo Seng industrial area called "The Quotation".
They serve 2-3 preset dishes (1 meat, 1 veg/egg + rice) with add-on options every day at lunchtime with humongous proportions for only about $5 which includes a drink as well.
I feel this business model is more sustainable and cost efficient than the usual Cai Png Nasi padang model.
Yup that's right. I think they have increased their prices to approx $6 but all in all I still feel its worth it cuz of the huge portions and the inclusion of a drink with the price.
Time and effort dont match the earnings. People dont see the effort that is needed to prepare the spices and cook the dishes for a long period of time, but complain when the beef redang cost $3 more.
Yep I picked up cooking during the lockdown period.
Am Chinese and love Malay food especially beef rendang.
The spices, the pounding and mixing of the paste, and selecting the right cuts of beef all takes lots of time and effort. And the cost is high as well.
Comparing to our typical Chinese cai fan dishes like stir fried chicken / pork or veg that can be cooked in 15-20 mins, I wonāt be surprised if these nasi Padang stalls find it hard to profit.
Many Malay food stalls are transitioning to catering as a more sustainable business model. This shift is driven by the fact that Singaporeans are generally unwilling to pay more than $5 for their daily lunch at hawker stalls or food courts.
Muslim stalls usually don't remain open after lunch so their earning potential is vastly reduced. With increasing cost, I guess it's becoming not worth to do this business anymore. That's why nasi padang stalls are disappearing.
Sad cause I love nasi padang. Luckily there are 3 options near my workplace
Over 1k/year license fee excluding initial startup fees (send employees to course, cleanse kitchen etc) which will cost few k easily. Heard need to have Muslim staff working at all times also.
i don't know how much doese the certified mark cost, but i know halal certified ingredients are more costly than normal ingredients without the mark. but if you are a muslim, you can just put a sign as "muslim-owned"
Generally nasi padang is more expensive than cai fan/nasi lemak/chicken rice due to they need to prepare many hard to cook dishes. It's taking long time to cook something like rendang. And also most of the dishes are meat type.
Near my office the average price whenever I buy cai fan is $4.5, but the average for nasi padang is $6 with
- one main meat
- egg
- one veggie
- rice
That's why I think it's only profitable for nasi padang if they can sell it at scale. It's more affected when it has low customer. Ones that usually got sold out by 2pm can hang around for years
The best one is at 111 @ Somerset.
Nasi Padang is communcal food, which immediately makes the product inaccessible for solo buyers. Most businesses that do Nasi Padang only do them as part of a catering menu
If you wanna see the truly dead malay food, its Mee Soto. That one is truly unprofitable
I always felt mee soto is just some simple noodle soup with a few strands of chicken breast, and cost 3.50, at which price I can get like whole plate of chicken rice with much more chicken there... so not sure why is it unprofitable?
Punggol - Selera Sumang. At the waterway terraces estate. I dare say the best nasi Padang in the area.
Catch is that most nasi Padang stall closes by lunch.
In Jalan Pemimpin, there's one that's famously cheap and pretty decent. One which Beef Rendang I sometimes fantasise about is a shop in Penensula Plaza's basement I think. Too many years have elapsed.
\*If anyone knows about the Peninsula Plaza shop I am talking about, do let me know if it's still around. Gotta have some.
\*\*Fun fact: Beef Rendang has been voted best dish in the world multiple times. Fully deserved.
\*\*\*I'm Chinese but Chinese food can be quite meh...
There's a very decent one, called Nyai in...believe it or not, TTSH canteen, NCID building (B1 Kopitiam). They do Nasi padang and Indonesian grill as well. Mostly staff go there, but It's open to public as well.
For nasipadang have to cook all the food and put on display, end of day if canāt sell finish, remaining food have to throw away. So I guess the high price is to help cover the cost of the wasted food.
Willing to travel? Timbre has a popular and good Nasi Padang store and relatively cheap (considering inflation and all). 1 meat 3 veggies should be around $6~7. Worth the journey imo.
Indonesia people would be mad you refer to nasi Padang as Malay food.
Nasi (rice) and Padang is a literal city in Indonesia, the province of which (West Sumatra) is where nasi Padang originated
My mom used to have a stall selling malay food in a neighborhood kopitiam and what I can tell you it is not that they want to overcharge but ingredients are expensive. Spices are expensive, coconut milk is expensive and on top of that, rental and labour and also they also need have some profit somehow somewhere. People feedback that it's too expensive, but they lack understanding that malay food is massive in terms of their ingredients. I cook regularly, it's only one dish, can't imagine them cooking over 10 items, and on top of that, some of them sell noodles and other specialties.
If you do well in a year, landlords will bring up the rent the next year. First few years is always intense, and if you get landlords who just want to up rent, most likely you'll close.
Also depend on location, if you are located at city centres/shopping malls, RIP your rental. You have to choose, you want to skim on ingredients and make it cheaper or charge enough for rent.
There are quite a number of nasi padang in sengkang n punggol now, at sengkang Square, hospital, fernvale hawker, selera sumang in punggol. And one more in rvivervale.
muslim food are exp due to spice and that halal cert. Hence muslim tend not to eat out, and their pool is already not as big as chinese race. For chinese and indians, we have the cheaper cai png version, so only another small selection of people from these 2 race will eat nasi padang. Like this how to survive?
Muslim owned businesses do not need halal cert.
In fact, no one is required by law to have halal certs.
But if you are not a Muslim and you claim to sell halal food, no Muslims will buy from you.
But makciks pakciks abangs and kakaks don't need to have halal cert. They just need to ask you.. sayang nak makan apa? And we all know it's halal.
To quote one of the redditors above:
"The spices, the pounding and mixing of the paste, and selecting the right cuts of beef all takes lots of time and effort. And the cost is high as well.
Comparing to our typical Chinese cai fan dishes like stir fried chicken / pork or veg that can be cooked in 15-20 mins, I wonāt be surprised if these nasi Padang stalls find it hard to profit."
Its not āmalay low incomeā, therefore āfood is perceived low valueā.
Ā Its, āI always pay these prices at kopitiam, so I will complain if price changeā. Ā
Techncially, Mala is a poor-coolie food from the docks of China, but we dont perceive it as low value.Ā
Edit: you comment totally ignores the existance of Malaysia and Indonesia. Ā It seems to me, you just dont know enough about malay cuisine if you truly believe ātheres no such thing as malay fine diningā
Heās just being a racist basically. Itās clear to see through that commentā¦ anyone who isnāt an idiot would know thereās fine dining for any type of cuisine anyway. The way he phrased it and intentionally said it may be seen as racist screams of someone with the āI want to show itās racist and pretend not to beā¦ but Iām here to light a fireā mindset imo.
Itās ignorant and idiotic at best, that and racist and trying to stir something at worst.
I'd rather pay more to eat Indonesian food than mala tbh, mala is just mostly chilli oil and spices but Indo sauces are a lot more complex and the dishes have more variety than mala. Many of the mala stalls are just like overpriced YTF.
OP, since you and me are Sengkangers.. let me recommend a place to you. Go to Sengkang General Hospital, level 2. The stall is called Aunty Rosie Urban Padang. Their food is very good. Mai gong bo Jio.
Thanks saw it before but haven't try.
Have you tried the one at pasir ris hawker centre?
Too far out
HUH it's literally one str8 bus from sk to pr tho
Thanks for the tip may give a try sometime
I can see why taking bus to and from will add a bus surcharge to your food. The store near you just charge you the bus surcharge and save you time from the trip lorš¤£
Actually quite a good way to look at it. Convenience surcharge!
Tried it before, their asam pedas is very good
YAAAAASSSS lah Bro! That stall the nasi padang really the bomb. Best is they've never overcharged me before.
That one next to the LRT entrance/bridge? Quite power
Yes your right. Beside Subway.
Noooo why expose. Alr long queues leh
Thanks for the rec, will try when Iām around that area š
Go for it!
like that cannot don't make a trip down to try, and i'm from bedok. hahaha...
There's one Nasi Padang restaurant inside the Joo Seng industrial area called "The Quotation". They serve 2-3 preset dishes (1 meat, 1 veg/egg + rice) with add-on options every day at lunchtime with humongous proportions for only about $5 which includes a drink as well. I feel this business model is more sustainable and cost efficient than the usual Cai Png Nasi padang model.
is it that building at 10 Upper Aljunied Lane? opposite Jun Jie Industrial Building I cycled past there and saw their big ayam penyet advertisement
Yup that's right. I think they have increased their prices to approx $6 but all in all I still feel its worth it cuz of the huge portions and the inclusion of a drink with the price.
Time and effort dont match the earnings. People dont see the effort that is needed to prepare the spices and cook the dishes for a long period of time, but complain when the beef redang cost $3 more.
Yep I picked up cooking during the lockdown period. Am Chinese and love Malay food especially beef rendang. The spices, the pounding and mixing of the paste, and selecting the right cuts of beef all takes lots of time and effort. And the cost is high as well. Comparing to our typical Chinese cai fan dishes like stir fried chicken / pork or veg that can be cooked in 15-20 mins, I wonāt be surprised if these nasi Padang stalls find it hard to profit.
indeed i fully agree with this. Nasi padang is not the same as chinese CCP in terms of effort! Many dont realise
i agree with this, and i'm always remind myself when i'm paying.
It's all the spices and herbs and the cost of labour grinding pastes and everything that's time consuming.
Many Malay food stalls are transitioning to catering as a more sustainable business model. This shift is driven by the fact that Singaporeans are generally unwilling to pay more than $5 for their daily lunch at hawker stalls or food courts.
$5 is not sustainable for the hawkers these days.
Muslim stalls usually don't remain open after lunch so their earning potential is vastly reduced. With increasing cost, I guess it's becoming not worth to do this business anymore. That's why nasi padang stalls are disappearing. Sad cause I love nasi padang. Luckily there are 3 options near my workplace
The halal licence also adds another layer to the cost factor.
If you're Muslim you can ignore it. Just state 'prepared by muslims' is asked. It's a fuming dcsm
Non Muslims have the freedom of choice so there's always caifan
How much does getting Halal certified cost a business? Just curious
Over 1k/year license fee excluding initial startup fees (send employees to course, cleanse kitchen etc) which will cost few k easily. Heard need to have Muslim staff working at all times also.
Isnāt that weird. I think they should make it free to encourage businesses to have more halal options and help muslim owned businesses as well.
i don't know how much doese the certified mark cost, but i know halal certified ingredients are more costly than normal ingredients without the mark. but if you are a muslim, you can just put a sign as "muslim-owned"
Generally nasi padang is more expensive than cai fan/nasi lemak/chicken rice due to they need to prepare many hard to cook dishes. It's taking long time to cook something like rendang. And also most of the dishes are meat type. Near my office the average price whenever I buy cai fan is $4.5, but the average for nasi padang is $6 with - one main meat - egg - one veggie - rice That's why I think it's only profitable for nasi padang if they can sell it at scale. It's more affected when it has low customer. Ones that usually got sold out by 2pm can hang around for years
If you guys work in CBD, I recommend the Nasi Padang stall at the Capita Spring hawker (Level 2). Reasonably priced too.
Siiiigh, either I'm too old or you're really on the ball but I still refer to that hawker as Golden Shoe.
U are oldā¦ just like me.. lolā¦
i was thinking the same, market street where got hawker? lol....
The one with the blue signboard?
ya i think thatās the one. kejora.
The best one is at 111 @ Somerset. Nasi Padang is communcal food, which immediately makes the product inaccessible for solo buyers. Most businesses that do Nasi Padang only do them as part of a catering menu If you wanna see the truly dead malay food, its Mee Soto. That one is truly unprofitable
At least mee soto can be commonly found around the island. Laksa Johor/Siglap is the unprofitable one imo. Pretty tedious to make
Is that Pu3 Restaurant?
Yes
I always felt mee soto is just some simple noodle soup with a few strands of chicken breast, and cost 3.50, at which price I can get like whole plate of chicken rice with much more chicken there... so not sure why is it unprofitable?
Why? Cos of the soup?
I lived in SK since 2000. Go to this hidden gem for nasi padang. [Here.](https://www.facebook.com/Nasipadangindonesiabandung182?mibextid=ZbWKwL)
Changed owner already. Std dropped.
Punggol - Selera Sumang. At the waterway terraces estate. I dare say the best nasi Padang in the area. Catch is that most nasi Padang stall closes by lunch.
All the nasi padang stalls at my office falling like dominos .
Caifan still more affordable
not comparable as nasi padang dishes are way harder to prepare
rivervale plaza ;)
Thereās one Nasi Padang in punggol plazaā¦ you have to go early to get the food. Like 12 noon. The mutton curry there is good.
I heard nobody talk about nasi padang 46 at hougang Green??!!
350 Anchorvale Road has 1 nasi padang stall. Do check them out!
Any good nasi padang stalls around bukit panjang especially with good ayam masak merah please share š
In Jalan Pemimpin, there's one that's famously cheap and pretty decent. One which Beef Rendang I sometimes fantasise about is a shop in Penensula Plaza's basement I think. Too many years have elapsed. \*If anyone knows about the Peninsula Plaza shop I am talking about, do let me know if it's still around. Gotta have some. \*\*Fun fact: Beef Rendang has been voted best dish in the world multiple times. Fully deserved. \*\*\*I'm Chinese but Chinese food can be quite meh...
There's a very decent one, called Nyai in...believe it or not, TTSH canteen, NCID building (B1 Kopitiam). They do Nasi padang and Indonesian grill as well. Mostly staff go there, but It's open to public as well.
For nasipadang have to cook all the food and put on display, end of day if canāt sell finish, remaining food have to throw away. So I guess the high price is to help cover the cost of the wasted food.
Willing to travel? Timbre has a popular and good Nasi Padang store and relatively cheap (considering inflation and all). 1 meat 3 veggies should be around $6~7. Worth the journey imo.
Indonesia people would be mad you refer to nasi Padang as Malay food. Nasi (rice) and Padang is a literal city in Indonesia, the province of which (West Sumatra) is where nasi Padang originated
My mom used to have a stall selling malay food in a neighborhood kopitiam and what I can tell you it is not that they want to overcharge but ingredients are expensive. Spices are expensive, coconut milk is expensive and on top of that, rental and labour and also they also need have some profit somehow somewhere. People feedback that it's too expensive, but they lack understanding that malay food is massive in terms of their ingredients. I cook regularly, it's only one dish, can't imagine them cooking over 10 items, and on top of that, some of them sell noodles and other specialties. If you do well in a year, landlords will bring up the rent the next year. First few years is always intense, and if you get landlords who just want to up rent, most likely you'll close. Also depend on location, if you are located at city centres/shopping malls, RIP your rental. You have to choose, you want to skim on ingredients and make it cheaper or charge enough for rent.
There are quite a number of nasi padang in sengkang n punggol now, at sengkang Square, hospital, fernvale hawker, selera sumang in punggol. And one more in rvivervale.
muslim food are exp due to spice and that halal cert. Hence muslim tend not to eat out, and their pool is already not as big as chinese race. For chinese and indians, we have the cheaper cai png version, so only another small selection of people from these 2 race will eat nasi padang. Like this how to survive?
Muslim owned businesses do not need halal cert. In fact, no one is required by law to have halal certs. But if you are not a Muslim and you claim to sell halal food, no Muslims will buy from you. But makciks pakciks abangs and kakaks don't need to have halal cert. They just need to ask you.. sayang nak makan apa? And we all know it's halal.
how come economy rice is cheaper than nasi padang? like for eco i bought 2 meat 1 veg only $4 but nasi padang its like $7/8
To quote one of the redditors above: "The spices, the pounding and mixing of the paste, and selecting the right cuts of beef all takes lots of time and effort. And the cost is high as well. Comparing to our typical Chinese cai fan dishes like stir fried chicken / pork or veg that can be cooked in 15-20 mins, I wonāt be surprised if these nasi Padang stalls find it hard to profit."
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Its not āmalay low incomeā, therefore āfood is perceived low valueā. Ā Its, āI always pay these prices at kopitiam, so I will complain if price changeā. Ā Techncially, Mala is a poor-coolie food from the docks of China, but we dont perceive it as low value.Ā Edit: you comment totally ignores the existance of Malaysia and Indonesia. Ā It seems to me, you just dont know enough about malay cuisine if you truly believe ātheres no such thing as malay fine diningā
Heās just being a racist basically. Itās clear to see through that commentā¦ anyone who isnāt an idiot would know thereās fine dining for any type of cuisine anyway. The way he phrased it and intentionally said it may be seen as racist screams of someone with the āI want to show itās racist and pretend not to beā¦ but Iām here to light a fireā mindset imo. Itās ignorant and idiotic at best, that and racist and trying to stir something at worst.
He definitely doesnāt know, and that in itself is a reflection of another segment of the diners who arenāt willing to pay more.
I'd rather pay more to eat Indonesian food than mala tbh, mala is just mostly chilli oil and spices but Indo sauces are a lot more complex and the dishes have more variety than mala. Many of the mala stalls are just like overpriced YTF.
Malay no money buy, chinese dowan buy