Kitchenman Nasi Lemak Singapore

People travel for different reasons: relaxation, learning about history, to escape the drudgery of the mistake that is your adult life, etc. We travel to eat. When we’re planning a trip, we spend months watching YouTube videos about different restaurants to visit in our destination. What we especially like is finding international cuisine we aren’t able to get back home, such as when we tried Kafe Utu in Singapore. While preparing for that same trip to Singapore, we stumbled across a YouTube video about Malaysian Fried Chicken. A type of fried chicken I’d never tried? You knew we had to go.

The restaurant: Michelin pedigree in a weird office building

Kitchenman Nasi Lemak is a Malaysian fried chicken restaurant in Singapore that has garnered a lot of attention because of its recognition as a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant, indicating that it has great food at exceptional value. We’d previously tried Bib Gourmand-recommended North Korean food at Woo Lae Oak in Seoul, and it was amazing, so that recommendation definitely meant something to us.

Kitchenman is located in the northeast part of the island, a little out of the way if you’re in the more touristy parts of the city. But we’d just finished walking around Haji Lane, so it was just a short bus ride away. The area is not a bustling city center; not even close. It’s a bunch of big business parks, including the one that houses Kitchenman. It looks like a standard office building, with no outward signs that a popular restaurant is inside. There’s a climbing gym, some doctor’s offices, and then a Michelin-calibre restaurant.

Like most restaurants these days, you order via QR code. The prices are reasonable, and there was no wait at lunchtime when we went. Not sure if it gets more crowded at other times, but I’d think its location would mean the only people who eat here are those who work in the building and tourists specifically coming to this restaurant. The staff was perfectly nice, and the drinks were adequate.

The food at Kitchenman Nasi Lemak

Nasi Lemak features the fabled fried chicken, fried peanuts, anchovies, cucumbers, egg, rice, and a red paste that is SO FREAKING SPICY. Do not touch this stuff unless you have nothing going on later. Eriko went with a sweeter option because she was scared of the spiciness of the Nasi Lemak, and specifically asked for no spicy stuff, but they ignored her and put it on the plate anyway. Hers was fine, with a sauce that was fairly sweet. Most of the stuff on the plate was fine, but not memorable. Okay peanuts, okay anchovies, okay egg. Nothing special.

But of course, I was there for the chicken. I wanted to see if this extra-crispy-looking chicken with little bits on top was as crunchy and delicious as I’d heard. I absolutely love karaage, and would like to become the world’s leading expert on stuffing chicken in my face. Could Malaysian chicken compete with Korean fried chicken?

Eeeeehhhh no, not really. Those little bits on top? They weren’t crunchy like I thought they’d be. They were soft, like there was fur on top of the chicken. They added nothing, so far as I could see. And the chicken itself was more original recipe than extra crispy. It tasted fine, but it didn’t wow me like the chicken I had in Bangkok did. It was… just okay.

Verdict: does Kitchenman Nasi Lemak live up to the hype?

Short answer: no. This is by no means a bad restaurant. For lunch, it was a pretty good deal, and if I worked in this building, I’d probably eat here every day. But we had gone out of our way to come here because of the Michelin Bib Gourmand status, and with that recommendation plus the YouTube hype, we thought it was going to be absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, it’s overrated.

I’d say you should visit Kitchenman if you really want to try Nasi Lemak and happen to be on that side of town one day while you’re in Singapore. And if you live in Singapore, of course, it’s worth stopping by or having it delivered. But if you can try Nasi Lemak anywhere else, you might as well. They had Nasi Lemak at the breakfast buffet at the Conrad Singapore Orchard, and honestly, the chicken there was better.

Overall, the food didn’t live up to the hype. That said, I’m glad I tried Malaysian fried chicken, because I plan to eat all types of fried chicken all over the world until I die from choking on a chicken bone, which will probably happen in the next week.

Where to find Kitchenman Nasi Lemak

Address: 2 Kallang Ave, #01-08/13 CT HUB, Singapore 339407

Website: Kitcheman - order online

Hours: 11:30am-7:30pm every day but Sunday

Again, Kitchenman can be found inside an office building, so don’t be surprised if you don’t see any sign of it from the road. Google Maps was useful here, as was public transportation. And Grab is pretty cheap in Singapore, so you can use that too. I’ll be on the lookout for Nasi Lemak in Tokyo. Sometimes I like to get spicy.