Aburi Cheesy XL Crispy Fish Set One of the most mentioned places within the local F&B scene of the late in recent times would be the new Tam Chiak Kopitiam; if one is only hearing about the said coffeeshop now, it is likely that the person does not really follow the happenings of the local food scene. Located at the foot of Blk 212 Hougang Street 21, this is the coffeeshop where 888 Mookata was and still is located at — there had been a change of management with the re-branding, and the coffeeshop is co-owned by local foodie Miss Tam Chiak, as well as MediaCorp actor Chew Chor Meng and his business partners. Much of the hype around Tam Chiak Kopitiam has been around the tenants like Dan Lao 蛋佬 (i.e. a stall best known for serving up scrambled egg rice bowls in Maxwell Food Centre), as well as the outlet of Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang Express that are located there. There are however a few new names that are located within the coffeeshop; aside from Flakyhaus (a stall serving up cakes and danishes), Chef de Pasta (a stall serving Western fare; we had visited them at the same spot before the coffeeshop changed management) as well as Oppa Kitchen (a Korean food stall opened by local singer and songwriter Hong Junyang, there is also the new Island Curry that had just opened its doors — a little later than the other stalls in general. Turns out, Island Curry is a stall by the very same folks who run Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang; Island Curry actually shares the same stall space as Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang Express, occupying one side of the stall with a dual-frontage. Despite being a concept by the same folks behind Nasi Lemak Ayam Taliwang, Island Curry attempts to be a different concept with another focus altogether; the stall placing an emphasis on curry rice, though their specialty would be serving their rendition of curry rice with more than one style of curry for patrons to choose from. Patrons can also pick from the different meats and proteins that they have to offer, with the highlight being the XL-sized meat options with a flexibility of opting for Aburi cheese.
It does seem that fish had always been a more attractive item to go for for us especially after a workout — this was probably the reason why we found ourselves opting for the Aburi Cheesy XL Crispy Fish Set over the Aburi Cheesy XL Chicken Set instead. Interestingly, Island Curry offers five different types of curry for their patrons to choose from — that being said, we were only left with three choices when we made our visit to Island Curry on a weekend evening for dinner; the Thai Yellow Curry, Spicy Turmeric Curry and the Rendang being the only ones available. The remaining two variants; namely the Hainanese Classic Curry and the Japanese Thick Curry were already sold out for the day by that time. Given the circumstances, we went for the Spicy Turmeric Curry — a decision which we did not regret. Truth to be told, the presentation was a little lacking; perhaps the plate that it comes served in was a little too big in proportion — it does seem a little less near than what we had expected. On first look, the Aburi Cheesy XL Crispy Fish Set comes with the fried fish, long beans, the Spicy Turmeric Curry that we had opted for, and a sunny side-up accompanying the white rice. Going straight for the Spicy Turmeric Curry, this was one that was especially flavoursome — we do think that there would be some folks whom might find this a little bit on the saltier side, though we were pretty fine with it; it was incredibly lemak with just the right kick of spice to go along; rich, creamy and flavourful whilst coming with a tingly spiciness that should tickle the tastebuds for those whom are tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness. The deep-fried fish fillet that accompanies the dish comes fried beforehand; toasted in the oven upon order with cheese atop before being blown torched for that slightly charred appearance — the fish itself was moist and flaky, though the fried batter was a tad thick for our preferences. That being said, the cheese was gooey and stretchy — hits the spot well enough. The long beans delivered the crunch, while the sunny side-up comes with the flowy, golden egg yolk that screams egg-porn. All in all, quite a decent eat at $9.50 — would probably give their other curries a go some time soon!
