Kovan Scrambled Egg Rice 高文滑蛋饭 (Kovan)

I kept thinking about them. I picked fish over chicken and pork and kinda regretted it, because it's not a cutlet and it had oil odour. Overall still enjoyable lah. Take note they're moving to Ave 7!

Kovan Scrambled Egg Rice also has various seafood options such as the fried fish cutlet.

Each bowl usually comes with not less than 5 pieces of fried fish cutlets! The fish is decent but I personally prefer their animal protein options!

Kovan Scrambled Egg Rice is unfortunately shifting to Block 335, Hougang Avenue 7 at the end of June 2024. According to the 老板, this is due to an increase of their monthly rent to *gasp* $7k. The stall assistant who usually helms the stove has also left and there is an obvious drop in the quality of their food in the last 2 weeks. I will drop by to support them but hopefully they do maintain their quality and affordability in their new location!

Kovan Scrambled Egg Rice also has a few "premium" options available. For an extra $1, you get to choose oysters, mala pork or beef with your scrambled egg rice bowls.

I have only tried the beef option. I like that their beef comes in slices which are neither too thin (tasteless and dry) or too thick (tough). Like the fried chicken cutlet, it is nicely marinated and cooked to order. Tender, juicy and piping hot, I would gladly pay for the premium bowl!

For those who like a peppery kick, I will recommend mixing in their mala chilli which comes in a dry, flaky rub form. It is not too spicy and adds flavours to the beef!

I was seriously entertaining thoughts of gatekeeping this stall because I am a big fan of their food and having it nearly every other week since they opened at the end of last year.

The premise is simple: A bowl of rice topped with sweet, creamy and fluffy egg omelette and your choice of protein and finished with a drizzle of a teriyaki-soy sauce blend and mala chilli sauce on the side.

The obvious question is how does this compare to the OG Danlao? Besides being slightly cheaper, I actually prefer this over Danlao due to the stronger flavours. Their signature fried chicken is well marinated and salty, savory and flavourful. I also love that they give very generous portions. In a takeout container, the scrambled eggs layer is always thicker than the rice layer and they definitely do not sting on their proteins!

Fierce but I like. There's a variety of options for your rice. And I can't help but recall that walking distance away is Danlao, which sells similar stuff.

It seems that the folks at Dan Lao 蛋佬 might have kickstarted a new food trend around the island at least — while scrambled egg rice bowls are not a dish that one would generally be able to find across coffeeshop and hawker centres around, it does seem that they have inspired the likes of such stalls to set up shop around the island. Whilst Kovan has already seen the opening of an outlet of Dan Lao at the recently-opened Tam Chiak Kopitiam at Blk 212 Hougang Street 21, it does seem that there is a new contender around the block as well. Located at the Kovan Market & Food Centre, there is a new stall named 高文滑蛋饭 — the stall does not have an English name; the name translates to Kovan Scrambled Egg Rice from Chinese to English. The stall can be easily found in the row or shops that back faces Heartland Mall as one enters the market from Heartland Mall; the small number of stalls within the row of stalls that is situated at makes it rather easy to locate especially with the bright blue signage which they had installed. The stall’s namesake is pretty self-explanatory, and the menu at 高文滑蛋饭 revolves around the scrambled egg rice bowls that they serve up. Patrons can chose between the various types of meats, proteins and seafood which they have to offer here along with the scrambled egg rice bowls — these include chicken / pork / fish cutlet, oysters, Char Siew, and even a Mala Pork variant as well.

We have always been the type of kid whom would just go for luncheon meat if that is an option in our childhood; it is needless to say that the variant of the scrambled egg rice bowl that stood out the most to us when skimming through the menu was the Luncheon Meat one. The entire aesthetic of the dish bore an uncanny resemblance to the one that Dan Lao is known to serve up — here, the scrambled eggs are prepared a la-minute; the scrambled eggs blanketing the bed of white rice that sits beneath the scrambled eggs on the bowl. The scrambled eggs comes with chopped spring onions, whilst the cubes of fried luncheon meat tops off the scrambled egg; the dish is then finished with a light drizzle of soy sauce above the egg and the luncheon meat before serving. The consistency of the scrambled eggs is totally on-point here; it is on the right point of being runny, creamy — not too wet but requires no effort to have considering how easily it slides down the throat. The drizzle of the light soy sauce on the scrambled egg meant that there is a lingering savouriness that goes on at the back of the tongue, thought we did wish that it be drizzled on the rice slightly just for the rice to carry a bit more flavour (not that it didn’t absorb the flavours from the egg however). The cubes of luncheon meat comes pretty chunky; provided a good saltishness that goes hand-in-hand with all the components here; very complimenting indeed without carrying any undesirable greasiness of a hint of overused oil. At $5 for the Luncheon Meat variant, this is quite an affordable eat at a pretty good quality that is worth making the trip for — very comforting, and a dish that many should be relate to as well.