La Porpo: Ayam goreng in Jalan Besar inspired by P Ramlee, served with scorching sambal
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La Porpo: Ayam goreng in Jalan Besar inspired by P Ramlee, served with scorching sambal
In this instalment of Makan Kakis, GOLD 905 DJ Denise Tan checked out La Porpo's spicy fried chicken with a colourful cinematic backstory. Ayam penyet, ayam geprek, have your pick – MasterChef Singapore approximate Bjorn Shen calls information technology "the almost amazing ayam goreng in Singapore".
La Porpo'due south fried chicken dishes, which include ayam penyet and ayam geprek, are popular over at Jalan Besar. (Photo: Abundant Productions)
21 October 2022 07:14AM (Updated: 21 Oct 2022 11:08AM)
What do legendary histrion-director P Ramlee and fried chicken have in common? They are the passions of one man – Haswandi Hashim – deliciously converging at his stall in Jalan Besar.
After my Makan Kaki Chef Bjorn Shen, judge of MasterChef Singapore and Middle Eastern restaurant Artichoke proclaimed it "the most astonishing ayam goreng in Singapore", I hurried downwards to endeavour it for myself.
Haswandi and his wife Nur Hafizah Ahmad launched La Porpo just 2 years ago with petty fanfare, simply accept quickly gained a however-growing fan base.
Every bit a massive fan of pic fable P Ramlee, Haswandi decided to name his stall after a catchphrase from his idol's 1972 moving picture Laksamana Do Re Mi.
"It was a hilarious comedy and there's one part where P Ramlee was sitting on a flying carpet when he said 'la porpo', which sounded Spanish to me," he explained.
"La porpo is a phrase used often between me and my childhood friends. Nosotros all watched the same motion picture, so that's our connectedness and appreciation of P Ramlee. To us, it means something friendly, warm, artistic."
Like a hugger-mugger password or magic lawmaking within his social circle, it brings together their shared beloved for movies and makan that Haswandi hopes will extend to his customers. "I desire them to come and get crazy about our flavours," he said with a smile.
That's why he even named his F&B company Rasa Loca (an affiliation of Malay and Spanish words that ways "crazy taste") and one of his spicy chilli pastes sambal loca.
Haswandi is likewise pleased he has his son'south seal of approval for a greeting he often uses (almost like the stall'due south tagline) and tin can be seen in signage on the storefront, "Yo… What's practiced?"
And then what is expert at La Porpo? Hands downward, their ayam goreng or fried chicken, of grade.
Haswandi's recipe, "legendary in the family since my grandparents' time", has been passed down orally through generations. Combined with Nur Hafizah'southward own family recipe, married man and wife accept created the ultimate fried chicken, later much trial and error.
"When testing, we even used sesame seeds, Horlicks, on the chicken. We liked it merely decided to focus on something more than basic, a recipe versatile enough to utilize in all our dishes," he explained. "Nosotros also serve prawns, fish and bakso (Indonesian-style beef balls), only aught beats our chicken."
Having settled on their fundamental fried chicken recipe, they were able to concentrate on creating different dishes merely by switching upwards the sambals. Dishes like their bestselling Kelantan-style nasi kerabu, ayam penyet and ayam geprek, all started off with the same fried chicken foundation.
Contrary to the hours of marination I imagined, the chicken sat coated in seasoned concoction for merely five minutes before existence fried in a kuali (wok) of sizzling-hot oil. Once golden-chocolate-brown and crispy, the chicken pieces were lifted out, then left to drain and keep warm in their glass display.
Even unadulterated past the sambal, the chicken was surprisingly tasty, which left me wondering aloud how they managed to coax so much flavour out of it.
Haswandi gamely shared their ayam goreng recipe with me, maxim they kept the ingredients "very unproblematic". Salt, pepper, turmeric powder, cornstarch, egg and water were combined and thoroughly mixed for a batter that was uncomplicated, yet "not easy to execute".
He claimed to have no qualms well-nigh revealing all the ingredients, saying, "Honestly, I'thousand not hiding anything. No secrets. If friends ask, I share. Merely you need to cook from the heart. We do information technology like how we like to consume. My mum, my grandmother, all say it's the magic touch."
Something his wife, who does most of the cooking these days, certainly has. While Haswandi has the final say in the operations, flavours and menu, he was quick to praise Nur Hafizah.
"She has the same passion deep inside her. She'southward a superwoman who works much faster than me. I cannot keep upwards with her!" he proclaimed proudly.
With that, they presented a selection of their different nasi ayam (chicken with rice, S$half-dozen to S$10) for me to taste. Fried chicken, 2 types of rice (green and blueish) and three sambal choices (the aforementioned Sambal Loca, penyet and geprek) made for a mouth-watering festival of fowl. Already acquainted with ayam penyet (smashed chicken served with sambal on the side), I ready my sights on its lesser-known cousin, ayam geprek.
This version of fried chicken was not only smashed, but pulverised by cleaver and slathered rigorously to the bone with a potent sambal. Co-ordinate to Haswandi, geprek is a Javanese give-and-take meaning beat, squeeze or printing. I could only conclude that such trigger-happy treatment resulted in a dish with the most extreme flavour.
Compared to the fresh and balmy sambal loca (made from green chillies, onion and garlic, fried in oil, cooked down and blended) and the sweeter, gentler rut of the sambal penyet (made from fresh cherry-red chilli padi cooked downwards with onion, garlic, ginger and belacan), the sambal geprek brought together the all-time of both worlds in a spicy surge of chunky, crushed dark-green and red chillies.
Flavoured again with garlic, ginger and belacan, the fiery mix fix off charges of umami along with hints of sweetness. The seed-studded sambal ignited my tongue with intense blasts of spiciness, but the fire was addictive, thank you to its perfect balance of seasonings.
Plastered on poultry, the sambal fabricated the already juicy chicken extra moist, so tender that meat roughshod away from bone with only a little lift of the spoon. Topped with an avalanche of crispy batter bits, their ayam geprek was transformed into an explosion of gustation and texture. Haswandi disclosed that they go through at least 18 kg of chillies in a week to create their signature scorching sambals.
To temper the blistering heat, a side serving of clear soup, packed with intense craven flavour, aromatic spices and fried shallots, was most welcome. The blue and green rice further soothed my seared senses. Certainly eye-communicable, Haswandi explained they decided to serve coloured carbs "to have fun and break tradition".
Of the 2, I recommend the flavourful green rice, which was cooked in pandan-infused chicken stock. It was like a cross betwixt Hainanese craven rice and nasi lemak – fragrant, nutty and went very well with the ayam geprek.
Just like P Ramlee in the film that inspired the stall, La Porpo'due south chicken, rice, sambal and soup united to send my senses flight on a magic carpet ride of season.
For a more neutral pairing, go with the other rice, steamed and tinted with blueish pea flowers. While they didn't have much by way of flavour, said flowers are traditionally believed to exist good for the skin and pilus. "But for me it'southward a bit too late," joked the smooth-headed Hawandi.
The same can't be said for their F&B venture, which Haswandi explained was 15 years of planning and experience in the making.
To start, husband and wife both come up from similar food-related backgrounds. "That was a funny affair to notice when we offset met. Her relatives – mum, uncles, aunts – all sold food similar nasi padang. When I was a kid, I helped out at my late gramps'south warung (minor family-endemic restaurant in Bahasa Indonesia) in Andrews Artery near Sembawang Park after school and during holidays. My late mum was besides a hawker and they sold mee bandung, mee goreng and mee Hong Kong dorsum in the day," Haswandi said.
His stepmother, with whom he also enjoys a close human relationship, was also a bell-ringer and Haswandi often followed her to the market to shop for ingredients.
"She sold all the favourites like mee ayam and chicken rice. I grew upwards watching her cook, sitting on the kitchen chiffonier asking her questions. Train from young. Information technology'southward the best way!" Attributing his culinary passion to that early start in life, he continued: "I like being in the kitchen especially when I'm stressed. Cooking is the all-time. To go someone to eat your nutrient is a joy."
Combining his passion with customer service skills picked upward through part-fourth dimension work every bit a hotel waiter in his youth, every bit well every bit varied jobs after in F&B operations, managing a boutique hotel in Jarkarta, and stints in Red china, Switzerland and France, Haswandi has managed to make La Porpo a success, but he made clear it has been all about learning and timing.
Nur Hafizah also brought her own experience in hospitality to the table, having previously been a flight attendant with Finnair. In fact, La Porpo isn't the husband-and-married woman team'due south outset foray into the food business. Whilst they were even so engaged, they opened a stall selling chicken rice in Bedok S.
"It didn't exercise so well. We chosen it a day after about ten months. It was not destined to be. We were just not prepare," Haswandi revealed candidly. That's when the family unit moved to Indonesia for his work managing a small travellers social club. Afterwards other business ventures in retail and the spa industry, the couple's culinary dreams started to fall dorsum into place.
A infinite opened up in the Jalan Besar coffee store and they jumped at the opportunity to try once more. This time, they were ready. "We've had to ride through tough times with the pandemic, but concern is notwithstanding okay. I'g happy," he said earnestly. "I'chiliad not doing this to be a millionaire, but because it'southward my passion. Get-go small, end small, it's okay."
But for the couple whose dream was just to open a modest food shop when their children were grown, things seem to be evolving and growing. In the two years since starting La Porpo, they've moved on from solely operating their stall to running the entire corner coffee shop and its 2 other tenant stalls.
"The landlord offered us the chance to manage the whole place and afterward discussing with my wife, nosotros decided to merely get for it," Haswandi explained. However, he is even so adamant about keeping things simple and not over-extending themselves. "We didn't prepare whatsoever targets from the beginning. Every bit long as I can pay my helper, the overheads, I can put nutrient on the tabular array, we accept things stride past step."
Even so, Haswandi'due south dedication and pride in their business is obvious. "We've received numerous compliments on the food, simply we don't stop there. We work to get in better. At that place's still room to ameliorate. The learning process never ends," he said earnestly.
From sprucing upward the premises with new pigment, to staying open on Dominicus at the request of customers who want to come with their families, to constantly refining their menu with new dishes for diners to try, he has been doing what it takes to make all the necessary improvements.
And if necessity is the mother of invention, just call Haswandi the father of fried craven. "My friends say to me, 'Bapak Ayam, yous pimp your craven very well'," he laughed. Lavishly enhanced by piquant sambals, theirs is about certainly a special ayam goreng that delivers a little flake more than. And that, in an eggshell, sums upwardly the La Porpo experience.
La Porpo is located at 2 nine/31 Jalan Besar, Singapore 208798. It'south open up from apex to 10pm, Tuesdays to Sundays, closed on Mondays. Catch Makan Kakis with Denise Tan every Thursday from 11am on Golden 905.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/dining/best-food-singapore-fried-chicken-p-ramlee-la-porpo-285076
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