Ah Nian Braised Duck Rice – Hungry For A Plate of Delicious Duck Rice?

Whenever we order duck rice in Singapore, there are two kinds of duck rice to choose from. The Cantonese style roasted duck rice, or the braised variety that is symbolically Teochew. Ah Nian Duck Rice serves up the braised duck variant, alongside other braised items such as intestines and pork belly.

The brand currently has three outlets in Singapore, the newest one located along Balestier Road. We visited their Upper Cross Street outlet on a weekday afternoon for lunch. Even before the stall was opened, there was already a number of patrons waiting to get their hands on a plate of the fragrant duck rice!

You might not already know, but there are a number of stalls in Singapore that get their braised duck directly from the supplier. This way, they minimise the need to cook their own ducks. But at the same time, this makes the ducks very generic, and there isn’t any individuality between the stalls.

Therefore, despite it being additional work, it is heart-warming to know that Ah Nian Duck Rice braise their own ducks. This extra effort does pay off, indeed.

We got the Braised Duck Rice Set ($4.50), which came with a medley of braised items – duck, peanuts, half a boiled egg and beancurd. The stall serves flavoured rice as well, which sadly, didn’t really have much flavour to it despite its dark brown colour.

Nevertheless, the braised duck meat was done nicely. We could taste the rich aromas of the spices that went into the braising of the duck, which helped to perfume the meat and musk any gaminess. The meat was not excessively dry, but it did have a bit of stringiness to it.

We also tried the Kway Chap ($4++). The square sheets of kway were not overcooked and had a little bite to them which we thoroughly enjoyed. The assortment of ingredients that came with the kway chap includes the usual braised pork belly, pig intestines and tau pok. The intestines were lacking in flavour, but a good thing was that it was washed very thoroughly. There wasn’t any funky odour when we ate it.

An ingredient worth mentioning was the braised pork belly. Cut into thick chunks, the pork belly has a thicker layer of fat as compared to the lean meat. The pork belly was also very flavourful, with the same aroma of spices as the braised duck. However, we felt that the belly was a little more savoury than the duck, which made it very toothsome.

In conclusion, I think it’s comforting to know that there are still hawkers that take pride in their food. Instead of choosing the easier way out by getting ready-made stocks from suppliers, they still make an effort to braise their own ducks, sticking to time-tested recipes that has garnered a good number of fans.

MissTamChiak.com made an anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

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