Queenstown Lontong

elizbeartravel

Oct 5

I chanced upon this quaint stall in Queenstown during lunch and my colleague told me that they are a very famous stall selling Lontong and mee Rebus since 1960 and has been in operation for 3 generations. In fact, even the signboard has been in use since they started the business

Located within the new Margaret Drive Hawker Centre which is just next to the SkyResidences @ Dawson. The stall is open for business from as early as 6.30 am and long queues start to form to grab their breakfast from this stall before the items get sold out. We reached the stall at 11.30 a.m. and a long queue ensured as everyone waited in anxiety to see if the items were still available

While the stall's name is Queenstown Lontong, the items offered at the stall included nasi lemak, mee rebus, mee siam, laksa, lontong, mee soto and soto ayam. The most popular items on the menu and usually sold out first are the lontong and mee rebus. On my first visit, I tried the mee rebus and shared the lontong and fried chicken and everything was gone before I remembered about taking photos. On my 2nd visit, we managed to snag the lontong and mee soto as everything else was sold out

This was the lontong I had on my 2nd visit and as usual, it came in the iconic green bowls topped generously with fried ikan bilis and fragrant fried grated coconut. Each bowl comes with soft steamed rice cubes ( ketuput), curry vegetables, pan-fried beancurd and a hard-boiled egg. While the bowl of lontong looks small, it is extremely filling on its own as the rice does fill you up. A key aspect of a good lontong is the gravy and this bowl sure packs a punch with its fragrant coconut cream and savoury chilli paste married for the perfect balance. The gravy was neither too thick nor thin and just the perfect consistency to be paired with the ingredients. The roasted coconut flakes were like the icing on the cake as they added an additional depth to the almost perfect spoonful of gravy and ingredients. I am usually not a lontong person but this is a great and addictive bowl of lontong well worth calories

This is the mee soto which came with round yellow noodles with a mix of steamed rice cubes as they were running out of noodles. Surprisingly, the rice did go pretty well with the soto soup as the flavour of the turmeric in the soup complemented the rice nicely and the added beansprouts gave the dish an overall nice crunch and texture. I personally think while the soto ayam was not out of the world, it is a very comforting bowl of soup and noodles or rice

On my 3rd visit, I managed to order the mee rebus which is one of the best bowls of mee rebus I have tasted. The gravy was thick and savoury with sweet and spicy peanut flavour and a light coconut fragrance. Paired with the fried ikan bilis, every bite was filled with umami flavour from the ikan bilis and the sweetness from the peanuts and spicy from the sambal. I don't think I can describe the flavours to do justice to the mee rebus and you should try it yourself

As a side dish, we always order fried chicken wings which are nicely fried till golden brown with a crispy outer skin and juicy and tender meat. Lightly seasoned, the wings tasted well-balanced and not too salty and were perfect as an add-on to the main dishes. The wings reminded me of the taste of the Mamak stores in school which were different from the big fried chicken brands but just as satisfying

Overall, I highly recommend this stall if you crave affordable and delicious humble Malay dishes like the Mee rebus, lontong and even Nasi Lemak

Address: Blk 38A Margaret Dr, #01-27, Singapore 142038

Opening hours: 6.30 am to 2 pm ( till 12pm only on Sat and Sun) - Note that hours change according to the stall owners