Chef Hassan Abdul Majeed at Cafe Mariam has totally charted his own path where biryani-making is concerned. (Well, his grandfather started up Islamic Restaurant at North Bridge Road. I'm not a fan of Islamic's food or its style of biryani. I used to eat there loads till the flavors deteriorated, and I stopped. After that I'm forced to eat it twice a year during extended family gatherings in which the guests are too polite to suggest another caterer to the clueless hosts.)
Cafe Mariam is distinctly different from Islamic Restaurant. Thank goodness. Cafe Mariam trots out nasi biryani and Arab-style nasi mandi in only choices of either chicken dum or mutton. We ordered everything. Hahahaha. Everything meant lamb shank mandi, chicken mandi, and a dum mutton biryani. Erm, we usually order for a takeaway. Now, it's the same thing. We text the cafe, and we arrange a pick-up time. We rarely do it on that day. We usually send in our orders a day or two in advance. This month might see a longer order and waiting time because of the surge of Raya orders. So if you put in advance orders, just politely check with the cafe on the food's availability.
We gobbled up the nasi mandi first. Ahhh. That lamb shank was gorgeous. Tender, of course and full of marinated spices. I didn't take that much chicken meat, but happily ate the skin. Hurhurhur. The roast was good. It was a delicious lunch, worth all the calories. Cafe Mariam's mandi is closer to the Yemeni style and holds no dried fruits, raisins or nuts. We paid $1 extra for each accompanying packet of raw vegetables with yoghurt and zhug. They went beautifully with the nasi mandi and meats.
The man saved the mutton biryani for dinner. The man said that the mutton was tender, like it had been parboiled being going into the pot. Lovely saffron used along with delicately spiced rice which went well with the heavier meat of mutton. Unfortunately I'm not a fan of mutton. I didn't order an extra packet for myself. Too much carbs. Yah, indigestion would return before I could burp it out. I only dared to take few spoonfuls from the man's plate to taste. Okay, mutton is really too... uhh...strong. I was thinking, tbh, it would taste even better if the cafe had used goat, which is a lean and still flavorful meat. Yup. Goat biryani. It will be gorgeous.
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| Lamb shank nasi mandi. |
116 Changi Road, WIS@Changi
#01-02 Singapore 419718
T: +65 9369 8564
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