‘Vivian Lai-Lookalike’ Nasi Lemak Hawker Opens 2nd Outlet That Still Serves $2.60 Set Meal

97 Nasi Lemak (named after its unit number #01-97) has also been expanding at the Old Airport Road Food Centre. Ellis’ business did well enough that she took over a unit adjacent to her stall, which gives her staff more space to prep an extended menu, which now includes more house-made dishes like curry chicken and ayam masak merah (chicken in a spicy tomato gravy).

The stall’s halal certification also helped Ellis get more corporate orders from schools and offices – these now count for a steady 20 per cent of her monthly sales, compared to the occasional bulk order in the past. “This was always my goal – to serve nasi lemak to a larger audience [including Muslims],” she says.

Uncannily, the unit number for her second hawker branch – which opened in late March – is also #01-97. According to Ellis, it was “a coincidence”. She explains, “I’ve been looking for places to open a second outlet. but it’s hard to find a good location and manpower [at the same time]. This time, just nice, we had both.”

She spends most of the week at her new outlet overseeing operations, before flitting to her original outlet to check on things there. Since opening, business at the new shop hasn’t been too shabby – while Ellis says crowds are erratic, the waiting time for nasi lemak can stretch up to 20 minutes during peak hours, especially if large orders come in.

Both 97 Nasi Lemak outlets serve Chinese-style nasi lemak – which compared to Malay-style nasi lemak includes a wider variety of deep-fried sides like Chicken Luncheon Meat ($0.70) and Breaded Fish Fillet ($1).

Nasi lemak sets range from $2.60 to $3.50 – each plate comes with toppings like a fried egg, Japanese cucumber slices, ikan bilis, peanuts and meat/seafood including Sotong Fillet ($1) or Chicken Wing ($1.40). There’s also fried noodles or beehoon ($1.50 a plate) if you don’t fancy coconutty jasmine rice.

At her original stall, Ellis introduced new dishes like Curry Chicken, Rendang Chicken and Ayam Masak Merah (all $2.80 each for a thigh and drumstick). They will also be offered at her outlet. There are also new veggie options like Sambal Brinjal, Sambal Lady’s Fingers and Achar (from $0.80 to $1 per dish).

Due to global instability, hawkers now must pay much higher prices for their ingredients. Ellis, who used to get a tin of cooking oil at $20, now forks out “almost $50”. The cost for eggs also rose from “around $4 per tray, to almost $6”. But she is still keeping prices for her nasi lemak sets unchanged, reasoning that she makes up for slimmer margins by selling her food at higher volumes.

She has opted to raise prices for a la carte items on the menu instead – a fried egg now costs $0.60 instead of $0.50. Her new meat dishes, like curry chicken and rendang chicken, cost $2.80, a 30-cent increase from its previous price of $2.50 last year.

On her viral ‘resemblance’ to Vivian Lai, Ellis says: “Even after a few months, people were still mentioning [8days.sg’s] previous article to me. Just yesterday, a customer said he recognised my stall sign ‘cos of the article. But no lah, none of them mentioned [the] Vivian Lai [resemblance] again (laughs).”

But she did get mistaken for the former flight attendant who opened nasi lemak hawker stall Wing Liao Lor in Hong Lim Food Centre. “There was one customer who thought I was an air stewardess, because of the air stewardess who also opened a nasi lemak stall,” she laughs.

97 Nasi Lemak’s second outlet is at #01-97, North Bridge Road Market & Food Centre, 861 North Bridge Rd, S198783. Tel: 8837-6228. Open daily except Mon, 6am – 2pm. More info on Facebook and Instagram. Available for delivery via Grabfood and Foodpanda.

97 Nasi Lemak’s original outlet is at #01-96/97, Old Airport Road Food Centre, 51 Old Airport Rd S390051. Open daily except Mon, 7am – 3pm. For corporate orders, WhatsApp 8611-8080.

Photos: Alvin Teo, 97 Nasi Lemak

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