Chinese-Muslim Hawker Sells Fragrant Nasi Lemak & Café-Style Cakes At Maxwell Food Centre
The hawker behind Ah Lim Nasi Lemak uses a recipe from her Peranakan mother.
The phrase “sibei ho jiak, mai kong bo jio” – translated from Hokkien to mean super tasty, don’t say we didn’t invite you – is emblazoned boldly on newly-opened Ah Lim Nasi Lemak’s storefront, flanked by flashing, multicoloured lights. It’s more than a cute slogan – the Hokkien phrase, along with the hawker stall’s name, is a reflection of 38-year-old Aishah Lim’s Peranakan heritage — she’s born to Chinese-Muslim parents.
“My dad likes to call us OCBC. Orang cina bukan cina,” she says with a laugh, referring to the expression that translates from Malay to “Chinese people, but not Chinese” – often used to describe Peranakans’ unique identity straddling two cultures.
She parlayed that heritage and a childhood spent cooking with her mum (a Peranakan Hokkien), into Ah Lim Nasi Lemak, a biz which she opened on January 7 at Maxwell Food Centre. She runs the Muslim-friendly stall solo, and sells nasi lemak and prawn noodles along with cafe-style bakes like ondeh ondeh and mao shan wang durian cake.
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Used to run nasi padang stall
Aishah is an avid home cook who previously operated a canteen stall in a school, and managed a nasi padang stall with her 48-year-old husband, Danni Lim, for around a year. “It was well received, but the [growth in] customers was very stagnant,” she tells us, as they relied on business from a group of regulars.
The mother of three then took on other jobs, like driving a taxi and a public relations role at a construction firm, over the next six years before venturing into F&B again at the end of 2021.
A supportive hubby
“I love cooking. I love to invite my family and friends over to cook for them. But it was my husband who kept pushing me to open my stall, as he could see that I wasn’t as happy [working at a different job]”, Aishah tells us. Her hubby popped by for our shoot, though he declined to be photographed.
“Of course, I feel that her food is the best,” says Danny, who works as a senior manager at a cleaning services firm, with a laugh. “I’m very proud of her cooking abilities, and I feel that it’s more enjoyable for her [to run a hawker stall].”
With her hubby’s encouragement, she dipped her toes back in the world of F&B with Aishah’s Snack Corner, a “tiny snack stall” selling cakes, brownies and nasi lemak, nestled under an HDB block in Choa Chu Kang. Though she says the reception from residents was good, she was bogged down by logistical issues – one of them being the fact that she couldn’t cook within the premises itself. It was also takeaway-only. Once Danny spotted the stall space in Maxwell Food Centre in mid-December, she decided to close Aishah’s Snack Corner in favour of Ah Lim Nasi Lemak.
Nasi lemak, prawn mee, and… cake?
Aishah opted for the name change mainly ’cos setting up Ah Lim Nasi Lemak has always been the plan. After the move to Maxwell, she settled on two main dishes: nasi lemak, using a recipe she’d learned from her mum, and Muslim-friendly prawn mee. “I love prawn noodles, but you can’t find many [Muslim-friendly] options that are tasty,” she tells us. “My husband also pushed me to sell prawn mee, so that we can have more options at the stall.”
As for the cakes, they aren’t baked by Aishah, but sourced from a friend who owns a bakery. “It was a big hit back at Aishah’s Snack Corner. I decided to bring it over for the office crowd, as you can’t usually find these kinds of cakes at a hawker centre,” she tells us.
“It was a crazy first few days” during opening week
The reception at Ah Lim’s has been promising. “I wasn’t expecting much as I was still new. But the response was quite overwhelming. I was running the stall alone and it was a crazy first few days,” Aishah says. “There were a few days that my food was sold out right after lunch.”
She counts on her helpful hubby to pop by in the mornings to help with prep when he can, or on weekends when he’s off work. She also hopes to hire an extra pair of hands once business has stabilised. “Business is always a risk lah, there will be ups and downs. We must be patient and persevere,” she says.
Combo A Chicken, $4 (8 DAYS Pick!)
Ah Lim Nasi Lemak’s cheapest combo comes with the usual suspects like a fried egg, peanuts, ikan bilis and slices of cucumber. The Thai fragrant rice is fluffy and coconutty, with well-defined grains that are good enough to eat on its own.
Where the dish really shines is in its fragrant, slightly sweet sambal with an undertone of piquancy. “Actually the recipe is not complicated. Dried chilli, onions, sugar, and some other ingredients. It’s how you stir and cook the sambal to let the flavours develop [that makes the difference],” she says. “The rice plays a big part, but the sambal plays a bigger part. It’s the soul of the dish.” Interesting, since we thought nasi lemak was more about the rice as the dish’s name practically means “rich/fatty rice” in Malay. In any case, both Aisha’s coconut rice and sambal are quite lovely.
Also pretty yummy — the fried chicken wing that comes with the set. It has a salty-savoury edge thanks to an overnight marination with salt, pepper and paprika along with an assertive crunch from a coat of rice flour.
Our only grouse – Aishah bakes the peanuts and ikan bilis instead of deep-frying them, so they aren’t as crispy as we’d like.
Sambal Prawns, $2.50
Aishah stir-fries fresh prawns with her nasi lemak sambal (with a splash of tamarind juice for extra punch). Rather decent, as the spicy sauce pairs well with the crustaceans, though we’d opt for the chicken instead.
Sambal Sotong, $2.50
Note that this dish actually comes with cuttlefish, not squid (sotong kembang means cuttlefish). The springy cuttlefish is a decent foil for the rich-tasting rice, though this dish is a little tangier and not as sweet compared to the prawns (getting this or the prawns as part of a nasi lemak combo costs $5.50 — we recommend the prawns instead).
Prawn Noodles, $4.50
Prawn heads and ground ikan bilis make up the base for the prawn noodle soup here in place of pork and prawns in the Chinese style version. It’s boiled for an hour with onion, garlic and spices. She serves it with a mix of bee hoon and yellow noodles, beansprouts, kang kong and fish cake – we find the broth more pepper-forward and lacking that robust seafood depth we’d expect from prawn mee. Still, three plump, fresh prawns for $4.50 is quite a bargain, especially in the CBD.
Assorted Cakes, $7.50 to $8.50 per slice
Pricey for a hawker stall, but these rather fancy-looking cafe-style bakes are generously portioned and good enough to feed two small eaters. They sit proudly in a display chiller and come in four flavours – Pengat Durian Musang King ($8.50), Biscoff ($7.50), Nutella ($7.50) and Ondeh Ondeh Gula Melaka ($7.50). While they have a denser-than-usual crumb and are a little too sweet, we like the Ondeh Ondeh one best, thanks to the textural contrast between crumbly dried coconut on top and caramelly, crunchy bits of solid gula melaka within.
Bottom line
Ah Lim Nasi Lemak’s aromatic coconut rice, sedap sambal and chicken wings make this Muslim-friendly nasi lemak a worthy option in the CBD. The variety of pretty cakes, while not as refined as those from cafes, are decent enough and quite fun to order for dessert. But avoid the so-so prawn mee.
