Grain Bowl Hawker Stall Nice Rice Reopens At Ang Mo Kio Food Court, Prices Up By $0.70 A Dish

There were “constant queues” after 8days.sg’s reported Nice Rice’s surprise announcement revealing that the stall would close at the end of February. “I sold out almost every day of my last month there,” Mandel shares. We too popped by on a Saturday afternoon in February, only to be told that everything was sold out two hours after opening.

“To be frank, it was more than I expected – I guess everyone rushed down to get all the nice rice they can [before we go on hiatus],” he adds with a laugh.

The young hawker tells us that his three-month-stint at French Road was profitable overall, but declined to go into detail.

After closing shop, the young hawker refocused his attention on finding a new stall location, aware that he didn’t want to end up choosing another “ulu kopitiam” again. “First of all, Ang Mo Kio is nearer to my place (he lives in Yishun), so I don’t have to travel that far [compared to French Road]. Secondly, it’s always super crowded,” he tells us. However, the switch from coffeeshop stall to air-conditioned food court comes with new rules and higher costs.

“It’ll definitely be more tiring for me now, as we’re required [by contract] to open seven days a week. Sunday used to be our day off, but now I can’t do that anymore,” Mandel says. This means that he’ll have to spend more on hiring part-timers too, which he says are still “difficult to find”.

Naturally, rent at the shopping mall food court is higher – “almost double of what [he] used to pay” at French Road. Like other hawkers, he too finds that ingredients are getting pricier by the day. “Everything is getting more expensive – every supplier is increasing their prices, especially chicken. It’s about 30 percent more expensive now. Makes me not want to sell chicken, but people need to eat their chicken,” shares Mandel.

Other business decisions, like switching out the inexpensive rump cap used in his signature Cow Bowl for pricier flank steak, is further eating into his margins. “Certain parts of the rump are a bit tougher – I used to slice them thinner to keep it tender, but it wasn’t always consistent. So we’ve switched it to flank, which is way more flavourful to me but also a lot more expensive.”

Still, the hawker maintains that he will provide the “same portions” for his bowls while bringing up prices “by around $0.70 on average”. “Bo pian (no choice), we have to give the same portion as that’s what our customers expect. I wouldn’t feel good if my customers weren’t happy, and I think the $0.70 price increase is quite reasonable. Recurring customers are the ones paying the bills at the end of the day, so we need to make sure they’re happy,” he asserts.

Never mind that all this means he will enjoy slimmer margins at the new locale. “I don’t believe in putting pressure on myself — I’m a chill guy,” he declares.

Like before, every bowl comes with a bed of Nice Rice’s Japanese-inflected rice pilaf – made with Taiwanese pearl rice cooked in veggie stock and aromatics like onion and spices, finished off with a dusting of togarashi (a Japanese chilli blend) and shio kombu (salted kelp). Toppings include spicy chicken thigh, torched salmon and mushrooms; prices for a bowl now range from $6.50 to $11.50 (previously from $5.80 a bowl).

Here’s a look at some of the new offerings.

Deep-fried chicken thigh slathered in a house-made honey butter sauce, on a bed of pilaf rice.

Not quite a new dish, but the herb butter that used to top the grilled sea bass belly option has been replaced with citrus gel (containing lime and lemon juice) to “help brighten up the dish as [Mandel] thought the previous bowl was too fatty”.

A side dish to munch on. Roe-filled shishamo, a small, silvery type of smelt popular in Japan, that’s crowned with aioli (garlic mayo) and torched.​​​​​​​

Nice Rice is at #03-12, AMK Hub, 53 Ang Mo Kio Ave 3, S569933. Open daily, 11am – 9pm. More info via Facebook and Instagram.

Photos: Kelvin Chia, Nice Rice

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