Geylang (Hamid's) Briyani Stall: I went back 3 times in a week! Geylang Serai Temp Mkt Part 1 of 5
With iwatch_ueat and liverpool
Once in a long while, you get so enamoured by a certain dish that you just keep going back because you can't get enough of it. This is precisely what happened to me when I first tasted Hamid's Briyani last week. This recommendation came from a comment from one of the numerous "Anonymous" readers of this blog (You guys should really just give yourself a pen name!)
No kidding, I have to say that this is the most tasty meal $3 ($3 for mutton, $3.50 for chicken) can buy in Singapore! You will derive the most pleasure per dollar from this one dish compared with any other food in Singapore and I would like to see if anyone can top this.
The texture of the rice was near perfect. The grains were fluffy and separate and firm to the bite and you can taste the buttery ghee and spices in it. I said near perfect because they don't use the top grade of Basmati rice here ($3 what do you expect?). The mutton was so tender you could seperate it with a fork and it literally dissolves in your mouth. (That could be that particular piece that we had). The Chicken Masala ($3.50) gravy was the real killer. The combination of the gravy with the rice was 100% satisfaction. 4.75/5
Pak Hamid might look like Saddam Hussein, but he was a real jovial fellow who didn't mind sharing a few tips on how to cook briyani with us. So here's how his Briyani is made: You start by frying the onions in oil till golden brown, then you add in the cloves, cinnamon and other spices and fry it until it is fragrant. Next add Evaporated milk and water and bring to boil. Add the rice in the ratio of 1:1. Stir constantly while the rice is being cooked. When it is cooked, add ghee and dab some yellow colouring on top of the rice, then stir and mix the rice. (I think I would just go to Hamid's and pay $3, wouldn't you?)
Conclusion
This has been the only stall that I have revisited 3 times in a week since I started the blog. I would challenge anyone to find something more tongue tinglingly satisfying for the same price! Now, the man himself told us that on Wednesdays, he sometimes makes a very special Fish Dum Briyani using top grade Basmati Rice and that this is even more shioker than what we had. Can't wait to find out!
NB1: Some one told me about a $11 Briyani in little India that is absolutely devastating. I am waiting for a chance to see if it can match Hamid's satisfaction per dollar value. To do that it would have to be 4-5 times more tasty!
NB2: I also sampled 2 other Briyani's this week which I will not be blogging. They were Abak's Dum Briyani around Arab St area and another stall at Geylang Serai Temp Mkt run by 2 sisters. They were highly recommended by some people. I have decided not to blog them for the moment because I was not so thrilled with them as I was with Hamid's. 
Geylang Briyani Stall
aka Hamid's Briyani
Geylang Serai Temp Market #01-327
9am - 5pm
Closed: Monday
98310574
Acknowledgement: An Anonymous reader' recommended this on the House of Briyani post
52 comments:
I had it for lunch and tar paoed both the chicken and mutton briyani for dinner as well(we microwaved them and the rice was not soggy despite it sitting for 3 hours before dinner)...and to think that we were still contemplating of having another round of the mutton until he said it was sold out.. : ) hard to choose between the mutton and chicken, the masala gravy will go well with anything! hmmm crabs..prawns...
Am dying for some of this briyani thanks to your enthusiastic raving, and unfortunately it's Monday today!! Arghh..
Try it many times, one of my fav stalls as my parents stay very near here! Nice mutton!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the review Ieat. I tried the chicken and mutton biryanis. Am not really a fan of mutton most times, unless its mutton mysore and in small pieces. This mutton was really tender. But i still prefer my old favourite..the chicken. Am stuffed at the moment. hopefully you will check out other places which i can travel to easily.
Dear ieat, it's me your number one foodblog fan. Thanks for putting Hamid's briyani in your blog after my recommendation. Thumbs up to you man!!
Dear Number One foodblog fan, you really should just tick the "Other" option and call yourself something. How about #1Fan?
thanxs heaps peeps for enjoyin my uncle's briyani..
i told my uncle abt the post and he's hell happy
:)
I am just wondering why he does not have any newspaper writeups on his stall. He deserves 3 bowls on the makansutra scale!
wow wat a compliment.will inf my uncle...
why not ya start doin somethin abt it?..
hmmm
I have never ever enjoyed eating briyani as much! But to my surprise, the moment I eat this briyani, mmmmmm worth going for second, third or whatever lah. After the 4th stall, we detour to this stall but what a dissappointment! No more mutton briyani! Guess what! Went there again same week (Friday) to have 2nd.
I'm not a briyani person but this briyani really stands out. I can attest to Pak Hamid's genuine friendliness because when he saw me walking towards his stall, he smiled and waved to me.
Let's go on to the taste. Everything that ieat has commented holds true. Buttery fragrant rice that doesn't stick together, meat so tender that it easily comes apart when you using a fork and spoon, tasty masala gravy that gives you an umami rush. Even the accompanying pickled cucumber were very good. Excellent+++.
This briyani is ultimately the Undisputed Heavyweight Briyani Champion of Singapore. It's cheap and affordable yet a quality food fit for a king. I hope Pak Hamid kids will carry on his recipe and traditions for our future generations to enjoy. My salute to you ieat..
oh my god!!!this is sooo cool.Im for sure gonna tell my uncle abt the title he won for himself.Mayb ya guys shld get him a medal...hehehe
once again on behalf of my unvcle,thanxs heaps for the support.GOD bless ya guys
That's it, i gotta go get myself some.
I just had THE MUTTON BRIYANI again yesterday....ooooo it will be very hard to beat tastewise and pricewise
Best briyani I have tasted. Fluffy grains of rice, and the gravy that came with the chicken and mutton were just heavenly! One point to note: They only start selling about 9.45am tho they are all there by 9am - preparing. But be prepared for a LONG wait. There was such a long queue when i was there yesterday at 11. But the wait was sure worth it. Best in Singapore.
Went to try the briyani today after reading the blog and brought an indian tourist friend of mine from Mumbai along and even he said it's the best briyani he ever had. For me it's just finger lickin delicious. My thanks to you Leslie for the great found treasure.
Had it yesterday afternoon. I will never ever waste my money on any other briyani anywhere anymore.
Like Conner Mcleod would say, "There can only be one," And that's Hamid's
WOW!!!PEEPS thanxs heaps for ya positive feedbacks.....
This briyani is indeed true as what people commented. I live in Jurong East and i came all the way, join the long queue and believe me it was worth it. Mr Hamid deserves to be a true Singapore makan legend.
wow....
thanxs heaps for ya compliments peeps...
I gave in to le resistence! I had Hamid's briyani again last week.
Ohhhhh it was so good.... The mutton came apart so easily with so little effort. That was how tender it was!
However I paid 3 bucks for this plate because Hamid's assistant convinced me that it was a bigger than usual piece.
But it was a bigger than usual piece with a large piece of bone!
LOL!!! Meh.
I want to go again.
I always get my briyani from Hamid's at $5 a packet with mutton and chicken meat inside. Damn shiok. Best of both worlds. He really takes care of his briyani taste and quality. I have been eating it since my teenage days and it still tasted the same untill now. My salute to you Mr Hamid..
that's it...time for another visit again.....: )
rice was good, the chicken is one of the best briyani chicken i have ever tasted, and also the cheapest briyani ..
one area for improvement in my opinion would be the curry(those separate kind for rice 1)... lacks a bit of punch in it... my opinion only.... to me the most important part of a plate of briyani is the curry....
yakader briyani at tekka 01-324 is another one of my favourite briyani stall... and also the briyani at khansama tandoori restaurant along little india (a north indian restaurant)..... in my opinion lah...ain't no food guru myself....
do check out my dad's stall too haha -> http://ieatishootipost.blogspot.com/2006/12/beef-kway-teow-flavour-that-you-can-see.html
my bro recommends the 'kahwin' meaning married packet, meaning both chicken n mutton together.....hoooooooo haaaaa.....
another top bryani is at delhi rest. at race course rd, damn shiok but expensive la.......
This Briyani is da bomb man! Really super tasty! And $3 for thigh meat is really value for money~
We ordered condiments to go along like beef rendang and bagedils from the famous Nasi Padang a few stalls down and it was a damn satisfying lunch!
What better way to top it off then with Chendol from the Cendol stall ;)
other good briyani stalls are: northpoint foodcourt indian stall and also the briyani at mr. prata coffee shop at tampines st.43
Ieat
I have tried Geylang chicken nasi briyani. It's good and not expensive, but not the best yet. The rice is not grainy enough.
You may want to go to a nasi byiyani stall (forgot the name) at the Arab St bazaar during the Ramadan festival. His rice (good basmati one) is grainy and whole and the chicken is tender and the gravy is more flavoursome than Geylang one. There is always a long queue buying multiple packets each at this Arab St stall while the other briyani stalls has less crowd. I am amazed by the number of BIG aluminium pots of rice , chicken amd mutton at this stall. After eating from this stall, I do not go to Geylang as often and wait for the next Ramadan season to satisfy my chicken nasi briyani appetite.
This stall is behind the mosque and opposite the first shophouse in the row where all the nasi padang shops are.
Surely they must be doing something the rest of the year! Can't be eating Briyani only during Ramadan!
yah, but forgot the name of the stall/shop they came from. Other forummers may know. May ask the corner nasi padang shop there for info the next time I'm there.
The Briyani was good!! BTW there is one that is equally good and gaining lots of reputation-Along Jalan Sultan. There is a corner green color shophouse thats serves excellent Dum Briyani-not too oily, mutton is cooked till soft and tender. The dall curry that goes with it is also very good. I think the shop is called Fanursya.
Happy eating!!
I tried the mutton briyani today. I find the mutton too soft and dissovle in my mouth straight away. I would prefer it tender and soft yet tangy to the teeth. Anyone has a recommendation? However, I notice most people order the chicken briyani. And I noticed that when they finish the chicken, the bone was not black in the bone. Means no blood stain clot near the bone (frozen chicken)but fresh chicken use. Is this it?
I will want to try the chicken one day...
Avoid disappointment by going earlier..esp on public holidays and weekends i guess...was at the market at 2pm but the briyani was already sold out..looking at the pple eating the briyani ard the stalls juz make me salivate..
when my husband told his colleague..his colleague said it was sold out at 1130am one saturday she went...gosh!
another great place for biryani is alaudeen at tekka f.c. great biryani wif mutton, chicken or wif fried chicken..... long queue wif variety of races- indians, malays, chinese n angmohs all lining up patiently to get their hands on the biryani
Just had Hamid's briyani for lunch. The prices have increased - $3 for mutton and $3.50 for chicken.
Still the best briyani around so the price increase is justifiably insignificant.
hi I tried this and it is very good as everyone says. However I didn't get a thigh piece -- I got a wing piece that has a bit of breast meat -- do I have to request to get thigh meat? *unsure*
Hi Les,
Tried a briyani stall at a little coffeeshop next to Tanglin Halt FC.
Joined the queue that snaked about 30 people and I'd comment that it's a worthwhile wait.
The portions and quality of the mutton and chicken were slightly bigger and better than Hamids.
Tastewise, i'd rate it as one of the better briyani's around.
damien, the coffee shop is at blk 49 next to the NEW hawker centre the briyani is only available on Fri and weekends only.
ieat, please note if you plan to go. Went there once on a Tues and was disappointed. Yet to visit again.
BTW there is a good shredded braised duck meat noodle (no rice)stall in the hawker centre. Sorry did not note the name of the stall.
wow .. i stumble across ieatipost blog .. will head down with the husband once he touchdown sg in the morning ..
I went there yesterday with my family to see how the food tasted. Being a biryani purist, I wouldn't give it that name. It is a typical Singaporean dish called biryani, but nothing like what you get in India (or my house).
It is value for money, but doesn't taste any different from other biryanis here.
I just had the Chicken Briyani forlunch; was trying not to keep my expectations too high and yet it seems to be more like Chicken 'Blandni' for me. The dhal based curry tasted bland, the chicken tasted like it was pre-boiled and then cooked. I ordered the lamb as a side dish, unfortunately it tasted 'weak' too in terms of flavour. I still think Allaudin is a better representative of good tasting briyani.
Nevertheless, keep up the good work!
Hey i have a recommendation. Do try the naan at Khansama Tandoori Restaurant http://www.khansama.net/
eat it plain and hot, or with mutton curry. I tried it once and wanting to go back there, it's located Little India.
The briyani mutton was simply heaven, finish it in 5min time...
just had it again today...oooo for $3, still the best mutton briyani...
Couldn't wait to try it out.
Had the ayam briyani on several occasion this year because of the recommendation. It was ok, but it certainly lack the omph punching factor in flavor. I think today will be the last time i'm going back, as the price escalated to $4 chicken briyani and $3.50 for mutton briyani. I seriously think it was over rated.
As soon as I read this blog, my wife and I immediately headed to this stall (we're just 10mins walk away), but we forgot it was just the end of hari raya puasa. having waited for almost 2 weeks I finally got the chance. my wife is not a solid fan of briyani rice because the first time she tasted it she got the spiciest kind! from then on she ticked it off her list. I, on the other hand, don't quite settle on any conclusion until i really get that certain kind of "oomphh!" in anything i lay my hands, or on this case, my mouth on. I have grown to love this blog, learned a number of good discoveries and this one is absolutely one of them! It's got that "oomphh!" that you rarely get, not to mention the price and the melt-in-your-mouth mutton and the wonderful rice and the yummy-yummy gravy, and most of all it got my wife's confidence with briyani again! This will definitely be on our comfort foods list. thanks a bunch!
Thanks for that update! Good to know that you and your wife like it and that Hamid's is still dishing out great briyani. Hmmm, maybe time for revisit.
You should also join our forum and recommend some of your fav places!
Ate at the stall this morning. They only had fried chicken when I went. The rice was not good quality rice. The chicken was hard and dry outside. Inside was dry and tasteless. Now it is $4.00 for the chicken meal. Will try the other two stalls next time. There's a yellow signboard one that they said is similar to this green signboard one in taste. The other one, the red signboard one was the one the cheng tng seller told me to try. He said the rice is of better quality and it's a dryer version.
Anyway,thanks for all your recommendations Doctor Leslie. Lovely blog you've put up. Cheers.
Hi Dr, thr one bryani stall at eunos hawker cetre, mami midah's, wch I thnk tasted everybit like pak hamid's. Maybe u shud try for urself and judge if they matched. Bon Appetite...
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