Noor Jannah's Kitchen: Get ready for a Prata BOMB!
There are updates at the end of the Blog
Raisin Boom: $2 Raisin Boom plus Kopi or Teh set: $2.50
OK, get ready for the next revolution in Roti Prata, or should I say Roti Canai?
Ever wondered if there is any difference between Roti Prata and Roti Canai? Most people would say that Prata is just the Singapore name for what the Malaysians call Roti Canai. Or is it?
It has been a while since I have been to Malaysia, but I remember that most of the Roti Canai I had there was the soft and fluffy type whereas in Singapore, the Schizophrenic Prata seems to come in many guises. The Roti Canai is actually supposed to be different from the Roti Prata in that the cooking process is slower and more laborious. In Singapore, where everyone is always in a hurry, the prata is cooked quickly by using lots of oil. In Malaysia, where people know how to be a bit more laid back and enjoy life, they make their Canai thick and fluffy and toast it over a slow fire with very little oil, then serve it with sambal and curry. The result is a pastry with a lighter and more chewy texture.
Since we are celebrating National Day this week, I really should not be saying this; but when it comes to Roti Canai, Malaysia really Boleh. So how? Does that mean that we can never enjoy a good Roti Canai in Singapore? Of couse not. If Malaysia Boleh, then Singapore lagi Boleh. We boleh hire the Malaysians to come make Roti Canai for us here in Singapore.
Cheese Double Bomb: $3.50
This stall did precisely that. They hired a guy who had just returned from making Roti Canai in Brunei and he brought with him the idea of the Prata Bomb which is currently the craze in Malaysia and Brunei. I was told that the Malay version of the dough is different from the Indian version. The dough is made with extra ingredients such as sugar, condensed milk and eggs so that it is more shiok.
Clockwise: The making of Prata Bomb
The Prata Bomb is essentially a dessert Prata which is something like a Snail Pastry. It's got margarine and sugar in between layers of prata dough and made to be thick and fluffy. The original Bomb sold in Brunei where this Prata man honed his skills had only margarine and sugar. We wanted to experiment with a few variations on this, so we tried raisins, cheese and cinnamon sugar. (Have to be better than Malaysia hor?)
We all loved the Raisin Bomb and the Cheese Bomb. The Cinnamon Bomb still needed a bit of tweaking. The wonderful thing about the Bomb is that it is really nice and crispy on the outside and buttery and fluffy within. It might be the same ingredients as the paper thin Tissue Prata, but you will be amazed at how the different way of preparing the dough really transformed the taste of it. You might find this wierd, but it goes really well with curry and I personally found it very shiok with a cup of Teh Tarik. 4.5/5
By the way, if you really want to eat a Roti Canai, you can ask specifically for "Roti Canai". The curry here is very shiok and they also serve the Roti with a delicious Sambal Tumis. The roti is nice, fluffy and not oily, but you will have to wait a bit longer for it. 4.5/5
This new stall in Bedok has several other items that are quite unique. One is the Soup Kambing Lontong which is quite popular in JB but difficult to find in Singapore. The soup is not thickened with cornflour so it is quite light but the flavour of the soup is still robust and uncompromised. You can have it with pressed rice, noodles or bee hoon. One of the best Kambing Soup I have had for a while and it does not make you feel jerlak afterwards. 4.5/5
The satay is the reason that I discovered this eatery in the first place. I have been pushing my friend Sha, who is the supplier of Power Chicken Satay to open a stall in the East and he eventually managed set it up here. The Power Chicken Satay has already been reviewed in a previous blog so I don't need to talk about it much except to let you know that you don't have to travel all the way to the West to try this now.
Conclusion
If this is so popular in Malaysia, it should soon take Singapore by storm just as Roti Boy did. It's been said before that the Prata is our answer to the Croissant. I didn't think it was that similar until now. With the Prata Bomb, we really have something that is comparable to a Croissant! Really Must Try don't you think?
Noor Jannah's Kitchen
Jalan Masjid
Update: 9 August 2007
Just found out that the Malaysian man who specializes in the Prata Bomb had to rush back to Malaysia because his wife became very sick. They have others doing the Bomb at the moment but I can only vouch for the Bombs produced by this guy. If you have been there recently, please let us know if the Bomb was alright.
Update: 9 Sep 2007
The stall has relocated to Bedok South Blk 18 after fighting a losing battle against the authorities who refused to allow them to BBQ the satay outside. The new address and opening times are updated on the blog. Now that they are able to pangang the satay properly, I hope that they can maintain the standards of the satay.
Update: 2 Mar 2008
The stall has relocated to Jalan Masjid in Kembangan and their new premises start operation this month. I haven't gone down to check them out yet. Will update later.
Update: 15 Jul 2008
Unfortunately they no longer do the Prata Bomb!
37 comments:
Parotha in India is rather different from Roti Prata here - although one can see how Prata here originated from authentic Indian Parotha, which is more chappati-like to me but with some layering.
Roti Canai is something rather more Brunei/Malaysian. If you think the Malaysian one is nice and fluffy etc, the Bruneian one is similar but even better - more fluffy etc. The best Canai I have had is in Brunei and this is not one shop - it is consistently good in Brunei, and it is something I long for when I visit Brunei (have not done so for many years, but I used to go every month. YUMM...
MY OWN RATINGS/PREFERENCES
Bruneian Canai 10/10
Malaysian Canai 9/10
Indian Parotha 9/10 (v different)
Singapore Prata 5/10 (have tried many but have not found one decent one yet - more or less given up)
'Canai' is a distortion of the name, Chennai (or Madras), of which the roti is named after. Of course, in Chennai, the roti is called the 'parotha'. So, they both refer to one and the same thing. =D
Roti Canai (Chennai) = Parotha (Roti Prata)
I should also add that the parotha is a culutral import from Tamil Nadu (of which Chennai is the capital), brought by Indian labourers working in Malaya. Over time, it has been assimilated into the culinary traditions of Singapore and Malaysia.
The cheese bomb sure sound nice. Going to try that soon. :D
Guess I need to move to the east... :(
Better late than never!More good makan in the East.
wats up with the 'malaysia boleh, singapore lagi boleh' and 'hire the malaysians to come make Roti Canai' and the 'have to be better than Malaysia hor?'
that is nationalism at its worst man.
Lighten up and use a pen name. Its all in jest.
Oh wow look at da Cheese Double Bomb! I know what to eat for National Day breakfast now! Made-by-Malaysian roti canai! :P
Erm, I went there this morning. Was very confounded by an "Alina's Kitchen" which was the only eatery at Blk 73. No Noor Jannah Kitchen.
Yes, there was some power satay listed there by some catering company but no roti canai (only regular prata) and no cheese/raisin bomb stuff.
One table was eating prata but it looked ordinary. I thought I had gotten the address wrong. We did not have good vibes about the dingy and near-deserted shop (they didn't seem keen to serve us either), so we left.
But I looked at the shop's picture here again - gosh it is the place! So who is Noor Jannah? Is her kitchen hidden deeper inside?
Sorry, should have made it clear. They have just taken over the coffeeshop and they have not changed the sign yet. It is still known as Alina's Kitchen
hmm just went there today...found the bomb very oily and overly sweet...didnt think it goes well with the curry at all..imagine sweet raisins in the curry..and they got my order wrong twice..so that was quite disappointing..but the prata there is quite decent i must say..not fantastic..but above average...do inform us when the malaysian comes back leslie..thanks!~
Went there on the same day this was posted,like Camemberu, I thought it was the wrong place. Confirmed from photo of shop front(thanks ieat) and menu for roti bomb that it is correct place. have the cheese and planta take away, though it had soften, it was still delicious esp with the curry. The satay was run of the mill as they had just switched to electric grill. The meat was half cooked when I bit into it. (Visual check too). Mutton soup was too oily, put it into the fridge and skim off the fat and reheat the next day but the meat was still not tender enough. (ordered the kaki). Taste unlike Abdul Razak's at Up Boon Keng but my kid prefer it for its "lamby" taste.
I visited them this morning to see what the situation is like. They are a moma papa business so they don't have the capability to overcome contingencies. The prata man said he should be back after 3 days. His wife is in a coma at the moment as she had a brain tumour. The Pak Chik can make Prata Bomb but when I was there he was still learning so his was not so shiok. However, I have heard that some people like Zhouzi and others have tried it and found that it was good. Unfortunately, somebody complained about the smoke when they were BBQing the Satay outside so they had to shift inside and now they have to use an electric stove.
Please give these little shop some time to get their act together. I am trying to get them to at least display properly that they are serving the Prata Bomb and also to change their signage. The previous owner had objected to them removing the existing one! Not easy to run a small business, but I am sure when they get it all together that they will be very popular around the area.
OMG, i stay like 3mins walk from this place... but have not tired their prata stuff after the 'handover'... will do soon and update.
Was there this evening (Sat) at 7.15pm. I was the only customer there, yet it took them some time to serve the food. The prata bomb sifu is still on leave, so tried the soup kambing lontong instead. It was quite tasty but felt it was a bit ex at $4. The power chicken satay was not available, so tried the "normal" satay instead. Verdict: all 3 meat types CMI, with the beef satay the most forgettable, followed by mutton and chicken. Yup, they really do need to improve their signage; if I haven't read Leslie's blog, won't have known that the soup kambing lontong was available as it's not stated anywhere. The prata menu signage is way too obscure.
Looks like they still need some time to settle down and get their act together...
Hi Anonymous,
Don't you think that $4 for Soup Kambing Lontong of that quality very reasonable?! I tried it before and it was great! Yep, agree that they should improve their signage.
Cheers!
Went there on 9 Aug around 11pm so I'm not sure if the bomb chef is still around. But the bomb we ordered tasted really good! It wasn't oily and it was crispy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside - just like what it was described. It goes well with the curry, which wasn't too saltish or spicy. I still like it on its own though.
We've always preferred chinese-styled chicken satay (especially the ones from Lin Yuan @ 85 Market) so not exactly raving about their chicken satays here. We felt it was a little mushy. (Perhaps because it was cooked over an electric grill instead?) But the meat was quite tender. The power satays were out of stock.
I thought they should improve on their waiting time. But we'll definitely come back for more bomb! =)
Hi there,
so surprised to see u at the prata shop today. and only did i realise ur clinic is so so near my place. haha tried the cheese bomb and raisin bomb and also teh tarik. personally i like the raisin bomb better my boy like the cheese bomb. they are very generous with the cheese and raisins and nt too oily. juz find the dough of the cheese bomb nt well cooked. abit powdery. teh tarik no complaints juz abit sweet but strong aroma.
overall i will give it a 4.5/5 haha will definitely visit again. and the lady boss told me that i can actually mix the bomb raisin and cheese... yummy yum yum
Great to see you guys last night! I went to get my Raisin bomb fix and also to see if Pak Chik can do the Raisin bomb as well as the Malaysian guy. Overall I think he is 90% there. My Raisin and Cheese bombs were very good. Happy with it. They are still having issues with the Satay though. They have switched back to charcoal but placed it at the entrance of the stall which is very smoky. I don't think it will be there for long. And the extra big Chicken Power Satay is not available.
How to order? Can mention 'Bomb' and not get into trouble? Haha
soup kambing lontong??? Mine must have dissolved into the soup! :(
Anyway, will be going down soon to check out the pak chik made bombs and see the different. Of course the power chicken satay too. If it is still not there, ieat should suggest they remove from menu as I went there to check the power satay out in the first place. Happily the bombs did not "bombed". ;)
Just went there yesterday. YES, the prata menu is really hard to spot. Wondered if it was the right place.
The prata menu was hiding on the wall of the cashier counter.... has to "skim and scan" the menu for the word "BOMB".
The "Bomb Prata" was smaller then what I expected. Need to 2/3 to fill your stomach. But at least you got space to try other food. Very nice, reminds me of a cinnamon roll though.
The satay(normal) has to improve. Taste is good but the inside not fully cooked for a few sticks. But I liked the heavy "sticky-feel" peanut sause.
To my surprise, their teh-tarik is quite good. Suits my tastebuds.
Hahahaha, smart, that is very funny. Maybe you can say BOMB once and get away with it but not twice?
Incidentally, when I was there on 9 Aug, the pakcik told us that the prata dude was not around cos he had gone to the shops nearby.
Hope his wife is OK...
the teh tarik n prata was ok, normal. was dissappointed with the power satay, too sweet and oily, how manykilos of sugar is used? i wonder and the so oily, tot tis power satay is supposed to be oil-free.. found out from a staff there that the power satay is home made thats why supply not consistent.. thought dr leslie claim his friend sha has a factory? (whats up Doc?) onli can guess this sha is a N.A.T.O. soldier
The stall is undergoing a bit of a revamp at the moment. They will be moving to another location next week. Basically, the authorities will not let them grill the satay outside, so they have to grill it in doors using a electric grill.
I stand by the power satay. It is anytime better then 90 per cent of the satays out there. I have eaten it on many occasions and I know that if done right they are fantastic.
Wait for my update as to where the stall is relocating to.
Was there last week, tried the bomb and the banana prata. Both were good(it was done by da bomb dude). Enquire about the power satay. Seem that the police not NEA who bar them from using charcoal grill.
Lady boss show me letter from Bedok Police station. ;)
other satays like harun and sudi mampir are better den tis satay power.... i hv tried all...... wen a customer goes there to eat, v expect the same standard all the time, y is tis satay power not consistent? like tat no more power la, should call it LAME SATAY. harun n others always maintain their standards 24/7
Just updated the blog. They have shifted to Blk 18 Bedok South Road, in KK18 coffeeshop ie the one further away from Temasek JC. Hopefully, now that they can properly BBQ the satay that the standards will improve. Honestly, I just ate at Haron not long ago and I still prefer satay power when it is done properly, because it is bigger and juicier.
mayb for dr leslie then the satay is done properly, guess wat the blogger rozy meant is tat it should be done properly for all customers not just a selected few
Just been there today (19 Oct) but it was closed, i think for hari raya but dont know until when, so tried the e blackboard burger instead..
I went down once last week, to my disappointment it was closed. So i decide to try my luck again yesterday 02 Mar08. To my surprise the stall was demolished. Left with only heap of broken bricks on the floor. Not sure if it had shifted, or renovation. Cross fingers!
Sorry, Noor Jannah has moved to Jalan Masjid. They just opened this month in new premises. I will update details later in the month
yo, just to let u know it's been reviewed by another blog and it's a fairly postive one :) looks like the standard hasn't fallen since they moved to the new premises.
- p.
got link ma?
Anybody knows if they are still at Jalan Masjid ?
Yes they are but last time I checked the prata man went back to Malaysia for good
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