I asked the Northerly winds, I asked a university professor, I asked several taxi drivers and I asked my friend Abbas: Where can I fulfill my wish of eating good ‘nihari’ in Singapore?
Everyone said ‘go east go west, Usman is the best‘.
By Usman they all meant Usman restaurant. When I asked for its specific location between the East and the West, I was told that to get there I will need to take an epic journey of several ‘kos‘ (an old Indian unit of distance equal to 3.6 km) and reach a place called Kampong Glam. There I should look for a noorani buzurg – or actually any buzurg (old wise man) will do. Ask him about a road called Basra Street (spelled as Bussorah in Singapore). After I reach Basra street, I should look for a place which belongs to Usman and is therefore called Usman’s Place. That is where my wish will come true. So I took all these steps. The epic journey of several kos got traversed in few minutes in moderan day transport and road signs were very visible which made the utility of old wise men telling directions to all those who were not lost to begin with quite redundant.
OK. so this place Usman Place serves all the traditional Pakistani dishes ranging from halwa puri (sundays only) to nihari to chapli kabab to Lahori chargha etc etc. You also have the luxury of ordering food in English as well as Urdu. I think – kiyoon ke kuch shak saa dil mein hai par gaya - that ordering food in Punjabi will work too but I have not tried it yet. The image to the right shows some authentic Pakistani dishes on menu. Once you see ‘shami kabab‘ on the menu then it doesn’t get more authentic than that.
Halwa Puri in this place comes with decent size puris and with ‘achari aalo’ (pickled potato curry) and ‘channe’ (chick peas curry). I can say for sure because so far I’ve ordered it two times and I am happy to say that quality remained consistent on both occasions. ‘halwa’ which is made from ‘suji’ can do better with some improvement here and there but overall it is fine. My friend Abbas claims that halwa here has improved because of his personal help to the cook – I don’t know for sure. wallah-aalam bis-sawaab?
And of-course we ordered nihari too, which came out fine. My gauge of authenticity of Pakistani food is ‘nihari‘ because you won’t find it in restaurants claiming to be generally ‘desi’ or South Asian plus one needs certain skill to get it right. Once I see it on the menu, all other dishes go in the back ground. You can see the photo of nihari served here in the title photo of this post.
Following images from the menu book ‘pukar pukar kar’ (saying out loud) declare the authenticity of the dishes.
Some day I’ll try other dishes on Usman’s menu too but for now I am reporting it as a place where you can go if you are looking for Pakistani food in Singapore. Following is the photo of seating decor here which of course makes the whole experience more pleasant.
Also see: Nihari in Karachi; Nihari… Passions and Traditions and daal roti in Taiwan
Naan Haleem. You are correct about the other branch in Little India area.
I also agree that naan haleem is hard to find in Singapore – may be because ‘is mein paRti hai mehant ziyaada’. Not easy to do haleem’s ghota for several hours.
nihari was also supposed to be an all-nighter cooking dish but modern day techniques (read short-cuts) have made every body produce some kinds of curry and call it nihari.
There is another Usman Restaurant on Serangoon Road near famous Mustafa Center in Little India. I am not sure whether the owner of both the restaurants is the same but this one too is proudly Pakistani restaurant among a crowd of Indian and Bangladeshi cuisine.
I visited Singapore in 2007 as a student presenter in a conference. I tried several places during my week long stay but was disappointed a bit with Usman Restaurant on account of cleanliness and pricing. Certainly, Indian and Malay competitors were offering cheaper food with similar taste and in much cleaner environment.
Usman Place is in tourist area of Bugis famous for Arab street shops & Cafe, Masjid Sultan and Malay Cultural Center. Could not find any Pakistani restaurant in commercial districts of Orchard Road and Dhoby Ghaut or at most popular tourist attraction Boat Quay near the financial hub of the city.
Could not find a taste of myself anywhere, i.e. Naan Haleem :P
If I am visiting Singapore, why will I want to eat Nihari and not the other great local dishes.
Yes, Nihari is always a good test of ‘desi-ness’ or ‘Pakistani-ness’ in food :-)
I went to singapore in july but couldn’t make it to this place.will make sure to get there at any cost.great place this singapore and the fact that u can find halal food very easily makes it even more compelling.great post on a great blog.Well done mate.
Call me a Nihari fundamentalist if you want, but Nihari shoudl be eaten ONLY in Karachi. Nowhere else!
Very nice and very funny.
I am also looking for the noorani buzurg who will tell me the road to a good Nihari.
Headline parh kay he mazza aa gaya!
- Not-the-same-usman :-)