British Hainan Joo Chiat: Quirky Restaurant for Hainanese Western Food

British Hainan Joo Chiat is a unique restaurant along Carpmael Road. Visiting this Hainanese-Western restaurant is potentially a treat both for your taste-buds as well as your eyes.

British Hainan Joo Chiat @ Carpmael Road

This is a restaurant which will surely provoke a reaction from visitors. They will either love it or leave it. From the moment you enter, there are ceramic sculptures of all kinds. Bull horns, stuffed birds and even a slot machine (non-functioning, I suppose). Some may find the atmosphere too confusing and loud. I found it to be interesting. Nice to while away time by viewing the objects while waiting for food to arrive.

Wandering deeper into the restaurant, we find a couple of dining rooms with diverse collectibles on display. The rooms have China-themed and porcelain collections of objects. From some angles, the rooms look like dining in a residential home (of a fervent collector). No wonder the door at the entrance says ” Welcome Home”!

British Hainan Joo Chiat is one of three British Hainan outlets in Singapore. The other two are in Kallang Way and Purvis Street. You can read more about the restaurant in our 2020 post : British Hainan – good affordable comfort food.

A Working CD Jukebox

A working jukebox which has a mechanical CD selector takes price of place in the restaurant.

British Hainan Joo Chiat Menu

The British Hainan Joo Chiat is big and full of pictures. It is easy to see what food is available at the restaurant. Here are some sample pictures of the menu. I believe the signature dishes are the traditional Hainanese oxtail stew and Hainanese pork chop.

Hainanese Western Food

What is Hainanese Western food? It is western cuisine cooked and interpreted by Hainanese chefs. Other examples of restaurants serving such food are Shashlik and Hainan Story. British Hainan restaurant has this description on its website: “In the past, our grandfather, like many of the Hainanese forefathers, worked on board British ships. Along the way, they honed their culinary skills and served up dishes like the Oxtail Stew.”

Lunch at British Hainan Carpmael Road

We had quite a diverse spread of food at British Hainan. Here is a quick run through of what we ate and what I think of them, as far as I can remember.

Appetisers: Prawn Cakes and Ngoh Hiang

Both appetisers Prawn Cakes ($13) and Ngoh Hiang ($14) were ok but not very memorable. The surprise winner for this category were the bread and curry gravy (right picture below). I believe these were complimentary snacks to keep us occupied while the dishes were prepared. The chicken curry was amazingly fragrant and good.

British Hainan Joo Chiat – Meat Dishes

I believe that the heavy meat dishes is the category where British Hainan really shines. The first two meat dishes have two things in common – very well cooked meat that easily slips off the bone and a robust dark brown gravy.

The result was that the braised lamb shank ($32.90) and the oxtail stew ($32.90) were thoroughly enjoyed.

BH’s Baby back ribs (picture below $29.90) also had the soft, fall off the bone quality. Together with the good seasoning, this was a finger-licking good dish.

Lighter Dishes

There were a few dishes that were not as heavy as the meat items. We had high expectations of the Hainanese pork chop (picture below, $16.90). It was a good all rounder with nice pork and gravy, but the taste was not as impressive as we anticipated.

A pleasant surprise arrived in the form of the beef noodles (picture below). The lightly coloured soup and contents of the dish was rich and complex in its flavours. This is a must order dish on a future visit to the restaurant.

Desserts

Our meal ended with an assortment of cakes and brownies. They have cakes with local flavours such as ondeh ondeh cake and orh nee cake. These brought our meal to a simple sweet ending.

Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 3
Value: 3
Atmosphere: 4
Overall Rating: 4 TOPs 

British Hainan Joo Chiat Outlet
75 Carpmael Road
Singapore 429812

Tel: +65 63368122
WhatsApp: +65 96338122

Opening Hours:
Lunch: 11am – 3pm
Dinner: 6pm – 9.30pm
Closed on Tuesdays

Website

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The Ordinary Patrons | Real Dining Experience of Ordinary People
an independent Singapore food blog