Singapore Zam Zam Restaurant

briyani here is so-so, it's the murtabak that's delicious

the chicken murtabak uses large pieces of moist chicken leg, not the scrappy shreds in most neighbuorhood stalls

dough is soft and chewy

the yellow semolina dessert sold in small plastic bowls at the cashier is inconsistent though. once i had one that went sour.

nonetheless, a must-try heritage place.

I had the chicken briyani which was rather run of the mill.

However, the chicken murtabak that my friend ordered was great - I had never tasted such deliciouys murtabak - unlike many establishments, the dough was firm, not soggy, the egg thick and fragrant, and chicken chunks were generous and not overpowered by too much spices or onions.

I also ordered a chicken masala on the side, but found it wanting.

I will definitely go back for the chicken murtabak if they can keep up this consistent quality. :)

Chicken murtabak + Chicken briyani + chicken masala + 2 drinks = $15.40 and 2 very full men.

Hell yeah! This is what I call a place to get a good Murtabak. They've got it right here. I don't know how to explain this place in words. It belongs on one of Anthony Bourdain's shows.

A friend was back in town from Down Under for a short while and wanted to visit Zam Zam which she had missed for the past 3 years. Its my first trip there, and i took the reviews on this site with a pinch of salt (pun intended). Unfortuntely for me, the esteemed foodies here were mostly right, in that the very liberal use of salt/MSG spoiled the flavour of the food. 1 big chicken and 1 big mutton murtabak to share amongst 3, together with bee hoon goreng, 1 hot teh tarik and 1 iced teh tarik.

Chicken murtabak was average but the mutton was pretty good. The bee hoon goreng though - whether it was the mutton or whether the bee hoon really was tasteless, i guess i shall never know. I was the 1 who did not order a drink and within 10 mins of stepping out of the place, i felt as if i had walked through a desert without any water. Is the price of MSG going the way of our stock market for the past few months? There probably was enough MSG there to last me a month! Nice old-style feel but i probably will just stick to Jalan Kayu if i want my murtabak fix - nearer and cheaper.

it was highly recommended by my colleague and we finally made our way down during lunch. It was fairly crowded and this further built upon my anticipation. Long Q must be good, singaporean mentality. haha

ordered chicken murtabak, and bryani and iced teh tarik. I must say the chicken murtabak is huge and tasty. worth the bucks.

the highlight of the restaurant was the bryani which I was pretty disappointed with. I dunno, but isn't bryani supposed to looke yellow and taste flavorfully greasy? but it wasn't. the rice was dry and tasteless and the color was pale. maybe a different type of bryani?but still, the taste wasn't there. I had to drown the rice with curry sauce..btw, pls order their fish curry, the other curries are also tasteless.

I expected the curry to be spicy but it wasn't. Bland and not spicy is the worst combination ever.

the simplest dish - teh tarik... was nothing comparable to the coffeeshop near my house. it was diluted and the tea taste was absent. isn't indian teh tarik supposed to be the best?!

I'll go for tekka market indian food anytime.

This is a place with a history that is older than this nation, so I shall concede to the assumption that the 100 year old establishment definitely knows a great deal about their murtabaks and briyanis than most others. Of which the former, I've personally found to be one of the better, if not best that I've had. The crowd as I was expecting, was nothing short of vibrant. I certainly have no memories of having eating here before. I might have had take aways. But it's as good as a clean slate for me since any previous recollections do not take root.

The noteable trait about Zam Zam's murtabak is the additional layer of prata that's folded over an inner layer. The external piece is coated on the top with egg and blanketed with a generous topping of ground mutton and fried to a crisp, giving it the granular texture. So in effect the murtabak is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The onions were lightly cooked to the point where there was still a light crunch instead of being soggy or overly raw. Fillings were also in a good area between being too loose and some very compact omelete type. In short, there's a good moderation that must have appealed to the masses.

I managed 2 murtabaks for sharing and between the beef and the mutton, the latter is definitely the superior in terms of taste due to the stronger aroma of the ground mutton. The curry wasn't really spicy and was more dominantly saltish. In fact, I thought that it was a little flat. The fried chicken on the side wasn't even dignified with a heat up.

And the service in here could get a little curt.

click : pics : here

i read about this place on the newspapers.
100year history.
wow.
located at a historic setting along kampong glam area. nice place to go, bring tourists from overseas. see the packed tiny streets of old singapore.
but the food ah...
many people fighting for seats.
my friend & i managed to get a seat in the air-con comfort of upstairs (crowded so must share table). waited quite a long while for order. apparently, not all staff are authorised to take order.
we ordered mutton murtabak small, chicken briyani & 2 ice teh tarik.
the food arrived quite quickly. the briyani was nice but the accompanying curry - wah, so salty! i think the curry used the cook the chicken is tastier than the accompanying curry they provided.
the mutton murtabak was a let down. so tough. it was as if it had been sitting on the counter for some time. couldn't really taste the meat / egg although the onions were sweet & gave the murtabak texture.
the teh tarik took forever to come. they mixed up our orders with the couple beside us. then later they simply never brought the drinks. then afterwards, they just brought 1 drink but there was 2 of us. then after much reminder, the 2nd drink arrived.
my friend & i didnt understand the draw of this place except that it was old & traditional. food so-so only.
price was Ok though. $9.90 for the murtabak, briyani & 2 teh tarik. can go again lah, but not purposely go there.

This place reeks of people even at non-meal hours. I had the first hand experience recently when I visited the place. The setting is a hawker-like environment with air conditioned on the second floor.

Despite already having lunch, I had heard so much about Zam Zam that I went there for a second round at about 3pm, ordering the Mutton Dum Bryani (which I also had for lunch about an hour earlier) and the Chicken Liver.

The chicken liver never arrived, which was probably a good thing since I was quite stuffed after consuming the Mutton Bryani,which I found to be rather normal.

In conclusion, I left the restaurant without still understanding what the hype is all about.

Reading all the reviews here and else where, I thought I would give the Chicken Murtabak here a try. Unfortunately it was a bit of a disappointment. Maybe its was just on a busy Sunday afternoon and they were too busy. The murtabak was very average, not any better or worse than what you get in a standard roti prata shop. I suspect it was down to them pre-cooking the murtabak as mine arrived in less than 5 minutes which means it must have been pre-prepared.

The chicken murtabak here is just out of this world! On a scale of 1-10, I'd rate it 11 ... haha!! Yes, it's that good. The chicken is folded into the murtabak, bones and all, and the soft chicken fits in beautifully with the crispy murtabak. Awesome. You can understand why this shop is almost 100y old.

I've tried the mutton murtabak. Not bad, but can't compare to the chicken. The bandung here is pretty good too - milky & sweet. And the prices are so low, it's incredible.

I've eaten at Zam Zam several times, and my only quibbles are:
1. Consistency - sometimes can be uneven, with my murtabak being merely average on one occasion (new cook perhaps?) and on another occasion, the bandung being distinctly not milky enough. No milk, sugar, fat... wah low, what's the point right?! :)
2. They open the aircon room upstairs only after around 11.30 am. But yet the crowd starts coming in around noon. So the best time is betw 11.30 am and noon. Too early, no aircon. Too late, too many people!
3. Parking can be quite difficult along the Arab St parallel parking. Just park at Golden Landmk and walk over.

A UK Indian friend of mine has never tried murtabak in his life before (he grew up in the UK). After one meal at Zam Zam, he was back the very next day for more! His exact description of the chicken murtabak was "ambrosia".