Hawker stall The Ceylonese Affair at Queenstown serves Sri Lankan biryani for the local palate

You might have seen The Ceylonese Affair making the rounds on social media for its Sri Lankan biryani bowls — rice drenched in a deep orange curry and piled generously with shallots and meats.

It currently calls Mei Ling Market & Food Centre in Queenstown home, but The Ceylonese Affair has been around long before that. 

It only opened at Mei Ling Market & Food Centre about a year ago, while adapting its menu to more hawker-friendly prices. 

It was initially located at Shaw Towers from 2016 to 2020 at a kopitiam, before becoming a home-based business after the building closed for redevelopment.

When it moved to its brick-and-mortar format, the chef chose to revive the business as a hawker stall — a move that he had wanted for a while, to make his food more accessible and convenient for customers.

He declined to be named for privacy reasons.

While it’s always been well-loved by regulars, its popularity has since exploded after it gained traction online, and now draws queues of up to 45 minutes.

There’s a chance you might leave without getting any if the food has sold out for the day. If you don’t want to make a wasted trip, it’s best to head down earlier, before the lunch crowd.

Bring on the biryanis

The biryanis here are adapted for the local palate. You won’t find the rice slicked with a layer of curry oil at the end — it’s kept white and light, so you don’t have that overly greasy finish.

Here’s something particularly unique: The team also cooks the rice with ingredients such as raisins and cardamom, so the biryani retains its flavour, but takes them out before serving — kind for those who — like me — aren’t fans of biting into them.

The generous amount of fried shallots goes a long way for the dishes, adding crunch to every mouthful. 

The masala is generously ladled over the meat, so you get a good amount of that savoury, spice-laden curry with the rice. We loved how it soaked into the meats, too, giving the proteins plenty of flavour.

We must give a shout-out to the achar (S$1). It is particularly well made, with a tangy, punchy flavour that helps cut through the richness of each dish.

The sambal brinjal (S$1.80) is also worth getting as a top-up. The eggplant is silky, coated generously in a thick sambal that’s got a good balance of heat and sweetness. It works well together with a spoon of rice and meat.

When we spoke to the chef, he said that the popular fried chicken briyani (S$7.50) takes a lot of work to prepare. 

The chicken is first brined and kept in the fridge for four to six hours, before being left to marinate overnight. The next day, it is boiled before being fried, making it a two-day process that only gets served to customers on the third day.

All that preparation pays off in the well-seasoned and tender chicken.

The mutton masala (S$9.50) comes with chunks of mutton that have been cooked until soft, so you really don’t get the tougher, chewy texture that can sometimes come with the meat. 

Then, there’s the beef masala (S$8.50), which comes with similarly tender chunks of beef, and pulls apart easily with a spoon.

The choice of biryani depends on your preferred filling, and there are nine choices to choose from — including chicken, beef, mutton, fish, egg, tofu, and more.

When we last spoke to the team, they were also looking at adding more items to the menu for vegetarian folks — including a mock mutton masala made with soy and a pomelo tomato curry masala.

All things appam

Outside of its biryani offerings, there’re also some appam options — a thin, lacy South Indian pancake — on the menu. It is something the older generation tends to be more familiar with, the chef says.

The appams here are made with batter that has to be fermented overnight, which is why once they’re gone for the day, they’re gone — they can’t be made on the spot quickly to meet the day’s demand.

The egg appam (S$2.50) is a fairly classic one, with an egg cooked right in the middle of the soft, slightly chewy pancake. 

The edges are thinner and crispier, giving a nice contrast in texture as you work your way towards the centre.

If you like a bit more heat, the egg pepper with cheeni sambal (S$3.50) would be the pick. 

The egg is paired with a generous sprinkling of pepper and some cheeni sambal on the side. We loved the cheeni sambal — a Sri Lankan sambal that brought a tangy, sweet-spicy kick to an otherwise mild appam.

For more ideas on what to eat in the area, read on Sabana Coffeehouse’s kopis at Mei Ling Food Centre and Sin & Savage Bakehouse located under a HDB block.