Wild Coco’s new Jewel Changi Airport flagship outlet serves exclusives — from ayam bakar nasi lemak to colourful kueh pie tee

Coffeeshop roots to an airport address

Wild Coco started when founder Wayne Tan opened the brand as a stall in a McNair Road coffeeshop in February 2022. Over the years, the brand opened other outlets — indoors and air-conditioned — at Hamilton Road, Boat Quay, and McCallum Street.

The aim was to serve familiar local food in more comfortable surroundings. The rice is cooked with fresh coconut milk, the sambal is made in-house, and the menu now runs to more than 10 nasi lemak variations, including ayam berempah (Malay fried chicken), beef rendang (slow-cooked Indonesian dry beef dish) and sambal sotong (squid cooked in a spice paste).

At Jewel Changi Airport, the menu also features dishes from Laksa Labo, Wild Coco’s sister concept. Its laksa is based on a heritage recipe dating back to the 1960s, developed by Wayne with a veteran hawker.

It comes in four versions, starting from S$10.90 for the classic laksa and going up to S$20.90 for the seafood laksa with tiger prawns, scallops, and Pacific clams.

A taste of the flagship exclusives

At Jewel Changi Airport, though, it’s the dishes you can’t find at Hamilton Road or McCallum Street that deserve your attention first.

We started with the kueh pie tee (S$18.90), one of this outlet’s exclusives. The usual golden cups are swapped for shells tinted with spinach and beetroot, so they arrive in alternating green and pink on a bed of crispy rice puffs.

The filling sticks closer to tradition, with slow-braised turnip, soft and gently sweet from its long cook, topped with fresh prawn. As with all kueh pie tees, be sure to pop these in your mouth quickly before they get soggy.

Fortunately for us, even after snapping some photos, the shells stayed crisp and crackled nicely in one bite. The spinach and beetroot flavours went unnoticed, but we appreciated how pretty the cups looked.

The Squid Bloom (S$21.90), also exclusive to Jewel Changi Airport, is wild-caught squid barbecued over charcoal. Charcoal gives the squid a smoky edge and lightly charred tips, while retaining its enjoyably bouncy texture.

The squid is generously coated in sambal, making it an irresistibly aromatic dish to share. The spice level was mild, and the flavours leaned sweeter, which paired well with the squid’s natural sweetness.

For mains, the ayam bakar nasi lemak (S$20.90) is Jewel Changi Airport’s flagship dish, and it earns the billing. The chicken leg is grilled over binchotan, a Japanese charcoal that burns hot and clean.

The result is a smoky, charred exterior that stands apart from the fried chicken leg this dish usually comes with. The rest of the plate is classic nasi lemak, served with coconut rice, a sunny side up egg, ikan bilis and peanuts for crunch, housemade sambal, and Japanese cucumber to cool things down.

While the coconut rice wasn’t as rich as we’d like (we recognise this can be subjective!), the grilled chicken leg was cooked impeccably. We loved how spiced and savoury the chicken was, while still enjoying the juicy, tender meat.

We noticed that the sambal that’s served with the nasi lemak is much richer and smokier than the one served with the squid bloom. However, the heat feels about the same, though.

If you’re trying to prioritise protein, consider the ayam berempah leg (S$12.90). This is Wild Coco’s signature and the dish the brand was built on.

The chicken is marinated in a blend of traditional spices before frying, which usually leaves the skin crisp and deeply golden, with the rempah’s (spice paste) aromatics, typically lemongrass, turmeric, and galangal, carried through the meat.

Sure, it’s slightly pricey for a single chicken leg, but having this extra meat portion on the table was satisfying. Between the grilled chicken and this fried version, both are absolutely delicious; it really depends on what you’re in the mood for.

Aside from nasi lemak, there’s also the Chao Ta chee cheong fun (S$16.90), the menu’s most playful dish. “Chao ta” is Hokkien for scorched, and refers to the charred bits that catch on a hot wok.

The rice noodle rolls are wok-fried with kampong egg and tiger prawns in a caramelised sweet-savoury sauce, inspired by the dark, sticky sweetness of black carrot cake, the smoky wok hei of char kway teow, and the high-heat fry of zi char cooking.

Expect soft, slippery rolls with crisp, caramelised edges and a good hit of wok hei.

For drinks, the Coco J (S$12.90) is the last of the Jewel exclusives. It’s Wild Coco’s signature coconut shake topped with sky-blue yoghurt — tinted with blue pea flower — coconut cubes, and an orchid. The colours are symbolic: Blue for Jewel Changi, white for Wild Coco, and the orchid representing Singapore.

It’s a thick, creamy, no-frills coconut shake that does its job, especially when you need a crisp cooler to cut through the sambal’s heat.

Still as delicious

The Jewel Changi Airport flagship is Wild Coco at its most dressed-up, but the cooking still speaks the language of its coffeeshop days.

The colourful kueh pie tee and the orchid-crowned Coco J will win the photos, but what holds the meal together is still a plate of coconut rice and sambal, with a charcoal-grilled chicken leg.

That might just be enough reason for travellers to squeeze in one last taste of Singapore before check-in. Thanks to the outlet’s exclusive dishes, it might also be enough for you to make the trip to Jewel Changi Airport just for the temptation of a good meal.

This was a hosted tasting.

For more ideas on what to eat, check out Petra, a new Mediterranean restaurant by La Bottega Enoteca chef-owner, and our guide to delicious bowls of lor mee.