Fire Rice Review: Din Tai Fung-Style Fried Rice With XL Pork Chop Under $8

Fire Rice has DTF-style fried rice with XL pork chop in Toa Payoh

The popularity of Din Tai Fung’s (DTF) egg fried rice is quite something, but arguably even more fascinating are the numerous fried rice stalls opened by ex-DTF chefs in Singapore. These include the likes of Ding Gua Gua, Hao Lai Ke, and the focus of this review, Fire Rice.

The chefs behind Fire Rice have collectively decades of experience working at Din Tai Fung. That, coupled with the fact that their dishes were significantly cheaper than those at DTF, was enough reason for us to drop by their Toa Payoh outlet to try the fare.

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Food at Fire Rice

There are 16 fried rice dishes to choose from here, which are categorised into two groups: the Egg Fried Rice Series, and the Sambal Fried Rice Series.

We started with the popular Black Pepper Pork Chip Fried Rice ($7), which is pictured above. You’ll be excused for not spotting all that egg fried rice at first, because that massive layer of pork chop slices seems to almost envelop the rice.

Frankly, this was far from the best egg fried rice I’ve had, as it lacked in the taste department, and was a little drier than I would have liked. The fragrance of wok hei wasn’t particularly present, either. Thankfully, adding some chilli oil to the mix helped to lift the flavours.

The extra-large pork chop strips, however, were quite the treat. Each piece was juicy and well-seasoned, with that slightly peppery kick elevating the flavours. While its exterior could be crispier, I thought that for a $7 plate of fried rice, getting a pork chop of this magnitude was good value for money.

We moved on to a dish from the sambal series, the Sambal Shrimp Fried Rice ($7.20).

As you might expect, the sambal-infused egg fried rice was a lot more flavourful than the previous dish. While there was only a mild spicy kick, the sambal—and the hae bee hiam mixed into the rice—made each spoonful really savoury and aromatic.

Fire Rice was quite generous with the amount of shrimp in this dish too—I enjoyed munching on these sweet, crunchy swirls along with the sambal fried rice. If there’s one thing we can praise Fire Rice for, it’s certainly their generosity when it comes to ingredients.

We also ordered a side of Prawn Paste Chicken Wing ($1.80 per piece). What we got were fairly average pieces of har cheong gai, which were neither particularly juicy nor umami. I can see myself ordering these if I really wanted some sides to go with my fried rice, but if you find that unnecessary, I would say the fried rice options alone more than suffice.

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Ambience at Fire Rice

Fire Rice’s Toa Payoh outlet can be found in a neighbourhood coffeeshop that isn’t the most spacious, but at least is clean and well-maintained. The coffeeshop itself quite accessible, being just a five-minute walk from Braddell MRT Station. You won’t have to search around for too long to get your hands on these fried rice dishes.

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The verdict

Fire Rice offers decent plates of DTF-style fried rice that are quite generous with their ingredients. If you’re looking for an affordable alternative to Din Tai Fung, I would say Fire Rice is worth a shot.

For more places to check out in Toa Payoh, read our best Toa Payoh cafes guide. For legit Indonesian food in Toa Payoh, check out our THREE. By Garamika review.

Address: 125 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh, Singapore 310125
Opening hours: Mon, Wed-Sat 11am to 8pm, Sun 11am to 3pm, 5pm to 8pm
Website
Fire Rice is not a halal-certified eatery.

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Photos taken by Maisie Chong.
This was an independent review by Eatbook.sg.