Fortune Centre, Bugis, Singapore
An In-Depth Culinary Review & Dish Analysis
Overall Rating: 6/10 | February 2026
Quick Facts
Address 190 Middle Road, #02-25, Fortune Centre, Singapore 188979
Opening Hours Daily 10:30am – 7:45pm
Price Range SGD $6.90 – $9.20 per set
Nearest MRT Bugis / Rochor (~8 min walk)
Halal Status NOT Halal-certified
Google Rating 4.2 Stars
Delivery No dedicated platform listed (dine-in / takeaway only)
Specialty KL-style pork nasi lemak (berempah & rendang)
- Background & Concept
Nasi lemak — literally ‘fat rice’ or ‘rich rice’ in Malay — is widely regarded as Malaysia’s national dish, with a heritage traced as far back as 1875 in French-Malay linguistic records. At its core it is coconut-cream-steeped rice, fragrant with pandan leaf, served with sambal chilli, crispy ikan bilis (dried anchovies), roasted peanuts, sliced cucumber, and a fried or boiled egg. Proteins such as fried chicken, beef rendang, or fried fish are layered on as the meal grows more substantial.
What Madness Nasi Lemak does is deliberately subversive: it transplants a culinary tradition deeply rooted in Malay culture onto a pork-forward menu, drawing direct inspiration from non-halal nasi lemak variants that have flourished in Kuala Lumpur’s Chinese-majority neighbourhoods — towns such as Malacca, Penang, Perak, and certain KL districts. This tradition is well-documented and historically coherent; pork nasi lemak is not a novelty in the Malaysian context, though it remains relatively niche in Singapore.
The stall occupies a second-floor unit at Fortune Centre on Middle Road, Bugis — a building long synonymous with diverse, independent food operators. Madness took over a space previously used by THOSE DAYS Yong Tau Foo & Nasi Lemak, retaining a functional, no-frills aesthetic while adding contemporary branding: a bright logo and green countertop elements that nod to the modern Nanyang cafe aesthetic. Seating is modest, accommodating roughly 20 diners inside, supplemented by spillover tables and stools outside the unit. - Dish Analysis
2.1 Nasi Lemak Crispy Pork Belly Berempah — SGD $6.90
What is Berempah?
The word ‘berempah’ derives from the Malay ‘rempah,’ meaning spice paste or spice mix. In cooking, ayam goreng berempah — the chicken version — is marinated in a blend of aromatics (galangal, lemongrass, turmeric, coriander, cumin, fennel) before deep-frying, resulting in a crust that is simultaneously fragrant, spiced, and crispy. The pork belly adaptation replaces chicken with strips of fatty pork belly, capitalising on the natural richness of the cut to carry the spice paste.
Visual Profile & Hues
The dish arrives as a compact set: a mound of white coconut rice at the centre, flanked by small portions of pork, a fried egg, sambal, and accompaniments. The pork berempah is amber-gold to deep caramel in colour, with visible curry leaf fragments clinging to the surface. The sambal is a deep brick-red, and the rice presents as clean white with a slight sheen from the coconut milk infusion. The fried egg carries a pale gold base with a glistening, orange-toned yolk.
Texture Analysis
The fundamental failure of this dish is textural. Pork belly — a cut defined by its layered fat-to-meat ratio, the slab comprising alternating strata of subcutaneous fat, muscle, and intermuscular fat — ideally delivers a two-texture experience: yielding, buttery fat meeting firm, juicy lean muscle. At Madness, reviewers across multiple platforms consistently report that the fat content is strikingly absent. The lean meat is described as dry and tough, requiring effortful chewing. This points to one of two likely preparation issues: the pork may have been cooked from a lean-heavy cut rather than true five-layer belly (wu hua rou), or the deep-frying temperature and duration were miscalibrated, driving off residual moisture from the meat before sufficient fat rendering could occur.
The curry leaves and fried coconut offer textural salvation — crunchy, aromatic, and capable of breaking the monotony of the dry meat — but function as a garnish, not a structural fix.
Flavour Assessment
The spice profile is present but subdued. The berempah paste’s aromatics — likely a blend of turmeric, coriander, fennel, lemongrass, and shallot — are detectable in the nose before eating, creating anticipation that the palate does not fully reward. In a well-executed berempah, the paste permeates the meat during marination and then caramelises onto the surface during frying, locking in moisture while building flavour depth. Here, the flavour sits primarily on the crust, making it vulnerable to the dryness of the interior. Verdict: aroma is the strongest feature; flavour is moderate; texture is the weakest link.
2.2 Nasi Lemak Nyonya Pork Rendang — SGD $8.90
What is Nyonya Rendang?
Rendang is a dry curry of Minangkabau origin from West Sumatra, adopted widely across Malaysia and Indonesia. A classic rendang begins as a wet curry (gulai), then the liquid is slowly reduced until the coconut milk’s fats separate and the meat fries in its own rendered sauce — a process called kerisik when toasted, ground coconut is stirred in at the final stage. The result is dark, intensely spiced, slightly chewy meat coated in a thick, dry-ish paste. Nyonya rendang is the Peranakan Chinese adaptation: it is characteristically richer in coconut milk, slightly tangier from the use of tamarind or lemongrass, and often less aggressively dried than the Minangkabau original, giving it a more saucy, luscious consistency.
Visual Profile & Hues
The rendang set presents a dramatically different visual register from the berempah. The pork belly pieces are coated in a thick, mahogany-brown to dark amber sauce — the characteristic colour of long-cooked coconut milk solids and spice paste. The sauce exhibits a glossy sheen, and flecks of lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf are visible throughout. Against the white rice and the vibrant red sambal, the dark rendang makes for an appetising contrast.
Texture Analysis
The fat layers within the belly are appreciably present in this preparation, contributing a soft, slightly gelatinous mouthfeel to the outer layer of each piece. The gravy clings and coats, compensating for the lean muscle’s residual toughness. Compared to the berempah, this is a substantially more forgiving dish texturally, because rendang’s sauce-based delivery system lubricates each chew. The lean sections are still firmer than ideal, but the fat-to-lean ratio is clearly higher in the cut used here, or the braising time is longer, allowing collagen conversion to gelatin.
Flavour Assessment
The flavour profile is the stall’s most accomplished expression. The coconut milk base is rich and lemak (fatty, creamy), the spice blend is complex enough to produce layered heat rather than a flat chile burn, and there is a pleasant sourness — likely from lemongrass or tamarind — that prevents the richness from becoming cloying. The piquancy is measured, making it broadly accessible. The weakness here is cohesion: the rendang, while good on its own terms, does not integrate with the rest of the plate components as tightly as the best versions of the dish do. It sits as an excellent component in an average assembly.
2.3 Nasi Lemak Ayam Goreng Kunyit with Sambal Hijau — SGD $9.20
Visual Profile & Hues
The defining visual element is volume: the turmeric-fried chicken leg is massive, almost comically large for the set format. The exterior is a warm golden-yellow, characteristic of kunyit (turmeric) marination, with darker brown patches where the frying oil has caramelised the batter. The sambal ijo (green sambal) provides the meal’s most striking colour contrast: a vivid, grassy green punctuated with visible seeds, a rare departure from the red sambal orthodoxy.
Texture Analysis
The chicken exterior is oily without achieving the crispiness that the deep-fry method promises. The skin is notably soft — a possible indicator that the oil temperature dropped below optimal (180°C) after the large piece was introduced, resulting in oil absorption rather than rapid moisture evaporation and crust formation. The interior meat, despite the generosity of the portion, is dry and slightly fibrous — the same protein preparation issues observed in the berempah manifest here.
Sambal Hijau — A Genuine Highlight
The green sambal is the unambiguous standout of the entire menu. Unlike the conventional red sambal (made from dried red chillies, shrimp paste, and palm sugar), the sambal ijo is built from fresh green chillies — likely a blend of cili padi hijau and long green chillies — fried down with aromatics. The heat is immediate and high-pitched rather than the deeper, more sustained burn of dried chilli. What elevates it is complexity: tangy, sweet, and sharply vegetal notes coexist, with a detectable spice blend layering underneath. Reviewers consistently single it out. It is the kind of condiment that makes otherwise ordinary food memorable.
2.4 The Coconut Rice — The Technical Anchor
Every nasi lemak review ultimately circles back to the rice, and rightly so: the rice is the dish. Coconut rice for nasi lemak is prepared by cooking long-grain white rice in a mixture of coconut milk (santan), water, pandan leaves, lemongrass, and salt. The santan permeates the grain during cooking, leaving each grain infused with fat and fragrance. Well-executed nasi lemak rice is moist, lightly clumping from the coconut milk’s lipid content, floral from pandan, and distinctly lemak — rich on the tongue even before toppings are added.
At Madness, multiple reviewers from Eatbook, JiakSimiPng, and Lemon8 converge on a positive assessment of the rice itself: it carries an intense coconut fragrance and a genuine lemak quality. However, Eatbook notes it tends toward flakiness and slight dryness, which may reflect the challenge of maintaining rice quality over service hours without a continuous steam setup. One Lemon8 reviewer was more effusive, rating it 5/5 as the ‘star’ of the meal — the discrepancy likely reflects visit timing and batch freshness.
- Scorecard
Category Score Bar Rating
Coconut Rice ███████░░░ 7/10
Pork Berempah ████░░░░░░ 4/10
Pork Rendang ███████░░░ 7/10
Ayam Goreng █████░░░░░ 5/10
Sambal Ijo ████████░░ 8/10
Red Sambal ██████░░░░ 6/10
Portion Value ████░░░░░░ 4/10
Ambience ██████░░░░ 6/10
OVERALL ██████░░░░ 6/10 - Culinary & Cultural Context
The existence of non-halal pork nasi lemak is a reflection of Malaysia’s multicultural food landscape. As Wikipedia’s entry on nasi lemak notes, Chinese stalls and restaurants in towns such as Malacca, Penang, Perak, and parts of KL have long offered pork variants — adapting a Malay framework to Chinese-Malaysian palates and dietary habits. This is not appropriation but culinary conversation: the same process by which Peranakan (Nyonya) cuisine synthesised Malay and Hokkien Chinese traditions over centuries.
In KL specifically, pork berempah nasi lemak has developed a distinct identity through chains such as Together Nasi Lemak, which operates six outlets across KL, Selangor, and Seremban. Reviews of Together’s version offer a useful benchmark: a well-executed pork berempah should feature tender, juicy meat where ‘the fat portion simply disintegrates like melted butter with every bite,’ with berempah crumbs and curry leaves providing textural complexity. By this standard, Madness’s berempah execution falls short — the fat content is insufficient and the meat is dry where it should be yielding.
Madness’s arrival in Singapore is timely: the city-state has seen a wave of new nasi lemak operators in 2024–2025, from Wild Coco in Balestier to Straits Club’s Alexandra relocation and numerous new hawker stalls. Competition is intense, and differentiation through non-halal pork offerings is a legitimate strategic niche — but only if the execution justifies the premium pricing. - How to Make It at Home: KL-Style Pork Belly Nasi Lemak
The following recipe synthesises techniques from multiple sources including Roti King’s authenticated nasi lemak recipe and SunPork Fresh Foods’ pork rendang nasi lemak, adapted for home cooking.
5.1 Coconut Rice
Ingredients (serves 4)
400g long-grain white rice
200ml full-fat coconut milk (santan)
250ml water
3 pandan leaves, tied into knots
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
1 tsp fine salt
Step 1: Wash the rice
Rinse the rice twice in cold water, draining each time, until the water runs relatively clear. This removes excess starch and prevents the cooked rice from becoming gummy.
Step 2: Combine and cook
Place the washed, drained rice in a rice cooker or heavy-based saucepan. Add the coconut milk, water, pandan leaves, lemongrass, and salt. Stir to combine. Cook in the rice cooker on the standard setting, or bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to the lowest setting, cover tightly, and cook for 12 minutes.
Step 3: Rest
Once cooked, remove pandan and lemongrass. Leave the lid on and rest for 10 minutes off the heat. Fluff with a fork before serving. The resting period allows residual steam to redistribute moisture evenly through the grains.
5.2 Pork Berempah
Ingredients
500g pork belly (five-layer, skin-on recommended), cut into 4–5cm chunks
Rempah paste: 4 shallots, 3 cloves garlic, 2cm galangal, 2 stalks lemongrass (white part), 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp cumin powder, 0.5 tsp fennel powder, 1 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp rice flour + 2 tbsp cornflour (for coating)
Handful curry leaves, fresh coconut (grated, toasted)
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
Step 1: Make the rempah paste
Blend all rempah ingredients with 2 tablespoons of water until a smooth, thick paste forms. The paste should be deeply aromatic — if using fresh turmeric instead of powder, add 2cm of peeled fresh rhizome.
Step 2: Marinate
Combine the pork belly pieces with half the rempah paste, soy sauce, salt, and sugar. Mix thoroughly with your hands to coat every surface. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours — overnight is optimal. Longer marination allows the paste to penetrate the muscle fibres, addressing the single biggest failure mode seen at Madness.
Step 3: Coat and fry
Mix the remaining rempah with the rice flour and cornflour to form a loose batter. Toss the marinated pork in this mixture. Heat oil to 175–180°C in a deep pan. Fry the pork pieces in small batches (overcrowding drops the oil temperature) for 5–6 minutes until deep golden-brown. In the final minute, add fresh curry leaves to the oil — they will crisp immediately. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with toasted grated coconut.
Critical note: Maintaining oil temperature above 170°C is what separates crispy, moist berempah from the dry, oil-absorbed result. A kitchen thermometer is strongly recommended.
5.3 Nyonya Pork Rendang
Ingredients
600g pork shoulder or pork belly, cut into 4cm cubes
400ml full-fat coconut milk
200ml chicken stock
Rendang paste: 6 dried red chillies (soaked), 4 shallots, 3 cloves garlic, 3cm galangal, 2 stalks lemongrass, 2cm fresh turmeric, 4 candlenuts (buah keras)
1 cinnamon stick, 2 star anise, 3 cloves
2 tbsp toasted grated coconut (kerisik), 1 tbsp tamarind paste, 1 tsp sugar, salt to taste
Step 1: Brown the pork
In a large, heavy-based saucepan or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat. Brown the pork pieces in batches — do not crowd the pan — until golden on all sides, approximately 3–4 minutes per batch. Remove and set aside. Browning (Maillard reaction) develops the flavour base of the final rendang.
Step 2: Build the sauce
In the same pan, add the blended rendang paste. Fry over medium heat for 4–5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the paste is fragrant and the raw shallot smell dissipates. Add the cinnamon, star anise, and cloves, and fry for a further 1 minute.
Step 3: Braise
Return the pork to the pan. Add the coconut milk and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Cook uncovered for 45–60 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the sauce has reduced significantly and the pork is tender. Add the kerisik, tamarind paste, sugar, and salt. Continue cooking until the sauce is thick and coats the meat. For a drier, more traditional rendang, continue cooking until the coconut oil begins to separate and the pork begins to fry in it.
5.4 Sambal Ijo (Green Sambal)
Ingredients
10 green cili padi (bird’s eye chillies) + 5 long green chillies
5 shallots, 3 cloves garlic
1 stalk lemongrass (white part), 2cm galangal
1 tbsp shrimp paste (belacan), toasted
Juice of 1 lime, 1 tsp sugar, salt to taste
3 tbsp vegetable oil
Step 1: Blend
Roughly chop the chillies, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, and galangal. Blend to a coarse paste — the sambal ijo benefits from some texture; do not over-process to a smooth puree.
Step 2: Fry
Heat oil in a wok or frying pan over medium heat. Add the belacan and fry for 1 minute until fragrant. Add the blended paste and fry for 6–8 minutes, stirring frequently, until the colour deepens slightly and the oil begins to separate from the paste.
Step 3: Season
Add lime juice, sugar, and salt. Taste and adjust: the sambal should be fiercely spicy, tangy, and complex. The Madness version’s success stems from using multiple green chilli varieties for depth — replicating this requires at least two different heat levels of green chilli. - How to Access — Delivery & Visit Planning
In-Person Visit
Madness Nasi Lemak operates exclusively as a dine-in and takeaway operation. There is no published presence on GrabFood, foodpanda, or Deliveroo at the time of writing. Given the nature of nasi lemak — where textural contrast between crispy accompaniments, fresh sambal, and warm rice degrades rapidly — this is arguably the correct call. Delivery would compromise the dish’s integrity, particularly the berempah’s crust and the rice’s temperature.
The stall is located at Fortune Centre, #02-25, on the second floor. Take the escalator at the main entrance, turn right, then left — look for the large green signboard. The space seats approximately 20 indoors, and external seating is available. Peak hours (lunchtime on weekdays, weekend mornings) result in queues and potential sell-outs of popular items.
Practical Tips
Arrive before 12:30pm on weekdays or before 11am on weekends to secure seating and avoid sellouts.
The stall reportedly offers discounts for senior citizens and students — worth asking at the counter.
Leaving a Google review earns a complimentary house-made drink — a gesture noted by multiple reviewers.
Takeaway is available; request the sambal and wet components separately if transporting more than 10 minutes to preserve rice texture.
Madness is an 8-minute walk from both Bugis MRT (EW12/DT14) and Rochor MRT (DT13). Bus services 7, 14, 16, 65, 106, 111, and 133 stop nearby on Victoria Street.
Alternatives in the Area
If Madness disappoints, Fortune Centre itself houses a strong food ecosystem. Husk Nasi Lemak at Bugis Cube (a 4-minute walk) offers a fusion take with sous vide proteins and restaurant-grade plating, and carries halal certification. For the definitive pork berempah nasi lemak benchmark in Southeast Asia, Together Nasi Lemak in KL and Seremban remains the reference point — though a day trip to Malaysia may be excessive motivation for a plate of rice. - Final Verdict
Madness Nasi Lemak occupies an interesting but imperfectly executed niche. Its concept is culturally coherent, its coconut rice is genuinely good, and its sambal ijo is exceptional — the kind of condiment that earns repeat visits on its own merit. The Nyonya pork rendang is a credible, satisfying dish.
The stall’s central problem is protein preparation: whether berempah or kunyit fried chicken, the meats emerge consistently dry and tough. For a stall that markets itself on pork belly — a cut selected precisely for its fat-to-lean luxuriousness — this is a fundamental incongruence. The pricing, while not outrageous in Singapore’s context, asks for SGD $6.90–$9.20 for sets that feel incomplete in portion.
The trajectory is encouraging. The concept is sound, the sambal work is sophisticated, and the rendang shows a kitchen capable of proper braising technique. If the frying protocols are recalibrated — higher marination time, consistent oil temperature, fat-rich belly cuts — Madness has the potential to become a genuinely important entry in Singapore’s nasi lemak landscape. For now, it is a stall with a great condiment and a promising identity, still in the process of becoming what it aspires to be.