One of the best food in Singapore is definitely Chicken Rice. For the uninitiated, chicken rice is basically steamed/roasted chicken and white rice, served with chilli sauce, ginger, and dark soy sauce.

Every time I have chicken rice, I wonder why I don’t eat it more often. Especially when there are so many good ones around. Everyone has their favourites, Singaporeans always like to debate on where is the best chicken rice in Singapore.

Of course, I have my own favourite chicken rice stalls, but I’m always on the lookout for new places to try. Chin Chin Eating House at Purvis Street has always been known for their chicken rice, so when I happened to be in the area, I suggested going there for lunch.

For some reason, I was craving for Hainanese Pork Chop, and as soon as I saw it on their menu, I ordered a portion.

I liked Chin Chin Chicken Rice well enough to go back again, although I don’t think they are the best chicken rice I’ve had. Don’t get me wrong, though. The chicken, the rice, the chilli, they are all good. But it just didn’t wow me. The Pork Chop too, was decent, but not life-changing.

If you are thinking of where to eat in the City Hall/Bugis area, Chin Chin Eating House at Purvis Street might just be the place to go.

Singapore Food Blog Review
Chin Chin Eating House
19 Purvis Street
Beach Road Conservation Area
Tel: +65 6337 4640
Daily: 7am – 9pm

Singapore is a foodie paradise. It is not exaggerating to say that eating is part of the Singapore Spirit. Since we will be celebrating National day in a month’s time, I thought it would be nice to write about some of the must-eats in Singapore.

Here’s my list of 10 Things to Eat in Singapore.

For first time visitors, it is a must to try all the popular hawker food from places like Chomp Chomp Hawker Centre and Old Airport Road Market. If you are willing to spend more on food, Singapore has many excellent fine dining restaurants, like Les Amis and Iggy’s. And of course, we mustn’t forget about the Celebrity Chefs Restaurants like Waku Ghin, Santi, CUT at the swanky Marina Bay Sands; Osia and L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon at Resorts World Sentosa.

However, I’ll not be including Singapore’s best restaurants in this post. Instead, I want to share about some of the food that I miss whenever I am out of town. For non-food recommendations, please read my list of 10 Things to do in Singapore.

Chicken Rice

If you ask around which is the most famous Singapore food, chances are, people will reply with either chilli crab or chicken rice.

Amongst the many good chicken rice stalls in Singapore, I’d suggest going to either Tian Tian Hainanese chicken rice or Boon Tong Kee. I like Tian Tian’s chicken rice, but I hate the queue. If you are lazy to queue like me, go to Maxwell market before or after lunch hour. Tian Tian is definitely one of the best chicken rice in Singapore.

Boon Tong Kee, on the other hand, is a tricky one. Many people would argue that it is a commercialised restaurant, and there are probably lots of places that have better chicken rice. Let me explain. With six branches around the island, Boon Tong Kee is much more accessible, and you can have your chicken rice in a clean environment (not everyone is willing to brave the heat in hawker centre). It is a relatively safe option to bring your overseas visitors there for their first taste of our famous Singapore chicken rice.

Boon Tong Kee
425 River Valley Road
Tel: +65 6736 3213

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice
Maxwell Road #01-10 Maxwell Food Centre

Chilli Crab

As mentioned, Chilli Crab is probably the most famous Singapore food. It is the face of Singapore Cuisine, the must-try food for tourists. You cannot visit Singapore without having Chili Crab. There are many Chinese seafood restaurants in Singapore serving this popular dish, but my favourite is No Signboard at Geylang.

Fresh meaty crabs in a spicy-sweet chili sauce with deep-fried mantou – this is one of the most satisfying experiences in life.

No Signboard Seafood
414 Geylang Road
Tel: +65 6842 3415

Kaya Toast

Kaya is a coconut jam made from coconut milk, eggs which are flavoured by pandan leaf and sweetened with sugar. It is easily one of the best jam spread ever created.

Spread the kaya on the toast with a generous slab of butter – this is a very delicious thing for breakfast, tea, or supper. All you need is kaya toast, soft-boiled eggs and a cup of coffee. This is the best local breakfast.

Chin Mee Chin Confectionery
204 East Coast Road Singapore

Ya Kun Kaya Toast Singapore
18 China Street #01-01
Far East Square Singapore
Tel: +65 6438 3638

Tropical Fruits

There are plenty of tropical fruits to eat in Singapore, so it is a good idea to head to the markets if you are not from the region. Some of the must-try fruits are: rambutans, mangosteen, longan, lychee, durian, and mango.

Even though I hate durian, I think it’s a pretty cool experience to visit Geylang and sit by the roadside to try the king of fruits.

Fish Head Curry

Fish Head Curry is a dish created by Singapore’s Malayalee. Cooked in a hot and spicy Indian curry, the large fish head is usually eaten with white rice or bread. Try the one from Muthu’s Curry at Race Course road.

Muthu’s Curry
138 Race Course Road #01-01 Singapore
Tel: +65 6392 1722

Laksa

Laksa has a rich coconut-based curry soup with rice noodles alongside ingredients like cockles, shrimp, tau pok and fish cake.

The first time I had a bowl of laksa (many years ago) was a total revelation. It was like taking a plane for the first time; the first sip of champagne, or having the first ever taste of foie gras. It was something very special.

Without a doubt, Laksa is one of the Singapore’s must-eats.

328 Katong Laksa
51 East Coast Road Singapore
Tel: +65 9732 8163

Zi Char

Zi Char (also known as Zhi Char/Cze Char/Tze Char) is a Chinese stall (in a coffee shop) that serves a variety of ala carte dishes at affordable prices. Different ‘restaurants’ have their own unique signature dishes, but a typical zi char place will usually has the following: meat items – pork ribs, har cheong gai ($8 – $20); vegetables – sambal kangkong, kailan ($6 – $12), side dishes – beancurd, noodles, rice ($4 – $20) ; and seafood – prawn, fish, crabs ($15 upwards).

There are many good zi char places in Singapore, but I’d recommend Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hoon (for har cheong gai), Keng Eng Kee Seafood and for a slightly more upmarket option, Ming Kee Live Seafood.

Holland Village XO Fish Head Bee Hoon
Jumbo Coffee Hub
Blk 19A Dover Crescent

Keng Eng Kee Seafood
Blk 124 Bukit Merah Lane 1
#01-136 Alexandra Village Singapore
Tel: +65 6272 1038

Ming kee Live Seafood
556 Macpherson Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6747 4075

Peranakan Cuisine

Peranakan Cuisine, also known as Nyonya food, is the result of blending Chinese ingredients and wok cooking techniques with spices used by the Malay/Indonesian community. There are plenty of Peranakan restaurants in Singapore serving fantastic nyonya food, you can check out the fairly new Candlenut Kitchen by Malcolm lee – one of the up and coming chefs in Singapore; and Ivin’s – a popular and no frills place for families to have dinner.

Candlenut Kitchen
25 Neil Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6226 2506

Ivin’s
19 Binjai Park Singapore
Tel: +65 6468 3060

Dim Sum

Hong Kong might be the land of dim sum, but I feel that some restaurants in Singapore serve very good dim sum too. I’m sure everyone knows by now: my favourite dim sum restaurants in Singapore are Royal China at Raffles Hotel, Yanting Restaurant at St Regis, and Taste Paradise at Ion Orchard.

Royal China
1 Beach Road
#03-09 Raffles Hotel
Tel: +65 6338 3363

Taste Paradise Ion Orchard
2 Orchard Turn
#04-07 ION Orchard
Tel: +65 6509 9660

Yan Ting Restaurant
29 Tanglin Road
The St Regis
Tel: +65 6506 6888

Char Kway Teow

“What food do you miss the most when you are away from Singapore?”

This is a simple question. My answer is definitely Char Kway Teow. The stir-fried noodle is artery clogging, but it is very, very tasty! For me, the best char kway teow in Singapore will be the one from Zion Road. You MUST EAT it!

No 18 Zion Road Fried Kway Teow
Zion Road Riverside Food Centre

I wrote this list of 10 Things to eat in Singapore for the NDP 2011 Official Website, but this is not a sponsored blog post and I have not received any monetary benefits in return. That said, I got two tickets to the NDP preview and I’ll be writing a second post to share more about the Singapore spirit during the parade.

Besides all the good food, what do you think defines the Singapore spirit? Share your thoughts at the NDP website and NDPeeps Facebook page!

Chicken rice is one of the must-eat Singapore Food. Naturally, there are many places serving this popular dish around the island, you can find it in almost every coffee shop and hawker centre.

When it comes to the best chicken rice in Singapore, most people will definitely think of Wee Nan Kee, Tian Tian Hainanese chicken rice, and of course Boon Tong Kee chicken rice.

Is Boon Tong Kee Chicken rice as good as before? Or has the standard dropped since the rapid expansion of the chicken rice chain?

How do you define what is the best chicken rice? Everyone has different opinions on what is the deciding factor. For some, it is the chicken, while there are others who place a higher emphasis on the rice. For the rest, the chilli and garlic sauces are equally important, and will determine whether it is a plate of good chicken rice.

You can’t fault Boon Tong Kee on any of those factors: the chicken is tender and tasty, the rice is fragrant and the chilli sauce is good enough to accompany them. But is this the best chicken rice in Singapore? While Boon Tong Kee is competent, there are other stalls which have equally good, if not better chicken rice at a cheaper price.

There will be loyal supporters who have been eating Boon Tong Kee’s chicken rice for years, as well as critics who feel that the chicken rice chain is too commercialised.

But the fact is Boon Tong Kee indeed has good chicken rice, and it helps that they have six branches around Singapore. Being a well-established brand, it is safe to bring your overseas visitors to Boon Tong Kee for their first taste of our famous Singapore chicken rice.

Having said that, I probably will not think of Boon Tong Kee when I am craving for chicken rice – it is not a dining destination for me when it comes to this popular Singapore food.

I am not sure if the standard varies between branches, but most people seem to agree that their River Valley and Balestier road branches serve the best chicken rice.

Singapore Food Blog Review
Boon Tong Kee
425 River Valley Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6736 3213

401 Balestier Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6254 3937

The grass is always greener on the other side. I think this is very true as my food adventures totally reflect this. Even though I stay just 10 minutes away from Bukit Timah, I tend to go further in search of good food in Singapore. Come to think of it, I have never really explore the stretch of restaurants at Cheong Chin Nam road (directly opposite Beauty World).

As I was walking along there last week, I realized that there’s actually quite a few eateries that open till late night, and they are now officially my prime-targets for supper. The chicken rice craving gave us the choice between Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice and Boon Tong Kee since both of them are arguably famous chicken rice in Singapore.

There were mixed reactions on twitter when I asked which is the better chicken rice among the two, and we eventually went for Five Star since I had Boon Tong Kee chicken rice before.

Sinking your teeth into the Five Star Kampong chicken ($14 for half, and $28 for whole)… It was actually quite ordinary. But there’s this lingering after-taste which I found it hard to explain. As the teeth made contact with the chicken, it encountered first the roasted skin, then a layer of fat which disintegrated as your teeth moved on to the juicy chicken meat.

Was this the best chicken rice in Singapore? Probably not. Was it good enough? Yes.

DO NOT ORDER the Hainanese Pork Chops ($7)! You have been warned.

I LOVE Sweet and sour pork ($9). I can have it for dinner everyday and not get sick of it. After ordering half a chicken and the Hainanese pork chops, you would probably think that we won’t order any more meat. But I demanded to order the sweet and sour pork and it was surprisingly not too bad. Five Star Hainanese Chicken rice’s rendition of my favorite dish was definitely not the best, but it was actually much better than the usual ones that I had before. The meat retained the slightly crispy texture despite being drizzled with the sweet and sour sauce. Not too bad, not too bad at all.

We can probably also classify Boon Tong Kee and Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice under zi char stalls since both restaurants serve a good variety of Chinese food in the zi char style.

Have you tried both Boon Tong Kee and 5 Star Hainanese chicken rice before? Do share with us which one you preferred.

Restaurant Review
Five Star Hainanese Chicken Rice
6/7 Cheong Chin Nam Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6466 3000

Tian Tian Hainaese chicken rice, Boon Tong Kee chicken rice, and Loy Kee chicken rice are arguably the biggest names for chicken rice in the local food scene. I’ve tried all three before, they are definitely among the best chicken rice in Singapore.

There’s nothing wrong with the three chicken rice stalls, but I do not like the fact that everyone thinks that they are the best chicken rice in Singapore. I am not one who likes to go to hyped-up places, and I think this is my problem.

Seah Street and Purvis Street have been known for housing many Hainanese Chicken rice stalls with Chin Chin Hainanese chicken rice, Yet Con chicken rice and Sin Swee Kee chicken rice along them. On this occasion, we decided to check out Sin Swee Kee at Seah Street.

We had (half a chicken) of the Roasted and the Hainanese steamed chicken. I couldn’t quite put a finger to it, but the chicken at Sin Swee Kee didn’t really make an impression. It was not bad, but it wasn’t something that would make me go gaga. All I can say is I definitely had better chicken rice elsewhere before.

I have no intention to stir up a fight between the supporters of Yet Con and Sin Swee Kee, but I think that the former does a better Hainanese Pork Chop. It may have something to do with the sweet sauce, or the fries, but anyway, I have a better impression of Yet Con’s Hainanese pork chop.

Don’t judge. I know you are probably thinking that we are idiots. But we actually (or rather my friend) stupidly ordered the Sweet & Sour Fish instead of the Sweet and Sour Pork. I was having a mad craving for Sweet & Sour Pork, and I insisted on ordering it even though we already had the Sweet & Sour Fish and the Hainanese Pork Chops (which was also in sweet & sour sauce).

Sweet & Sour Pork > Sweet & Sour Fish

But unfortunately, both the sweet and sour dishes were not the ones that I’m looking for. The sweet and sour pork wasn’t crunchy enough, and lacked the wow impact. I’m sorry if it seems that I can’t explain the wow factor for sweet & sour pork clearly. That sort of feeling is indescribable, and you probably will know it only when you have it. Oh well, the hunt for the best Sweet and sour pork continues!

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Obviously supporters of Sin Swee Kee Chicken rice restaurant will call this as the best chicken rice in Singapore, but I am not quite convinced. Having tried both Yet Con, and Sin Swee Kee, I will must check out Chin Chin Hainanese chicken rice next!

Anyway, I am not very familiar with the history behind Swee Kee Chicken rice. Can someone enlighten us about the story behind Sin Swee Kee and Old Swee Kee?

Hawker Food Review
Sin Swee Kee Chicken Rice Restaurant
35 Seah Street
Tel: +65 6337 7180

While fitting on the shirt at CYC, I asked RTB, “what’s for dinner”? And she thought for a moment and said, rojak and popiah, with a gleam in her eye. Where am I’m going to find nice rojak and popiah in the middle of town? So I started to go through my search engine thinking of a place which will satisfied her. And so I suggested we walked from City Hall to Bugis, there’s so many stretch of road which have good food starting from Seah street, Purvis street, to Liang Seah street. It’s a food heaven.

Since we couldn’t get rojak and popiah, the closest local food we could get – Hainanese chicken rice! And there’s Sin Swee Kee at Seah Street and Yet Con at Purvis street, but we were too lazy to walk back from Purvis street to Seah street.

It will be a joke if we come to Yet Con without ordering Hainanese chicken; the meat came across as dry, but then I realised it was actually a lot less oily than the typical ones. The chicken rice was very fragrant, and nearly tempted me in getting a second bowl.

You belong to the camp which like Hainanese (white) chicken because there’s minimal bones (for the lazybone in you), while I prefered roasted chicken anytime. Eating Hainanese chicken without the chicken rice, it’s like eating laksa without the gravey, or rojak without the youtiao! And having so much dark soy sauce (with no chilli), what can I say? You amazed me!

Both of us must have vegetables on the table for dinner, so it’s down to kailan and caixin, and we chose the latter. You can have the stalk while I take the leaves.

And the Hainanese pork chops would come down as one of those dish which make me go gaga! How did the Hainanese thought of combining the crispy pork chops with the sweet & sour sauce? Delicious. I dipped the chicken into the sauce, and poured the remaining onto my chicken rice.

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We wander in a journey call life, amazing things happen, wonderful people that you meet on the way. There are people who you can know for very long but you find out they aren’t who you think they were. And also some whom you just know but it feels like you know each other for very long. If you ever need me in the middle of the night, I will be there for you. There is only one chefy, and one button. Wishing you all the desserts and popiahs. Happy birthday!

Yet Con Hainanese Chicken Rice
25 Purvis Street
Tel: 6337 6819

After going for the first episode of the YES 933 food segment at the Singapore Flyer, I missed two dinners at Tetsu, and Tian Jin Lou. So the fourth stop is at 7th Storey restaurant, which used to be located in the new 7th storey hotel, but has since moved to its new home at the Marina Barrage.

Steamboat is usually an annual affair for me during the Chinese new year; it always reminded me of the reunion of family and friends.

There’s different packages for steamboat, but all of them are not exactly cheap, a family of four will probably need to spend 100 upwards for dinner, and besides steamboat, there’s also ala carte menu to order from. There’s the usual vegetables, prawns, crabs, and seafood ingredients, and we had chicken stock as our soup base. And we had the steamboat with chicken rice instead of just normal white rice

And there’s of course Hainanese chicken to go along; smooth tender meat with the fragrant chicken rice, this was the reason why we didn’t have much room left for the steamboat ingredients later.

If I must choose a favourite dish for the dinner, it would be the Hainanese pork chops. Drizzled with sweet & sour sauce, the pork chop was served on a bed of fries; the whole combination was just right, and ooze a nostaglic feel.

Our special guest for the dinner: Chen Diya & Carrie Yeo of Project Superstar fame.

There will be an estimated of eight sessions, where every week we will go to a different restaurant, and there will be a mini-contest of sorts where listeners will sms in to get pick to go for the dinner. Besides getting to taste the food for free, listeners get to meet their favourite DJ, Jiafa and Peifen in person for dinner!

My appreciation to Jiafa & Peifen from YES 93.3 for inviting me to join them on the show, You can listen to our conversation during the dinner, the programme will be aired on YES 93.3 today 23th September from 6-7pm. Do stay tune!

7th Storey Restaurant
260 Marina Way
#01-05/06 Marina Barrage
Tel: 6222 7887

Somehow the name langkawi remains me of kawaii, not that they have anything in common. It is with the same cheerful tone that we stepped ashore at the beautiful island; you can’t be too upset when the scenery around is so magnificent.

There ought to be a bug inside my stomach. If not how do we explain the fact that it is constantly growling? The never-ending-of-food going down to it.

Among the seven sins of Mankind, gluttony must surely be my greatest peccadillo. Dear whoever-it-may-concern (since I don’t believe in God), I have sinned. I’m a glutton, I eat too much and I’m constantly harbouring secret thoughts of eating even more. I think of lunch when I just started breakfast, and lust after dinner when I’m with lunch. I also missed supper when I goes out with dinner.

I envisage a life living in the kelong, just the two of us, away from this world. Waking up beside you every morning, to see the beautiful sun-rise, you look fabulous like the morning dew. We sat there locking into each others eyes, wishing this moment would hold still.

We would walk down the pristine white beach against the backdrop of Tiffany blue, hands in hands, with the tiny sands slipping through our toes. The ocean breeze blows your long silky tresses afloat. We watched the amazing sunset on this exact spot, and we repeat it, everyday, until the end of the end.

And how can we come to Langkawi without having seafood? It’s like going to Beijing without climbing the Great World of China. And we feasted. The seafood was so good, and unbelievably dirt-cheap!

My initial plan was to get salted-egg prawns since I had good memories of anything-cook-in-salted-egg. But it was foiled as the restaurant mysteriously did not have that dish even though it was stated perfectly clear on the menu. Nonetheless, the sambal prawn (RM16 for 200g) was a worthy substitute, and for once I actually thought that it wasn’t spicy enough!

I know it must be boring to see my cze-char posts since we always had the same dishes. But we love sambal kangkong (RM8), and here it is!

I love, love chilli crab (RM45 for 1kg). And my affection isn’t for the crustacean creatures; the chilli gravy was the one I’m after. Thick, spicy with a hint of sweetness, eggy chilli gravy, it was so, so good. I dipped the mantou in it, I poured it over the white rice, I had it with all the food that’s on the table.

Sweet and sour pork was supposed to be in this frame, but since I was the only one who was interested in that, the Thai-sauce chicken (RM10) made the appearance instead. And it was good! The fried chicken was drenched in sweet and slightly spicy; the Thai-influence sauce was very refreshing!

And since everything was so bloody cheap here, we had a snapper (RM45). Steamed Teochew style, the fish was very fresh and sweet, but it was a little too bland; I dipped it into the chilli gravy and finished every bit of it!

I bided you farewell here, send me no further, for I will not be able to let go. I know we will meet each other, one day.

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Read the other stories of The City Kid here.

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My fourth, her third, another’s second, and many others first. Our common love for food. That’s how it all began. At the heart of East-Meet-West. Persimmon.

Kopitiam, the symbolic of our local heartlands. The place where everybody grew up sipping their milo & coffee, where everybody settled their three meals when their mother was on strike, and the gateway to many delicious heritage hawker food.

Persimmon is quintessentially a swanky and upmarket kopitiam, retaining the traditional feel by using the classic kopitiam furnitures and floor tiles. The furnishings were a combination between comtemporary and rustic. And not to mention her location is right in the middle of Tiong Bahru, with the shophouses and kopitiam lining side by side.

Choices of desserts pick from a la carte buffet. Bread pudding, carrot cake, mango pudding, panna cotta, chocolate mousse. For the discerning us, perhaps only the carrot cake made the cut.

The kong ba bao (stewed pork belly) was way off my radar. The bun was hard and dry, the meat was not fatty enough, and lacked the delicious gravy. And oh ya, it wasn’t part of our menu, but was under the a la carte buffet offered.

Inspired by NoSignBoard white pepper crab, Persimmon white pepper Crabcake is all about that. Enjoyed the white pepper “crab”, no doubt in the form of crabcake, without any hassle. Under the sunny weather, the crab was toned prefectly brown, with a crisp-cross shell, and savoury meat within. Adiós

The crown of Persimmon. Hainanese Chicken Salad. Featured in almost all the media publications, there isn’t any excuse for you to miss this dish. The concept is simple, Singaporeans loved their chicken rice, but dreaded the calories. So what do you do? Remove the rice, throw in some greens, and voila! Singapore’s very own Hainanese chicken salad. Poach chicken, fresh local herbs & mesclun greens, rise crisps, and special dressing.

Tomato base pasta? Boring! How about our rich cream base instead? I hate cream! Right, why not try our Linguine laksa leaf Pesto? Specially created for your exquisite taste buds, the laksa infused linguine will definitely blow you away with its unique taste. Think laksa, but swop the thick rice noodles with pasta. Some felt that the laksa leaf was too heavy and overwhelm the whole dish. On the other hand, i thought the pasta was perfectly fine. Innovative with a big I.

Mixed blonds (fusion) are interesting in some ways, and the 8 treasures certainly roused my curiosity. Three mushrooms, two nuts, chinese sausage, parmesan cheese and risotto. What happens when Italian Risotto combine with the 8 treasures? You get the 8 treasure Risotto! The intial impression was Glutinous rice, but it was way better. I need to be honest, i couldn’t taste all of you. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter, you are all mine!

Staying true with the principle of fusion food, we have the European-style steak meeting heads on with our Asian carrot cake. The grilled ribeye with “chye tao kueh” carrot cake is bound to make your eyes popped out. The carrot cake was fried with XO and balsamic, with the latter providing a sour taste. A vast contrast with the steak. Not everyone could accepted sour carrot cake with steak though. Aspiring combination, but somehow failed to sizzle with the seemingly weird taste.

Eaten alone, the Slow poached salmon with zuchinni ribbons didn’t come as tender as we thought it will. But dipped in the green curry sauce, the fish went through a make-over in the taste department. There was cucumbers used in the green curry, which caught my attention. Like what one of our fellow friend say, when you don’t understand, just say “fusion!”

Our humble Otak is given a upmarket transformation by going créme brulée. With richly flavoured spicy kaffir lime & coconut used as the main ingredients, there was fish mousse hidden beneath the otak. The otak creme brulee is a very creative fusion dish indeed, but the experiement could perhaps be better. Some of us found the otak to be too watery, and maybe it’s meant to be this way. But is créme brulée ever so soggy?

There was a slight tweak to the menu compared to the one i previously shown. And the cost per person was 20 dollar nett, which everybody agreed was a reasonable price given we managed to try a variety of food. I hope everybody enjoyed their meal, and see you all at the next LIC food outing! We had 27 people for this outing, which was quite a healthy figure.

Well, like what some of you mentioned, it was a case of hits and misses, fusion food is pretty much an experiment between the Asian and Western cuisines, and it was certainly interesting to try some food which we’ll never get to try elsewhere.

And not to forget, LIC outing is all about the fun, joy and laughter during the event, and getting to know more friends. I’ll also like to take the opportunity to thank Helena and Sharon, the co-owners of Persimmon for having us there.

Do add me on facebook, if you missed the links earlier.

Read Jaime-la-nourriture chinese post on the outing here

For those who missed this Persimmon outing, you can get the best discounts when you mentioned ladyironchef while you are at Persimmon. So do go down and give the fusion food a try.

One fine day, the duck met the chicken and ask it a question, “why is it that you guys are more popular than us?” The chicken answered confidently, “Of course, we are the superior birds!”…

Have you ever wondered why is chicken more popular than duck? Ask a group of Singaporeans what are among their favourite local delights, and there are bound to be chicken rice, laksa, char kuay teow, and many others. But have you ever heard “Singapore duck rice”?

Looking at the offical statistics will tell a clearer picture, chicken consumed in 2007 was 33.0kg per capital compared to 3.2kg that of duck. That’s like 10 times the difference in the total amount consumed! Right, let’s discuss why chicken, is more popular than duck. First, the methods of preparing chicken are much more than duck, you can fried, steamed, stir-fried, boiled, roasted, chicken, but how about duck? You heard of fried chicken, but is there fried duck?

Half a chicken ($13)

This particular stall in Bukit Batok block 273, always had long queues for their chicken. Actually i did try their chicken for quite a lot of times already but didn’t bother to feature it since you don’t bring your dslr to the market. The chicken was quite good, smooth and tender with the meat being flavourful, but rather on the salty side with the “over-generous” use of the light soy sauce.

The rice was fragrant, and not too oily. And the chili, was red hot spicy! I found it to be one of the more spicy chicken rice chilis around. But even though the chicken rice was quite good, i wouldn’t bother queuing up for it unless i really got the urge. Still, i dared say this is one of the better chicken rice stall around, in Bukit Batok. Watch out for “the tale of the chicken and duck part 2” tomorrow!

Yew kit Hainanese Kitchen
Block 273, Bukit Batok East ave 4

Chicken is a very common dish in everybody’s meal table, there are so many different method of cooking it. I guess most people will have heard of Kampong chicken, which is quite unlike your typical chicken found in most places.

The normal chicken is usually injected with hormones, to make them grow faster for commercial purposes. Most people thinks that it isn’t that healthy if the chickens are injected.

Kampong Chickens are different, they are usually rear in a manner where they are allowed to “run free”, instead of staying all day in the cages like the normal chicken. The “run free” manner of growing the chicken allows them to train and “strengthen” their legs and bodies, which make the chicken meat firmer and nicer to eat.

My friend had a craving for kampung chicken, so we went to Chicken House along the stretch of Upper Thomson road where they sell only Kampung chicken.

Half a chicken cost $11, and there are also other dishes like internal organs, vegetables, and thai style chicken feet available.

Apparently the store got featured in some publications as well.

Kampong chicken for 2 people ($8)

I guess we can easily finish half a chicken as well, but we just ordered Kampong chicken for 2 servings. Unless you haven’t eaten Kampong chicken before, you should roughly know the texture and taste of it.

Kampong chicken is less meaty compared to the normal chicken, but in this way you won’t get so sick of eating too much meat. The chicken is firmer and nicer to eat!

Oyster sauce Kai Lan ($4)

The oyster sauce kai lan is very normal, not very well stir-fried, we couldn’t really finish the vegetables.

Total Bill was $17.10 for 2 person, we had lime juice as well, which in my opinion is one of the beverage that goes well with many type of different food. The Kampong chicken is good, and i guess not that many places sell kampong chicken in Singapore.

So if you got a craving for Kampong chicken, you know where to go!

Chicken House
255 Upper Thomson Road
Tel: 6456 0698

” Kampong chicken, they run free! “