Tian Tian Chicken Rice

Tian Tian Chicken Rice

Joo Chiat

Cheap and delicious. That is really the spirit of Singapore hawker fare! So, finally I’ve decided that I should give the famous Tian Tian Chicken rice a visit (after all the chef defeated Gordon Ramsay in the Singtel challenge). Though the result wasn’t significant I felt, the event definitely has boosted the x factor of this humble chicken rice stall.

As I am really afraid of sg’s weather, I decided to go to the one at Joo Chiat as it is air conditioned. The main chicken rice place is at Maxwell Food Centre. So, V and I got the half chicken and sambal kang kong for lunch.

The plate of half chicken costs $14 and it was really huge. Loads of meat in it as chicken is really huge. V got a shock when she saw how big the portion is while I was quite happy as I like meat! The chicken is really good I would say and it tasted quite different from other stalls. While most other stalls serve their chicken warm, tian tian serves it cold. Have heard that this may help to improve the texture of the chicken meat and makes it more springy. Chicken meat is really tender while breast meat isn’t dry at all. Every slice is really thick and felt substantial. The sauce was quite special I felt as it was thick and a little viscous and tasted really fragrant. It’s rare to see such viscous chicken sauce as I think most other places serve it without sauce usually. I also like the generous amount of cucumber placed underneath the pile of tantalising chicken meat and I kept using it to sweep up the delicious sauce. Love the condiments, parsley and spring onions on top of the chicken too. It really is quite a unique take on chicken rice. We loved the chicken.

The chicken rice wasn’t as oily as I thought it would be. That is good as it means it’s a healthier version. Fragrant and quite delicious but there wasn’t anything special about it compared to others. I guess the meat got us excited more than the rice.

The sambal Kang kong was also delicious and not oily at all. I was impressed with this ‘healthier’ yet as delicious rendition. Sambal is quite spicy really but I love it. Kang kong is crunchy while sambal and dried shrimps make a fragrant combo. About $8.

So, yeah we loved the chicken rice here and together with an air conditioned environment, we couldn’t have asked for more. Meal was really quite cheap and costs only $12 per person. Though we shared a bowl of rice (as we thought we would have space for katong laksa or the super popular prawn noodles up the road), we were quite stuffed at the end of the meal. The chicken is definitely a winner I felt. And then, we thought it would be nice to end with desserts. So, up the road we walked to Penny University for their desserts.