Chin Chin Eating House Chicken Rice and Pork Chop in Singapore 津津餐室

Chin Chin Eating House 津津餐室 | 19 Purvis Street, Singapore ☎ 63374640 ⏰ 11:00am to 9:00pm

Chin Chin Eating House 津津餐室 is one of the best known old restaurants along Singapore's historic Purvis street. This is old Singapore's Hainanese enclave and also the birth place of Singapore style Hainanese chicken rice.

Several of the old Hainanese chicken rice stalwarts are still thriving at Purvis street. Among them is Chin Chin Eating House 津津餐室 (Yet Con Chicken Rice 逸群鸡饭 which I covered in a separate post had closed since 2020).



Inside Chin Chin 津津, the old school restaurant founded in 1934 has a familiar, homely feel. Very clean and basic functional decor. Chin Chin is popular with families as their quite extensive, reasonably priced menu has something for every generation.

Today, we are in Chin Chin 津津 for their chicken rice.

Fried chicken drumstick with rice and soup SGD4 (2014 price)

We ordered fried chicken drumstick on a whimp for a change, instead of our usual poached chicken breast for tasting :D



We were perhaps enticed by the large golden brown birds in the window.



The drumstick meat was cooked to the bone but only just - (see that moist pink marrow?) I like! This takes a lot of skill in controlling the temperature and timing when poaching and frying the large chicken.

The meat was tender and juicy. I could taste a bit of chicken flavour 鸡味 which was well complemented by the sparingly drizzled aromatic sesame oil and soy based sauce. The soft golden brown skin were especially flavourful.

I enjoyed Chin Chin's chicken.



The aromatic rice was tender and fluffy, and not overly greasy.



Fresh spicy hot garlicky chili with tangy vinegar and ground fresh ginger. 

I like Chin Chin's chili dip.

Amusing incident in Jan 2025 when Singapore singer JJ Lin 林俊杰 and his crew arrived a little late at Chin Chin and all the chicken had been sold out 😄 JJ Lin was gracious and stayed on to enjoy other dishes at Chin Chin with his team 😊

Actually JJ is right, Chin Chin's chicken rice is a little under rated and usually does not appear in social media "top ten chicken rice" lists.

Hainanese pork chop 海南豬扒 SGD6

Eating in Chin Chin Eating House without ordering their signature old school Hainanese pork chop 海南豬扒 would be inexcusable :P



The thin lean pork chop slice was coated with a batter of crushed cream cracker biscuit crumbs and deep fried. 

By itself, the pork chop with a crusty outside was not that flavourful, and though not hard, was slightly stiff. 

It didn't excite me too much.



Of course, old school Hainanese pork chop has to be eaten by dipping it in this savoury buttery sweet tangy sauce.

The signature brown sauce took the pork chop taste to another level and was responsible for the dish's popularity.

(It's good that Chin Chin serves the crispy pork chops and sauce separately, instead of drowning the crispy chops and turning it soggy by pouring the sauce over it.)



I didn't care much for the generic canned peas and potato wedges. Even the special sauce couldn't help here but those green peas are one of the definitive ingredients that make this Hainanese pork chop authentic.

Chin Chin 津津 is one of the best places in downtown Singapore for old school Hainanese food at reasonable prices.



Restaurant name: Chin Chin Eating House 津津餐室
Address: 19 Purvis Street, Singapore

Tel: 63374640

GPS: 1.296235,103.855613
Hours: 11:00am to 9:00pm

Date visited: 13 May 2014 | updated 18 Jan 2025

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