We tried 3 different Hainanese chicken rice stalls in a row in the Red Hill/ Bukit Merah area during one of our Singapore food trails.
Uncle Chicken Rice in Alexandra Village Food Centre stood out as one of the better chicken rice that I've tasted in Singapore. Personally, I prefer Uncle Chicken Rice to Singapore's most famous Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice.
Niven, the boss of Uncle Chicken is the son of the owner of the famous original Sin Kee 新记 chicken rice of Margaret Drive. My friends and I ate at the old Sin Kee many times for lunch and dinner when I was living in the (now demolished) Tanglin Officers' Mess, in the 1980s.
Uncle Chicken is served chunky with skin and bone on, showered with a blended sauce of light soy and sesame oil. The chicken was cooked to the bone, yet it was tender, velvety and juicy.
I liked it that the light sauce (which some find a little on the salty side) was drizzled sparingly on the chicken with most of the sauce at the side of the plate rather than smothering the chicken.
This gave me the chance to savour the natural flavours 鸡味 of the tender juicy chicken without the interference of the sauce. Or, I can also dab the chicken with the sauce, if I wish to.
Niven brought us this plate of chicken breast for us to try. Being more fibrous and free of fat and skin, chicken breast is the hardest part of the chicken to render smooth, tender and juicy.
We might say, a good chicken breast is the litmus test of the quality of a chicken rice stall.
Uncle Chicken's breast meat was tender, moist and had a nice, gentle chicken flavour.
Just like one cannot appreciate premium wine or specialty coffee by gulping it down, Uncle Chicken's chicken requires us to slow down a little to enjoy the gentle chicken flavours 鸡味.
The rice was tender and fluffy. Just a slight dull sheen of oil on the long Jasmine grains. The steaming rice had a nice chicken aroma as the water used to poach the chicken was used to boil the rice.
Uncle Chicken's blended chili sauce is not for the meek palate. It has good body like a watery paste and a sharp spicy sting with a zesty tangy twist from squeezed lime.
Uncle Chicken's ginger dip sets it apart from the run of the mill Singapore chicken rice stall. The dip is made with roughly blended fresh ginger mash mixed with chopped scallions. Uncle Chicken's ginger dip has none of the watery base found at average chicken rice stalls.
Uncle Chicken does not serve soup. It's a tradition from his father's time, according to Niven. Would have been perfect, if there is soup :P
Restaurant name: Sin Kee Famous Chicken Rice
Address: #01-95 Block 304 Ubi Avenue 1 Singapore 400304
Hours: 11:00am to 8:00pm
Non Halal
Date visited: 17 Apr 2014
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Uncle Chicken Rice has moved to Bedok Market Place @ 348 Bedok Road
ReplyDeleteThank you. I have updated the address.
DeleteUncle left Ubi. Anyone knows where he moved to.
ReplyDelete