Dropped in this morning at one of my favourite chicken rice stalls - Sin Bee Hiang 新味香雞飯 at Agape coffee shop in Taman Pelangi Johor Bahru.
For over 30 years, Mr Lee 李成源 or Ah Guan (age 58) and wife (age 56) have been getting up at 4am every business day and working till the stall is closed and washed at 3pm. The routine is already gruelling for younger folks, what more for Mr Lee and wife who are both fighting ill health. The couple has been cheerfully keeping up their routine while he is fighting leukaemia for more than 10 years and she is recovering from strokes.
Sprightly Mr Lee fries his own shallot oil to infuse his greased rice with aromatic oil fragrance. He uses a mix of chili peppers to give his chili sauce layers of spiciness. Time consuming, energy sapping old school touches which he do not compromise on. Shortcuts won't do for Mr Lee - he is just too proud of his profession and cares too much for his customers.
The scheduled day off for Sin Bee Hiang chicken rice is Monday but the stall will also close on other days when Mr Lee or wife go for treatment.
Sin Bee Hiang serves poached kampung chicken (RM28 half bird) and fried broilers (RM20 half bird). I have only eaten kampung chicken at SBH.
We had our usual again - half a poached kampung chicken which comes sparingly drizzled with a brown savoury aromatic sauce. Our total bill came to RM34 with 4 bowls of rice.
The chicken meat was tender and juicy. The meat was not limp and soft but have a subtle chewiness in its tenderness - that's the difference in texture between kampung chicken and battery raised broilers.
The kampung chicken meat's natural sweetness was complemented by slight savouriness from the mild dressing sauce. Nice.
All four of us gave Sin Bee Hiang chicken the thumbs up 👍👍👍👍
The rice was made with average quality grains but it was well infused with aromatic oil flavour and fragrance. It had nice tender nutty texture. Even dainty ladies (who normally volunteer to "share" their rice with guys) couldn't resist having a whole bowl of the rice to themselves 😄
👉 Sin Bee Hiang chicken rice stall in Agape coffee shop in Pelangi Johor Bahru is one of my favourite chicken rice in Singapore and Malaysia. The chicken is delicious, the chicken soup is nice and the chili sauce is tasty with layers of spiciness. I am also inspired by the Lees' fighting spirit and wish them the best of health.
Restaurant name: Sin Bee Hiang Chicken Rice 新味香雞飯
Address: (Stall in Agape coffee shop) 6, Jalan Jingga, Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru (intersection with Jalan Kuning)
GPS: 1°28'57.3"N 103°46'31.4"E 🌐 1.482579, 103.775387
Tel: 016-715 9372
Hours: 9:30am - 1:30pm (Mon off)
Non Halal
Date visited: 24 Oct 2018
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We stumbled upon this Sin Bee Hiang 新味香雞飯 kampung chicken while on a food trail in Johor Bahru. The morning didn't start well as the first three stalls we wanted to try were unexpectedly closed and we collected a traffic summon even before our first morning coffee ;-(
Too tired and hungry to continue, we settled on Agape 愛加倍 coffee shop - it wasn't on our itinerary. As there was a chicken rice stall at Agape, we ordered a quarter chicken (RM16) to taste test. Our group of 7 makan (foodie) veterans (i.e. oldies) were all tasting this kampung chicken for the first time. We had one piece of chicken each and all agreed that this is on everyone's top 10 list of favourite chicken.
I was so in love with this kampung chicken that I wanted to come back to Agape to have an in depth tasting the very next day. Sadly, my trusty car broke down as a faulty switch left my back brake lights stuck on, draining my battery flat. Still, I got here as soon as my car was fixed ;-D
The kampung chicken that won our hearts and saved our day was at Sin Bee Hiang chicken rice stall 新味香雞飯.
Sin Bee Hiang Chicken Rice is located inside Agape 愛加倍, a corner coffee shop in Taman Pelangi.
Sin Bee Hiang stall owner Mr Lee has been a hawker since he was 16 years old. He has been running Sin Bee Hiang chicken rice stall with his wife here at Agape coffee shop for 30 years already.
Mr Lee goes to the wet market to personally select his chicken and is at the stall by 6:00am to prepare his chicken and is ready for business by 9:30am. Very few hawkers hand pick their live chicken nowadays but Mr Lee still insists on the old way - going to the wet market at Taman Sri Terbrau at 5:00am.
Sin Bee Hiang serves both fried chicken (commonly referred to as roast) and also poached chicken. The fried chicken is made with battery chicken. The poached chicken is made with kampung (free range) chicken.
Today, two of us indulged in half a kampung chicken (RM25). We already knew it is good from our first visit ;-D
The chicken meat was tender and juicy, and has a more bouncy "lively" mouth feel that is different from typical battery chicken 肉雞. I also love the skin which is soft and smooth. Nice natural chicken flavour and aroma were released with every bite of skin and flesh.
Mr Lee drizzled the chicken meat with a simple blend of sesame oil and soy sauce which complements the chicken's natural flavours.
The simple chicken rice had just the right amount of moistness and good tender, slightly nutty bite. The rice had a nice gentle chicken aroma and taste with very little grease.
I don't have the habit of drizzling my chicken rice with dark soy sauce nowadays. If you do, the sauce is savoury sweet, more on the savoury side.
Mr Lee makes his own chili sauce which tastes savoury spicy.
Do not underestimate this clear looking simple chicken soup. In it's watery body, it has a nice pure chicken flavour. Just drinking this simple chicken soup is a pleasure in itself, for me.
This is chicken soup for the soul, literally.
Bonus tip :-D
Also get the fish ball soup from the "Take a Seat 坐 一下" kway teow thng stall at the same coffee shop. The hand made fish balls using 100% Yellowtail fish complements the chicken rice very well.
Perfect pairing, I must say.
The easiest way to locate Agape coffee shop is to look out for Music Band KTV which is just across the road.
->> One of best kampung chicken rice that I have tried so far.
Disclosure: Mr Lee graciously declined our payment for the chicken eaten during our second visit.
You know, I am a life long chicken rice lover. Here are the chicken rice stalls in Johor Bahru which I like. Try them all 😋 👈 click
Restaurant name: Sin Bee Hiang Chicken Rice 新味香雞飯
Address: 49, Jalan Kuning, Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru, Malaysia (Agape Food Court) 愛加倍
GPS: 1.482469, 103.775374
Hours: 9:30am to 1:30pm (closed on Monday)
Tel: 016-715-9372
Non Halal
Date visited: 27 Oct 2015, 30 Oct 2015
Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
Tony, hope you dun mind I sidetrack a bit, do you know the opening hours of the Kam Long Curry Fishead next door? Heard it's only open at night. They're a branch of the Jln Wong Ah Fook one rite?
ReplyDeleteI actually didn't try that Kam Long outlet before. Shall check it out at the next opportunity.
DeleteHi Tony, the Kam Long curry fish opens at 3.30pm and the taste is as good as the Jln Wong Ah Fook one!
DeleteThank you for the info :-D
DeleteI was at this chicken rice stall yesterday (Nov 20, 2016). While waiting to be served, I went to the toilet at the back of the shop, and guess what I saw? 2 friend chickens lying on the wet concrete floor next to the toilet. 6 or 7 other cooked, fried chickens were hanging from a line, so these 2 must have either fallen off, or simply left there because there was not enough space on the line to hang them.
ReplyDeleteI will never go back there again.