Jiang Ji Traditional Hainanese Chicken Rice is run by Raymond, Alvin and Sue, sons and daughter of Sergeant Kiang who was part of the pioneer team behind the famed game changing Chatterbox Chicken Rice of Mandarin Hotel.
Restaurant name: Jiang Ji Traditional Hainanese Chicken Rice
Address: 780 Yishun Ring Road (Khatib Vale), Singapore 760780 (10 minutes walk from Yishun MRT station) (Last Day here on 20 Apr 2022)
Hours: 10:00am - 8:00pm (Mon off)
Jiang Ji Traditional Hainanese Chicken Rice is a stall inside Epic Haus kopitiam (coffee shop) at block 780 of Khatib Vale in Yishun, a 10 minute walk from Yishun MRT station. It's a little nook tucked away behind Dong Shan Temple 东山庙.
The succulent poached chicken and golden brown fried chicken look so delicious lah... .
Five of us, we started with half a classic poached chicken which came in big, deboned chunks set in a shallow pool of brown sauce.
Woo... ho..., no pink but the chicken was tender and juicy, and full of natural sweet chicky flavour. The blend of oyster sauce, light soy sauce, sesame seed oil added a savoury aromatic layer to the dish without overpowering the chicken's natural sweetness. Very nice lah... .
Aiyoh...., with a golden bird like that how not to order... .
The fried chicken was tender but seasoning and frying the bird traded off some juiciness. The golden brown skin gave the chicken a savoury aromatic flavour on top of its natural sweetness. Personally, I still prefer the classic "white chopped chicken" though we also like the fried chicken. Actually, Catherine preferred the fried chicken.
They have a fried chicken chop with Hainanese tomato sauce which is popular with the youths of the neighbourhood.
The chicken char siew is another best seller with young people.
The char siew sauce's quite robust savoury taste overpowers any chicken flavour but when eaten together with the savoury sweet rice's chicky taste, the whole combination came together deliciously.
I like the savoury sweet flavour of the aromatic rice. Though full flavoured, the rice grains were not overly greasy. If higher quality grains were used, it would rise the rice to perfection.
Not yet 1pm, but all the white poached chicken were sold out. The Jiang family was so kind to oblige me with a quick snap before preparing for the next batch of chicken. From left, Raymond, sister Sue and her hubby, and brother Alvin - the flag bearers of the next generation of Sergeant Kiang's legacy.
Sergeant Kiang was not at the stall - this is a picture of him I took back in 2015. Sergeant Kiang was a Singapore Army cookhouse commander when he was head hunted by Mandarin Orchard Hotel in 1971.
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| Mandarin Hotel 1980. Image credit: National Archives of Singapore |
Sergeant Kiang was given the task of bringing Lien Ying Chow's chicken rice vision to fruition. Together with Executive Chef Peter Gehrmann (from Germany), Sergeant Kiang created the legendary Chatterbox Chicken Rice. The 5 Star hotel chicken rice with the requisite premium price tag was a great hit and is a Mandarin Hotel / Singapore icon today.
Local legends like Swee Kee of Middle Road popularised chicken rice in Singapore but it was Sergeant Kiang's Mandarin Hotel Chatterbox Chicken Rice that put the humble street hawker dish onto the world map. It also elevated the status of the humble Hainanese chicken rice and street hawker dishes in general to be respectable in the finest dining rooms today.
Next year 2021, is Chatterbox Chicken Rice's 50th anniversary 🎉 Perhaps, we may celebrate the launch of Chatterbox Chicken Rice as the coming out party of Singapore hawker culture 😉
Read about:
The history of Singapore chicken rice 👈 click
The history of Singapore hawker centre culture 👈 click
Date visited: 3 Sep 2020 | Updated: 24 Mar 2022
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