San Xi Chicken Rice popular with residents living around Bendemeer Food Centre serve a tender, juicy chicken with a sweet savoury sauce, nutty aromatic greasy rice, nice chili and ginger sauce, and excellent soup. All at an affordable, competitive price.
While stalking Bendemeer Market & Food Centre, I noticed that San Xi Hainanese Chicken Rice always have a long queue, especially during lunch time.
Stalking them, I noted that they prepare a lot of birds everyday, both poached and deep fried.
But despite their popularity with locals, San Xi have a very low social media profile - there is hardly any mention of them online.
Two of us, we ordered a set with lower quarter cut. This set of chicken, rice, beansprout and soup, all for $8. The picture of the set on the menu showed a plate of green vegetables but I was given beansprout instead (which is OK 👌 for me). (We had food from several other stalls before this.)
First things first - the chicken came chopped in big chunks which I like. The flesh was tender and juicy, the skin was smooth. The chicken felt slightly chilled as it was dunked in cold water. I can taste a bit of chicky sweetness in the meat and juice.
The chicken came splashed with a sweet savoury aromatic oily sauce. The sloshy sauce smothered the chicken and pooled at the bottom of the plate.
The rather robust sauce interfered a bit with the chicken's natural sweetness. Not the way I like it, but I do understand many people prefer their chicken this way.
The chicken was set on a mat of crunchy juicy sweet blanched beansprout.
I like their rice because the grains are good quality, tender-nutty, well greased and infused with savoury flavours over the rice's natural sweetness. If you like your rice soft, you may find San Xi's rice a little firm. Personally, I like the rice texture and flavour but felt it was a little on the too greasy side.
I like their ginger for its mild heat. Their chili is good too - savoury sweet sourish with a spicy hot aftertaste.
The complimentary soup was excellent - sweet savoury from old cucumber, red date, carrot, wolfberry, chicken feet, etc. The soup has good body from the dissolved collagen from the chicken feet.
We enjoyed our lunch at San Xi Hainanese Chicken Rice though, I am not a big fan of copious amounts of assertive tasting sauce on my poached chicken. But, a lot of folks like it this way.
Next time, I shall try their fried chicken.
(San Xi has another outlet at Eunos Crescent food centre but I don't know how the stalls are related.)
Other top choices you can try at Bendemeer Food Centre 👈 click
Written by Tony Boey on 11 Apr 2021
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