During my last few visits to Golden Mile Food Centre, Thailand Chicken Rice stall always caught my attention. The stall window was always meticulously laid out. The parade of golden brown fried chicken looked so alluring - do they taste as good as they look? I can't help wondering 🤔
When I go closer to take a picture of the wrinkly browned birds, the friendly lady boss Ms May Lee always encouraged me to try. But, every time I had already eaten at another stall. She was always cheerful and polite, and would reply that she hope I would try her chicken rice next time.
I was at Golden Mile Food Centre at 8am this morning and was surprised that Thailand Chicken Rice was already opened for business (Google says it opens at 9am). Ms May Lee said she is at the stall at 5am everyday and is ready to serve by 7am. She works alone, preparing, cooking everything and serving customers all by herself without any helper. She works fast even though her hands tremble a little from a neural condition.
I am impressed that May uses washable plates and metal utensils even though she runs her stall all by herself (when it is almost the norm in Singapore for hawker stalls to use throwaway, one-use styrofoam and plastic utensils since the 1980s to save on manpower costs).
I asked for chicken thigh which Ms Lee obliged.
Ms Lee once ran a Hainanese chicken rice stall at Soi Thong Lo in Bangkok. She said the chicken rice at her Golden Mile stall is the same as that in her Bangkok stall.
Ms Lee is proud of her 13 year old who is top of her class in school. Ms Lee says her daughter misses her as she works at the stall everyday (from pre-dawn to night). She makes it a point to cook breakfast for her daughter before leaving for work (which means waking up at 2am).
The chicken meat was soft-tender with soft browned skin. There's some savoury sweet flavour from the skin while the meat was slightly sweet. There's a savoury taste from the fried garlic bits sprinkled liberally over the chicken meat. The chicken came dressed with a light savoury sauce laced with fresh lime juice.
The chicken was beautifully executed but Ms Lee told me that the quality of chicken supplied from Malaysia had gone down while prices had gone up. She said that so far she had been absorbing the increased costs i.e. maintaining her original menu prices.
The rice was moist, (slightly too) greasy and quite firm with a slight nuttiness to the bite. There's a savoury garlicky flavour over the rice's natural sweetness.
The soup made with chicken feet was sweet savoury and a little greasy.
The most Thai thing about Thailand Chicken Rice is this zesty sourish spicy garlicky savoury chili sauce with a lingering hot sting (that fades away quite quickly). May uses Thai lime which is sourish (of course) and has a refreshing fragrance.
Ms Lee said she tweaked the chili sauce, removing taucheo (fermented soy beans) which she used at her Bangkok stall.
If you are a fan of fried chicken rice, do give Thailand Chicken Rice a try.
If you feel a sense of deja vu with Thailand chicken rice, that's because both Singapore and Thailand chicken rice are Hainanese chicken rice. Hainanese brought chicken rice to Singapore and Thailand, hence it is basically the same dish with some tweaks to suit local palates and preferences.
If you like to try a Thai style chicken rice with taucheo and chili sauce, you can get it across the road at Golden Mile Complex 👈 click
This Year of the wood Tiger, is also year of the wood Rabbit. Wood is the source of fire which represents vitality and prosperity. Hence, red colour food, spicy, BBQ, deep fried and hotpot food channel blessings to Rabbits. Eating fried chicken is good for Rabbits 😄
More about the Chinese Zodiac guide to food 👈 click
Written by Tony Boey on 18 Jan 2022 | Updated 22 Mar 2022
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