169 Hainanese Chicken Rice • Silky Smooth, Juicy Soft Chicken, Top Notch Rice @ Chinatown Food Centre

✍ 13 Sep 2022. After my MRI at National Heart Centre today, I took a short walk to Chinatown Complex Food Centre, about 10 minutes away. Yeah..., I walk everywhere even if sometimes it is not within walking distance for most people. I walked from Eunos to Chinatown a few times (stop, eat, go, repeat). I walked many cities around the world this way but that's a story for another post.

Anyway, it was worth the short walk as today I was rewarded with an excellent chicken rice.

Stall name: 169 Hainanese Chicken Rice 

Address: 335 Smith Street, stall #02-169, Singapore 050335 (Chinatown Complex Food Centre red zone)

Nearest MRT: 5 minutes walk from Chinatown station

Hours: 11:00am - 2:00pm (Weds off, close at 1pm on Sat & Sun)

Chinatown hawker centre has nearly recovered from the Covid pandemic. The hawker centre was busy - I spotted a few tourists and even a media crew from Japan (to shoot Hawker Chan's soya sauce chicken). At some of the popular stalls, snaking queues have returned.

Spoilt for choice, wondering what to eat, I recalled that buddy Richard mentioned that 169 Hainanese Chicken Rice is nice. There was a queue of about 8 to 10, so I quickly formed up behind.

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Why is the stall named 169 Hainanese Chicken Rice? Because it is stall #02-169 mah.... duh... ! 

I ordered the set which comes with rice, chicken, bean sprout and a bowl of soup. I upsized to 雞尾 "chicken tail", so my portion costs SGD6.

In Chinatown Complex, single use disposals like plastic and styrofoam had been the norm for decades 🤷 😔

169's chicken is as good as the best out there. The meat was soft tender but still had a bit of subtle squeaky chew, juicy, smooth and had that coveted "jelly" between the silky skin and meat. It tasted sweet and "chickeny" with a bit of additional savoury sweetness from the dark dressing sauce. 

Actually, I am not a fan of dressing sauces for Hainanese chicken rice especially when the chicken is so good by itself. So, I just let the dark watery sauce pooled at the bottom and ate the meat as neat as possible. 

The rice was good excellent. Nutty, tender, just the right moistness, with slight grease and savoury chicken stock taste and aroma. It's one of the best in Singapore, in fact.

There's a lot of bean sprouts in the set, covering ⅔ of the styrofoam plate. Buddy Aaron will say "told you right, taugeh are bulk fillers" (which is also a fact 😂 ). 

But, I am a taugeh lover and would gladly pay money to get more in my meal. Anyway, at 169, the taugeh are typical of what we can get in Singapore and Johor. A bit skinny and not as sweet and juicy as the fat ones in Ipoh (which even Aaron will pay more money for). 

The savoury soup was just alright. The chili sauce was good, zesty spicy - it was a blend of fresh chili and ginger. I normally don't use sauces but tasted it so that I can share with you how it tastes. 

There are quite a few Hainanese chicken rice stalls and even more Hong Kong soya sauce chicken stalls in Chinatown Complex. Delicious 169 is worth your calories. I would love to buy a whole chicken (price $30), take home and cut it up myself for a nice meal.

Another chicken rice for you to try in Chinatown Complex

Stall name: Yuan Lang Soy Sauce Chicken Master 👈 click (sadly CLOSED permanently 😔 )

Address: 335, stall #02-041 Smith Street, Chinatown Complex Food Centre, S050335 (yellow zone)

Hours: 11:30am - 7:00pm (Weds off)

          

Written by Tony Boey on 13 Sep 2022