There are and will be many famous chicken rice brands in Singapore and around the world but none will be or will ever be as famous as the original Swee Kee 瑞记.
Many brands can be famous, some even legendary, but only rarely will one reach a mythical level like Swee Kee 瑞记.
Swee Kee 瑞记 was founded by 莫履瑞 Moh Lee Twee in 1949.
莫履瑞 Moh Lee Twee (1914 - 1977) worked for and learned his craft from Wong Yi Guan 王义元, the Father of Singapore chicken rice.
By the 1950s, 莫履瑞 Moh Lee Twee's Swee Kee restaurant at #51 & #53 Middle Road had outdone his own master's hawker stall at 琼霖园咖啡店 #43 Middle Road.
莫履瑞 Moh Lee Twee was a grateful man who remembered the source of his good fortune 饮水思源. For years after the success of Swee Kee, 莫履瑞 Moh Lee Twee continued to regularly call upon his master Wong Yi Guan and offered the customary ang bao 红包 (gift of cash in red paper packet).
What was Swee Kee's mythical chicken rice like?
This is how renowned food critic Chua Lam 蔡澜 described the cooking of Swee Kee's chicken rice.
"Sauté a large amount of garlic (with skin) and ginger in oil, then stuff a bunch of scallion rolled up, along with bay leaves (what Malays call "pandan"), into the chicken's cavity. Rub salt on the chicken skin.
Boil a large pot of water, add a spoonful of salt as soon as it boils, boil again, add more salt, and so on, judging by experience how salty it should be.
Put the chicken into the broth and blanch for five minutes, then remove it and rinse it in cold water.
Boil the water again, then blanch it again. Repeat this three or four times, depending on the size of the chicken; don't rigidly adhere to the rules.
Finally, hang the chicken to air dry.
The water from blanching the chicken leaves a layer of chicken fat - use this to sauté shallots in a pot, then add rice and stir-fry it. Transfer the stir-fried rice to another pot to cook, using half of the water from blanching the chicken.
Reserve the other half to make a side soup with cabbage and preserved vegetables.
Another version says that you put raw rice in a funnel-shaped metal pot and steam it with boiling water underneath - this is how old friends who have seen 莫履瑞 Moh Lee Twee make it have passed down the recipe."
Grateful for Chua Lam's detailed record for the benefit of future generations.
The greased rice grains were discrete and separate easily. The soft tender rice was flavourful. Fragrance from the rice filled the air in the restaurant as well as the street outside. Customers also remember the thick dark soy sauce which was drizzled over the rice. Swee Kee also sold chicken offal including intestine.
Please add your personal memories in the comments section of this article 🙏
One of the keys to Swee Kee's success was the quality of their chicken. Swee Kee had their own farm and Moh Lee Twee personally handpicked the live birds for the restaurant.
The chicken lorry would deliver to the back alley of Swee Kee, for Moh Lee Twee to select the birds. Moh Lee Twee would judge the quality of the birds by hand examining their weight, butt, feathers, etc., one bird at a time, a technique he learned from his master Wong Yi Guan. The chosen birds were kept in cages at the restaurant for a few days before they were processed and cooked, so they were very fresh.
Swee Kee was an obligatory check-in for the who's who of Chinese entertainment and business elite visiting Singapore.
Global celebrities who graced Swee Kee included actress Li Li-hua 李麗華.
Moh Lee Twee had four sons. According to birth order - Moh Tai Sing, Freddy Moh Tai Tong, Moh Tai Siang and Royston Moh Tai Suan (youngest).
莫履瑞 Moh Lee Twee passed on in 1977.
Eldest son 莫泰松 Moh Tai Sing took over the reins. 莫泰松 kept up the standards of his father, so Swee Kee continued to prosper.
In the mid-eighties, Swee Kee briefly also had an air conditioned branch at Fortune Centre, Middle Road ran by Freddy Moh but it didn't last.
Moh Tai Sing was killed in a car crash in 1987.
Moh Tai Sing's younger brothers continued running Swee Kee until 1997 when it was closed for rebuilding. Freddy Moh shared ambitious rebuilding and expansions plans - the existing twin shophouses would be demolished and replaced by a new large six storey building which will house the 3-floor restaurant, Moh family homes, workers' quarters and carparks.
But, Swee Kee never reopened. There were rumours of a comeback now and then rising the hopes of Swee Kee's many fans but sadly it never materialised.
After Swee Kee closed in 1997, many chicken rice stalls and restaurants opened in Singapore claiming ties with Swee Kee Chicken Rice. Such is the power of Swee Kee's brand equity. But, according to the Moh family, the only one with familial ties with Swee Kee is Restoran Swee Kee established in 1997 by 莫泰琼 in Senai, Johor.
In 2016, 莫泰錩 Moh Tai Siang told reporters about reopening Swee Kee in Singapore by tapping on the relatives in Senai, Johor but it didn't come to fruition.
Swee Kee will forever be a mythical giant in the world of chicken rice. It was the first regionally famous Singapore chicken rice restaurant that set the humble homely staple from rural Hainan Island on the road to become one of the great dishes not only of Singapore but the world.
Written by Tony Boey on 1 May 2026
Who is Tony Johor Kaki?
References
Court case of the Moh family. In 1957, Moh Lee Twee bought a house with over 13,000 sq ft freehold land at Branksome Road in Katong.
Moh Lee Twee had four sons - eldest Moh Tai Sing, Freddy Moh Tai Tong, Moh Tai Siang, and youngest Royston Moh Tai Suan.
Moh Lee Twee passed on in 1977. In 1974, Moh Lee Twee transferred the house in four equal shares to his four sons.
In 1985, Moh Tai Siang got into financial difficulties. Concerned that Moh Tai Siang's money problems might affect the status of the Branksome Road property, Moh Tai Siang sold his share to Freddy Moh and Royston Moh for SGD$200,000.
(Moh Tai Siang was declared bankrupt in 1988 and discharged in 1996.)
Moh Tai Sing died in a car crash in 1987. Moh Tai Sing's share went to his widow and son.
Moh Lee Twee's wife Wong Ah Heng passed away in 2015.
Upon her passing, the Branksome Road property was sold for SGD$16 million in 2015. Moh Tai Siang sued Freddy and Royston for his share of the proceeds amounting to SGD$4 million.
In 2018, judge Aedit Abdullah J ruled in favour of Freddy and Royston on the basis that Moh Tai Siang had already sold his share to them in 1985.
A separate court case in which Moh Tai Siang is suing for his share of the Middle Road shophouse property is pending.
Fragrance of the rice fills the air. The barley in glass bottles my fave sight. Can’t remember the chicken, too young then 🤭
ReplyDeleteYes the rice very fragrant
ReplyDeleteI enlist as a recruit in 1980s, upon released home after 2 weeks, I took bus number direct to North Bridge Road, Swee Kee for chicken rice. White Chicken suckling juicy, rice 2 plates and soup double bowls.
ReplyDeleteI remember eating here. I was quite young then. And one of my cousins dropped something onto the road as we were leaving the shop house, and I recall everyone trying to frantically pull her back as she reached for the item, as a car was reversing.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall the chicken. Cos that was decades ago. But I distinctly remember the rice - cos it was the best chicken rice I ever had. It was so fragrant that it filled the entire shop like you mentioned.
Have not smelled such fragrant rice since.
I can only remember eating at least two bowl of rice with dark soy sauce in the 70s
ReplyDeletethe chicken is not dosed with soya sauce or oil and neither drenched in icy water - very simple chicken cooked by blanching in chicken soup (which they serve to you and cooked their rice in). chickens are kept live in coop where the kitchen is. one thing i hate most is the employee seems to have a big say on things especially when they start serving/cooking their pork chops or beef with kai lan - must be 11am sharp and no earlier - so if u want to eat these dishes be there after 11 am. their chilli sauce is the most outstanding - fresh chillis and cooked with chicken stock - dash of vingear - chicken oil. those days f and b are allowed to serve chicken spare parts - the intestines are best - not soaked with soda or chemicals - clean and as it is. soup is sweet as it is cooked with cabbage and of course fresh chicken. they were the pioneer in giving high quality thick soya sauce - help yourself as they have bottles of them on every table - so thick that u need to be patience when u dose it on your rice. btw they also own the next door shop as well although the iron gate seldom open - upstairs is aircon. these memories you cannot relive lolx.
ReplyDeleteMy go-to place for chicken rice. I remember that you can smell the fragrance of their rice from your car, even as you open the car door to get down. Why can't present-day chicken rice shops replicate that?
ReplyDeleteThey were our neighbours in middle road and I had their chicken rice at least 3 times a week after school growing up. Their old Hainanese regulars exclusively do not eat breast meat hence any customers that come for individual takeaway packets will receive 100% breast meat. Any request for other parts will incur a supplement fee. And the very excellent 露天 restaurant behind Swee Kee!
ReplyDeleteSwee Kee was the best. I can still remember the rice.
ReplyDeleteI love their rice, not oily, with grains not sticking together, chicken so tender served with all the spare parts including intestines, never overcooked and My uncle worked there in the 60s before he returned to Hainan
ReplyDeleteTony, as a kid , my parents would take me & my siblings there almost every Sunday after church unless we are overseas.
ReplyDeleteSwee Kee is a corner shophouse.
It's always a whole chicken , 2 plates of ' pak lai ' ( liver, gizzard , chicken blood & crunchy intestines ) 2 huge bowls of somewhat half cooked strips of cabbage soup which is free and 6 large bowls of rice and a few extra small bowls whoever is still hungry! The rice is so fragrant and can be eaten on it's own with thick black sauce even before the chicken is served 😅
Remembered the short old man helming the chopping board as you enter. If we are early like 11am, there would be a few chopped up half chickens on plates and plates of ' pak lai' piled up for server to take.
The boss would be seated in a counter just after the showcase of chickens to collect payment.
There is air con sitting upstairs and we would pester our parents to go up instead .
My late paternal grandparents always bring me there to eat lunch. There was chicken rice fragrance that none of the current chicken establishments will have when you are near. It's alike eating at Teochew Porridge establishments. There will be aroma once you are near and you immediately will know it's Teochew Porridge.
ReplyDeleteYes I did. Apparently Theresa Teng also patronized this restaurant
ReplyDelete