Stalking Taman Johor Jaya for good food, spotted uncle preparing the day's chicken at 文昌正宗海南雞飯 (literally Wen Chang Authentic Hainanese Chicken Rice) stall.
The poached chicken were given the "cold turkey" treatment - straight from hot stock to ice bath.
Actually, chicken rice wasn't at the top of my mind when I went food hunting this morning. Like in Singapore, chicken rice stalls are everywhere in Johor Bahru and standards are high (like in Singapore). Not easy to find a really bad chicken rice though it is still possible (I found one in Singapore last week but I shall gatekeep it 🫢).
Uncle Tan said his late father used to work for Chin Chin at Purvis Street in Singapore a long time ago while the family lived in JB. (I guess it was Singapore's pre-independence days.) His father showed his late elder brother and him the ropes of chicken rice. They had been selling chicken rice their entire life. The family is Hainanese.
The beautifully done kampung chicken and uncle's story convinced me to give it a try. I also noticed that Uncle Tan is very meticulous - he keeps his cooked chicken fully enclosed in the display cabinet and he handled the cooked food with gloves on 👏👏👏
I ordered the lower quarter kumpung chicken 菜园鸡 set which costs RM24.
Chicken, rice, 3-sauces, soup, everything was there.
The bird chopped into large chunks, mostly deboned, splashed with a blend of soy sauce and aromatic oil.
Skin was relatively thick but smooth, supple and soft. A bit of jellied fat underneath. The meat was tender subtly chewy, juicy. Everything together tasted naturally chicky sweet with a bit of savoury balance from the dressing sauce.
The chicken was good.
The rice tasted and smelled good too with savoury sweet flavours and aromas. The rice was fluffy, neither overly greasy nor wet but a little soft and the grains were a mix of whole and chipped.
Serious ginger and scallion sauce, and chili sauce.
It's the classic grated ginger and scallion sizzled with hot oil. The chili sauce was a savoury salty spicy hot sourish blend.
Black sauce was savoury salty without any sweetness or body (thickness). Minus points for that 🫢
The obligatory chicken soup was nicely savoury sweet.
Overall, I enjoyed my chicken at 文昌正宗海南雞飯.
On my Chicken Rice Rating Scale, I rate Uncle Tan's 文昌正宗海南雞飯 7.5 /10.
Stall name: 文昌正宗海南雞飯 Wen Chang Authentic Hainanese Chicken Rice
Address: 50, Jalan Dedap 17, Taman Johor Jaya, 81100 Johor Bahru (stall in Restoran Kim Sing 金昇咖啡店)
Public Bus: 15 minutes walk from J10 bus stop opposite Toppen / IKEA
Hours: 8:30am - noon (or sold out)
Written by Tony Boey on 12 May 2026
Who is Tony Johor Kaki?
海南鸡饭永吃不腻！
ReplyDelete海南Uncle 的菜园鸡也不错吃！😁
ReplyDelete