Singapore PM Lee's Favourite Redhill Yon Yan 永焱 Fried Chicken Wings

I first heard about this famous Redhill 焱 fried chicken wings through Singapore Prime Minister PM Lee :-P  Not directly, but soon after a photo of PM Lee queueing for this famous chicken wings appeared on social media, a mainstream and social media frenzy ensued, as if on cue.

Though I did nothing afterwards, PM Lee's favourite fried chicken wings was lodged in my mind. But, what really moved me to come to Redhill food centre today was actually Eng Kee's chicken wings 荣记炸鸡翅膀.

Eh..? What's the connection?

I was very impressed with Eng Kee's fried chicken wings (at Commonwealth Crescent). So, when I was told that Mr Aw, the original owner of Eng Kee is now at Redhill food centre, I just had to check it out, fast.



I was at Redhill food centre at 4:30pm to avoid the infamous queue, made longer since PM Lee's visit.



The queue was about 7 to 8 deep when I arrived.  As I was queueing, I was hoping hard that none of the people ahead of me orders 30 or 50 wings in one go (which happens often enough).

Fortunately, today was my lucky day :-D



I got my three wings (yeah 2 wings, not enough lah :D), within 15 minutes.    

So, how were the wings?



Oh man, everything they said about this fried chicken wings is all true.



The golden brown wings were very crispy. The very thin batter on the skin was so crispy, we could hear the crisp crackling sound clearly when we bite into the skin - like biting into fresh, skinny potato chips.  

The crispy skin tasted good too, with a mild savoury flavour that allows some natural chicken flavour to come through. 

The tender white meat underneath was still moist with juice - sweet, tacky, warm, slippery natural fluid. Very mildly savoury and I could still taste the subtle chickeny flavour.

Only the drumlet joint was slightly drier and tougher but it was still sweet.

There was hardly any grease at all leaking from the fried chicken wings, even after it has cooled down.



As I sat alone musing over the bones after I finished my three wings, I wondered: "How did they achieve this level of crispness with regulation piped gas supply? And, with just a pair of regular woks?"    

That of course is a trade secret.    

They had no time for any interview, a long line of customers had formed up.



But, the friendly stall holder was kind enough to pause a moment, let me know that he is Mr Aw and allowed me to snap this picture.

What's the final verdict?



This is my favourite fried chicken wings in Singapore.

It's a no brainer an easy call.

Since Mr Aw already sold off the Eng Kee brand, his 焱 fried chicken wings stall doesn't really have a name that is easy for most people to pronounce. We also can't really call it Redhill chicken wings because there are a few chicken wing stalls in the same food centre. 

I wonder, what if people just call it PM Lee's favourite fried chicken wings?

I think everyone will know which stall we are referring to, right? :-D



Fried chicken wing lovers really shouldn't miss this.   Redhill food centre is just steps across the road from Redhill MRT. This is one of the best things, SGD1.20 can buy in Singapore.

Mai tu liao (don't wait any longer).

Current Address 👇

Restaurant name: Yon Yan 永焱 
Address: West Coast Market Square, Blk 726 Clementi West Street 2 #01-19, Singapore 120726
GPS:  1°18'14.0"N 103°45'53.2"E | 1.303895, 103.764768
Hours: 11:00am – 2:00pm | 5:00pm - 8:30pm (Sun, Mon off)

Old Address 👇



Restaurant name: 焱 Chicken Wings & Fried Bee Hoon
Address: 85 Redhill Lane, #01-09, Redhill Market, Singapore 
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/TF40S 
GPS: 1.287464,103.817903 
Hours: 4:00pm to 10:00pm (Closed on Monday) 

Non Halal  

Date visited: 9 Oct 2014  

Return to Johor Kaki homepage.

Eng Kee Fried Chicken Wings Singapore 荣记炸鸡翅膀

Eng Kee fried chicken wings 荣记炸鸡翅膀 at Commonwealth Crescent is one of the old and famous names in Singapore chicken wings.

Regulars know that Eng Kee fried chicken wings at Commonwealth Crescent changed hands a couple of years back, so is it still good?



Eng Kee serves many other dishes besides fried chicken wings as it is actually an "economic bee hoon 经济米粉" shop.



But, I was too full that day and so could only try their famous chicken wings.

I ate 3, maybe 4 wings because I liked them and also to get a good feel of the taste and flavours.

The freshly fried chicken wings were piping hot, slightly too hot to touch. There was hardly any grease on the wings, and none on the Styrofoam plate.



The golden brown outer crust was crisp, very thin. Peeling the skin off revealed moist, tender white meat and a thin layer of fat underneath the skin.

The skin was crispy and savoury like a thin, flappy keropok (deep fried cracker).

The juicy meat was nicely savoury sweet, though it lacked chicken flavour. This is normal for fried chicken and is seen as a plus point by people who don't like "chickeny" flavour.



In all, it was an appealing fried chicken wing with great crisp/tender texture and delicious savoury/sweet flavours. Little wonder that Eng Kee Fried Chicken Wings at Commonwealth Crescent has such a big following.



I like it that Eng Kee uses no special equipment to fry their chicken wings. It's just the standard wok, hot oil and piped gas stove.

Eng Kee's chicken wings are regular size wings imported frozen from Brazil, in other words, very ordinary.

So, it was all about the marinate, marination process and the skill of the lady frying the wings.



I marvelled at how the lady turned, spun and swirled the two ladles, sending the chicken wings racing around in the wok of hot oil, 30 wings at a time, so effortlessly. Every wing was evenly cooked, perfectly.



I managed to have the friendly lady (everyone calls her 大嫂) who was busy cooking the chicken wings pause a moment for this photo.

I forgot to tapao (take away) to try, so unfortunately, I don't know how well Eng Kee's chicken wings will stand up to the test of taking it home to eat hours later.



There is always a queue at Eng Kee, so there will be a slight wait but the plus point is the chicken wings are always freshly fried.

Probably the best fried chicken wings that one can get in Singapore at $1.20 each. (Now my next target is the original owner who operates at Redhill hawker centre :D )

Restaurant name: Eng Kee Fried Chicken Wings 荣记炸鸡翅膀 
Address:  Blk 117, Commonwealth Crescent, #01-711, Singapore
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/dVYq8
GPS: 1.306487,103.800673
Hours: 11:00am to 10:00pm (Closed on Sunday)
Non Halal

Date visited: 27 Sep 2014

Return to Johor Kaki homepage.

Two Wings at Bukit Merah, Salute Kopitiam in Singapore

The Two Wings salute.

Golden hued chicken wings strutting their stuff at Two Wings stall in Salute kopitiam.



Recently, the crispy hot wings from Two Wings stall in Salute kopitiam was the rage in the Singapore food scene.



Jeremy the owner, fine tuned and updated his family's recipe to create one of the best fried chicken wings that I've had anywhere (not just Singapore). 

Jeremy learnt the recipe from his granduncle who ran the popular chicken wings stall in Toa Payoh, Lorong 5 where I lived till my late teens. 1960/70s Lorong 5 was famous for it's delicious food stalls and notorious for it's violent gangs.

I am blessed that I was influenced by the food but not the gangs :P



Samantha, Jeremy's partner, on the way to a table of friends who ordered 12 x 2 wings.



Two Wings' chicken wings, imported from the USA and Brazil, are larger and meatier than those imported from Malaysia and other countries. 

There was hardly any grease at all on the skin or crust, or on the wooden serving board.



The chicken skin and thin crust were so crispy, they just popped off in one flaky crunchy flap from the hot tender juicy meat below.

The seasoning and marinate were light handed, so they only brought out the natural flavours of the chicken without overpowering it.

I like.

Jeremy uses the same deep frying technique to cook a few other popular dishes.



The crispy fried half spring chicken.



The chicken breast from the mixed chicken parts platter which included thighs.



The chicken nuggets from the finger food platter which also contains fried onion rings, spring rolls and French fries.



The big slab of chicken cutlet.



The crust was crispy and the inside was actually even more moist than the chicken wings.

Actually, I am more a chicken thigh than wing person as I found thighs meatier and juicier. But, it is harder to achieve crispiness with chicken thighs.

Kudos to Two Wings.

Here at Two Wings, we can get the best of both crispiness and juiciness.




French fries drizzled with mayonnaise and cheesy sauce.



The ketchup and chili sauce station. The freshly homemade garlicky chili sauce, especially, was superb like those from good chicken rice stalls. Even then, the fried chicken was so good, I prefer to eat it neat, without any sauce. 

Two Wings - One just isn't enough.

Jeremy is really too modest - if you are a fried food foodie, I bet you won't can't stop at two.

My appreciation to Uncle Smart for another excellent good food tip off. My thanks to Jeremy and Samantha for the invite.

Note: In my opinion, the drinks stalls here overprice their drinks.



Restaurant name: Two Wings
Address: 119, Bukit Merah Lane 1, Singapore
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/qh5xT
GPS: 1.286134,103.804766
Hours: Tue - Sun: 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm (Closed on Monday)
Tel: +65 96670368
No pork, no lard, no Halal cert

Dates visited: 14 Jun 2014, 25 Jul 2014

Return to Johor Kaki homepage.