My Favorite Chicken Rice

I’ve hesitated talking about chicken rice on this blog because many Singaporeans have their favorites and defend it zealously.  I’m a big fan of chicken rice and I’m really sick and tired of consuming mediocre excuses of this quintessentially Singapore dish.  

What’s worst is that some of these bad ones are reviewed “favorably” by certain food reviewers.

I’m no culinary expert, just someone who loves his food passionately so in the light of sharing, I’ve finally mustered enough courage to say:

My favorite chicken rice stall in Singapore is Heng Ki Chicken Rice in Chinatown Market, #02-131.

There, I said it.

Better still, here’s a picture.

Heng Ki Chicken Rice

Let me tell you why it’s my favorite.  

Chicken rice has three main components – Chicken and rice (duh), and the chili.  A good plate of chicken rice absolutely has to do well in all three.  Before I go on to describe (and defend) why Heng Ki is good, let me first disclaim and say that Heng Ki’s chicken rice is unashamedly full-flavored.  If you’re looking for plain white meat with rice that merely tickles your taste buds, stop reading now.  Or if you belong to the health conscious group who constantly grumbles how unhealthy a dish this is, please go read some salad reviews.  The following is not for you.

You have been warned.

Let’s start with the chicken.  The chicken in most chicken rice is prepared in more or less the same way.  And I guess any other way other than boiled would just be odd.  But after it’s hacked up and served on plate, Heng Ki’s really shines.  The fowl is doused in a generous mixture of soy sauce and what looks like liquified chicken fat kept warm in a mini-slow cooker by the chopping board.  Now don’t underestimate what a soya sauce and chicken fat does in terms of flavor.  I’ve had chicken dressed from a range of oyster sauce to “rose-flavored” sauce.  I think that masks the flavor of the chicken more than enhancing it.  Back to Heng Ki, the meat itself is moist because it’s a little undercooked, which you can tell from the meat still a little red near the bones.  This is good because if it’s cooked thoroughly through, the meat will be tough and dry.  Moist and tender beats dry and tough any time.

The Rice.  I’ve had chicken rice rice that ranged from plain to overambitious.  Heng Ki’s rice is prepared pretty much the same way – rice with ginger, pandan leaves and the chicken broth after boiling the chicken.  They’ve added one extra ingredient.  Good guess – chicken fat.  The rice is oily, just like any decent chicken rice should be but not too oily.  You can detect the distinct aroma of chicken on the rice which really works for me.  And though a technicality, I also enjoy the fact they serve in bowls instead of plates.  It just feels a little more authentic shoving chunks of meat and rice into your mouth with chopsticks compared to arranging everything neatly onto spoons, but that’s just me.  By default, they serve you their 30 cents portion which I find a little too small, so if you’re a slightly bigger eater, ask for the large which costs 50 cents.  Or you could do what I do and order one large and one small for 80 cents.

The chili.  To me, this is the ultimate test for a good chicken rice because this is the ultimate differentiator that separates the mediocre from the divine.  To those who know me (yes, all three of you) will know that I’m not a big chili fan because I do prefer the original flavor of food rather than nuking it with heat.  Even for chicken rice, I tend to moderate my chili consumption to just have enough to give the meat a kick without overpowering the chicken.  Broadly speaking, there’s two types of chicken rice chili.  The first is plain spicy, and the second is spicy cut with a slight sourness with the addition of lime juice.  Heng Ki’s chili on the other hand, has three distinct flavors – spicy, sweet and sour.  The sweetness is not a background flavor, in fact I dare say it’s the first flavor to hit you before the spiciness and sour kicks in.  Breaking it down, it’s about 30% sweet, 50% spicy and 20% sour, in that order when you taste it.  The sour is not the citrus kind of sour, but from vinegar.  Eating it together with the salty, soya sauced chicken completes the spectrum of flavor that makes the Heng Ki offering so unique compared to the rest.

The prices are pretty reasonable too.  As above, the rice itself is 30 or 50 cents, and for half a chicken it’ll set you back $10.  The stall is open from 3 to 9pm, but by 7pm, they’re just about sold out for the day.  The stall is unassuming with no fancy lights or cut outs of newspaper reviews whatsoever and the best part, it’s run by three warm and friendly folks, unlike other chicken rice stalls which I shall not name here.  So if you’re ever in the area, do swing by and give it a try because if you made it to this part of the post, I’m sure you’ll like it as much as I do.