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Chicken Rice is so popular that it is called the national dish of Singapore. You might also find this delicious dish in Malaysia, in Thailand, and China.
Hainanese Chicken Rice
Another name for it is Hainanese chicken rice. Hainan is a southern island province which grows rice and has a particular breed of free-range chickens.
Map of China showing Hainan island. Picture from Wikivoyage article on Hainan.
When the Hainanese emigrated to Malaya which later split into Malaya and Singapore, they carried with them their recipes for rice chicken which became known as Hainanese Rice Chicken.
The chicken may be marinated all night in a flavoured water to give it moisture, taste, and provide a liquid as a side dish of soup, or a soup or fat to flavour the rice.
The rice gets its flavour from either the chicken soup, or from adding chicken fat drawn off the soup, hence different flavours. If you get plain rice with no added flavour, that is why your chicken rice is not so tasty. It may be cheaper. It could be called chicken rice as opposed to Hainanese chicken rice. The longer name is not just a fancy or nostalgic name but a style of making flavourful rice.
Chicken rice is cheap. In Singapore you will find it in almost every food court or Hawker Centre. It is my favourite food at lunch time, a good price.
Cucumber?
In the beginning I was delighted when I found cucumber had been added. But I was disappointed not to get more cucumber.
The word garnish provided a clue. The cucumber is not intended to provide one of your five a day fruit or vegetables, but a contrast of colour, a garnish, an elegance.
You would think, at first, that chicken rice would always be the same. Rice with some chicken. What could go wrong?
Possible problems:
Finding that somehow it is not satisfying.
Too many bits of bone in the chicken.
Worries you that you will lose crumbly teeth or loose fillings by biting chicken bones.
Risk of scratching your throat.
Feeling sick.
Wondering where to spit it out bones and skin.
Ending up with untidy bones on the plate.
Half bone - having eaten half as much chicken as you expected.
To sum it up:
Tasteless chicken.
Not enough chicken.
Chicken undercooked and cold.
Chicken tough, stringy.
Not enough cucumber. Not enough anything. Not enough - yet you don't want to finish it. Having a bad chicken rice makes you keen to find a good one.
If you want a zinging flavour, you add the chilli sauce they provide.
Chicken Rice in Waterloo Street, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
1 Waterloo Street
My First Try-Out is at Waterloo Street.
A traditional food court, nothing grand. Line up for food and carry it to a table.
A local woman, Susan, told me, "It's the best chicken rice in Singapore!"
I queried, admiringly, "The best! In the whole of Singapore?"
"Maybe not. We haven't tried every place in Singapore. But the best locally, at least in this food court. You can tell by the queue."
I smiled, "Thanks for the recommendation. I must try it, next time I am here."
Why Visit Waterloo Street?
I often pass through Waterloo Street. You can tell how old the area is from the name. It is named after the battle of Waterloo.
Three MRT stations are around it. You have several reasons to go there for strolls, photography and to admire the colourful buildings.
Beautiful Buildings
Building on the corner of Waterloo Street and Middle Road. By Angela Lansbury. copyright.
Walls are painted in yellow, or green, or blue, with contrasting pillars and windows and roof tiles and gutter edges and window frames.
Adornments to the buildings are powerful evocative symbols. The cross is on the front of the church.
The Star of David is high up near the roof of the old synagogue. Security guards stand outside and a sign says no photography so I move on.
I admire the elegant Chinese characters of the calligraphy society. I wonder what they mean. I must learn some Chinese characters.
At one end by Bras Basah station are the art museum, the synagogue, the church and the Catholic centre. Next, in the middle, the shop for camping clothes and equipment for sports and outdoors.
The street is short. A few steps later you are at the other end by Middle Street. The art college has entrances onto the roads either side and in the middle has a historical statue and a lively mural.
The colourful theatre centre is where mums take their children for a lesson, and wait, having an early lunch opposite in Waterloo Centre.
In Waterloo Street in Waterloo centre the queues form at lunch time outside a kiosk. One Saturday morning I was a visiting toastmaster at the Toastmasters in Christ Toastmasters club where I was acting as evaluator of a speech. Afterwards the club members go for lunch in the food court. They use the place weekly, and my chinese Singaporean friends pointed out the chicken rice place. However, I did not try it because the queue was so long I risked missing out on talking to my friend.
Therefore, when I was alone the following month one morning, I decided to take an early lunch while the food court was relatively empty.
The one man ahead of me in the queue was talking to the owners in either Chinese (which means Mandarin) or Hokkien. Reading characters is not enough. I must learn to speak Chinese. I could do with the basics. The only words I know are, Ni how, (hi), :how (I'm good, fine,) and shay-shay, thank you. I need to be able to say
Chicken rice?
How much?
One portion.
Take away?
Receipt please.
Thank you.
I asked the man who was waiting, "Do you speak English? Are they serving yet? I'll order after you."
He told me, "I've already ordered. Have the roast chicken, that's best."
I looked at the white chicken and thought that might be more succulent. The roast chicken might be too dry for me. I don't eat skin.
I thought the white chicken was just meat. That was what I ordered.
However, that was an optical illusion. It came with the almost invisible white chicken skin.
They asked a question. The man waiting for his food translated. "Do you want to eat in or take away?"
In London, England, different tax is charged on eating in so you can save money by eating out. To put it another way, sometimes a food kiosk has signs for the take away price. If you eat in, they charge more.
"Same price!"
"How much?" I asked.
"Fi-or dollars."
"Four? Five?" It sounded too much.
I hesitated.
"Small portion, cheaper. Two fifty."
'Small portion."
I opted for, "Take away."
That meant the food came in take away packaging. That gave me the option of taking leftovers home. Alternatively, you can carry all or part of the meal onwards if you decide half way through eating that you are in a hurry and it is time to go.
My translator took his meal and went off. My meal appeared. I paid and asked for a receipt. No understanding. I said, "I need receipt - your address! Tell others. Come back. Your address." I made writing gestures with my right hand.
The owner or boss pointed to the address on the outside of the box.
I nodded. too much effort to demand a receipt. At least I had the address.
I walked out through the food court, but when I got to the exit I decided to sit and try my food whilst it was freshly cooked and still hot or at least warm.
Eating Chicken Rice
I later struggled to remove with the throw-away wood chopsticks which come with the food tray, and the plastic spoon for scooping the rice.
A Singaporean lady asked if she could sit at the table with me. She was ethnic Chinese and spoke English as well as the main Chinese language (Mandarin - which is taught in schools to the Chinese - you can attend an English school or Malay mother tongue, or Indian language state school, or Japanese or other private schools) and a dialect at home (Hokkien).
Chicken Chop - Recommended by connie Cheong
Her name was Connie Cheong. She was eating Western food, 'chicken chop'. She had wanted it with rice, but today garlic bread was the offer.
Maybe it depends on the supplies which are available to the cook. Or maybe they change the menu so that people who work in the huge complex upstairs can order the same set meal but get something different each time - and get accustomed to coming back to order different foods, or extras.
This set meal is a large plate of food: chicken which comes with an egg, fried egg or omelette, rice or bread. On this day the bread was garlic bread. She also had been given some ham, tomato and cucumber.
You are getting three types of protein, chicken, ham - processed meat, which also won't suit those who are halal or kosher, and egg. For the Chinese who famously 'eat anything with four legs except the table,' it is a filling food choice. Chicken rice for those who are on a budget or have simple tastes, or want to eat Chinese style, chicken chop for those who want a larger meal with two pieces of vegetable.
The price for chicken chop was $5.80 (Singapore dollars). That cost is more than my chicken rice, which was quite filling enough.
I said, "The price for chicken chop seems very reasonable. In another food court, my friends bought chicken chop for about $11.50! Twice the price!"
She explained, "Some food courts charge higher rents. So the stall holders pass that cost onto the customer."
She bought her chicken chop for the stall at the far end of the right hand side as you are looking into the food court under Waterloo Centre from the street.
Chicken Rice
She said her two favourite chicken rice places are:
Chin Chin , On Beach Road, a short walk from City Hall MRT, opposite the Shaw building..
Out in the suburbs:
Ghimoh Market
$2 for chicken rice.
From Buona Vista MRT a ten minute walk,
opposite the Buona Vista Community Club.
(You can find any Community club by looking at the map in the nearest MRT station, or asking at the customer services window on the station concourse.)
I made notes of what Connie said in my diary so I would always have the address handy - not in a notebook or a scrap of easily lost paper. I also took photos of her food and mine as a reminder.
More photos of Waterloo street are in other posts on Singapore.
Locations
01 means ground floor as the British would say, or as the Americans say, level one.
Leong Yeow Chicken Rice
Block 261 Waterloo Street, #01-29
Food Summons Eating House
Singapore 180261
Tel:6334 3989.
(At the end of the food court, far left.)
They have a second branch nearby:
Block 270 Queen Street Food Centre,
#01-49
Tel 6338 3162.
Useful Websites
singaporeair.com
visitsingapore.com
https://www.streetdirectory.com/sg/waterloo-centre/261-waterloo-street-
https://moovitapp.com/index/en-gb/public_transportation-Buona_Vista_Community_Club-Singapore
https://chinchineatinghouse.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainanese_chicken_rice
https://www.visitsingapore.com/editorials/types-of-chicken-rice/
Useful Websites
googlemaps.com
https://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/public-transport/mrt-and-lrt-trains/train-system-map.html
mytransport.sg
nestia.com
mapstreetview.com
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/10/walk-along-wonderful-waterloo-street.html
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.
