Singapore 2011 - Chatterbox Chicken Rice
Chicken rice is almost a national dish in Singapore, and foodies here can be very obsessive about this simple yet perennially popular dish. Chatterbox in Mandarin Orchard has long had the reputation of serving one of the best chicken rice in town. I had a taste of it many years back and frankly have not much memory of the experience. This trip we made it a point to try it again.
Eating chicken rice here is not cheap. You are paying for the ambiance and also top quality ingredients. The chicken apparently comes from a specially selected farm, and the rice is also specially selected for the purpose. It costs SGD 22++ per order - around 3 times the price of a normal chicken rice shop, but they will give you unlimited refill of the rice.
Our orders came and it looked impressive enough. A generous serving of chicken breast meat, a small bowl of rice, a small bowl of soup and 3 condiments - minced ginger, chili sauce and soy sauce. The rice was very good - nice aroma of chicken, very subtle - fluffy and not oily. The chicken however was a huge disappointment. Breast meat is usually tricky, but a good chicken rice stall would turn out perfectly tender and moist morsels form any part of the chicken. this was dry and chewy - definitely badly cooked. Of the 3 condiments, my favourite was the minced ginger and soy sauce. The chili sauce was not really my cup of tea - I prefer the chili garlic and vinegar combination we are more used to in Malaysia.
One word on the decor - green flourescent lighting is neither very flattering on the food nor on skin tone. They should change it immediately !
There is apparently a chicken rice shop opened by an ex-Chatterbox chef in Pasir Ris. I haven’t tried it yet, but based on the Chatterbox experience I am not impressed.
Eating chicken rice here is not cheap. You are paying for the ambiance and also top quality ingredients. The chicken apparently comes from a specially selected farm, and the rice is also specially selected for the purpose. It costs SGD 22++ per order - around 3 times the price of a normal chicken rice shop, but they will give you unlimited refill of the rice.
Our orders came and it looked impressive enough. A generous serving of chicken breast meat, a small bowl of rice, a small bowl of soup and 3 condiments - minced ginger, chili sauce and soy sauce. The rice was very good - nice aroma of chicken, very subtle - fluffy and not oily. The chicken however was a huge disappointment. Breast meat is usually tricky, but a good chicken rice stall would turn out perfectly tender and moist morsels form any part of the chicken. this was dry and chewy - definitely badly cooked. Of the 3 condiments, my favourite was the minced ginger and soy sauce. The chili sauce was not really my cup of tea - I prefer the chili garlic and vinegar combination we are more used to in Malaysia.
One word on the decor - green flourescent lighting is neither very flattering on the food nor on skin tone. They should change it immediately !
There is apparently a chicken rice shop opened by an ex-Chatterbox chef in Pasir Ris. I haven’t tried it yet, but based on the Chatterbox experience I am not impressed.
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