Going To China Town, Singapore

The year of monkey is coming in just a few days. We visited China town to see the excitement there, it's almost like a ritual for the two of us. We probably do not buy anything, we complain about the heat and the crowd, but we still go anyway. This time, we also had lunch over there. I love the new eating areas there, clean with plenty of choices. We had chicken rice. 

Boon Tong Kee Chicken Rice

We had takeaways from Boon Tong Kee yesterday. It's a delicious late lunch for merely $4.80 per set. I love its chilli sauce the best and I had no dishes to wash. Life is good.

Chicken Rice At Killiney Rd

Having some errands to run, DH and I decided to have a quick and easy lunch in a place nearby. It was my first time eating at this restaurant. I ordered a set of chicken rice that came with a plate of vegetable and a drink for $6.50. DH's had a soya chicken set.

More Chicken Rice...

Our search for the the Kuih Bahulu mould took us to Seah Street, a street that has plenty of eating places including one Chicken Rice restaurant that was visited by DH before. He always loves Chicken Rice and I did not mind having it, I was hungry. We missed the baking shop that we were supposed to go to, I think because we were so distracted by the sights of food after food. The taste of the rice and the chicken were alright, but for $4 per serving, it was a bit on the small side. I was still hungry by the time I finished the rice and we also ordered a plate of vegetables that we cleaned up. The best part was its chili sauce!

Returning To Chatterbox

I had no intention to return to Chatterbox for their Chicken Rice, I was simply not interested.  But Groupon cleverly emailed my hungry and rather food obsessed daughter and passed that to me. Well Groupon made it sound so interesting, a deal worth $98.70 would only"cost us $36.52 plus 10% service charge and 7% GST.  For the damage, we got 1/2 chicken, 2 bowls of rice and one serving of vegetable, also free parking during the time selected.

It sounded good, but it actually was not that good. The drinks were either soda or beer, neither of which we cared. The vegetable was beansprout. Ouch! None of us wanted it. The chicken did not taste great, we could easily get better ones at cheaper price. Thank goodness we ordered an extra dish. 

We ordered an outrageously priced Nasi Lemak ($24 before tax and service charge) and we were stuffed and promised ourselves to never return. Let's see if we can keep our promise. 

 

Less Costly Version....

Hainanese Chicken Rice here is like national dish. They are available all over the place. They are served at food stalls, food courts and restaurants. We recently re-visited the most expensive chicken rice place in the country that we know of, i.e. Chatterbox at Meritus Mandarin Hotel and paid $28 per serving. Earlier on, in January, we went to eat at one famous stall near China Town called Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice. It was only $3 per serving and it was yummy. Both of them are equally satisfying to both DH and me.

Over the weekend, we were really busy and decided to buy back Chicken Rice from another popular Chicken Rice branch Outlet called Boon Tong Kee. This one is priced slightly above the food stalls' chicken rice at $4.60 per pack. The pack includes a piece of pork ball and a little jar of pickles and the sauces. Whether which is the best, I am truly convinced that everyone has different opinion. I am fine with this one too. It's not too hard to please me when it comes to chicken rice, especially when I am hungry.

Chatterbox' Chicken Rice

Back in the olden days, when we had not lived in this country yet, we diligently visited Chatterbox of the Mandarin Orchard Hotel, every time we came here. We always ordered their famous Hainanese Chicken Rice, along with some other local dishes they have on their menu. All of which are priced outrageously steeper than other eating places around. This habit died instantly after we reside here. I am not sure why.

Some people say that Chatterbox has the best Chicken Rice in town. Some others say that this restaurant is a tourist trap. Some also believe that there are better Chicken Rice out there and they are priced so much more reasonably. Regardless differing opinion, the restaurant remains standing after around 40 long years in the business. Business simply remains great if not better!

We revisited the place today, which upon renovation of the hotel, it has moved to the fifth floor of the building. Both DH and I decided to order their Chicken Rice, which was served nearly in no time, upon placing the order. The rice and the chicken were served with a bowl of plain soup with a piece of bean curd and three sauces. After tax and service charge, the damage came to more than $28 per person. It was indeed our most expensive Chicken Rice to date.

In terms of taste, if I were to close my eyes while eating it, I would not be able to tell that apart from the $3-$3.50 Chicken Rice sold in so many other places that I have tried before. After taking into consideration the fact that we eat in a nice setting, there's more chicken than outside place's, proper cutlery and friendly waiters, I still think that it is still not worth the amount of money we spent. I know that there would be others who beg to differ. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion.

Unplanned Chicken Rice

We had our annual visit to China town, in conjunction with Chinese New Year, last Monday. We just wanted to see, actually it was DH's idea. I, simply, did not care as much. We did not want to buy anything or do anything other than sightseeing. He said, it was supposed to be the largest ever, the newspaper said. To us, it looked the same like previous years'. Except, more rabbit things, as of course, the next Chinese year will be Rabbit Year.

We were done after 10 minutes and we decided to have lunch at the popular Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice stall at Maxwell Road Hawker Centre. We were there around 3:30PM, naturally most people would have had lunch. There was no queue that normally everyone has to suffer through at lunch time. For S$3 per plate, it was a great value for the money.