Sunday, October 25, 2009

El Dente Rice - Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

I met up with my dead beat friend (just complete his 10km Nike Run in the morning) at Outram MRT station. He wanted to tag along as I planning to go and feast on a few well known hawkers that lies along Chinatown. The first foodie trek stop of the day is Maxwell Market that lies along Maxwell Road. Maxwell Market house a lot of famous hawker foods that appeared in lot newspaper, magazine as well TV.

We decide to settle for hainanese chicken rice at Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice as we are both famished from the long wait for him at the MRT and his 10km run. Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken rice have gain a lot of accolades from newspapers & TV naming it one of  the top chicken rice stall in Singapore. I persevere on even though the queue for Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice is snake-like long. My perseverance is finally rewarded when the auntie asked for my order.



I ordered 2 small plates of Hainanese Chicken Rice ($2.80) as I plan to save my stomach for others along my foodie trek. Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken rice is very generous as they don't skimp on the meat even if it is just for $2.80. First bite on the rice, bring you nice aroma of pandan leaf chicken infused rice. The rice is very El Dente like risotto but not dry which is very nice, so far not much chicken rice I ate can match Tian Tian on El Dente department. Tian Tian's rice is oilier than normal chicken rice, if you are counting calories you might want to reduce intake.

Tian Tian's Hainanese Chicken didn't leave me much of an impression as the chicken meat is pretty firm (for those who like firm chicken meat) but I prefer it to be tender like one of the notable one I had in Golden Mile Market. It might be due to the type of chicken use as different type of chickens - farm or kampong offers different meat texture when cooked. Tian Tian's chili sauce is standard kalamansi chili blend with garlic and ginger which is slightly spicier than others. Overall, it is quite a nice chicken rice as for whether it is worth the queue is highly depends on individual. As for me, I will probably give it a miss.


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