I was at Maxwell Food Court for lunch during the Nuffnang APAC Blog Awards Singapore tour when I stumbled upon a stall in the otherwise modestly populated food court with a long queue. It was for Zhen Zhen Porridge and not being particularly fond of porridge; I explored the other side of the food court and was rewarded (?) with the longest queue I’ve ever seen in my entire life!
Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration…it was the longest queue in the food court, snaking all the way through tables of people eating to the other side. I wondered what the fuss was about and stood in line.
That probably wasn’t a good idea since my rudimentary calculations of the number of people in the queue and the speed at which Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice was pushing its warez indicated I would probably get my lunch at 2013 AD or so. Probably around August 13th at a little past 4 am in the morning.
However, I spotted Wei Zhi (otherwise known as Citygal of KampongboyCitygal – pictured above) and Christine (of Brought up 2 SharE – shown below) standing in line in front of me. Ha! If they’re waiting in line, it’s gotta be good, so I trusted in their judgment and casually strolled up to have a chat with them.
This is a very advanced tactical maneuver which involves pulling your digicam out and nonchalantly taking a narrative video of the queue ending with the two abovementioned people in front. It works best if you proceed to camwhore straight after that and start talking animatedly while pointedly ignoring the people behind.
It is also known as queue cutting. 😉
The list of awards bagged by Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice
Despite my strategic maneuvers, it took us 30 minutes (!!!) to get to Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice which is a bit on the ridiculous side considering we were all standing up instead of seated and waiting. My table mates thought I went missing!
The drumstick chicken rice with a large portion of rice came up to SGD 3.50 which is pretty cheap if you don’t convert it into about RM 8. I liked the taste of the rice; it was very flavorful and infused with chicken stock. I half expected to see a stray chicken or two inside the plate of rice.
Having a less refined palate than Wei Zhi (she’s the one who recommended Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice) I found the chicken to be tender and moist – both promising characteristics in poultry. It’s very juicy and the sauce and ginger paste served with it does well to complement the flavor of the chicken rice. I quite enjoyed it to be honest.
Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice @ Maxwell Food Court dishes up great chicken rice but I wouldn’t wait 30 minutes for it. I was about halfway through my meal when I was told our group had to leave for the next destination.
*cue speed eating demonstration*
Ooh this is the best I heard. Was there but didn’t try the chicken rice. I tried the oyster cake instead which is just a few stalls away and the oysters were so juicy and big! Will try the chicken rice when I’m there next time.
yeah man that’s long queue and I queue for it too just to get a taste of it. lol. indeed good the rice is very nais.
u havent heard of this plc be4??
Its super duber famous one.
But wtf..so long a queue??
eiling: Ya, just look at the shitload of awards they won and displayed at the stall. It seems to be very popular, but I didn’t know until Wei Zhi told me. 🙂
It’s a damn long wait though. T_T
saimatkong: I jumped the queue at bit, think it probably saved me a good 15 minutes. Haha! I know I shouldn’t but I don’t think anyone even noticed with my super tactical maneuvers. 😉
Yeah, I liked the rice too but Citygal said the quality has degraded or something? I found it quite nice myself! 🙂
thenomadGourmand: Yeah, I kinda figured from the queue and the list of awards. 🙂
I haven’t heard of it before though, chilli crabs, yes, chicken rice, I didn’t even know Singapore is famous for that.
I don’t know why the queue was so long. We were there for half an hour! T_T
**googling recipe for hainan ji fan**
Gonna make it tonight!! [they don’t do anything like that here 🙁 even if they do, i strongly suspect that it would taste bland, nothing like “the taste of the rice; it was very flavorful and infused with chicken stock” ]
haha, and citygal was lamenting on the same chicken rice? though it was supposedly so good back then.
30 minutes in line?!! *_*
almost like queueing for the pork chop buns in Macau.
i spotted my packet of tissue paper in your picture! haha!
i really thought you went missing. when you came back i had already finished my meal. haha! wtheck!
cindy khor: Yeah, come to think of it I’ve never eaten a proper chicken rice meal during my uni days in Melbourne too. Awesome broken rice from Vietnam though. 🙂
Good luck with the cooking! =D
J2Kfm: Yeah, but I found it good. I guess I’m not a supertaster like Citygal. My palate is not as refined as hers. Heh! 🙂
It’s not too bad to be honest, quite a good chicken rice place.
30 minutes isn’t bad, have waited for an hour in Penang for CKT, but that was seated…and this was standing. :S
Dylan: Heh! Sorry about that mate, the queue was REALLY LONG! 🙁
Besides I won’t leave with all my stuff still on the table. 🙂
Hey good to meet you in Singapore bro. 🙂
HB, Haninese Chicken is also so popular in the states. I make it at home too. In Hong Kong many places served this dish. The chickens in the states are much bigger than in Asia due the grains they eat. I use a 5 to 6 lb. chicken in making this dish.
Vickie: Yeah, I love chicken rice! I used to eat a lot of it when I was a kid…from, hey come to think of it, the franchise was called SINGAPORE Chicken Rice. Ish. Singapore seems to be famous for its chicken rice after all or they wouldn’t be a chain named like that.
Yeah, our chickens are relatively small compared to other countries. 🙂
eh i dun have a refined palate la. the chicken rice is good but it’s not as good as it used to be. gota admit that msian chicken rice is not as fragrant (heong) n oily.
kampungboycitygal: Well, it’s more refined than mine coz I found the chicken rice really good! =D
But then again I haven’t eaten it 3 years ago.
Yeah, the rice smells very nice eh?
Thanks for the recommendation! 🙂
good to have you ‘cutting the line’ haha. This beats our boredom while camwhoring with u! oh.. the line was crazy and the uncle doesn’t wanna give us chicken thighs! huhu.
Christine: Yeah, had a good time in Singapore! I think it’s the first time I’ve met you. 🙂
Yeah, the uncle didn’t want to give chicken thighs. Ish. Thanks for giving me the drum! =D
lucky u been to the right plc to eat as sometimes it seem a lot ppl but the food not nice…singapore ppl just so kiasu and see ppl queing the queue also even the food sucks…haha
…: Heh! Yeah, I saw Citygal and Christine there so I knew it’s gotta be good or they won’t be queueing up. 🙂
Vicky, when you say ‘states’, do you mean the United States? I’m from California in the U.S. and where I live, we have a chicken rice dish called Hai Nam Chicken Rice which is really good. I’ve tried to make it but never could get the rice flavored like the ones from the restaurants. I think the chefs have their own seceret method of making the dish. Online recipes aren’t that great…at least the ones I used.
rosebelle: Yeah, the secret is in the stock used for making the rice, a lot of the chicken rice here doesn’t cut it too coz of inferior stock. 🙂
Hi there^^ Thanks for sharing with me abt this Tien Tien Chicken Rice the other day^^ I tried it and it was awesomely great! I doubt we can find this nice chicken rice back in malaysia!
Zues: Yeah, it’s pretty good eh? I nearly didn’t want to queue until I saw Citygal, so that’s why I stayed in the line.
Er…technically I didn’t, I kinda…went ahead a bit to join her and Christine. Haha. 🙂
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