Hey Hive!
We're back with more of our hawker adventures! It's been a while but one of the things we do on dates is trying out different stalls in different hawker centers to find which are our favourites!
If you've never patronised a hawker center before, they are typically non-air conditioned buildings that house different food stalls specialising in one or two signature dishes or a specific cuisine. They're ubiquitous here in Singapore and are known for delicious and affordable food - the perfect combination! They're definitely where you can find the best food in Singapore and is our go-to place for food!
I used to work at this place that is right near this well-known hawker center called People's Park! This food center has been around for a long time and has quite a few famous stalls too!
Source: Monster Day Tours
Since this was just a short walk away from my workplace, it was my go-to destination for lunch for as long as I worked there. It does get quite crowded especially during lunch time and weekends even with the increased capacity and seating though, so I tend to avoid peak lunch hours.
One of the stalls I really liked was this one called Boon Heng Atas Hainanese Chicken Rice!
Hainanese Chicken Rice is probably Singapore's most notable dish, and arguably our country's national dish. You can most likely find a Chicken Rice stall in every hawker center here, with styles varying from Chinese to Muslim, but most commonly Hainanese.
Source: eatbook
Anyway, I've never heard or seen this stall before and curious to see if their chicken rice was good so I thought I'd give it a try.
They have quite the menu, ranging from their Signature Chicken Rice to their Trio Roasted Platter with the iconic Cantonese Roasted Meats - roast pork belly, char siew, and roast chicken. They also have a few different side dishes that they offer as a part of their set meals.
It looked and smelled really legit, and they even have Chinese New Year set promotions where you can get roast duck as well. One of their breakfast set meals is only $2.90 for a full set but it's only available from 9am - 11am.
I decided to try their standard Roasted Chicken Rice for $3.50, and the set comes with a plate of roasted chicken, cucumber slices, a bowl of soup and of course the special chicken rice.
The chicken was tender and juicy, and while the skin isn't crispy it did have that signature roasted taste. The rice was also nice and fragrant, with the signature chicken fat flavour. I wasn't expecting it to be that good but it was delicious!
It was also really good paired with their homemade garlic chili sauce. Honestly each component of this set was good on its own but they complemented each other really well too.
I was also quite shocked when I got offered two bowls of soup by the very friendly uncle. Initially I thought he gave me two bowls by mistake, but he said to just take it. I was pleasantly surprised, even more when I discovered that the second bowl of soup was cold, and was actually green bean soup!
Unfortunately I didn't take enough photos but this is what the green bean soup looks like. Commonly known as mung bean soup, it's a dessert soup made of mung beans, rock sugar and water. It's meant to cool internal heat, clears away toxins, soothes heat related problems like heat rash, etc.
Source: Marina's Kitchen
It was such a surprise to get this with my chicken rice meal but it was really light and tasty! It rounded out the meal very nicely and helped cleanse my palate after that which was very refreshing. I never thought of having green bean soup after chicken rice before, so it was such a surprising combination that actually works really well!
Although I don't work in the area anymore I did enjoy my time there and I learned a lot. I'm sure that stall is still there though so I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for a cheap and good chicken rice in town.
Thanks for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
[//]:# (!worldmappin 1.28505 lat 103.84258 long d3scr)
Check out my previous post in this series!
