Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice

Purported as one of the ‘best’ Hainanese Chicken rice in Singapore for two decades - this shop serves Singapore's most authentic Hainanese chicken rice at the iconic Tiong Bahru market. Having been knighted with a Michelin Bib award for several consecutive years. The Changi Village branch was even recommended by Celebrity Chef Anthony Bourdain during one of his many visits to Singapore.

Fun fact: the standalone stall in Changi Village is helmed by the older brother of the owner of the namesake Michelin Bib Gourmand-awarded stall in Tiong Bahru Market. Rest assured, the two brothers’ renditions are similar in taste.

I’ll start off with the Steamed Chicken Rice. Considering how easy it is to overcook steamed chicken, any chicken rice lover will know that if a chicken rice stall can perfect their steamed versions, they’re worth their salt . In fact if the shop ONLY serves the steamed version (eg in Thailand), I tend to be even more impressed.

Compared to some of the acclaimed brands in Singapore, the chicken here is smooth and not too oily while managing to retain its juiciness. The steamed chicken here doesn’t come with the familiar jelly-like skin as well.

Another way of judging the quality of your chicken rice is, of course, the rice. It has to have that fluffy texture with a burst of ginger-garlic aroma before tasting it. The rice was all of the above and well-cooked—truly the epitome of chicken rice perfection.

Overall, a 7/10 as far as chicken rice goes. But in an island that claims it was invented here, that’s saying quite a lot.

The plates come in 3.50 or 4.50 versions. They also serve roasted chicken but 80% of patrons that I saw went for their original steamed chicken. In all my years coming to Tiong Bahru market, their snaking queue is usually the longest, so there you have it.