Tian Tian Chicken Rice - 12

I once asked a fellow foodie friend of mine in Singapore where he would take a first time visitor to eat as soon as they stepped off the plane at Changi Airport (Singapore).  “Without a doubt Tian Tian chicken rice!” he exclaimed.  

There’s tons of information on the web regarding Hainanese chicken rice….the history of it, the arduous cooking process and labor of love that it takes to make it as well as the innumerable amount of food stalls and restaurants that compete to be Singapore’s #1 chicken rice.  If you have the time it's worthwhile to look up 'Hainanese chicken rice', a subject that apparently an entire country of passionate food lovers is mad about and has an opinion about.  

Although widely debatable the consensus #1 is Tian Tian Chicken Rice in the Maxwell Hawker Centre.  But for all the non-Singaporeans out there, all you need to know is that of all the chicken rice places to go to in Singapore, this one was featured on Mr. Bourdain’s ‘No Reservations’ show.  Also, it’s the longest damn line I’ve ever stood in for some “street food!!” (other than for Nam Kee on the weekend before Chinese New Year which I'll get to later on down the road).  How long was the wait for Tian Tian?  I got there at 11:15 to beat the lunch crowd as all the blogs told me to do and it still took 40 minutes until the lady took my order.  The lady patron of Tian Tian is extremely happy and overly gracious (obviously due to the ridiculously long line that leads to her food stall).   She efficiently works the line handing out business cards and taking your order as the other stall owners seemingly look at her with contempt and envy.  For two people, I ordered two orders of chicken and two orders of rice. Being very on the ball, she told me that I could come back and cut the line to order more food if the first order wasn't enough, as she heard me mumble out my desire to possibly order three orders of each.  By the time I received my order it was 45+ minutes since I had first stepped into line.  I was hungry... Worth the wait?  A mouth watering hell yes.  The chicken is as juicy and as flavorful as any I’ve previously had.  The rice is fragrant, moist and importantly not too oily.  The chili sauce, equally the star of this dish has the perfect heat and is not garlicky (just the way I like it).  Tian Tian was an overall wonderful food experience from doing the research all the way to putting that last grain of rice in my mouth.  Sometimes these over blogged, over publicized places are vastly overhyped and can bring my expectations to such a high that the food will in the end disappoint me but Tian Tian chicken rice met all my expectations and can stand up as Singapore’s undisputed #1. 

This had better be good...

Chicken Rice, Chicken Soup, Chicken and Chili... Mmmmmmmm

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

Maxwell Food Centre

12 Murray Street #01-10

Closed on Mondays

Edit: Most hawker food in Singapore is cheap although prices seem to have gone up a bit since I first started making my annual trips there. Nonetheless two portions of chicken and two portions of rice came out to be approximately $8USD. At a US Singaporean style restaurant you could expect to pay around 3 times that for the same amount of food.