There’s another variation of the Hainanese chicken rice – Soy sauce Hainanese chicken rice made famous by Nam Kee. This is chicken rice with a sticky herbal sauce drenched over it. Not to be confused with the Micheline-starred Cantonese soy sauce chicken of the Liao Fan variety.

Firstly, it was not so in the beginning. When Lee Nam started his Nam Kee Chicken Rice in TPY Lor 4 in the 60s, he too served the white and roasted chicken rice like Tian Tian and others.

Dr Leslie Tay of iEatiShootiPost did a great job explaining the relationships between the three Nam Kees in Singapore : Nam Kee, Wee Nam Kee and Lee Fun Nam Kee. I will not go into details – Mr Lee started Nam Kee in TPY, opened a branch with Mr Wee, parted ways, renamed to Lee Nam Kee and Wee Nam Kee, and then Mrs Lee-Fun renamed it to Lee Fun Nam Kee. How did Nam Kee ended up in Thompson, and why it was no longer owned by the Lees and who owns it today? I cannot find an answer.

The Food

So I came with the family to try their famous soy sauce chicken.

It did not disappoint. The chicken was tender and well-cooked without the bloody parts. Drenching the herbal and savoury sauce all over the chicken only enhanced the overall experience. Great job here.

The ngoh hiang was much bigger than we imagined. Packed with shredded turnips, carrot and minced meat, I would hope it had more prawn.

The double-boiled soup was lotus root soup. Flavourful but tasted like those $4 variety in hawker centre. Would have expected less ajinomoto and more umami from the ingredients.

You must be wondering where’s the pictures for rice and chilli and such. I would think these were disappointing to say the least. The rice was not as flavourful as Wee Nam Kee, and the chilli was rather watery. However the chicken compensated for all these shortcomings.

They serve the traditional white chicken as well. Recommend for a large group.

Lee Fun Nam Kee
Blk 94 Toa Payoh Lor 4 #01-04, Singapore 310094
Tel : 62550891

Date Visited : Jun 2016