Hainanese chicken rice is national dish of Singapore. It is almost difficult to get a poorly made chicken rice. Everyone has their favourites, from stalwarts like Boon Tong Kee and Wee Nam Kee, to Tian Tian and Five Star Kampung Chicken Rice.
Five Star Kampong Chicken Rice started as a coffeeshop stall. As they built up a following, they bought the shop, expanded the repertoire. However it was still around the core offering – poached chicken, roast chicken, roasted pork belly, char siew, etc.
I was around the vicinity and went to have their poached chicken rice. The chicken will be served with a plate of peanuts, but if you don’t like peanuts make sure to send them back as they’re chargeable.
What set them apart from other chicken rice vendors are their use of kampung chickens, resulting in a firmer, more flavourful chicken that is leaner. Also the use of fresh chilli and lime in their chilli sauce. The sauce that Five Star drizzles over the chicken is lovely – not too salty and not too much. The chicken skin is also of a nice thickness. A pity that the kampung chicken is SO expensive – we paid $10 for the lower part of the chicken.
The stalwarts of the craft of making that delicious plate of chicken rice have also diversified into offering more than the humble plate of chicken rice. Someone started offering tzechar with chicken rice, and all of a sudden, they become a tzechar restaurant too. Ordered a plate of salted fish bean sprouts, I was amazed at how long and white these sprouts were.
And to round up the lunch, we shared a longan almond jelly which was quite a disappointment.
Go to Five Star for their chicken rice, but don’t bother with the tzechar dishes.
Five Star Restaurant
191 E Coast Road, Singapore 428897
Tel : +65 6344 5911
https://fivestarchickenrice.com
Date Visited : Sep 2017
Chicken rice is my all-time favorite, especially the Wee Nam Kee’s style. However, the menu of Wee Nam Kee in here is not as good as in the past
Well, with frozen/chilled chicken that are grown with growth hormones, the chicken has lost that “chicken” taste. There’s a revival of rearing chicken the traditional method. But few chicken rice stores sell these free-range chickens as they are costly and yield less plates per chicken.