I had some Hong Kong friends in town and we were going around the island for some signature eats. Today, we came to Sing Swee Kee for some Hainanese chicken rice as they were at Bras Basah Complex looking at Airfix model kits.
Swee Kee 瑞记 founded by Moh Lee Twee in 1949 reigned as King of Chicken Rice in the early 50s all through til late 1997. Like many other Singaporean families from that era, I grew up eating Swee Kee Chicken Rice. My family would patronise the old coffee shop restaurant on Middle Road regular, swearing by their fresh, tender poached chicken that was raised in their own farm. The chicken was slaughtered everyday, ensuring that each chook we partook was fresh and full of flavour.
After Swee Kee closed in 1997, many chicken rice stalls and restaurants opened in Singapore claiming ties with Swee Kee Chicken Rice. Such is the power of Swee Kee’s brand equity. But, according to the Moh family, the only one with familial ties with Swee Kee is Restoran Swee Kee established in 1997 by one of the grandson of the original founder in Senai, Johor. While paying homage to the traditional style of that “Golden Age,” Sing Swee Kee is a distinct, contemporary entity operating on Seah Street that has nothing to do with the Mohs despite what they claimed in their website.
The poached chicken were chopped into smaller and more delicate pieces than that of original Swee Kee. Meat was smooth and soft, and they took the effort to debone the chicken, another thing that was not done by the original Swee Kee Despite the great texture, it fell a little bit short on flavour of the chicken. But that’s the case for all chicken in Singapore as farm-to-table chicken is no loner available, and all mass-produced chicken tastes bland in the first place.
Perhaps it was a case of mistranslation of the Chinese moniker of 烧鸡 which translates to “Roast Chicken”. But these golden brown birds are in fact fried. And fried they may be, the skins are never crispy. Surprisingly, the roast chicken was really tasty, tender and juicy, and dare I say as good as the ones from Loy Kee. PS: Rotisserie-style roasted chicken is known as 烤鸡 in Chinese.
Nothing to complain about the gizzards and livers, they were poached properly with the right doneness. The flavours came from the sauce and condiments which I was just about to say were fantastic.
The soul of any chicken rice is their homemade garlic and ginger chilli sauce. Their version has a good balance of spiciness with a nice tart finish. It totally lifted the under-flavoured poached chicken. And it came with the thickened dark soy sauce which was thick sticky like it should be, but not overwhelming sweet.
If the chilli sauce is the soul of the chicken rice, then the rice is the definition of the dish itself. A chicken rice store makes or breaks by the standard of their rice. It must have the balance of chicken flavour from the chicken oil rendered from poaching the chicken, and cannot be overpowered by the shallots, garlic and pandan leaves used to aromatise the rice. And it cannot be too oily, too lumpy, too loose, too hard, too soft, etc. The rice served checked the boxes for being not too oily, not too lumpy, and quite flavourful, but failed on the doneness (too hard for my liking.)
Wong Yi Guan, the founder of Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore, served the rice in the form of rice balls held together with grease rendered from chicken fat. This was the way it was done in Wong’s hometown. The ladies would pack chicken rice balls for the men working in the fields or hills who carried the chicken and rice balls for lunch. These days, this was how it is still done in Malacca, but less in Singapore. For the same price, you can choose to have the plate of rice served as two rice balls instead. But I find this totally a waste of time, as you would still unravel the ball of rice. And there is less rice than the usual plate.
Besides the chicken rice, they too served some tzechar dishes. The chef obviously is from China from the menu that they offer.
They are along the same stretch as another Swee Lee Chicken Rice, which also has nothing to do with the Moh family. I had chicken rice there sometime back, and find Sing Swee Lee’s version to be overall better. But if not for being in the area, I would still go to Wee Nam Kee for my chicken rice fix.
Sing Swee Kee Chicken Rice 新瑞记鸡饭
34-35 Seah St, Singapore 188391
Tel : +65 63377180
Visited May 2026
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