Immigrants from China’s Hainan Island brought chicken rice to Singapore many decades ago, and in the years since then, it has become a national icon.

As we commonly know, the dish comprises poached chicken served with fragrant rice cooked in chicken broth with ginger and garlic, accompanied by a zesty chilli-lime sauce, a pungent ginger puree, and thick black soy sauce. Aficionados may argue for hours over which stall has the most tender meat, the most fragrant rice, or the most irresistibly potent chili.

Cantonese and Malay hawkers have adopted the dish too, making subtly different versions with different spices and also fried or roasted chicken. However, the glorious combination of grainy, aromatic rice, tender meat, and vibrant condiments remains constant. The fun comes in trying all the diverse variations to find your favourite! 

Here, we list down some of the most popular chicken rice stalls in Singapore. Grab a fellow foodie and make it a personal mission to try it all out! 

 

• Boon Tong Kee
  One of the few places where you get both good chicken and good rice. The chicken, which is cooked in the Cantonese rather than the Hainanese style, is tender and juicy while the rice is very fragrant. Best of all, it opens till late! 
  
  Address 425 River Valley Road
  
  
• Yet Con
  Chicken rice with a pedigree – it has been served at this very traditional Hainanese restaurant since the 1940s, probably the oldest restaurant in Singapore serving this traditional dish. Try the great roast pork as well.
  
  Address 25 Purvis Street

• Long Kee Chicken Rice
  One of many good stalls in this popular hawker centre. The aromatic, shiny rice is very addictive.  
  
  Address: #02-25 Hong Lim Market & Food Centre, Block 531A Upper Cross Street
  
  
  
  
• Hainanese Delicacy Chicken Rice 
  This fairly well-known stall located at Far East Plaza serves up a good plate of chicken rice. A simple reminder of its fragrant rice and succulent chicken should easily cause bouts of hunger pangs in patrons who have had it.
  
  Address: Far East Plaza #05-116, 14 Scotts Road
  
  
  
• Tian Tian Chicken Rice
  No Chicken Rice list is complete without mention of this stall. True blue foodies will need no introduction to this plate of goodness. The stall at Maxwell Road has since expanded into a restaurant in Joo Chiat. 
  
  Address:  443 Joo Chiat Road
  

Planning to have chicken rice for lunch later? Find a Chicken Rice Stall near you!