Heng Ji Chicken Rice

I didn’t plan to stop here, but found a super long line… and at a hawker centre, that’s the best sign of good food. So I waited… for like 20 minutes. $ 2.50 later, I had my chicken rice and found a seat nearby.
Having had Tian Tian, I of course decided to compare the two. I loved Tian Tian, as it had juicy chicken and delicious rice. I liked Heng Ji quite a bit too… just not quite as much. The chicken did seemed of slightly higher quality… actually, pretty decent quality, which surprised me. It was moist and tender. The rice, however, let me down. I loved Tian Tian’s rice more than the chicken, but at Heng Ji it was the opposite — the rice was a let down. It just did not have much flavor, unfortunately.
So, while it was a good meal, I prefer Tian Tian.

A friend who lived in Chinatown her whole life introduced me to this stall and I never looked back. Every time I have visitors in Singapore, I will bring them to Heng Ji. There is almost always a long queue but it was worth the wait. The rice is unique, using broken rice cooked in chicken brooth (naturally), the rice taste almost like quinoa (a south american cereal). Yes, it does not taste like rice. It’s smooth and easy to swallow. With hearty serving of oil on the chicken and rice (which you can ask for less), it’s amazing that it does not leave an oily aftertaste at all! The chicken is soft and not tough and the chilli is not your usual chicken rice chilli variety. A standard plate of chicken rice is just $ 2.50. Great value for money, no inflated prices here for this famous stall.
Do take note that they only open at 3pm and by 9pm (or earlier) they’ll be sold out. They are also closed on Sundays. There were several times my attempt to cure my craving for Heng Ji was thwarted because of their popularity and opening hours.