Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Hainan Chicken Rice Ball at Jalan Besar With Video

Thanks to my friend working nearby, I was introduced to this wonderful chicken rice place very near Sim Lim Square, and just opposite Sim Tower at the end of Dickson Road.

It is situated at one corner near the main road, and despite the less than adequate surroundings, we were treated to a wonderful concoction of chicken rice balls and Hainan Chicken Rice.

We were planning a trip to Malacca to try out their famous chicken rice balls there, but since I was introduced to this, we managed to cure our chicken rice ball fix almost instantaneously.

Chicken Rice Balls
The rice balls were gloriously shaped and the flavors fully infused with ginger and garlic, and of course, chicken fragrance. One bite into this delicious ball and the chicken goodness just exploded and enveloped our mouths entirely. The balls themselves were of a slight grainy texture but yet soft enough to swallow effortlessly.

Hainan Chicken
The chicken itself was very unique and different from typical chicken rice stalls. It was neatly chopped and almost skinless, and had a very unusual black sauce drizzled all over the meat. The meat itself was so buttery soft that it literally disappeared into our mouths, and the sauce had a bit of the black herbal flavor from the soup that came with it.

The soup itself was also different as it was not your typical clear soup variant, but more akin to the dark herbal soup that comes with your braised duck dishes. Irregardless, it was absolutely flavorsome and tasty.

Pork Belly
The stall owner suggested we tried the pork belly and we were not disappointed by this. The pork, like the chicken, was again neatly chopped and arranged, and had the same similar sauce too. The pork belly was perfectly cooked and tender and while it had very similar texture to the chicken, it was excellent on its own.

Hainanese Chicken Specialities

When we initially reached the place, it looked a bit run down. But by the time we finished our last grain of rice ball, we were absolutely hooked. This is an absolute gem of a find and chicken rice lovers should not hesitate to try this out immediately.

While Malacca may boast of the more famous rice balls of a smaller sized variant, the larger tennis shaped rice balls managed to hold their own.

When you consider how rare it is to find chicken rice balls here in Singapore, this reigns as my supreme choice for chicken rice eateries here.

Hainan Chicken Rice Ball
Boon Hwa Food Center
43 Jalan Besar

Click here for the YouTube link.
Click here to download the HD version.


Written, filmed, edited and directed by Silverchef Productions.
Shot and edited entirely on Apple's Iphone 4 and at Boon Hwa Food Center.
No hainan chicken rice ball was harmed in the shooting of this video.
"Indefinitely" performed by Travis.

9 comments:

  1. thanks for sharing! do you know the shop's opening hours?

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  2. Should be regular hrs, i was there early around 11am ... should open till night

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  3. Omg!! the rice balls are so big!! We always go to Malacca to hunt the chicken rice ball. Just only one morning my husband and I ate chicken rice in 4 different stores. oh..Thank you for giving me an idea. I haven't try to cook chicken rice ball yet. will let u know the result :P

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  4. Hmm I definitely have to try this and see how it compares to the chicken rice balls in Malacca

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  5. I'll look for that eatery on my visit in Singapore in November. ;')

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  6. Ning Li: You wont regret it in Nov!

    alkanphel: same here, i am gonna go malacca end of yr to compare with our local one

    natty: cant wait for your wonderful recipe on this, but then again, i will prob take it and do somethin with a twist again on my end! this is fun :)

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  7. coming from Melaka, i prefer singapore's chicken rice (in all forms balls or otherwise). I dont find anything special about the chicken rice balls in melaka esp from A Famosa Restaurant....those rice balls were so loaded with msg.

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  8. Georgina, u r right about famosa rice balls, too much MSG which turned me off. And their chicken was very bland.

    but sg balls are not as mushy and soft as malacca, but then, they are still delicious in their own right :)

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  9. Up to today I have no idea why some people go nuts about Malacca chicken rice ball. They're squished so hard that all the grains of rice becomes a mash and weighs a ton. I understand the history of making it that way so that workers can eat it easily but we're not those workers and we're eating to enjoy the taste and not merely to survive.

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