Tuesday, April 20, 2010

My Favourite Places - Best Chicken Rice in Seremban







































Its 11.30am and gosh I’m like starving. Not feeling well tho’ but what the heck, I just feel like having the ‘Best Chicken Rice in Seremban’ and aha... Joey's Online now. Let’s ask him if he's free to join as well. Ahh he is free and confirmed lunch at 12.30pm. and yup, time to get goin.

Now, let me give you a lil’ history of this place. Located in Seremban Town, well it’s quite to the corner of Seremban town actually. Restoran Chai Hong, No. 50, Jalan Kapitan Tam Yeong....The Best Teo Chew Chicken Rice in Seremban. They started business in 1979 (the year imborn) and has been in business to date. As you can see in the picture, the shop looks its age too. Oh don’t worry its pretty solid ... olden days building mah and I’ve been patronising this place since school days. I’d say since 1994, and trust me, the taste never changed a bit. That’s what I call Consistency & Quality!

There are 10 tables in the restaurant, you know the round marble kopitiam tables. Oh yeah, the interior looks like we are still in the late 70's. I believe even the furniture, fittings and equipments are older than I am. There were 3 tables already occupied when I got there but no one has received their orders as yet. I’m the 4th in line, and ordered 3 plates of Chicken Rice, plus a small plate of taugeh (bean sprout). Two more tables are occupied now with a total of 14 customers... waiting patiently.. haha now, remember that always,... patience... cause you will need all your patience in order to try and taste this Best Teo Chew Chicken Rice in Seremban. Wanna know why? Read on :)

I placed my order at 12.30pm (6 customers-3 tables has been waiting before me and they have not been served as yet). Joey brings another friend, Thomas and they join me at 12.55pm and we have yet to get our orders. Our drinks finally arrived at 1pm. (Imagine that - I‘ve been sitting there all alone without a drink for 25mins) and … finally, we got our favourite chicken rice ... at 1.06pm … that’s 36mins ... actually, that’s pretty fast ... the longest Joey had to wait previously was 45mins and as for me, it was an hour plus but I just can’t recall the exact time, but what the heck, I’ve never regretted waiting that long and you wanna know why? Haha you gotta try it yourself to know, that’s why I keep saying its the best chicken rice.

Well, I’d say the waiting period is long, no doubt, but let me tell you, the feeling you get in your tummy when they finally serve you, is awesome! Its like tons of butterflies tickling my tummy and telling me, hey dude! EAT!! haha oh yeah, you know, all those time of waiting no longer matters now cause the moment it gets into your taste buds,.. you end up melting and yummy … I tell you, you just wanna focus on savouring it.. just wanna enjoy my lunch :) Best Teo Chew Chicken Rice that is :) and I tell you, ITS JUST REALLY WORTH THE WAIT!! TRUST ME!! :)

Moral of the story - If you have the patience, go for it, if you’re in a rush or don’t have the patience, then I’d suggest you have lunch elsewhere :) hahaha

Let me tell you how its served... rice, with Boneless Steamed Chicken (Teo Chew Style-nicely marinated with all the soya sauces etc), Cucumber slices and coriander, and a bowl of chicken soup and chilli (If you love chilli, you will need more) and yeah, talking bout the marinating, you should watch the aunty doing her work. She does it so carefully, and slowly, she takes her own sweet time to cut the chicken into slices, remove the bones, puts them on a plate, pours all the different types of soya sauces and all, marinates them, pours the sauces out.... and she repeats these steps at least 3 times... and after that, she arranges the chicken slices nicely (If you ordered it to be served separately) and garnishes properly with selected coriander and she will only serve it if she is satisfied ... a perfectionist I guess.. but I ain’t complaining :)

As for the pricing, well, I normally take the economy rice set which is RM4 for a plate of rice, served with chicken, cucumber and coriander plus a bowl of soup and chilli. and I’ll have a can of Kickapoo which is RM2 and an additional bowl of rice (small) at RM1. So that’s RM7 in total. Oh they also have Barley at RM1.50 and Barley Lime at RM1.60. and they serve beer & packet drinks too. But let me warn you, the price differs if you order them separately and it can get doubled... haha confused? Let me give you an example ... this happened to me in 2001. Four of us ordered the chicken to be served separately in a big plate, for 4 pax of course and to cut the story short, the bill was RM48 including drinks and since I was paying, I was like, what?? RM48? (in my mind, how did aunty get to that figure lah .. aiyoo). Anyway, I paid the bill after aunty explained that if you take it separately, its more expensive, whereby, if I had taken 4 economy rice sets with can drinks (can drinks are RM2 each and 1 extra small rice) that’s like RM28 only. Then again, you get more chicken la if u take separate la, but for me, economy set is sufficient enough, but then again, no one complains as its the Best Chicken Rice in Town mah.

As you can see in one of the pictures (check out my plate, before and after), my plate is super clean. That’s how delicious it is. Oh yeah, aunty belanja (treated) us one plate of extra chicken (Picture 8) cause she was happy about me wanting to write about her chicken rice in my blog.

For those of you who don’t like steamed chicken, well, just try it once, and you will know what I mean. You can always tell aunty to remove the skin but let me tell you, the skin is the best part! Yeah it may be fattening, but its just delicious! (Check out Picture 11) Once again, you just gotta trust me. Just take a look at my plate again. I don’t know how to explain how yummy it is (the entire chicken rice dish of course) but I bet no other chicken rice stalls in Seremban is way close to this. As i mentioned in the beginning of my blog, the Taste has never ever changed :) Its Really Unique, Tasty & Simply Delicious! :)

Another thing i must add, the aunty has a very good memory, you dont hav to tell what you want if ur a regular, she will just confirm it with you before you could even order.. just like Joey's usual order (he normally has the Wing part, served separately) not bad eh :)

So what you waiting for :) Look out for Chai Hong Restaurant, 50, Jalan Kapitan Tam Yeong, 70000 Seremban, NSDK. Tel: 06-762 4357

If you cant find it, just look out for the Honda Car Showroom or Sangam Printers, you will never miss the Restaurant... Its just around the corner :) or if you still cant find the shop, just give the a ring.. well, you may have trouble getting directions from them, but im sure you can find the place.. and remember... you will need all the patience to try it :)

My advice to food lovers - if you want to enjoy each and every tasty morsel and savour each bite to the fullest, then go there when you're not rushing for an appointment etc - because you have to be a bit patient until the food arrives and it would be a shame if you had to have your meal in a hurry.

Pic 1 - Chai Hong Restaurant (Famous Teo Chew Chicken Rice) Looks old aight

Pic 2 -Our Lunch for the day :) Best Chicken Rice in Town, Seremban :)

Pic 3 - Joey (left) & Thomas (Right)

Pic 4 - The Economy Rice Set

Pic 5 - The Economy Rice Set (Close up)

Pic 6 - The Taugeh (bean sprout) Marinated with Soya Sauce

Pic 7 - Joey's Chicken Wing

Pic 8 - Aunty treated us to some extra chicken (that's a lot weii!!)

Pic 9 - Joey taking his first bite

Pic 10- Thomas already half way thru... he's really hungry i guess :)

Pic 11- Joey having the Skin part (Remember i was saying, its the best part)

Pic 12- That's my plate.. Super Clean :)

Pic 13- 3 extra bowl of rice (big one)

Pic 14- That's me and im so full and Satisfied! (Dont You Wanna Feel Like Me Too)

Pic 15- The interior of the Chai Hong Restaurant & our table. Notice the late 70's environment.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

My Favourite Places


Where are you taking me?? Yishun.. i say, the best place for Poori & i bet you will love it cause they serve 2 piece of poori with sardine sambal, dhall & potato and the water chesnut drink is awesome too... its actually one of the food stalls in Block 418, Yishun... thats where im taking you :)... You Should Start a Blog... say's Krishna.. to me, when i went on talking bout my favourite makan (food) places in Singapore... And i went? A Blog?? Me?? U gotta be kidding me.... and i laughed away... thinkin.. me & blogs are so far away :) Me writing? haha thats so not me! But hey, look at me now... ive just started my own blog??? i still cant believe im doing this but what the heck! There's always a 1st time for everything aight :)

No matter where we are, what we do, we never fail to recognise places with good food,.. like i do :) Near or Far... Town or Kampung (Village), Here or There, pricey or cheap,...when there's good food.. all tat does not matter... dont u agree? :) and when it comes to food, i just cant stop bragging about it.. well, my favourite ones off course :)

Yishun Block 418's Poori Stall is just one of my fav makan places in Singapore.. it's SGD 3.50 (RM8.10+) per serving of 2 lightly fried poori with Sardine Sambal (Yummy i tell u!), Dhall & potatoes to go with it. The other option is with Mutton curry which is SGD 4 (RM 9.30+) They also serve other stuffs like Briyani, Prata, mix rice etc etc :) Oh if ur wondering whats the name of the stall,.. hehehe honestly.... i forgot :) but dont worry, i hope to go there soon.. will take pictures of the place and upload it for ya :) oh not to forget, you should also try the Water Chestnut drink which is SGD 1.20 (RM 2.80+-) The Lemon juice is not bad also, SGD 1.20.

For lunch, and if you fancy Chicken Briyani.. 2 places in Singapore that you would want to try.. well that i know of for now off course :) one is in Woodlands, Causeway Point, Banquet Food Court, Top Floor, just next to the cinema (again, i forgot the name of the stall & name of the cinema, but its just next to the cinema) now, they also have Mutton Briyani, Vegetable Briyani, Fish Briyani, and Prawn Briyani if im not mistaken (price varies) my fav is off course the chicken briyani, which is SGD 5.50 (RM 12.80+) Its served with Briyani Rice, Chicken Thigh and a lil masala/sambalish sauce with 1 vege & dhall on a plate. It is just nice if you dont like ur food to be spicy. Delicious id say :) and for the drink, if ur on a budget, id suggest you to get a Big Gulp from 7-Eleven SGD 2.20 (RM 5.10).. its on the ground floor :) Reason behind Big-Gulp... Banquet prices can be a lil expensive :) Will get the pictures and more details updated soon :)

The other Briyani place is in Tekka Market, again i cant recall the name but its in Serangoon Road lah :) haha Will get the pictures and more details updated soon :) As for the price, im not too sure but it should be between SGD 5-6 (11.70-14). They serve it with Briyani rice, Chicken Thigh with masala sauce, 1 vege on a banana leaf :) but i tell you, if u can handle spicy stuff, then you should go for it :) its claimed to be one of the best Briyani in Singapore :)

actually, Serangoon Road and its surroundings has many North & South Indian restaurants, some of the known ones are Muthu's, Gayathris, Sakunthala's, Karaikudi, Apolo, Komala Vila's and so on.. as u walk along... u will pass by many shops selling Indian stuffs like wedding sarees, punjabi suits, ornaments, jewellery's, and so on.. oh yeah, not to forget, Buffalo Road has a few shops selling FRESH Vegetables.. notice the word fresh in capital, cause it is fresh :) price wise, i think its reasonable.. well, if u earn in sgd dollars, then no issue lah :) haha

To be continued..... (lunch time) (actually... hehe i'm blur like sotong already.. too much of writing i guess.. hehe, but no problem... ill be back with more info n details.. will try to get the pictures and more detailed info soon... watch out for more aight) :)