Hawker Chan Hong Kong Soy Sauce Chicken Rice And Noodles

Hawker Chan Hong Kong Soy Sauce Chicken Rice And Noodles

Address: 78 Smith Street, Singapore 059872
Awards: Michelin 1 Star
Price Range: $3 - 20 per person

 This is a review of the newly opened Hawker Chan stall at 78 Smith Street which is pretty much right next to Chinatown food complex where the original Liao Fan Hong Kong Soy Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodles is at. After gaining the Michelin Star award, queues at the original stall has expanded to 2-3 hours of waiting time and its with good faith that Hersing Culinary and Mr Chan decided to team up and open this outlet to meet the current demand.

 Arriving on a Tuesday afternoon, you'll already see queues forming outside the new stall and people come from all walks of life to get a taste. The queue snacks around 3 times before you'll get into the restaurant to queue in line to order.

 You'll have plenty of time to decide what you want from the screens above and have a good view of the team of people preparing the food behind the counter.

 You'll also get this very subtle reminder of why you're eating here while you wait. The interior is simple enough with seating capacity around 60-80 people of various configurations. Its air conditioned and once you order, you can grab a seat as the turnover is pretty quick. Probably due to the stress induced by the queue outside and the people who have ordered inside starring while you finish your meal.

 The bill came up to $20.80 for our meal which has a meat platter of 3, 1 soy sauce chicken rice and 1 soy sauce chicken noodle. 

Starting off with the chicken rice, this simple dish alone already tastes different from so many other similar offerings out there. The gravy on the rice has a hint of herbs in it and the aroma was pretty incredible. The chicken is obviously a highlight as well, the skin has a fragrance to it that grows on you with each bite and have the health conscious looking for more skin to savor. The meat is tender and cooked completely with no hint of red anywhere. Delicious.

Already impressed with the rice, i was even more impressed with the noodles. Once tossed with the sauce, the noodles were springy, thin, light and slides down your throat easily. The sauce absolutely blew me away with its sweet taste and hong kong deja vu feeling. The chicken remains as good as ever for this dish.

 Last but not least, the trio platter which came with char siew, crispy pork belly and barbeque pork ribs rounded the meal. The ribs were like a tougher char siew and had the same tasty sauce, the pork belly was biscuit crispy on the skin with a very thin layer of fat which made my sister very happy and retained its juiciness on the meat even with a thin layer of fat. The Char Siew is a clear winner to me for this dish. First bite doesn't win you over immediately, but as you get through more of it, you begin to realise how fragrant the barbeque is, how tasty the caramelized honey sauce is on the char siew and how chewy and tasty the char siew is.

Overall, this is a better then expected michelin meal and at a very affordable price. I'll be back but this time, i'll order a half chicken with a bowl of char siew noodles. Its just perfect.

Verdict: Editors Choice and definitely a must try!