Our hawker legacies are under threat. They are at risk from corporations enticing them to expand and franchise. This has been happening for the last decade and has resulted in the premature demise of many of our hawker legends. Social media (and I include myself in this) has to take some of the blame for this phenomenon. We have made it easy for executives in such corporations to identify these hawkers and then make a beeline to the stall to entice them into a franchising collaboration.
I am not opposed to such an idea. If done properly, the model can help ensure that our hawker culture continues to thrive. However, the way we have been doing it so far has resulted in the commoditization of the dishes, stripping them of their soul. For some, it is the proverbial killing of the golden goose; for others, more geese have been produced, but they are not laying the golden eggs anymore.
Hardworking Hawker Family
It is refreshing to be able to find a hardworking hawker family who still takes pride in operating just a single hawker stall and serving the community with honest, well-prepared hawker food. Thankfully, there are still many such hawkers around and they are usually found in the hawker centres.
One such stall is Man Fu Chicken Rice at Cheng San Market and Cooked Food Centre. This is one of those chicken rice stalls that doesn’t have much online presence but is wildly popular in the neighbourhood.
The stall is run by Vincent Khoo, 57 and his two sons, Jonathan 32, and Marcus 30. Vincent started the stall in 1992 when Jonathan was just 2 years old. Now he and older brother Marcus are working full time at the stall. They have been approached on a few occasions to expand, but have resisted. Reason? Simple, they want to ensure that the quality of the chicken rice is maintained.
Tender White Chicken
The white chicken is cooked perfectly and served conveniently deboned. The key to a tender and juicy texture is not to overcook the chicken. That usually means that the bone marrow will still be bright red and the meat near the bone might still be slightly pink. The meat is already cooked but some customers will still complain if they see pinkish meat.
I think this is one of the reasons why some chicken rice hawkers started deboning the chicken in the past. Of course, deboning the chicken also makes it easier to eat. This is especially so for the kids which is why chicken rice remains one of the most popular hawker food in Singapore.
As with most other stalls, the chicken is first poached in water and then left to cool in ice water to firm up the jelly under the skin. And that results in that slippery, bouncy texture that we all like. The sauce that they drizzle over the chicken is another key differentiating factor between chicken rice stalls. Theirs is very good, though it still failed to cross the threshold of futile resistance for me.
Roast Chicken
They also serve a very nice roasted chicken here. As you can see, they don’t bother deboning the roasted chicken. That’s because the bones are never undercooked so there is no need to remove them to avoid complaints! I would have liked the spices to be stronger. But it was a good roast chicken that I wouldn’t mind ordering regularly if I were living nearby.
The Rice
The rice we had on the day was a little undercooked but it was nice and fragrant. The friend who recommended the stall to me also admitted that the rice was a little too al dente that day. He asserts that it isn’t usually like that. When I asked the owner about it after lunch, he admitted to me that they had been having problems with the rice cooker recently. So the rice wasn’t cooked as well as they would have liked. It should be fixed by the time you read this.
The other key differentiating factor is the chilli sauce. Theirs is good, though, again, it wasn’t exceptional.
Conclusion on Man Fu Chicken Rice
It is a very popular chicken rice that has a perpetual queue during peak times. It is not something you need to travel all the way to experience. But if you are living around the area, it would easily be the one chicken rice that you ever need to patronise. 4.25/5
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