A Legacy Brand from the Old Margaret Drive Hawker Centre
It used to be that when you mentioned Chicken Rice, the name “Swee Kee” would always come up in the conversation. This was especially true more than a decade ago, with several restaurants trying to ride on its fame. Now, as memories of Swee Kee start to fade, the spotlight has shifted to “Sin Kee.” There are currently at least three restaurants named Sin Kee. One is located at 40 Holland Drive, run by Benson, whose mother began selling Sin Kee Chicken Rice at Margaret Drive in 1978. Just a short distance away, at 6 Holland Close, is another Sin Kee, reportedly opened by a former employee of the original Sin Kee. The newest addition is the one opened by Benson’s brother, Niven, in Kampung Ubi.
I previously wrote about Sin Kee back in 2006 when the Margaret Drive Food Centre was still around, and again in 2009 when Benson opened his stall at Mei Ling Food Centre. Since then, the chicken rice stall hasn’t been on my radar until recently, when the name Sin Kee started gaining traction on social media once again. I felt it was time to revisit this legacy brand.
Review of the Chicken Rice
The chicken is done very well as expected and managed to get that layer of jelly under the skin. The meat is tender and not overcooked, even though the marrow is cooked through. This is good for customers who are apprehensive about seeing bright red marrow and pinkish flesh in the chicken. The fragrant oil and soy sauce which is drizzled generously over the chicken provide most of the flavour of the chicken. It is one of the best sauces I have come across. It is too bad that they are still using the white broiler instead of a better-grade corn-fed kampung chicken where the flesh is naturally more flavourful. As far as white broilers go, the chicken here is probably as good as it gets! 4.5/5
I quite like the rice here, the rice grains are plump, fragrant and the rice grains are mostly intact with a good chew. Again, most of the flavour comes from dousing the rice with the fragrant oil and soy sauce from the chicken as well as from the chilli and dark soy sauce. 4.25/5
Conclusion
Despite the stiff competition, this stall still manages to stand out from the crowd and will easily find a place in any top ten list. This is one stall that has a genuine legacy that can be traced back to 1978 and is still run by a family member. Well worth a trip if you are looking for good chicken rice.
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