Yes, it’s that highly raved Michelin chicken rice stall with the insane queue.

Growing up in Singapore, I can proudly say that chicken rice is probably one of the few dishes I grew up eating. You can imagine my reaction when they announced the Michelin star awardees this year – I just had to try this Hong Kong Chicken Rice and Noodle stall.

I haven’t really been around tasting food from Michelin star awardees but chicken rice/noodles has been such a homey (and almost local) food in Singapore, and I’m pretty sure locals know what’s good when they have tried it. I decided to head down on a Saturday morning, with plans to arrive an hour before their weekend opening (8.30am). Obviously my plan was thwarted when I heard my alarm at 7.15am. 

The stall was not particularly difficult to find, even though the signages on the second level of the food complex are pretty complex indeed. I have yet to figure out how they decide to number their stalls but just look out for small metal rectangles near the ceilings that indicate the numerical range of stalls in that row.

I arrived at around 8 am in the morning (obviously nowhere close to being the earliest – the lady arrived at 630am?!) and there were around 25 people in front of me. The queue starts about 3metres away from the stall – indicated by a signage pole and a lady watching the queue – so please try not to embarrass yourselves by unintentionally cutting the queue.

To be honest, I thought the length of the queue (25 people) was rather short for such a highly raved stall… until the first few people in the queue ordered a couple of whole chickens ($14 per chicken).

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and maybe breakfast for the next morning as well ?

By the time it was my turn to order, it was already 9.15am. So I truly queued an hour for breakfast. As I made my way down the queue, I asked the female stall helper that watched the queue for recommendations on what’s the best dish I should order since it was my first time there.

“I personally prefer the roasted ones,” she gave a slight smile. “and noodles”.

​That explains my plate of horfun packed with 3 different types of meat. #piglifeI didn’t want to miss out on the lady’s recommendations, and at the same time I wanted to try their “signature” Hong Kong Soya Sauce chicken.

​A regular plate of soya sauce chicken horfun is priced very affordably at $2.50 per plate, along with the other dishes they offer – soya sauce chicken rice, roasted meat rice, charsiew rice, pork ribs rice etcera, My add-ons of charsiew and roasted pork added a mere $2 to my meal, resulting in a $4.50 protein packed breakfast.

​Their roasted meats were really good. The charsiew was so well marinated that its exterior was evenly covered with the sauces. Moist and fatty meat slices with specks of charred areas, coupled with the slightly sweet marinate was to die for. (Do give it a miss if you are not a fan of fatty charsiew pieces.) The roasted pork, on the other hand, had an extremely crispy and fragrant topmost layer, each bite producing audible crunching. The tender fats and meat layer sealed the deal as I devoured them quickly.The soya sauce chicken was moist and fleshy as well – unlike the extra thin and dry chicken breast slices that some hawkers serve. I even slurped up the slippery marinated skin (I don’t usually eat them regardless of whether its roasted or steamed but someone told me I HAVE TO try at least one).

The horfun noodles was slightly clumpy – probably because I did not stir it immediately (cameras have to have their share of the food first right?) but delicious nonetheless. I loved the flavour of the gravy – just the right level of sweet and salty. That being said, I would have preferred less oil in my noodle sauces as I felt a little jelat (sick) from the grease when nearing the end of my meal.

​My verdict? Of the 3 meats I’ve tried, I personally prefer the roasted meats over the soya sauce chicken (despite the stall being a chicken rice stall). Please do not misunderstand – the soya sauce chicken IS DELICIOUS, but don’t forget to try their roasted meats as well!Just as I was about to leave, the really friendly lady who recommended me the roasted meats came over to tell me that the yellow noodle was tastier – springy and chewy. My heart sank a little… I guess this really affordable Michelin star awardee is worth the hype to a certain extent – I probably wouldn’t be willing to queue more than an hour for it, but I will definitely be back again to try the pork ribs and yellow noodles!

Lastly, I was also told that the queues get especially long during lunch hours, people were expected to queue for about 3 to 4 hours. Food also do get sold out nearing their closing time since you can’t really limit the amount of food somebody buys right? There were times where the queue got cut off way before 7.00pm so do visit the place earlier to avoid disappointment!

All photographs in this post are taken by Calvin. Thanks for the awesome shots!

Have you tried the Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken and Noodles? Do share your experience in the comments below(;