Sing Ho Hainan Chicken Rice – A Shining Star

for those of you who love Hainanese chicken rice like I do, you are probably quite wary of the high fat and cholesterol content of this popular dish. The essence of a good plate of chicken rice lies very much in the rice itself. The most savory rice tends to have been cooked in chicken fat, which doesn’t exactly appeal to the health-conscious. Sing ho Hainan chicken rice addresses this health concern by offering a much healthier version of this dish.

the rice is not glazed with chicken fat, nor is the chicken meat drenched in sesame oil. Suddenly this doesn’t sound very appetising. But alan lai, the manager of sing ho Hainan chicken rice is so confident that his chicken rice is every bit as delicious, if not more so than the traditional Hainanese chicken rice that he invited me for a food-tasting session. Four of us were game for it. And here’s our verdict.

Calamari Rings with Salad Cream
SGD3

let’s start with the side dishes, which were the typical offerings such as calamari rings. The calamari rings had been fried to a golden brown and came with a yummy salad cream dip. Many people make the common mistake of overcooking calamari rings until they taste like rubber bands. Fortunately the ones we had were cooked just right and made a good appetiser.

Deep Fried Prawn Fritters
SGD4

the deep fried prawn fritters were even better! They were light and crispy on the outside, smooth and tender on the inside. Yum! As if that wasn’t enough, the fried batter remained crispy throughout the entire duration of the meal! I especially liked the tasty Thai sweet chili sauce that went perfectly well with the prawn fritters. This is one dish not to be missed!

Salad You-Tiao (Fried Doughsticks)
SGD3

some of the other dishes can be improved, however. The salad you-tiao (fried doughsticks) were bland and uninspired. We didn’t like the filling and the dish was just plain and boring.

Belachan Kang Kong (Chinese Kale cooked in Fermented Ground Shrimp)
SGD3

the belachan kang kong (chinese kale cooked in fermented ground shrimp) was unanimously the least popular dish of the day. This was supposed to be a “dried” dish. Instead we were served a soupy dish, which I found somewhat perplexing. The belachan was flavorless and the kang kong appeared to be overcooked. If you check out the dish pictured on their menu, you would notice a stark contrast between the two.

Chicken Meat for 3
SGD12 + $0.50 per bowl of rice

now we come to what really matters — the chicken rice! After a succession of relatively oily dishes, we were really digging something healthy for a change. It’s a real relief that the huge portion of skinless chicken served looked very healthy and non-oily indeed. Due to the lack of sesame oil, we could taste the difference between this and the sinful traditional Hainanese chicken. It was a tad less savory but at the same time much healthier, and hence perfectly understandable.

the rice was the star of the whole meal. Unlike the traditional way of cooking in chicken fat that results in a greasy texture, the rice was instead prepared using a special chicken stock made with chicken bones and vegetable oil. To my surprise it tasted much more fragrant than any other chicken rice I had tasted, and much healthier too!

so if you are raring to try out some healthy and tasty Hainanese chicken rice, head over to sing ho Hainan chicken rice. They have four outlets all over the island, easily recognizable from the bright red signboard and silver shining star.