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 savoury 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. Or is it?

Calamari Rings with Salad Cream
S$3
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Let’s start with the side dishes, which are the typical offerings such as calamari rings. The calamari rings are fried to a golden brown crisp and paired with a delicious salad cream dip. Many people make the common mistake of overcooking calamari rings until they have a chewy texture like rubber bands. Fortunately the ones here are cooked just right and make a good appetiser.

Deep Fried Prawn Fritters
S$4
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The deep fried prawn fritters are even better! They are light and crispy on the outside, smooth and tender on the inside. Yum! As if that wasn’t enough, the fried batter remains crispy throughout the entire duration of the meal! I especially like the tasty Thai sweet chilli sauce that goes perfectly well with the prawn fritters. This is one dish not to be missed.

Salad You-Tiao (Fried Doughsticks)
S$3
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Some of the other dishes can be improved, however. The salad you-tiao (fried doughsticks) is bland and uninspired.

Belachan Kang Kong (Chinese Kale cooked in Fermented Ground Shrimp)
S$3
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The belachan kang kong (Chinese kale cooked in fermented ground shrimp) is unanimously the least popular dish of the day. What is meant to be a dry dish comes drenched in soup. The belachan is lacking in flavour and the kang kong is overcooked. If you look at the dish pictured on the menu, you would notice a stark contrast between the two.

Chicken Meat for 3
S$12 + 0.50 per bowl of rice
Rating:

Now we come to what really matters – the chicken rice! After a succession of relatively oily dishes, we are really digging something healthful for a change. It’s a real relief that the huge portion of skinless chicken served is non-oily. Due to the lack of sesame oil, we can taste the difference between this and the regular oily Hainanese chicken. It is less savoury but is at the same time much healthier, and hence perfectly understandable.

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

So if you are raring to try out some heart-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 star.

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