1 Kadayanallur Street
#01-07 Maxwell Food Centre
Singapore 069184
Saturday:
11:00am - 07:30pm
Enjoy dining without burning a hole in your pocket, no membership required
The former head chef of renowned Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, Wong Liang Tai (Ah Tai) set up his own stall in February 2012.
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Only the poached version is available here, but the chicken meat is fresh, tender and springy, with a thin gelatinous layer beneath the skin. Has lovely sweet savoury flavour, with the gravy lending a savoury salty nutty note.
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The rice is fluffy but has a more firm bite than elsewhere, with grainy savoury flavour. Paired with dark sweet soy sauce for salty sweet notes, and vinegared chili with a tangy sour sweet spicy kick.
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Chicken Rice
Ah Tai Hainanese Chicken Rice
@ Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur Street #01-07
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More details:
https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.com/2022/07/best-of-singapore-hawkers-chicken-rice.html
Unfortunately Tian Tian fared better. The rice is abit hard, not fluffy and I prefer rice that is more fragrant.
Set comes with some green vegetables and cost $7.50 on Whyq delivery.
Second time doing a Ah Tai vs Tian Tian Chicken Rice comparison and my verdict still remains the same. Ah Tai has more tender chicken and Tian Tian has more fragrant rice. Both are still very delicious chicken rices on their own! āŗļø
The tale of two Maxwell chicken rice stalls - Tian Tian and Ah Tai. Both stalls serve chicken rice thatās based on a similar recipe. Thereās a back story to how Ah Tai came about but Iāll leave that for another day.
The chicken here is soft, tender and juicy which makes it the highlight of the dish. For either $3.50 or $5, youāll get a decently sized serving of chicken meat. I actually like the rice here as the texture is rather firm and moist and is rather flavourful.
What about the chilli sauce? it has a strong garlic taste and I wished it could be spicier. Not forgetting the thick, savoury sauce thatās drizzled over the chicken, itās a perfect complement to the steamed chicken which would taste rather bland on its own.
I usually patronise Ah Tai as the queue is shorter and I find their chicken rice to be excellent. In fact Iād easily rate it as one of my favourite chicken rice places in Singapore.
Decided to get half a chicken (white) from Ah Tai and half a chicken (roasted) from Tian Tian, and the stand-out dish was definitely Ah Taiās white chicken. It was extremely soft and tender (even the chicken breast) and the chicken pieces were so thick and juicy! Tian Tianās chicken pales in comparison, although I have to say that Tian Tianās rice is much more fragrant and flavourful
The owner of this stall used to work st the famous Tian Tian a few counters away. Today, the queue at Tian Tian lasts anywhere between 10 minutes (at opening at 10am, or mid afternoon) and 45 minutes (meal times); its prices are the highest among all the Hainanese chicken rice stalls at Maxwell (although thatās still most reasonable); they only give out the chilli and dark soy sauces upon request (although that is very much part of the dish!). There is never a queue at Ah Tai. So, is it worth it? If youāre not a foodie, the answer is āhell, no!āāOn the other hand, if you can tell subtle differences in the texture of the chicken, the fragrance of the rice, or the degree of kick in the chilli sauce, or if you just line up servings from the various chicken rice stalls at Maxwell (Tian Tian, Ah Tai, Heng Heng), you would have to say "Tian Tian is the best lah!" Unfortunately, Ah Tai would come third, although on its own, it is not bad.