70-year-old ex-hotel chef whips up HK-style soy sauce rooster in Bukit Merah

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70-year-old ex-hotel chef whips up HK-style soy sauce rooster in Bukit Merah


Hidden within the quiet property of Bukit Merah is Alexandra Village Food Centre. Though this hawker centre isn’t probably the most accessible (you’ll have to take a bus from Redhill or Commonwealth), you’ll nonetheless discover lengthy queues at numerous stalls, one in all which is Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken.

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 18 - storefront

This legendary hawker stall, which is listed within the Michelin Bib Gourmand, is run by Mr Fung Shu Sun and his spouse.

Mr Fung, who’s higher referred to as 油鸡佬 (aka “The Soy Sauce Chicken Man”) by his loyal clients, was a chef in Raffles Hotel specialising in roasted meat.

After the lodge underwent a rebranding in 2003 after SARS, Mr Fung was requested to alter his speciality to Western delicacies. That’s when Mr Fung selected to stop, and he got here out to be a hawker in his personal proper.

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 17 - storefront

After dabbling in a number of kinds of roasted meat, akin to roasted duck, roasted suckling pig, and char siew, Mr Fung finally settled on 3 dishes when opening Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken: soya sauce rooster, wantons and dumplings, and noodles.

You understand it’s going to be a very good meal while you discover out that Mr Fung’s soy sauce rooster recipe got here straight from Hong Kong, and that he had learnt it when he was merely 12 years outdated!

What I attempted at Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 11 - soy sauce chicken noodles

I ordered Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken’s titular Soya Sauce Chicken Noodle (S$5.50), and requested for the Dry model.

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 09 - soy sauce chicken

For its S$5.50 price ticket, I used to be immediately impressed by how beneficiant Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken was with the rooster items.

Easily taking over half my plate, these had been 6 to 7 chunky items of soy sauce-marinated rooster that got here with glistening items of fatty pores and skin. Super definitely worth the value!

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 08 - soy sauce chicken

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 07 - soy sauce chicken

The soy sauce rooster was simply the hero of this complete dish.

Each piece of rooster was marinated in savoury soy sauce, such that each single satisfying chew resulted in a burst of yummy juices. These are thick wedges of yummy rooster meat with a gelatinous, melt-in-your-mouth layer of fatty pores and skin, making every part merely pleasant.

I beloved how I used to be given a wide range of rooster components— some had been from the breast whereas others had been from the thigh— so I had a very good stability of texture from the rooster meat too.

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 06 - noodles

Though the noodles seemed a tad dry to start with, a very good toss solved that concern.

The one factor I actually beloved about Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken’s noodles was its texture. While the noodles had been a lot thinner than your common wanton mee, Mr Fung managed to cook dinner it completely, because it had a bouncy suppleness to it whereas nonetheless having enough chew.

There was a powerful alkaline-like style which I didn’t fully fancy. Despite the noodles absorbing a lot of the soy sauce gravy, it was nonetheless fairly gentle in flavour, and made me want that I had been given extra sauce.

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 05 - chilli

Don’t underestimate the small dollop of chilli that’s served on the facet. Smoky, wealthy and spicy, this gave the whole dish a well-needed punch of robust flavour and woke my style buds up immediately. It was addictive and spicy, and I ended up mixing the chilli straight into the noodles.

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 04 - soy sauce chicken noodles

What I loved about Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken’s Soya Sauce Chicken Noodle (Dry) was that each part on the plate served its personal function.

The rooster was the star of the present, with its tender meat, fatty pores and skin and salty marinade, whereas the noodles had been slippery and offered a pleasant chew. Meanwhile, the chilli offered that smoky warmth, whereas the nondescript items of choy sum added color and crunch.

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 10 - dumpling soup

I additionally determined to strive Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken’s Shrimp Dumpling Soup (S$5.50), and was shocked to see that I had been given 6 giant dumplings that had been the dimensions of my spoon!

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 03 - dumpling

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 01 - dumpling

Each dumpling was stuffed with a beneficiant quantity of minced meat, shrimp, strips of black fungus and crunchy water chestnut, making it immensely scrumptious.

These had been in all probability probably the most substantial dumplings I’ve ever had in my life!

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 02 - dumpling

Meanwhile, the soup was savoury but gentle. I may style a definite saltiness from ikan bilis and yellow beans, and I completely appreciated how Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken managed to make this soup flavourful with out being overly salty.

Final ideas

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken 15 - soy sauce chicken noodles

This was undoubtedly definitely worth the journey to Bukit Merah. While I didn’t notably benefit from the robust alkaline style from the skinny slippery noodles, I completely beloved the juicy, thick items of soya sauce rooster. And contemplating this was the spotlight of my total meal, I used to be glad to have been given such beneficiant parts, particularly contemplating its S$5.50 price ticket.

It’s unhappy to listen to that Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken has no successor. Mr Fung’s son doesn’t need to take over the stall, and each Mr Fung and his spouse are already outdated. Mr Fung instructed our video group that if both of them had been unable to proceed working, they’d in all probability retire.

If you haven’t had an opportunity to style Mr Fung’s yummy soy sauce rooster, it’s finest to take action earlier than the stall closes for good.

Expected harm: S$4.50 – S$9 per pax

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Price: $

Our Rating: 4 / 5

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken

120 Bukit Merah Lane 1, Alexandra Village Food Centre, #01-77, Singapore 150120

Price

Our Rating 4/5

Xiang Jiang Soya Sauce Chicken

120 Bukit Merah Lane 1, Alexandra Village Food Centre, #01-77, Singapore 150120

Telephone: +65 9185 7756

Operating Hours: 8am – 1pm (Tue to Sat), Closed on Sun & Mon



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