Many places in Taipei purport to serve Hainanese chicken rice (海南雞飯), but very few of them serve anything that has much relationship to the dish as found in Southeast Asia, especially Singapore, where it is regarded as something of a national dish. With the opening of Boon Keng Chi Chicken (文慶雞新加坡文東記雞飯), real Singapore-style Hainanese chicken rice has arrived, showing up most of its rivals for the pale imitations that they are.
The establishment is the first overseas venture of Singapore’s well-known Boon Tong Kee (文東記雞飯) chicken rice chain, and it prides itself on serving chicken rice the Singapore way. This is different from Taiwan’s own equally ubiquitous white cut chicken (白斬雞), which it closely resembles in appearance. Sadly, Boon Keng Chi Chicken has found it necessary to make concessions to local tastes, which inevitably give rise to disappointment in anyone who has experienced the real deal. The giveaway is in the skin — whereas Singaporeans prize a silky, almost melt-in-your-mouth chicken skin, the Boon Keng Chi in Taipei goes for a more robust texture.
The establishment’s signature dish, the Hainanese chicken leg and rice set menu (海南腿肉套餐) serves up chicken, which apart from the caveat above, is tender and marvelously succulent. From the first bite, there is little doubt that this a cut above your average white cut chicken. Unfortunately, without denying the quality, the set comes across as a little stingy, with a plate of bean sprouts as the vegetable, an unimaginative black glutinous rice sweet and a choice of a soup or beverage for NT$230. The chicken soup, which makes use of the chicken’s organ meat (下水湯), is very good, but the barley water (薏米水, NT$35), also a favorite accompaniment for this dish in Southeast Asia, was too sweet and rather insipid. The Indian-style milk tea (NT$60) also lacked character.
PHOTO: IAN BARTHOLOMEW, TAIPEI TIMES
Extra portions of meat are available for NT$90; half a chicken is NT$310. The highlight of the meal is actually the rice, which is cooked in chicken stock and flavored with coconut, and should be eaten with a dribble of dark, sweet soy sauce. The chili sauce, while much better than what you get at most street food outlets, has little fire, and one suspects that this is yet another concession to local tastes.
Another signature dish, the curry chicken leg (咖哩雞腿套餐, NT$230), didn’t really cut the mustard either with its rather bland curry, although, once again, the chicken was well prepared.
While most customers visiting Boon Keng Chi Chicken will probably go for the chicken, it should be noted that the restaurant has a wide choice of Southeast Asian favorites including satay, lemon fish and pork chops. But given the focus on the chicken, the relatively small size of the establishment and its hawker stall atmosphere, these seem rather superfluous. The quality of the cooking and the service are both good, and if Boon Keng Chi Chicken could lift its game in the presentation, rather than padding out a big menu, it could easily be serving the best chicken rice in town.
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