Singapore: Ah Tai – Just as good as Tian Tian?

Tian Tian is supposed to be one of the best places for chicken rice in Singapore, so even though the rain was pouring down, and I didn’t bring an umbrella, I decided to visit Tian Tian on my last night in Singapore. Tian Tian is located inside Maxwell Foodcentre, which was quite a distance from my hotel, so can you imagine how disappointed I was, when I found out it was closed?

Luckily, it didn’t take long before I spotted Ah Tai, which was another chicken rice place on the very top of my list.

The chef at Ah Tai (who’s name is Mr. Tai) used to be the chef at Tian Tian, but he fell out with the management and quit to open his own place in the same foodcentre. The chicken rice at Ah Tai is therefore supposed to be very similar to what you get at Tian Tian, so I hurried over and ordered a serving of Singapore Hainanese chicken rice.

Even though I was only in Singapore for a couple of days, I had a lot of chicken rice and everything was really good. I guess that when you make the same dish day after day, year after year, which is often the case at the hawker stalls, you just get really good at making that dish. Though Ah Tai was really something extraordinary.

The chicken wasn’t just juicy, it was incredibly juicy and the rice was so full of flavor, that I immediately regretted pouring all that soy sauce on top of it. Ideally, I think the rice should have been eaten on its own, mixed with the delicious chili sauce served on the site. This was the best Singapore Hainanese chicken rice I’ve ever had.

Ah Tai, 1 Kadayanallur St, #01 -07 Maxwell Food Center, Singapore