Amazing Hainanese Chicken Rice at Mandarin Chicken Rice (Singapore) in Hong Kong

Mandarin Chicken Rice (Singapore) located at G/F., 17 Chung Wui Street, Tai Kok Tsui in Hong Kong

Sept 10, 2017: Amazing lunch today!! I used the OpenRice app to find a good lunch place near our hotel and this place popped up (I also noticed it when we took the minibus the first day here). I also wanted to eat rice in the morning so this was the perfect place to try.

It was called “Mandarin Chicken Rice (Singapore)” (文華雞飯(新加坡)). It opened at 11:30 a.m. and we arrived there ten minutes after it opened. It was a relatively large restaurant and of which its seats filled up quickly as more customers came in too after us.

The server immediately gave us some lemon water (uncommon in Hong Kong) and the menus. I already knew I wanted to order the fragrant rice (“oily rice”) and Hainanese chicken. There was a distinction between plain chicken and roasted chicken. We ordered the combination set menu which included both the plain and roasted chicken, a small bowl of Bak kut teh, vegetables, and chicken rice. Chicken rice is the best because it is flavoured with chicken stock and oil which makes every grain of rice so flavourful. We also ordered a bowl of laksa rice noodles with the prawn option.

Mandarin Chicken Rice (Singapore) interior

We were the first ones here

Mandarin Chicken Rice (Singapore) menu and prices

Back page

As expected, the food arrived quickly. Food in Hong Kong in these local speciality restaurants always serve up food quickly since that’s their style of quick service. We used the little customized platters on the table to fill in ginger sauce, spicy sauce, and soy sauce. It was so small and adorable!

Condiments were self-served on the table

Spicy sauce, ginger, and soy sauce

The Bak kut teh was so good!!! It had some mushroom bits in the bottom of the soup and soft chewy pork bone too. The best!!

Bak kut teh (small)

The chicken was sooooo smooth and tender. It had lots of smooth fat attached to the pieces too. I liked the roasted chicken more.

Combination of steamed and roasted chicken. (add $3)

The absolute best part was the chicken rice! It was so fragrant and so well-seasoned and delicious!! Even when I was in Singapore a number of years ago, I didn’t even have such good chicken rice (or good Bak kut teh like this for that matter).

Oily rice and chicken

The steamed vegetables in oyster sauce were standard but also tasty and fresh.

Vegetables in oyster sauce

The laksa rice noodles were firm and the soup broth was just spicy enough to pack a punch but its spice didn’t stay on your tongue. What we were most impressed with was the freshness of the prawns. You can’t go wrong with having seafood in Asia since they are all freshly caught. The prawn was also so firm and tasted slightly sweet too.