Of course we all know the irony, that Hainan Chicken Rice isn’t indigenous to Hainan and it was the cook who’s from Hainan, not the food. But the pak cham kai( white chop chicken) was actually an invention of the Cantonese and Hainan being near to Guang Dong, undoubtedly got the influence. When the Hainanese came, they brought along the pak cham kai and invented the chicken flavoured rice here. So strictly speaking, the chicken is Cantonese, chicken + rice is Hainanese and the world follows.

So you can see, the penchant for pak cham kai in a plate of chicken rice is very Hainanese, and while there’s no tales abound of Hainanese learning the art of roasting a chicken from the British, it is no doubt that roasted chicken is very much not Hainanese but a Singaporean thing.

If you have wondered why traditional Hainanese chicken rice were served in balls, well there are 2 theories. Before it’s rise to fame and be sold in sybaritic style(for eg, Boon Tong Kee, Loy Kee), it was actually comfort food for the ordinary people and it was said that chicken flavoured rice balls were cleverly invented for easy distribution to horde of labourers while others said that by making rice into balls, the warmth can be kept longer.

Hainanese Chicken Rice $3

I must confess that pak cham kai is something that I have never known the appreciation of and I see it as something likely to screw up my chicken rice meal instead. So thanks to this ‘Singaporean Invention’ of the roasted chicken that my chicken rice enjoyment can be salvaged.

Just in case you don’t know, the rice of a Hainanese chicken rice has compelling flavours from garlic, ginger, sesame oil and chicken broth. And the tender-flreshed chicken is made by plunging it in and out of boiling water and ice water rhymically to produce that jelly-like substance below the skin.

To be perfectly honest here, I haven’t got the faintest idea how a fantastic Hainanese chicken rice should be. But notwithstanding the lack of knowledge of a good Hainanese chicken rice, I still can distinguish a good flavoured rice to a bad one and it’s just happens that most chicken rice stalls can produce brilliantly perfumed rice though a little oily most times.

Fu Hainanese chicken Rice at Bedok Blk 538 has roasted chicken, no riceball but still alludes to a Hainanese version. The roasted chicken here exhude a compelling aroma, a result of the oily gravy which is slightly sweet. The rice is fluffy, only slight oiled, the very personification to the texture you get with coconut rice in Nasi Lemak. It tasted like the Viagra of white rice, each toothsome mouthful, every chew of it powers me into lubricated eating machine. Such balance in taste, the chilli might not even be needed but I’ll be frank with you for a moment: the chilli sauce is able to keep up with the game!

This chicken rice may looks simple but the munch is extraordinary smooth and the quality of it just wanders beyond bounds. For $3, it has all the styles, moves, tastes and everything you need to shout EXTRAVAGANT, and I’ve never bother with the hassles to look for something similar.

Price: $3

Conclusion: A very good chicken rice for me. Superb hint of sweetness in the gravy. Rice is fluffy and only slight oily. A chicken rice meal that’s devoid of ‘jerladness’.

Likes: Rice is fluffy, gravy is good.

Dislikes: None.

Address		Overall Rating
Fu Hainanese Chicken Rice Blk 538 #01-35A Bedok North Street 3 Blk 538 Bedok North Market and Food Centre		Food: 8/10   Value: 8/10   Authenticity: 8/10   Service: 8/10   Ambience: 7/10   Cleanliness: 7/10   Overall: 7.75/10

However I’ve been brought to the attention of another 3 stalls. 1 stall is also in Bedok while the other 2 stalls are out of Bedok. Therefore there will be an extension of 3 more posts and this 8 part series will be done with this post(which is the last stall in Bedok) and the other 3 stalls which is outside of Bedok will be resumed in another 3 parts series of an extension of Bak Chor Mee Challenge which will be titled “Which is the best Bedok’s Bak Chor Mee outside of Bedok?”

What surprised me in this Bak Chor Mee adventure so far is the fact that most of the stalls recognise each other as relatives but distance themselves from this Bak Chor Mee stall operating at Bedok Blk 538 market. If you’re thinking that some squabbles took place that caused all of them to stop having any relationship with the owner of this stall, then let me tell you that’s not the case.

It’s indeed true that the owner of the stall at Bedok Blk 538 has nothing to do with the Bak Chor Mee’s family. His Bak Chor Mee’s skills and recipes are self taught and he just happens to snap up a stall in one of the last markets in Bedok, without a Bak Chor Mee stall for a Bak Chor Mee business. As far I know, the other market in Bedok that has no Bak Chor Mee stall is at Blk 16, though I was told that not too long ago, there was also a stall there.

Dumplings with bak chor

Soon Heng Minced Pork Mee at Bedok Blk 538 market come across as something that is trying to fake off as one of those authentic Bak Chor Mee stall. Well if most of the other Bak Chor Mee stall owners were quick to say ” no no no ” when you asked whether the one at Blk 538 is related to their family, you can’t help but think this way. Furthermore when I was waiting for my noodles at this stall, the chatty aunty confessed to me ‘They all are related except us”. With that, I was half expecting my bowl of noodles to come in shocking taste and flavour. I was really expecting the worst. I mean some of the related ones are even bad, how good can this be right?

And coming from eating the shiokadodo outstanding ones at Bedok Blk 85, it made it even harder to believe there is a better Bak Chor Mee stall somewhere that has no relation to the original Bak Chor Mee family.

Dumplings

Bak chor mee

But you know what, my Bak Chor Mee came in style that almost left my jaw dropped. The sight of it was awesome. I’ve never seen so many bak chor(minced pork) on my Bak Chor Mee before. And the best part is this, the bak chor was not in a lump but really finely grinded and just spread on top of the noodles in the soup. It was outstanding in looks and the generous amount of chopped spring onions made it look like a bowl of Bak Chor Mee made for the King!

Ok the time has come for me to taste the bak chor and I took a spoonful of the bak chor together with some soup. Oh my goodness gracious, it smacks full of that giam her(salted fish) mix with ti poh(dried flat fish) taste! Marvellous! This is the kind of bak chor in a bowl of Bak Chor Mee that I was waiting for and at last I’ve found it! With that shiokadodo delicious flavour in the bak chor, it made the soup taste like the most ‘pang’ soup amongst all the Bak Chor Mees I’ve ate recently. The good thing is that it also had the right amount of sweetness in it so I didn’t really feel like drinking a salted fish soup. The noodles as usual had that QQness to behold.

What further made it more impressive is the fact that the dumplings are chock-full of that tik poh flavour in the fillings. It was huge, the skin wasn’t too thick too, by far the best I’ve eaten.

This is simply no horse run!

This Bak Chor Mee’s triumph was unexpected. The wonderful style it came with, was the precursor to this tremendous taste which has won my heart in ways that no other Bak Chor Mee had. This is the only bowl of Bak Chor Mee that came with 4 dumplings, and also they’re the biggest and the most delicious thus far.

I don’t know how does that sound for you but I’m in love with it!

This Bak Chor Mee has hit a new high for me. It demonstrated ultra full flavour from the soup to the minced pork to the dumplings. This is a great bowl of Bak Chor Mee producing ‘world class’ level of shiokness for me because the ingredients used were not giam siap(stingy)!

I’m wondering now how could this GREAT bowl of Bak Chor Mee ever be overtaken.

Price: $2.50

Recommendation: $3 version and ask for giaos version!

Conclusion: This is a perfect bowl of Bak Chor Mee for me. This is something like ‘big prawn noodles’. This is a ‘big minced pork cum big shiokadodo bak giaos’ Bak Chor Mee! The soup just also happens to be very shiok! The noodles went very well with all of it and the thing is it doesn’t really need a genius to produce something like this but yet the ecstasy it created for me by this ‘unrelated’ seller to the Bak Chor Mee’s family has beaten not only those ‘entry-level’ ones but superior ones at Bedok Blk 85 by many miles!

Likes: Terrific balance of flavour. Terrific bak chor. Terrific dumplings. Terrific soup. Everything is just terrific!

Dislikes: Soup no enough! They need to use a bigger bowl for it!

Next Up: 3 parts series of Bedok’s style of Bak Chor Mee OUTSIDE of Bedok!

Address		Overall Rating
Soon Heng Minced Pork Noodles Bedok North Blk 538 Food Centre Blk 538 01-40A Bedok North Street 3 530am to 12pm(or until sold out) Off every Wed		Soup: 8/10   Noodles: 8/10   Bak Chor: 9/10   Dumplings: 8.5/10   Value: 8/10   Overall: 8/10