I was at Maxwell Food Court for lunch during the Nuffnang APAC Blog Awards Singapore tour when I stumbled upon a stall in the otherwise modestly populated food court with a long queue. It was for Zhen Zhen Porridge and not being particularly fond of porridge; I explored the other side of the food court and was rewarded (?) with the longest queue I’ve ever seen in my entire life!
Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration…it was the longest queue in the food court, snaking all the way through tables of people eating to the other side. I wondered what the fuss was about and stood in line.
That probably wasn’t a good idea since my rudimentary calculations of the number of people in the queue and the speed at which Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice was pushing its warez indicated I would probably get my lunch at 2013 AD or so. Probably around August 13th at a little past 4 am in the morning.
However, I spotted Wei Zhi (otherwise known as Citygal of KampongboyCitygal – pictured above) and Christine (of Brought up 2 SharE – shown below) standing in line in front of me. Ha! If they’re waiting in line, it’s gotta be good, so I trusted in their judgment and casually strolled up to have a chat with them.
This is a very advanced tactical maneuver which involves pulling your digicam out and nonchalantly taking a narrative video of the queue ending with the two abovementioned people in front. It works best if you proceed to camwhore straight after that and start talking animatedly while pointedly ignoring the people behind.
It is also known as queue cutting. ;)
The list of awards bagged by Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice
Despite my strategic maneuvers, it took us 30 minutes (!!!) to get to Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice which is a bit on the ridiculous side considering we were all standing up instead of seated and waiting. My table mates thought I went missing!
The drumstick chicken rice with a large portion of rice came up to SGD 3.50 which is pretty cheap if you don’t convert it into about RM 8. I liked the taste of the rice; it was very flavorful and infused with chicken stock. I half expected to see a stray chicken or two inside the plate of rice.
Having a less refined palate than Wei Zhi (she’s the one who recommended Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice) I found the chicken to be tender and moist – both promising characteristics in poultry. It’s very juicy and the sauce and ginger paste served with it does well to complement the flavor of the chicken rice. I quite enjoyed it to be honest.
Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice @ Maxwell Food Court dishes up great chicken rice but I wouldn’t wait 30 minutes for it. I was about halfway through my meal when I was told our group had to leave for the next destination.
*cue speed eating demonstration*