Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice: Without a Doubt the Most Popular Chicken Rice Hawker Stall in Singapore! (It Was Visited by Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay, and Has a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand!)

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This article is part of the Singapore Food Trip 2024 series Check out the installments in this series: Maxwell Food Centre (Hawker Centre) | Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

Hainanese Chicken Rice (or simply “Chicken Rice”) is accepted as the national dish of Singapore. It has 3 main components: The chicken (which is boiled), the rice (which is cooked using the chicken stock), and the soup (which is also the stock). It’s usually served with 3 dips: Chili sauce, ginger puree, and a soy-based sauce. Without a doubt, Maxwell Food Centre's (check out my guide here) Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice is the most popular chicken rice in the Lion City.

How come? For one, Hell’s Kitchen chef Gordon Ramsay visited it as part of the Singtel’s Hawker Heroes Challenge, where the celebrity chef recreated Singaporean dishes and matched it against hawker versions. And Ramsay lost to Tian Tian!

Also, the late TV host and chef Anthony Bourdain tried their chicken rice and praised the rice itself for being “fragrant and delicious that it can be eaten on its own.”

The Multiple Recognitions of Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

The MICHELIN Guide also noticed Tian Tian and has been awarding it with a Bib Gourmand since 2016. It’s among the first few stalls in Singapore to be awarded with such recognition. No wonder it always has long queue, which I heard it can even take more than an hour.

But Tian Tian isn’t without controversy. One is the owner having a falling out with a former chef. As a result, this chef opened a chicken rice store a few stalls away, which is Ah Tai Hainanese Chicken Rice. Its signage is suspiciously similar to Tian Tian.

Anyway, the big question is this: Is the hype real? I returned to find out.

(I’ve tried Tian Tian back in 2017 during my first visit to Singapore. It was my first ever meal and I remembered it to be good. But I wasn’t a big foodie back then so I just ate and didn’t care too much. LOL.)

Below was the queue when we visited. But in only 10 minutes, I was already ordering and got my food almost immediately. Talk about efficiency!

I’m supposed to get both steamed and roasted chicken. But the latter was already unavailable (we were there after lunch time). So I just got the poached chicken, and added Chicken Gizzard, Liver, and Braised Egg. Interestingly, the drench the chicken with a special sauce.

The chicken is moist and tender, and the rice is so flavorful (I can definitely taste the lemongrass).

Steamed Chicken Rice Set (Small: SGD5; Medium: SGD6; Large: SGD8.80). The innards and braised egg are sold separately.

The gizzard is tender and has no resistance at all (probably one of the most tender gizzards I’ve had), and the liver is creamy.

Gizzard and Liver (Per Piece: SGD0.80; Small: SGD3; Medium: SGD5)

Honestly, both the chicken and the innards are on the plain side. Thankfully, the sauce with which the chicken is drenched with and the dips make up for it.

We also got an Oyster Sauce Vegetable (bokchoy), which is super crisp and has a nice shallot flavor.

Oyster Sauce Vegetable (Small: SGD4; Medium: SGD6; Large: SGD8)

So how do I find Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice now? I like it! I know some locals will disagree with me. But as a tourist, I find it way above average compared to the ones I find back home, and that’s acceptable to me.

Will I queue for it again? If the queue is only ten minutes long, then yes. But if I don’t have the patience for it, I’ll probably go for Ah Tai or try another chicken rice stall with shorter queue.

Still, I think Tian Tian is an experience every serious foodie should try at least once. You will not find a hawker stall that’s both “Bourdained” and “Ramsayfied”. So I highly recommend it to you!

Address: #01-10/11 Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur St., Singapore | Operating Hours: Daily, 10AM-7:30PM