Chew Kee Eating House, Upper Cross St, Singapore

If there are any eateries in Singapore that are worthy to be defined as an institution and has stood the test of time, Chew Kee Eating House would probably be one of them. This place has been around for a long time (it was here even before i was a little kid!) and I'm so glad it's still here after I've been away for awhile. Although this place calls themselves an "Eating House", there's only one thing worth coming here for - the soy sauce braised chicken.

Located at 8 Upper Cross St, it's often rare to find this place without a constant streaming crowd and someone chopping away at a chicken. You know their chicken is popular because they're cooked by the bucketloads. I mean look at that chicken chopper dude, I couldn't even get a clear shot because he was always on the go.

Ok, enough of the tease, let's bring on the star of the show. There are only two factors in making excellent braised chicken, one - the sauce, two - the texture of the chicken. Chew Kee has mastered both. The sauce is very fragrant and rich without being salty (a result of using good quality soy sauce) and the chicken is just so tender. The chicken breast is as tender as the thigh and the thigh is as tender as ... well .. er.. the thigh (haha what were you expecting?).

You can choose to have your chook with either chicken rice, egg noodles or flat rice noodles. I often opt for the egg noodles because it's more of a Hong Kong style way of dining. Their chicken rice is not bad either although some of my friends prefer it more oily. A good dash of the soy sauce from the chicken and their garlic chilli on either noodle or rice elevates this dish just that little higher for overall enhanced gustatory pleasure. They have pretty decent water dumplings as well but unfortunately were sold out today. On a final plus point, this place happily feeds a person for under SGD10.

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