Food review: Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice @ Maxwell Food Centre [Hawker Heros] – Celine Chiam | Singapore Lifestyle, Beauty and Travel Blogger

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The verdict is out. The above three are the final voted contestants to engage in the cook-off with Gordon Ramsay for the Hawker Heros Challenge.

As I am having my internship near Maxwell Food Centre, I might as well make my way down to try out Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice. 

On a typical 12pm lunch hour, the queue was tremendously long. Not sure if it’s because of the launch of Hawker Heros Challenge that causes the sudden surge in people trying out Tian Tian. There were roughly 20 people in front of me, and the waiting time was about 20 – 25 minutes. 

Many people usually order half a chicken or so, but I tried a normal plate of Cold Hainanese Chicken rice at S$3.50.

Cold Hainanese Chicken rice (S$3.50)

This humble looking chicken rice cost only S$3.50, but little would you expect it to be packed with extremely fragrant rice and tender chicken drizzled with thick marinated sauce.

The best part of this plate of chicken rice that eventually won my heart over is the fragrant and moisture chicken rice. Because it’s moist enough, the rice aren’t too firm and hard. As for the taste, the rice was honestly very fragrant and tasty, so good that I think it’s better than the chicken. 

It is quite a disappointment to find out that the chicken meat tasted really mediocre. To make sure it’s not only my own opinion, I asked my fellow colleagues (about 4-5 of them) and they all agree that the chicken was not the winning point for Tian Tian. The chicken meat itself is indeed tender and succulent, but they lack the ability to retain the moisture in the chicken meat. 

The chicken meat served was slightly thick and wide, so the texture wasn’t too nice. Tender and soft, but dry and not so moist. 

However, I do like the flavourful chili sauce that comes with the chicken rice. Not only is it spicy, but it has a hint of lime sauce and sugary taste. This is probably one of the best chicken rice chili sauce I’ve ever tasted.

So good that we have to pack back some chicken rice for the other colleagues.

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

1 Kadayanallur Street #01-10 

Maxwell Food Centre

(Near Chinatown MRT Centre)

Tel: 65 96914852

Stay hungry! 

Celine Chiam 

Celine Chiam is a Singapore Lifestyle, Beauty and Fashion blogger. Welcome to her world of beauty reviews, travelogues and every day tips! She’s on #dayre (@chiamhuiy) and instagram (@chiamhuiy) as well.