The Chicken Rice Chronicles Part 3: Aspirasi

Harlow harlow harlow!
Is everybody ready for some Chicken Rice Chronicles?!?!

Well if you have no idea what we are babbling about then please READ THIS before you go any further!

Well our 3rd installment of the Chicken Rice Chronicles brings us to a far side of the island.
I say far because we live in the East and this place is located all the way at Harbourfront!
But hey... anywhere for good food right?

Chicken Rice ($3.50)

Another fan-favourite with our readers - Aspirasi Chicken Rice at Seah Im Food Centre!
I'll be 100% honest with you - the name Aspirasi was not familiar to me at all until our beloved readers responded to our call for their fave Chicken Rice places around SG. This was one name that popped up!

The first thing I noted is the very distinctive coating on the chicken.
Deep fried and crispy perfection, I can see why so many people love the chicken here!

I'd never really had chicken rice where the chicken was coated and fried this way before.
I guess the expectation is to have either Roasted or Steamed Chicken when you have your Chicken Rice but it seems like this type of battered and crispy chicken is really popular nowadays!

Well anyways, the crispy coating was quite a delight but I guess I still prefer the Roasted version. It's a pity that Aspirasi only has one type of chicken which the specialize in. But perhaps it's true when they say 'A jack of all trades is a master of none' because they've really mastered the fried chicken here.

I didn't really fancy the rice very much though.
I found it quite dry and lacking any flavour that you'd expect in a plate of Chicken Rice.

It's quite a pity though because the chicken was really nice and would have been great to have some tasty rice to go along with it.

Thank goodness the chilli rocks!
Nice and tangy and a very nice compliment to the crispy fried chicken. And one of the best things is that they are not stingy with their chilli! There's a big tub of it at the front of the shop so help yourself!

And they may have only the fried chicken but you can get that in a few versions including Sambal, Sweet and Sour, Lemon, Black Pepper, Penyet, Nasi Goreng Ayam and also Tomato Sambal. Maybe next time we'll try one of those...

Adam's Verdict:
Chicken Rice 3/5

This was the first time I'd tried crispy fried chicken with my Chicken Rice and it was definitely a good first impression. Guess it'll take a little getting used to. But the chilli was the bomb! Pity about the rice though.

Aspirasi

Seah Im Food Centre
2 Seah Im Road

Tel: 9297 2025
www.facebook.com/aspirasifoodgalore

Operating Hours: 9am til 9pm Daily
Closed on Mondays

The Chicken Rice Chronicles

So we had a poll on our Facebook page and it proved quite popular.
One thing was clear - we all love Chicken Rice but what was so surprising was how many recommendations we received on what people thought was the BEST Chicken Rice in Singapore.

And this is what the list looks like:

1. Tong Seng (Bugis) - READ HERE
2. Jefri Chicken Rice (Bedok Interchange)
3. S11 (Bukit Batok)
4. Mackenzie Rex (Prinsep Street) - READ HERE
5. Afghanistan (Tampines) - READ HERE
6. Evertop (Joo Chiat) - READ HERE
7. AR & H Family Chicken Rice aka Brickworks (Bukit Merah)
8. TFF (Bedok Corner)
9. Aspirasi (Seah Im) - READ HERE
10. 89.7 (Changi Village)
11. Mat Noh Chicken Rice (Peace Centre formerly at Lorong Limau)
12. Azman Chicken Rice (New Upper Changi Road)
13. Carona (Golden Shoe)
14. Golden Nur Nasi Briyani Special (Golden Shoe)
15. Adam Road Food Centre (Adam Road)
16. Fork and Spoon (Toa Payoh)
17. Nasi Ayang (Boon Keng)
18. Sedaap (Amoy Food Centre)
19. Jamil Seafood Restaurant (Tampines)
20. Scoops N Ladles (Sembawang)
21. As-Shifaa (Lucky Plaza) - READ HERE

23. Hawa Restaurant (New Upper Changi Road)
24. Fitra Chicken Rice (Century Square) - READ HERE
25. Tang Tea House (Simpang Bedok) - READ HERE

Quite a long list but we (and our bellies) are very determined to run through it all!
And it's probably going to take some time but I'm sure it'll be done... No matter how long it takes!

But how exactly can we be sure that all the stalls are reviewed fairly and consistently?
Well, I'm glad you asked.

The Chicken Rice stalls will be reviewed and scored based on the following 4 factors;
1. The Rice 2.The Chicken 3. The Chili and 4. Overall Rating

Seems fair right? And after we review each stall, we'll be sure to update the list accordingly.

So look out for the first installment soon and we'll work on it from there okay. Hope you enjoy going through the list with us as much as will enjoy eating at all the stalls. :)

Makan vs Makan --- Fast Food Chicken & Rice

I actually wanted to have this be a 'Fast Food Chicken Rice' post... but after I sampled the dishes from both the fast food outlets, I realized it would be more accurate to label it as 'Chicken & Rice' instead...

Read on dear readers... and you will know what I mean.

POPEYES VS KFC

This one was REALLY impromptu by the way.

I'd seen the commercials on TV. You know... the irritating one where the aunty goes "DIDN'T EAT RICE AH?". Yes. That one. And I actually said to myself - "No way am I gonna have that lah".

And then one day, we found ourselves at the airport and having lunch at Popeyes.
When I saw the poster for the Cajun Rice Platter, I thought to myself... Time for a battle!!!

Popeyes' Cajun Rice Platter ($4.30)

So for the price you pay, you get some Cajun Fried Rice with a choice of either a piece of Bonafide Fried Chicken, Louisiana Pepper Nuggets or Chicken Tenders.

As you can see, I chose the Fried Chicken because it seemed the most worth it among all the choices.


Well the Cajun Fried Rice itself was nothing extraordinary.
I mean, it wasn't bad. It was actually pretty tasty but I guess it just wasn't spectacular. It was quite a generous serving and I guess it was would suit whatever form of chicken to accompany it.

The Fried Chicken was (as usual) deep-fried goodness with all the oil and juices. Rip it up and have a whole mouthful with some of the Cajun Fried Rice. But honestly, you'll probably spend more time with the chicken than the rice - in which case you should have just bought a 2-piece Chicken Meal am I right?

No special sauce here though. Ended up eating it with the normal chili sauce.

KFC O.R Chicken Rice ($5.95)

Let me start off by saying that the presentation was NOT at all impressive.

May be I'm being too nit-picky... The tomato is fine but to put the same shredded lettuce that's put in the burgers? Errr.. kinda messy lah!!

The rice used here is supposed to be 'Chicken Rice' rice. And I guess it's close enough. It's not a tasty as your favourite Chicken Rice stall but you can still detect a hint of the chicken stock flavour.

I purposely ordered the O.R chicken because I really love the taste of the KFC's Original Recipe.
I know they call it O.R here but this wasn't really the same thing to me. The skin was a bit more crispy (which I can understand) but the O.R taste was really lacking so I'm guessing it's not the same at all. They should have just chopped up the patty from their O.R Fillet Burger and it would have been better.

Well the one thing they DID use was the sauce from their Shrooms Burger.
Unfortunately, it didn't really go very well with the rice and the chicken....
Ended up eating it with the normal chili sauce. (Deja Vu) 

They also had 2 other types of Chicken Rice - The Zinger one with Chilli Crab Sauce and the Roasta one with Honey Glaze.

And the winner is -

POPEYES CAJUN FRIED RICE WITH CHICKEN!!

But it wasn't by a very big margin to be honest...

The rice for both wasn't very outstanding. Both did not have a special sauce which made any difference.

I guess it all boiled down to the chicken which also was a little bit close to compare.

Price-wise is about the same because it's almost $6.00 when you top-up at Popeyes to have a drink and a side dish (Popeyes Mashed Potatoes are the bomb!)

But having said that... if I really wanna eat Chicken Rice.. then maybe I should just have Chicken Rice...

Did anyone else try either one of these offerings from 2 fast food outlets?
What did you think? Which was better?

 

Makan vs Makan --- Rendang Burger

I don't know why it took us so long to think of this...
In fact the promo for BK has already ended and McDonalds' one is probably gonna end soon but we are gonna put up this post anyways just for debating sake.

Anyways I think quite a number of you have already had this debate amongst yourselves...

Everyone was abuzz when Burger King suddenly re-launched a special promo for one of Singapore's most beloved burgers of all time - The Rendang Burger!

But for some reason... something just wasn't right. It just didn't seem to be able to match up to the original burger that was stopped back in 2004...

And then, McDonalds masuk campur and released their own version of the Rendang Burger...

McDonalds' (Single) Rendang Burger ($6.80 for the meal)

BK (Single) Rendang Deluxe ($6.95 for the meal)

As always, we had to be fair and order the same version for both places.
We ordered the Single Rendang version but both BK and McDonalds offered the Double version as well.

The first thing we simply have to touch on was the taste. Were they able to replicate the unique taste of Rendang with their own versions of the special sauce?

In this department, the hands-down winner was the McDonalds' version.
It tasted the closest to actual Rendang so much so that you could even taste a hint of lemongrass when you took a big bite of the burger. The BK version however merely tasted like a not-so-peanuty Satay sauce.
And they go the extra mile by adding, of all things, mayonnaise and  turkey bacon.

Which really makes you wonder. If the original BK version had such a fantastic and popular sauce, why wouldn't they try and get the same thing or at least something close? It can't be that not a single person didn't realize that this didn't taste anything like the original right? And adding stuff which doesn't really compliment the burger doesn't really help either...

Besides the sauce, another thing we noted was the onions that top the burger...

As you can see from the pictures above, McDonalds definitely gives you more onions which will surely pack a punch in the flavour department.

It's actually really baffling. The original BK Rendang burger used fresh onion rings which made a big difference so it's kinda weird that they would used chopped onions in the new version. And further to that, McDonalds, which is famed for using chopped onions in almost all their burgers, uses bigger onions strips in this burger.

Even small factors like this make such a big difference...

As you may know, my Darling Wife and I used to work at BK when the original Rendang Burger was being sold and it was definitely one of the most unique burgers out there. But in this case...

The winner is -

The McDonalds Rendang Burger

I think this one was pretty unanimous and I'm guessing most of you had the same feeling?

Actually, I think there are some people who might actually choose BK as the winner and we're actually prety curious to know what might have made you decide that the BK version was better than the McDonalds one.

Please leave us a comment!

Well anyways, let's be honest.

Even though the McDonalds Rendang Burger won here, nothing matches up to the original BK Rendang.

So far...

Makan vs Makan --- Indian Rojak

When I first started this blog, I had this idea where I would have what I referred to as 'Battles'.
That's right. Say it with me people - BATTLE!!! (Sounds very the Iron Chef right?)

These were just comparison posts where, instead of the usual format where each makan place or dish would have individual posts, 2 makan places would go head-to-head. But how will the winner be decided?
Well, that's where YOU come in!

It's actually very simple. Makan vs Makan. And we see who's the winner is.

The only hard and fast rule is that the makan being compared has got to be the same.
Meaning, if I'm reviewing Nasi Briyani, I'd have to compare the same type, like Mutton Briyani vs Mutton Briyani because it wouldn't be fair to compare Mutton Briyani vs Chicken Briyani you know what I mean?

And so without further ado, I present to you

MAKAN vs MAKAN -- INDIAN ROJAK!!!

ABDHUS SALAM ROJAK vs HABIB'S ROJAK

The weird thing is this was a totally unexpected development.
We had actually gone all the way to Ayer Rajah Food Centre based on some recommendations by some of our readers to try the Mee Kuah there. Bu when we arrived, I remember that @SarinaMohamed had told me about some Indian Rojak which was apparently the bomb.

And so we decided on the spur of the moment to have both. At the same time.

 Resident Reviewers - Maryah & Adam

Guest Reviewers - Azlan & Yana

So we went to place our orders at both stalls. And as per the rules, we chose all the same items from each stall so we could have an even review on the Indian Rojak.

We orders Hotdog, Paru (Beef Lung), Fish Cake, Fish Fillet, Potato, Wadeh, and Dough with Egg.
So that makes 7 items on each plate x 2 plates.

And this is what it looked like what they arrived.

Abdhus Salam Rojak ($11.00)

Habib's Rojak ($10.00)

Okay firstly, the orders were placed at the same time but they arrived separately.
Abdhus delivered the food after 15 minutes and Habib's only arrived another 10 minutes after that.
A sign of inefficiency? Or a sign that Habib had more orders to cope with signalling they were more popular?
Hmmmmm...

And another thing to note - for exactly the same items, Abdhus' plate of rojak costs $1.00 more.
A small amount I know and I surely wouldn't mind paying $1.00 more if the rojak is better.
But was it better?

Well for some of the items (Hotdog, Fish Cake and Dough with Egg) it was even down the middle with 2 votes each. And for some other items, it was a little more clear cut.

Abdhus won the round when it came to the Paru (Beef Lung) and it was obviously down to personal preference. Do you like your Paru thin and crispy or slight thicker cut? Well Abhus sliced their Paru a little thinner so that means it was a little less chewy (rubbery) than Habib's.

Habib seems to have swept most of the remaining items though!
The Potato from Habib was unanimously better than Abdhus.

Maryah was the only one who preferred the Wadeh from Abdhus because she says it didn't have such a "strong prawn-y smell) while the rest of us thought the one from Habib has a better dough.

But when it came to the Fish Fillet, I was the one who went the opposite direction.
I went for the Abdhus one while the rest were obviously smitten with the one from Habib.
And I guess one of the reasons was the batter that they used.

More Batter? Less Batter? Which is Better?

And by the way, Abdhus coated quite a number of their items with that batter you see above.
I guess in most cases, it rocks but some might find it a little bit too much after awhile.

And now, the part that some (or dare I say, most) people would consider an important part of Indian Rojak.
What about the Kuah?!?

Abdhus' Kuah

Habib's Kuah

Yana has no comment on the kuah because she preferred her Indian Rojak au naturel.
But what did the rest of us think? Well, Abdhus seemed to be the favourite.
Azlan liked Habib's better because it was sweeter while Maryah and me agreed that Abdhus' was tastier and I thought it was better because it had a little bit more of a spicy kick to it.

And as you can see, Abdhus' kuah is thicker so perhaps again down to preference?

The Final Verdict:

Adam's Choice - Abdhus Salam Rojak (Presentation plays a part)
Maryah's Choice - Abdhus Salam Rojak (Most steady Kuah)
Azlan's Choice - Habib's Rojak (Conflicted but Habib wins based on Kuah and price)
Yana's Choice - Habib's Rojak (Family always eats at this stall)

OMG! Couldn't the first ever BATTLE end in a draw? Well it sure seems like it.
Looks like I'm going to have to put this to a vote and hopefully the audience will help us decide...

And after a whole week, literally no one voted... Hmm I might to re-think that part.
Well I guess in that case there's only one outcome...

DRAW MATCH!!!

Well these two stalls were so closely matched I think this was a fair result.
It seems to be just minor differences in opinions mostly due to personal preferences.

So which one do you think you'll like better?

Abdhus Salam Rojak (Stall 73)

Blk 73A Ayer Rajah Crescent
#01-73

Operating Hours:
11.00am til 11.00pm (Closed on Mondays)

Habib's Rojak (Stall 68)

Blk 73A Ayer Rajah Crescent

#01-73

Operating Hours:

11.30am til 10.30pm Daily