The Chicken Rice Chronicles Part 2: Afghanistan

So we are on to the 2nd makan place in our series for Chicken Rice.
I am of course referring to our series called The Chicken Rice Chronicles where we go around sampling the favourite Chicken Rice stalls of YOU - our readers.

You might want to read our intro post HERE before you go any further though.

Anyways on to the food!
Here's another name that was recommended by quite a number of our readers...

Chicken Rice ($3.50)

Afghanistan Family Restaurant is a name that many people (especially those living in Tampines) will be quite familiar with I reckon. It's been around for ages and is known for it's favourites like Murtabak and Briyani. But we're not here for the Murtabak or Briyani this time are we.

It recently underwent renovations but it's 100% back on track now and many of our readers felt that the Chicken Rice at Afghanistan deserved a mention on our list.

But will it be as nice as most people remember it to be?

When I first saw the serving of chicken, I thought to myself "No ways is this going to be enough".
But surprisingly enough, it was actually just nice in terms of the portion.

The chicken comes with some special sauce over the top. I'm not really 100% sure what it consists of but just from the taste, I'm guessing it's made up mostly of onions and garlic. I have to say it definitely makes a difference in the taste department because the chicken itself is unfortunately not exactly bursting with flavour.

The chicken meat was pretty tender though I have to say.

I have to say I was actually quite disappointed with the rice.

It was quite dry actually. It was a little on the hard side which I actually don't mind but because of how dry it is, you're definitely gonna have a sip of drink after every one or two mouthfuls.

Here is where the biggest disappointment came - the Chilli.

This was the type of Chicken Rice chilli which was mostly vinegar so you have a nice sour tang to it. Definitely some sugar to sweeten and even it out a bit. But nothing much at all in the spicy department.
Please don't get me wrong. I love the vinegary type of chilli. But somehow I guess I was expecting the chilli to be the star since the chicken and the rice were not doing so well in my books.

Let me try and place this taste for you.
I'm not sure how many of you will remember this but bear with me okay.

When I still in school in the early 90's (I'm talking about the times when Chicken Rice cost $1.50), I used to hit Bedok Library pretty often with some school buddies. And either before or after, we'd have lunch at a nearby makan place called Alfiah.

Alfiah was located along the same row as where the current Bedok Central NTUC stands (but it's long gone now) and pretty much everytime I'd have the Chicken Rice because it was cheap and we got full.

The Chicken Rice Chilli at Afghanistan tastes exactly like the chilli I used to have as a kid at Alfiah.
Vinegary and sweet. So if anyone of you remembers the Chicken Rice at Alfiah, well, this is the pretty much the same taste for the chilli that you'll get at Afghanistan.

Adam's Verdict:
Chicken 2.5/5 -- Rice 2/5 -- Chilli 2/5 -- Overall 2/5

I have a very strong feeling that the standards have dropped at Afghanistan. I've heard people saying that about their Murtabak and other stuff and perhaps it seems the Chicken Rice too now?

My darling wife and her family mentioned that some of the stall owners have changed over the many years and maybe even after the recent renovations. And they would know because they live just across the street and have been eating here for ages as I'm sure quite a number of our readers have too.

I'm not even sure if this is the same people selling the Chicken Rice that the readers have recommended.
But it's still a nice place to have some makan with family and/or friends. I guess that when I do visit again, I'll probably order something else.

Afghanistan Family Restaurant

201E Tampines Street 23
Chicken Rice Stall

Tel: 6783 7746

Operating Hours:
7.30am til 11.30pm Daily
(Opens at 3.00pm on Friday afternoons)

The Chicken Rice Chronicles Part 1: Tong Seng Coffeeshop

So begins our series called The Chicken Rice Chronicles.
And in case it wasn't obvious enough, it's about Chicken Rice :)

Unsure about the guidelines or want more information on the series? Well maybe you missed our intro post.
Read about it by clicking HERE.

Our first stall in the series has actually already closed down but there were so many people who called out its name in our FB post that we felt it would be unfair to leave it out. So even though it has closed down, we decided to include it anyways.

Roasted Chicken Rice ($3.50)

Tong Seng is a familiar name to many and it's no surprise that there were so many people who commented for Tong Seng to be included on the list for this series on Chicken Rice.

I ate at Tong Seng a lot of times over the years and even though I normally had Wanton Noodles, I did actually have other dishes too okay. But to be perfectly honest with you, it never once crossed my mind to try the Chicken Rice because, well, Tong Seng just wasn't a name that came to mind when someone mentioned "Let's go for Chicken Rice".

Well apparently, I'm one of only a few people because everyone else was raving about it.

As a general rule, I always order my Chicken Rice with the breast meat FYI.
I know most people don't really fancy it because they say it's tough, tasteless, dry and all kinds of other things but I love it.

In fact, if it's really that difficult to cook the breast meat well then maybe that's the best part to judge?

I have to say the chicken at Tong Seng was actually pretty tasty.
Meat was really tender and portion was quite big. More than enough to go with the serving of rice.
A little disappointed with the skin though.

I was actually most surprised with the rice. I honestly wasn't expecting it to be so tasty but it was actually quite nice. It was actually just the right consistency that I like.

Some people like slightly softer rice (like my Mum) and absolutely can't stand the slightly harder and grainy rice (like my Mum again) and this rice isn't exactly very soft if truth be told. But it definitely had a good strong chicken stock character to it.

And this is apparently the reason why so many people love Tong Seng Chicken Rice.
The chilli.

From the picture you're probably guessing that it looks a little watery - and it is.
But it does pack quite a strong chilli kick to it. Don't let it fool you... it's actually quite spicy!
It definitely has strong hints of garlic and ginger in there.

But it's not very strong on the vinegar though so if you're a fan of that (like me) then don't expect too much on in the tang department. But overall I can see why people like the chilli so much and we hope the fans enjoy the memory of this Chicken Rice.

Adam's Verdict:
Chicken 3.5/5 -- Rice 3/5 -- Chilli 3/5 -- Overall 3/5

Azlan's Verdict:
Chicken 3/5 -- Rice 3/5 -- Chilli 3/5 -- Overall 3/5

I'm actually  really glad I got to try the Chicken Rice at Tong Seng before they closed down so now I at least know exactly what everyone was talking about.

It's actually quite a decent plate of Chicken Rice (I've definitely had worse) and not a bad start to the series.

Tong Seng Coffeeshop
(Closed down on 15 October 2013)

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. :)