Whenever I meet up with my overseas friends, the first request they always gave was, “Can you bring us to the best chicken rice?” It’s really a headache because chicken rice is a national dish that everyone has their own favourite and hence I can’t really say this or that stall is the best.

My first childhood memory of Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice (威南记鸡饭), was when my dad who brought me to have a plate of chicken rice in Marina Square. I wasn’t born a foodie of course, and you know lah, as a kid I will just eat whatever my parents buy for me. But to me, going Marina Square always remind of chicken rice. But I can never remember the name until two years ago when I was judging for Food Republic Hawker King, I ate Wee Nam Kee chicken rice at I12 Katong and was very impressed by its roast chicken. It was then that I recalled that they have a stall in Marina Square as well.

Just last week after shopping, we decided to drop by Wee Nam Kee for dinner after hearing so much from the FINS group lately. Wee Nam Kee at Marina Square is spacious, clean and air-conditioned. Coincidentally, I saw Mr Wee Liang Lian, the friendly second generation owner of Wee Nam Kee so I asked him for a picture (Note: I paid for my own chicken rice, thank you very much).

They serve three different types of chicken – namely the poached, soy sauce, and fried. Unfortunately, we only tried the poached one for that day as the rest was sold out. But that was enough for me because I belong to the poached chicken category. When done correctly in a flavourful broth, the poached chicken is juicy and tender, gently gingery with subtle chicken flavour. It’s sliced and served alongside more broth, rice, chilli sauce and a fragrant bowl of chicken broth. The broth is tasty enough to boost your appetite.

The rice at Wee Nam Kee is decent, each long grain rice is well-oiled, mildly fragrant, yet not too greasy. It separates easily into loose grains. But for me, I prefer something that’s more flavoursome than this. However, the chilli is a delicious, well-balanced blend of ginger, vinegar and spice – which compensates for the rice. It was tangy with very little sting. Let’s not get started on the alarmingly thick ginger paste. Mix it well with the chilli sauce and you have created a million dollar recipe.

Unfortunately, Wee Nam Kee doesn’t do other Hainanese dishes to complement the chicken rice. Instead, they offer a decent range of home-style cooked foods such as a bowl of tofu soup with salted vegetables, cereal prawns, sambal kang kong, hotplate tofu etc. Wee Nam Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice currently has four outlets in Singapore – Marina Square, United Square (to replace Novena Ville), Gluttons Bay at Esplanade, I12 Katong.

Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice

Address: 6 Raffles Boulevard, Marina Square #04-102B, Marina Square, Singapore 039594
Opening Hours: 10:30am – 9:30pm
Tel: 6333 9830
Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice Facebook Page

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