The Singapore Series: LEE FUN NAM KEE CHICKEN RICE AND RESTAURANT (李范南记鸡饭)

When you think of your favourite chicken rice stall, which one will it be?

Chicken rice stalls are a dime a dozen in Singapore. It is one of the nation’s favourite, and everyone has their preferred stalls to satisfy their cravings; cravings that simply cannot be satisfied by the coffee shop below your block (unless you are lucky enough to live near your favourite).

My family has three stalls that we go to when we want delicious lip-smacking chicken rice. It is hard to pick only one in the chicken rice paradise that is Singapore. Today I’m going to introduce you to our, or rather, my top pick, Lee Fun Nam Kee Chicken Rice and Restaurant (李范南记鸡饭) at Toa Payoh. It is located in the heartlands but it is pricier than your average chicken rice stall from the coffee shop. Also, note the “Restaurant” word in its name. It sells only chicken rice and it is not housed in a coffee shop. We love it, and because it is slightly pricier, we only go there for ‘special’ occasions (whatever excuses we come up with to convince ourselves to have a meal there).

There are many reasons why we (or rather I) love the place.

#1: The rice

Firstly, the rice is fragrant, flavourful and cooked perfectly. Each grain is coated with oil (from chicken fats?) hence it is moist. If you aren’t hot for the rice (who isn’t thought?!), you can order hor fun (thick rice noodle) as well.

Hor fun (河粉). 

#2: The chilli sauce

Secondly, the chilli sauce is out of this world! It is not too spicy, the way I like it, and has that ‘extra’ flavour that gives it an extra oomph! I can’t put my finger on what that ‘extra’ flavour is. This is the only chicken rice chilli sauce which I have second helpings!

#3: Wide variety of dishes

红烧扣肉 (braised pork belly in ‘red’ sauce).

Soya sauce chicken (油鸡).

Vegetable drizzled in oyster sauce.

Thai-style fried tofu.

The third is that they have a wider variety of dishes on their menu. They have烧鸭  (beautifully roasted duck), 烧肉 (roasted pork), 叉烧 (char siew/barbecued pork) and 红烧扣肉 (braised pork belly in ‘red’ sauce). They also serve basic vegetable dishes like bean sprouts in soy sauce. Every dish we tried there could be summed up in one word, “AWESOME”.

Whenever we dine there, we order a whole soy sauce chicken (to feed the 6 of us), a braised pork belly in ‘red’ sauce, a vegetable dish, one char siew and one roasted pork. Yes, it is a meat-filled meal but it is heavenly.

We also tried their Thai-style fried tofu before and it’s not bad. The fried tofu squares are drizzled with Thai chilli sauce which is sweet and a little spicy. Eat it when it’s hot so that the tofu still retains their fried crunchiness.

So if you’re in need of a chicken rice stall to satisfy your cravings, give Lee Fun Nam Kee a try.

(Note: Recently I visited Lee Fun Nam Kee again, after about half a year of not eating there, and somehow find that their dishes aren’t as good as I remember them to be. However, that is not to say that you shouldn’t give them a try because although in my personal opinion not as good as before, they are still one of the better chicken rice stalls around.)

Don't just take my word for it, here are a two more reviews:

Stuffy Cheaks, Aroma Cookery.