(Bugis St) Ming Kee Chicken Rice - Porridge (Pirom)

At the hot spot time of roughly 8pm or the dinner rush where restaurants and food places can shine their skill on preparing and sending out food that is good and consistent, i have to say, it was a decent plate of chicken rice.

For $2.50, the amount of chicken and rice combined gave a pretty solid meal. Ming Kee I feel today pulled it off pretty well with their version of chicken rice.

Now, this is my third visit and this has been the best. The first visit I got soggy rice but good chicken which would have given it 6 heads out of 10. The second visit gave adequate rice but lower then average chicken which was watery and tasteless giving it a 5.5 heads out of 10.

Today, i was rewarded with good chicken and rice.

So the chicken, moist and tasting of chicken, it was cooked well although it was a little too cold, as in almost refrigeration cold. From what i can tell, the chicken doesn't have to be warm, but should be actually room temperature. The rice today was tasty, warm, fragrant of chicken stock and not soggy. What should be a standard rendition of chicken rice.

Now, since this is my first chicken rice review, I must point out my standards.

1.) The chicken HAS to be moist, NOT watery and TASTE of chicken. Overcooked chicken gets an immediate failure of 3 heads. The chicken should also NOT be doused in soy sauce or such other sauces that would either wise be a bit of a cheap in the taste factor. There is a total score of 4 heads in this department.

2.) The rice has to give you that carbo rush, of what can be called the umami factor. This can be obtain from a tasty rice flavored well with what should be chicken stock. The rice should be shiny, loose and warm enough to heat up the chicken to a gentle point. 4 heads can be earned here also, like the chicken.

3.) "Condiments are like friends, highly thought off but easily forgotten" This quote is very important to the enjoyment of chicken rice. It is important to note, that dark soy sauce and a chili sauce should accompany any chicken rice. I in my view also feel that ginger should be an accompaniment and not having ginger deducts half a head in not providing what I feel are the correct things that should go with it.

Chili should be spicy too the point that it should not burn ones tongue to the point where eating is painful. It should be tangy, and helps 'lift' the flavour of the chicken giving it that 'pop', accentuating the chicken itself. Over powered chili is a big no-no whether its too sour, too spicy or sometimes too salty. Texture is a minor concern also, as i feel chili with no chunks in it gets watery, and watery chicken rice is no good.

Dark soy sauce should be fairly standard, assuming most comes out of the bottle.

Ginger can be shredded plain (bad) or mixed with a sesame oil and/or vinegar. This again should provide the playing support of the chili except one slightly more gentle then that of chili.

If anyone can do basic math, they can tell that condiments holds the power of 2 heads, and thus amounting 4 + 4 + 2 = 10 heads.

Ming Kee's chicken today receives a 7.5/10 heads which in my books is pretty good actually. Put it this way, Boon Tong Kee gets 5 heads although thats for another review.

3/4 heads for Chicken being most, but cold and too much sauce doused on it.
1.5/4 heads for rice, pretty good but only a minor umami factor to it

1.5/2 heads for condiments as ginger was not provided but i felt the chili was good today and dark soy was present.


*UPDATE, MING KEE HAS LOST A HEAD AND A HALF.

After another visit today, where the rice was much too soggy and wet, i've decided that this is the last time Ming Kee can operate on a 3 head for rice. A place needs to earn its reputation through consistency and after so many times, i feel that they do not live up to this standard. The rice as such gets drop by 1 and a half heads.*

Consistency is a key factor to remember in any chicken rice place. To improve is much better then being good and then going down hill. Lets hope Ming Kee can keep up the good work.
These guys have gotta work on their cutlery its a bit erm, finicky...