Must Try Food: Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice @ Maxwell Food Center

Yes... Roll your eyes away. We will be spending our 1 hour on a Tian Tian chicken rice post...

Well, we felt obliged to write this because deep down inside, we believe that half of our guests have flown all the way to Singapore for a single purpose... to try the Hainanese Chicken Rice served by this unassuming stall in Maxwell Food Centre.

We say this because after "What's your Wifi password", we get asked these the most often: "How do I get to Tian Tian Chicken Rice"... "What's the way to Maxwell?"... "Where is that chicken rice place?"... "Chicken chicken?".

As far as Singaporean hawker food goes... there is nothing that comes close to Tian Tian's popularity.

They were already well known in 2010 - when we first started A Beary Good Hostel but fast forward to 2016 and after the many celebrity chef visits from Anthony Bourdain to Gordon Ramsay... Tian Tian Chicken Rice popularity has skyrocketed up to the chicken moon.

Here's a photo as testament to their popularity...

A lot has been written, spoken and even filmed on this simple Hainanese Chicken Rice stall. A quick google search will bring up a long list of celebrity visitors and customers.

Most importantly though... Is it worth the hype. And is it worth queing up?

Frankly there are a lot of good chicken rice stalls around Singapore. A LOT!

Yet at the same time... there are also a number of stalls that are simply... meh...

The dish served up here at Tian Tian is definitely well above average. And for SGD3.50 - it's a steal!

We will leave the review on the taste, texture, smell etc to the professionals though.

Here's a yummy photo taken off from the internet because I refused to be part of that queue that you see in the photo above!

Photo taken from http://johorkaki.blogspot.com/. Check it out!

The benefit of trying out Tian Tian is that you can almost be certain that this Singaporean-but-Hainanese-in-name dish will not go wrong. It's delicious, tasty and frankly still way affordable than a lunch out at the restaurant in a shopping mall or airport.

So...

Is it worth the hype? We think Probably Yes. And every traveler and guests should try Tian Tian out!

But is it worth queuing up? NO... not if the queue is as long as the day I went!!

And if you are planning to visit Maxwell Food Centre for the chicken rice... here are some beary useful tips for you:

1) If you do manage to get to Tian Tian... and if you are health (fat) conscious... try asking for the de-skinned chicken rice option. (My german friends love that though if you ask any local - it's the skin that tastes the best!)

2) If you are going in a group, you are better off ordering half a chicken or a full chicken. Doing so, you can make a pre-order by calling this number: 65-96914852 Skip the queue and arrive at the chicken rice stall in style!

3) If you have no patience for queueing, just head towards Ah Tian Chicken Rice just a few stalls away...

4) There are loads of other good food at Maxwell Food Centre... give the other stall owners a piece of your business too!

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

Stall No 10 & 11 (or just look for the queue) Maxwell Food Center Singapore 069184 Tuesday - Sunday 10am - 8pm

#MustTryFood #Chinatown