Boon Tong Kee (Balestier)

I have been to different branches, the very first one I went was at Whampoa, at its hawker centre.  Then during these years, they have been opening many branches.  I have tried one at Balestier here, the river valley and the one at upper paya lebar (I think so).  The chicken meats are tender and especially the brewing soups I loves best.  

Boon Tong Kee a chicken rice restaurant chains in Singapore, started it's first flagship shop along Balestier Road in 1983. It was such a great success that the other 5 outlets & 1 foodcourt stall started one after another until today with a central kitchen. We used to dine at the Balestier outlet quite often since my schooling days with my parent, then with di during our courtship days till now but the last time was almost 2 years ago. It was so much cheaper and nicer back then.... However, the standard seem to have dropped when I visited them recently with my family.

We ordered half white chicken and some dishes for the 5 of us and total bill came up to almost $110 plus which I think is quite overpriced and not value for money. Here's what we had...

Chicken - Chicken was tender but tasted bland, lack of fresh chicken sweetness.

Steamed Song Fish Head with Bean Sauce - One of the signature dishes. The fish was very fresh and free of mud taste but the sauce was a bit too sweet for our liking.

Stir Fry Bittergoud with Eggs & Salted Eggs - My favourite dish for the evening. Love the runny egg that coated the bittergoud and the salted soya bean that flavoured up this dish.

Kailan in Oyster Sauce - The standard must have dish when we dine at Boon Tong Kee but Aunt think that the sauce was too sweet for her liking.

Roasted Honey Char Siew - Highly recommended by the staff to try. Their signature roasted char siew which I find it just ordinary nothing to shout for.

Chicken Rice/Porridge - The rice remain as good as before. Very fragrant and firm texture. Porridge was another alternative if you want something light as it goes pretty well with the chicken and other dishes.

It was Chinese New Year last year, but the memory of that meal still rings fresh in my mind.

It was Chap Gor Meh, or the last day of chinese new year, our group of friends decided to mark the occasion with a dinner complete with Yu sheng to ensure a good prosperous year ahead. Sadly we made the wrong choice of Boon Tong Kee (Balestier).

Some of us arrived early and we took our time to look through the menu while waiting for our friends. All this while, the staff, managers or what ever did not bother to inform us that they have run of Yu sheng!!!! It was only after all our friends have arrived that they informed us that there was no more Yu Sheng to be had. So our evening was completely ruined by that. We should have immediately left the restaurant there and then. But we stayed as we had already taken some of the tea and peanuts.

So we order a variety of dishes. Which were all run of the mill tasting dishes that can be found at any cze czar restaurant or coffee shops. The dishes arrived without incident until service stopped for more than half hour, so we asked what happened to our steam fish and vegetable. It was only then that they told us that they ran out of the fish and vegetable! And they didn't bother to inform us. I think that is totally unacceptable, there was nary an apology. Can you imagine, waited so long and was told that they ran out of food, not the most auspicious start to the year.

We decided that Boon Tong Kee will not receive our patronage for the rest of the year and we have since not returned.

Food tasted ordinary, ugly decor, horrendous service and as for value, more expensive than what other places charge.

Surprisingly the chicken here tastes much more tender after 12am.. or when there is not much people around.. Usually not a fan of chicken rice, but the chicken here is to my liking. Thick chunk of meat, gelatinous skin and not so oily but fragrant rice.

Tenderest meat in order , Chicken Wings > Chicken Thigh > Chicken Back (鸡尾） > Chicken Breast.

Can have better and cheaper chicken rice in Singapore. But cannot deny that the ambience is great. Definitely, not value for money.

Boon Tong Kee at River Valley has better taste chicken rice.

Forget immitations

JWNY

No I ain't joking. But first let me explain to you why I think this is the BEST place you can go for chicken rice.

In all my life, I have eaten at almost every chicken rice stall there is to try. From singapore to m'sia to even the thailand. My opinion is non biased as I eat every part of the chicken including gizard and liver and feet and take considerations of chicken rice as a whole - rice, chilli, flavour, fragrence, texture, oily or not, health factor, and value for money of course.

Basically I'm sure most will agree with me that just the rice by itself is so much more fragrant and tastier then anywhere else. It's not that oily and it bursts in your mouth like a party and everyone's invited. Then we come to the chilli, where its spicy and strong with garlic taste and never watery which directly compliments the rice and chicken.

The debatable part is only about the chicken. Some say its dry and not tasty... and others are better etc.. I for which only feel they should chop them up in smaller pieces coz there quite thick and huge chunks and may "come off" as dry especially the breast meat. But try cutting it in small pieces and see the difference! Or if u are the kind that likes the meat to just slide down your throat - of course there is the thigh portion of the chicken where the texture is exactly like that. Simple as that.

Personally I find that this is perfect as i think its also more healthy as its not so oily. You can't have something that's oily and healthy at the same time can you? (Yes yes u may talk about kampong chicken and all that... but its still oily!)

Boon Tong Kee Balestier by far has the best chicken rice as well as other must try dishes like the stuffed sambal eggplant. 1 bowl of rice is never enough! And for maximum effect, make sure u eat it there instead of being tempted to have it takeaway.

My only hesitation to eat this would definitely only the price that has risen over the years. However, I would not say that is absolutely over priced nor issit cheap enough to say it is value for money.

It definitely still is a die die must try (sito style) and i'd too bring my foreign friends here as a benchmark for tiptop chicken rice standards.

it is hard to write review for this one. although i rate this place average but I still bring my oversea friends here everytime when they request to eat chicken rice. quite contradict? I guess it is for the brand name. Or can someone recommend me a better place? for my personal opinion, I rate the chicken rice here better as compare to Five star(五星), but the chicken from Five star or "天天" hainanise chicken rice from Maxwell market is better. the common feedback from my friends is the rice is fantastic, but the chicken and other dishes are so so. friends from Hongkong or Canton feel disappointed as chicken there is nicer, somehow i agree, but this is singapore style.

I think the chicken meat here is one of its kind! It is seriously absolutely tender, delicious and finger lickin good. I really don’t know how they manage to prepare chicken of such heavenly standards! The rice is fragrant and I seem to never be full eating bowls and bowls of great-tasting rice! The vegetables dipped in light soy sauce are also crunchy, fresh, big, juicy and very very yummy! Anyway, my mummy also found this place worth coming back for many many times! The service is brisk as well:)

the homemade barley is v nice as well!