went to have dinner at "the big bird" at balmoral today cos it was just nearby and my BF swore by delicious soup. (he even purposely spent $$$ calling singtel directory so he could call The Big Bird up to check what soup was "today's soup" before deciding to go there for dinner!! ) Today's Soup was Lotus Root Soup (Lian Ou Tang) and boy, was it GOOD! the soup was thick and flavourful, you could taste it the robustness of the lotus roots, peanuts & sweet dates in every mouthful. and it was served piping HOT. just the way soup should be - not lukewarm. it was kindly pricey at $5/bowl but it was quite a large bowl, good enough for 2 to share but we liked it so much we order another bowl!
the chicken was OK. i prefer chicken breastmeat - which most chicken conessieurs would say pooey! - so it was just normal, not exceptional but still tasty. the rice on the otherhand i felt was kinda too hard for my liking. but if you like your rice grain-by-grain, this is the place for you. the "braised egg" was also not very flavourful - wasnt braised long enough. the chilli was OK, quite spicy but not really flavourful, couldnt really taste any ginger /lime/garlic flavours but one thing good about this is - you wont leave with garlic breath like some chicken rice chillis would give you.
overall, it was quite an OK meal with homestyle cooking. other things like "mini seafood steamboat $7.80", "stirfried beef (can't remember the price but above $5) etc are also on the menu other than chicken rice but hey - you go to The Big Bird for er.. "bird" right? why go for cow or fish?
(most of my food rating for this place went for the good soup! not much ambience lah - first date pls dont try to impress your potential GF here k? just like a spartan 80s style eatery. value - er... quite pricey for hawker centre available foods but its in bukit timah - what do you xpect? service was prompt, but it could also be it wasn't really crowded when we were there. will return for the soup but chicken rice maybe not lah)

I always drive pass this restaurant on the way home and have always wanted to try it. My mom casually said that the chicken rice here was great albeit steep prices.

So one day i went here with a friend and had a nice plate of sub-par chicken rice.

I had the roast chicken rice which i had to order from the aunty myself. The rice was the brown type that reminds me of the ones at the Bak Kut Teh stores in KL .. but i digress..

Chilli was ridiculously spicy that i couldnt eat it, surprised that they didnt serve ginger along with the chilli .. and also didnt serve soup !

Ordered the bean sprouts which was quite tasty, the only saving grace of the dinner.

So in conclusion, if you're in the mood for a chicken rice store that is out of the way, has terrible parking and is over priced.. you've found the perfect spot !

Had BB chicken rice today (a detour to waffletown for waffles later).

Its passable but at 4.50bucks its a bit steep, try it if u r around the area or just feel like eating rice. The rice reminds me of home cook style chicken rice, yellow like Big Bird himself and taste ok, quite fragrant. Chicken was also ok. Nothing really special about the chilli, its just SPICY.

Anyway, there are better chicken rice stores around the island eg Tien Kee at golden mile tower.

BB, has economy mix rice, and cold crab, seems rather popular.

So if you dun feel like eating the fried chicky at WAFFLETOWN, or just happen to be around the area during feeding time, this chicken rice is a passable choice.

I've eaten Big Bird when it was at Parklane, long time ago. i felt it was lousy.
Big Bird then opened in my school... and... it was one of the most, if not the most, unpopular stall. they moved out after a year i think.

so i was rather surprised to see the decent ratings it got on hungrygowhere. so my friends and i decided, what the heck, let's give it a try again. maybe the balmoral one is good.

so off we went. and i was disappointed again.

Chicken rice: $4.50 per person for rice and chicken. white chicken which was warm. really not to my liking. was quite tender but the taste was really average. the rice was not too oily but not fragrant. not fantastic. i like their chilli. it sure is spicy. but still, it cannot justify $4.50. plus, they do not give soup. dont even have soup leh!

Vegetable: normal xiao bai chye.

Soup: we had to have a soup so we ordered wonton soup. it was average, it was not lousy, but really just average. small sized wontons and normal tasting soup.

oh ya and they are really slow. but i liked the uncle, he was nice and friendly.

I would pay for the vege and the soup, but not the chicken rice. the main draw of any chicken rice stall, to me, is the 1. chicken 2. rice 3. chilli (in no order).

and only the chilli passes for me over here. so... sadly, i wont go again unless the price falls or i have no choice under the circumstances.

This off the beaten path restaurant has some of the best chicken rice that I've ever had. Went with my buddies based on the reviews I read here.

We went for dinner time and was lucky enough to get the last couple servings of roasted chicken along with chicken rice. The reviews are dead on.......the chilli is spicy and delicious and the chicken rice is out of this world. The chicken rice has sooo much flavor!!!!!!!

The ambiance is nothing to write home about but that is not why I came here(although it is clean and well lit)......its all about the chicken rice!!!!!!!!!!!