The Singapore dish people are willing to fly 15 hours for

The Singapore dish people are willing to fly 15 hours for

Hainanese chicken rice is the chickeniest chicken dish one can find in the chicken-eating world. Don't believe me? Picture this: sitting in front of me at the Maxwell Food Centre in Singapore's Chinatown was a tray filled with a pile of boiled chicken, a mound of rice cooked in chicken broth and a small dipping bowl of chilli sauce infused with - yes, you guessed it - chicken. And just to out-chicken every other chicken dish on the planet, the ensemble included a bowl of chicken soup. I figured I'd probably be clucking by the end of the meal.

I specifically came to Maxwell to eat at 30-year-old food stall Tian Tian (1 Kadayanallur St), a spot renowned for its Hainanese chicken rice that has gotten praise from the likes of Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay. Just as I was about to shove spoonfuls of delicious-smelling food into my mouth, the owner, Madam Foo Kui Lian, wandered over.

She explained that Hainanese chicken rice, one of Singapore's national dishes, is deceptively simple - which is good, because on paper it sounds awfully boring.

But you just have to try it when you're in Singapore. I combined delicate pieces of chicken thigh - which had a thin layer of gelatinous fat between the skin and meat - with ginger-and-lemongrass-fragrant rice and chilli sauce, and then took a bite. The flavours set my taste buds ablaze with delight.

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