So today is my off day from work and my boyfriend is currently on his block leave. Coincidentally, his french press that I bought him almost 2 years ago started to have cracks appearing in the glass meaning that brewing coffee would be a messy process. So, we decided to head out to buy a french press so that the idiot can continue to douse himself with the acidic mixture to "perk" himself up. I don't really enjoy coffee as much so I will never understand the amount of money or his passion to get coffee. To me, coffee is coffee. Th best coffee is the coffee from the espresso machine where the coffee's aroma is the most intense and that is regardless of the brand of coffee used. So, we shopped the whole of Orchard road starting with Wisma Atria which we thought ISETAN would have one. But, it turned out that the ISETAN only had clothing and apparels. They didn't even carry toys or kitchen appliance.
Thereby continuing the quest to find the french press, we went to Takashimaya which I was sure would have the french press. We indeed found some there and was spoilt for choices. Me being me persuaded him to buy a gold plated Bodum french press as it was on offer at only $88 instead of the usual $148. It looked awesome but of course I knew it didn't justify its price because the filter was the same either way. Being the cheapo boyfriend he was, he settled for a $19 made in france and assembled in china french press from Harrio (I think). Then after that we headed to TANGS just to see if there was french press there too. Interestingly, there was a siphon coffee and grinder bundled together for only 139. It was a steal but I am certain I will not buy that, ever. It too much for a cup of coffee. For me as I have said, coffee is coffee and should only come from an espresso machine. That 139 can go to espresso machine that would have much better aroma. Period! So I didn't buy it for him even when he pestered me to. Besides, my pay is so measly I hardly have enough money to spend 100 dollars a month on myself.
After the mission of the day was completed, we went to Jolibee at Lucky Plaza to try out what many has called the no.1 fried chicken in singapore. When we reached the plaza, we saw the amount of shops and remittance banks that totally showed how much the place catered to the Filipino people. We went straight to the 6th floor only to find out the queue was a snakingly long one at about 30 people. Imagine the amount of money they are making from the people there. I have almost never seen such a queue for fast food before. They even had about 6-7 cashiers manning the ordering and cash registers. After my meal, I have comed up with my decision on my ranking of fried chicken in singapore. I shall include IKEA's famous fried chicken wings and Corona chicken which pulled out quite some time ago so that I can make my numbers and credentials more impressive. I've about 18 years of chicken eating in my resume. I will also be talking about the good and the bad as well as some tips about the restaurant/ outlets.
In 7th Place, we have Tenderfresh
The Good: Juicy insides and good marinate that will leave you wanting to eat more until you realise that it is actually very oily
The Bad: Because it is franchised, the quality cannot be controlled easily. Some outlets are better than other outlets. Besides, the fried chicken is cooked in too low a temperature oil resulting in the oil coating the chicken wings and making them quite the sponge for oil.
Chicken-rator verdict:
In 6th Place, it is a difficult one, so I shall just place Texas Chicken
Texas chicken is a favorite for my family probably because of their impression that KFC is an over stated fried chicken champion. In some ways it is true but Texas chicken loses out in many ways too. While its batter is clearly a winning formula in terms of texture and crunchiness, it quickly loses out in terms of taste and the chicken, as compared to the others is a tad on the dry side.
The Good: The biscuits are the savior of Texas chicken when comparing to their arch enemy (as I would like to call it) Popeye's. It is much more buttery and much more flavorful with each mouthful melting in your mouth with a blend of sweetness from the biscuit's pastry and saltiness from the butter. Crunchy batter.
The Bad: The chicken is a tad dry and the flavor is not marinated enough into the chicken. Moreover, not many eat the biscuit which means Texas hardly redeems itself for its lack of expertise on chicken.
Tips: To overcome the dryness, eat only the wings and the drumsticks or the thigh. Try to avoid the breast meat as it is too dry.
Chicken-rator verdict:
In 5th place, we have KFC. Surely this is a disappointment to many people but this is a fact and it is the KFC of Singapore that we are comparing. If it was the KFC of New Zealand which I tried while there, there is no question it will immediately top the chart here in Singapore. The fact that they used fresh free range chickens made the meat juicy and tender and virtually fat-less. In Singapore we cannot deny the fact that KFC uses frozen chicken for the preparation of their fried chicken. That diminishes the quality of the meat and definitely does a lot to the overall taste and experience.
The Good: The Spicy marinate is prevalent in the batter as well as marinated into the chicken giving a very satisfying taste even as the batter goes immediately into your mouth and left with a skinless chicken. It still tastes good.
The Bad: The use of frozen chicken reduces the juiciness of the chicken resulting in dryer than average chicken.
Tips: Eat only the drumsticks, thigh and the wings to avoid dry meat. They are dry but still not nearly as dry as the breast meat. Also, the air con in the Tampines branch is too cold. Try to avoid eating there if you are afraid of the cold.
Chicken-rator verdict:
In 4th place, we have Jolibee. Yes, the famed Jolibee rates 4th on my list of fried chicken. They are amazingly nice as all people have said but they aren't really as fantastic as people claim they are. I somehow suspect it is just a hype and its not much of really how good it is. I can only say that the marinate does not soak into the meat enough. Sure the chicken is definitely the winner in terms of juiciness, but, the flavour in this case is lacking. It taste a tad bland in actual fact. By the second piece, I was struggling to enjoy the chicken. It surely didn't dry my throat out as what most other fried chicken does because it was mazingly moist though with the crispy skin and batter. However, it was bland even for the batter. The flavour was missing in the chicken. In fact, I believe it is chicken doused in flour and then fried in very very very hot oil so that moisture is retained but it tastes of nothing other than chicken. Chicken in reality is a chef's delight. Why so? Because it is like a blank canvas. Chef liken themselves to artists and paint flavour into the chicken. Without the marinate here, the juicy chicken is sure to lose out to its competitors. But, hey, they proved me wrong by the way the queue formed even as we left after eating. It was still as horrendously long as before when we queued.
The good: Juicy chick
en, even the breast meat!
The bad: Too bland. Need more marinate. The sauce helps but it doesn't bring out the omph that says, "I'm the best chicken out there". It's truth the marinate and sauces doesn't do justice to the juiciness of the chicken. I feel, it's a tad of a waste to have such wonderful juicy chicken tasting so bland.
Tips: To singaporeans visiting Jolibee for the first time, don't chop seats please. It's stated on the front of the store and practically everywhere that you have to go queue and buy before you take a seat so as to ensure seats are fairly distributed to all. Please also bring some hand soap because they don't have hand soap at the wash basin. Maybe that's why Popeyes and Texas are better at service.
Chicken-rator verdict:
In 3rd place, we have Corona Chicken
Remember Corona chicken in the 1990s which was found as a franchise all over in many food courts and some coffee shops. These amazing chicken experts disappeared over time and indeed it was a sad thing for me. I loved chicken wings and corona was probably my favorite. It even beat the KFC when there wasn't Jolibee, Popeyes, Texas or even Tenderfresh around at that time. The marinate was good, the chicken was tender and fresh. And it was juicy. I didn't like rice when I was young though so the rice was mostly unfinished but I surely loved the chicken wings so much that I sometimes ordered extras to eat and have excuse to not finish my rice. More wings less rice! Always the way to go!
The good: Juicy and Tasty chicken
The bad: They suddenly disappeared and I no longer can taste the corona chicken anymore.
Chicken-rator verdict:
In 2nd Place, we have IKEA's Fried Chicken Wing
What I cannot comprehend is how the chicken wings supposedly only marinated in pepper and salt taste like its marinated in something more than that. It is simply delicious but immediately you realize they are a tad too oily. Instead of relying on batter to keep the wings moist, the wings are lightly dusted with flour before frying so that they have a golden and crunchy skin while not having a thick layer o batter like the other fried chicken. It is oily, but definitely delicious. You definitely wouldn't care about the oil until you finished and need to wash your hands. It plain too delicious!
The good: It's juicy even without a layer of batter to keep the insides moist. The skin and meat is very flavorful.
The bad: Messy and oily but, who cares?
Chicken-rator verdict:
In FIRST PLACE, *drum roll* is none other than POPEYES!
Popeyes is good. Good for their chicken that is. Louisiana's Bonafide chicken is definitely the juiciest great tasting fried chicken in Singapore. While the biscuit is dry and simply disgusting, we cant do anything about it other than throw it away or bring it back for our dogs to eat as an amazing treat (hey, as you enjoy, your dog deserves to enjoy some of it too even though you don't like it doesn't mean it doesn't. You don't like dog food, but it certainly loves it.) The batter is good and crisp and the chicken is moist and tender. The chicken tenders are my boyfriend's favorite and I won't argue on that. It was so nice we fought for the last piece and I ended up coinciding defeat and giving it to him. The pepper nuggets are fiery hot and a good change to taste if one gets bored of the bonafide chicken. Then the nuggets came with a sauce that tasted rather smokey and complex. It was a mix of saltiness, sweetness and a tad of bitterness. A good sauce indeed but I think it was phased out for some reason.
The good: The batter, the chicken, the tenders (must try!), the fiery nuggets and the cajun fries.
The bad: The Biscuit. No one cares! I don't!
Chicken-rator verdict:
I won't give a complete 5 drumstick Chickenrator because I have not yet tasted a perfect fried chicken. And till that day comes, the elusive 5 chicken drumsticks will not appear! I am dying to taste fried chicken better than popeyes! Someone please, come up with a good recipe and start a good fried chicken business! If you have other fried chicken that you think is more worthy of the verdict, please leave in the comment your views on which should be the best and why. If it is a new stall that is not mentioned here, I am excited to try so please leave a comment on the stall/restaruant's name and the address so I can try and then give it a Chicken-rator verdict as well! Cheerios!
No comments:
Post a Comment