津津餐室

Arrived around 6:40pm, the restaurant is already full. Managed to get a seat after waiting for 15 minutes. I ordered the steamed chicken and bitter gourd soup. The chicken is juicy and succulent, however the rice still have room for improvement. Overall it is an above average standard for the food and average for the environment!

Chin Chin is an institution. I’ve been eating the chicken rice from here since I was growing up. It’s decidedly old school - don’t expect any IG handle or QR code scanning. You order in person, your order gets written down on paper, and you pay in cash. But because of these aspects it’s also one of the more reasonably-priced establishments given the location. Service-wise it’s also pretty old school. The family can be gruff / grouchy when it’s busy, but they are efficient and you get seated and served your food quickly. On certain days when it’s less busy they can indulge you in a joke or two. I ordered the steamed chicken drumstick rice, which comes with a free bowl of soup. For some reason the rice today was a little clumpy, but it could be a one-off since it wasn’t like that during my previous visits. Chicken was consistently good though, juicy and tender. I also love that you can help yourself to as much of their delicious chicken rice chili as you want (but of course my stomach probably doesn’t appreciate this as much as my taste buds do).

I had not been back here to dine for many years, so was happy that my sister and her husband suggested lunch here. It can get crowded at main meal times. Technically, they open at 11am, but are open earlier for coffee or tea etc. The roast and steamed chicken rice are still tasty, and good value at @$5. We also ordered prawn paste chicken, pork chop and the Hainanese signature vegetables. The prawn paste chicken was okay. We wished the pork chop was crispier - it was pretty obvious these were pre fried, and the potato and peas were also tad cold, as was the sauce. The vegetables were like the nonya chap chye, but with a stronger taste of dried shrimp. Prices were reasonable, and a meal for four came to $60.

Old school style of coffee shop, which is similar to Malaysia. Food is nice and old fashion, nothing fancy but taste is just nice. For that location price is considered reasonable. Can see mainly old people coming in to eat, as I think the coffee shop environment bring back the old memory, which cannot be replicate else where.