Surprisingly Good $3 Fried Chicken Porridge At Stall Owned By Vegetarian & Ex-Restaurateur
We love tongue-in-cheek names, and as far as fried chicken stall names go, Good Good Bird is as playful as it gets. The moniker isn’t just a nod to its signature fried chook, it’s also a “cheeky pun alluding to a colloquial phrase”.
What phrase exactly? Well, try saying it really quickly in the most Singaporean way. “A lot of people will just say ‘ku ku bird’. It’s meant to be silly and fun. We wanted a name that will stay in your mind like burger brand NBCB,” says engineer-turned-hawker Francesco Woodford Chua, or Franco (right in pic), 33. He opened Good Good Bird with pal Raymond Sim (left), 28, in a Bedok coffeeshop in August.
Besides the not-so-PG name, there are also hilarious “reviews” by “satisfied customers” like Loh Hum Sup and Lau Tee Koh at the stall front. Hur hur.
Used to own several F&B businesses
Franco, who is of British and Chinese heritage, is no stranger to F&B. Over the past six years, the serial entrepreneur owned and ran multiple F&B concepts including Telok Ayer bakery Muffinry, cafe and bar Rays Beach House and Belly View Zi Char at Changi Coastal Walk (he’s since shut or sold the businesses). It was at Rays Beach House that he met Raymond, who was a regular customer there. They became fast friends and decided to go into business together.
So why start a hawker biz selling fried chicken? “We wanted to offer good, affordable food that is accessible to everyone. Chicken is the one meat that most people can partake in. There is strictly no pork, no lard and no alcohol at our stall,” shares Franco.
Chicken rice, but with a “cai png concept”
Good Good Bird specialises in fried chicken wing and ayam goreng berempah (fried chicken leg rubbed in a spice blend) rice sets, which come with an egg, achar, and a small bowl of soup, from $5.
“We wanted to value-add the dish and make it something that is similar to cai png, where you have a complete meal,” explains Franco. “When you get chicken rice, you will normally add a braised egg. The soup is always some boring MSG water with a sliver of cabbage, so we came up with 12 chicken bone-based soups and put them on rotation.” As curry is a big part of cai png, the stall offers it in the form of curried hard-boiled egg.
“It sounds like ego, but when you try our food, you will change your mind”
Franco is the brains behind the recipes. From planning to execution, it took the avid home cook just three weeks to come up with the menu. “I have never had any formal culinary training and didn’t experiment with these dishes beforehand. I know how good I am with food — I’ve been told this for many years. Everything I do is from an understanding of how things taste and smell. It sounds like ego, but when you try our food, you will change your mind,” he says confidently.
Franco, who considers British TV personality and exploratory chef Heston Blumenthal as one of his culinary idols, adopts a “mad-scientist style of cooking” using reverse engineering. He is so passionate about food and cooking that it’s impossible not to be swept up by his infectious enthusiasm when speaking to him. This is also the reason why Raymond, who’s (mostly) vegetarian, decided to join him in the venture.
Parents initially objected to hawker biz
“I know Franco is a good cook and seeing how confident he is about the concept, I felt it is a good business idea,” says Raymond, who is a Buddhist and has been a vegetarian since birth, though he claims to be “not so strict”.
His parents, however, were very against the venture, not just because they are vegetarians, but ’cos they feel running an F&B business is “risky”.
“My dad used to own a successful vegetarian zi char stall, but Covid killed his business. So, I had to convince my parents that this is a good concept and that we know what we are doing. I also promised them that I wouldn’t ‘full on’ eat meat,” he shares. It took them about two months to warm up to the idea and Raymond was very touched that his mum later promoted the business to her relatives.
Raymond, who works as a site manager at a vaccination centre, helps out at the stall when he’s free, doing everything from R&D to food prep and cooking. “I do taste the food ’cos I need to know what I am selling and cooking,” he explains.
According to Franco, Raymond’s vegetarian palate has played a big part in their R&D. “He offers a very different perspective ’cos he has not tried these foods before, whereas most of us would be like ‘Why don’t you try to make it more like this brand or that.’ But I am not trying to copy someone else, I just want your cleanest opinion,” he says.
Business doubled after 20-cent promo
The boys are definitely doing something right. The brand made the news when it sold its ayam goreng berempah rice sets – albeit just half a portion and without soup – for 20 cents as part of a two-day promo in September.
According to Franco, customers queued around the HDB block and they sold a total of 2,500 plates of chicken rice during the promo, exceeding their target of 2,400. “It would have been more but our last cook of the day, our rice cooker busted. I literally have a burnt out electrical point because of that,” laughs Franco.
“But the promo was a success. Business jumped by more than 100 per cent after that. We have a lot of repeat customers.”
The menu
The menu at Good Good Bird is kept lean so there’s minimal wastage. It offers two chicken rice sets: fried chicken wings ($5) and ayam goreng berempah ($5.50), served with chicken rice, achar, your choice of braised or curried egg, and a small bowl of the soup of the day. Other items include chicken porridge ($3) and sticky sweet sesame wings ($1.80).
Ayam Goreng Berempah Set, $5.50 (8 DAYS Pick!)
We are fans of robust flavours and everything is dialed up a notch here. Instead of plain rice, you get Hainanese chicken rice-style grains, which is rendered in chicken fat before cooking in broth, so it is infused with chicken essence. Fragrant and flavoursome, it is worth breaking your carb-free diet for. It goes perfectly with the punchy garlicky chicken rice chilli (bottom in pic). There is also a thicker “non-spicy” version (top), which is less fiery.
The star is no doubt the succulent ayam goreng berempah (which seems to us a bit more Indian than Malay influenced in this version), topped with crunchy bits of batter and fried curry leaves. Marinated in a housemade rempah consisting of ginger, onion and their proprietary blend of garam masala for at least 24 hours, the chicken thigh boasts a crispy crust and is incredibly flavourful with a hit of turmeric and spice. You can also buy the chicken a la carte at $2.50 each.
On the side are a braised egg and crunchy “Eurasian” achar. Franco’s version is made with mustard seed powder and comes with toasted sesame seeds. Zingy with a hint of sweetness, it is a yummy foil to the decadent fried chicken.
Fried Chicken Wings Set, $5
Instead of ayam goreng berempah, you get two crispy fried chicken wings. The chook, cooked slightly pink, gets its bold flavour from its marinade of smoked paprika, onion, garlic, and mustard powders. Very addictive.
Having tried the braised egg, we opted for the curried egg, which is served in gravy in a small bowl. There are four types curries on rotation: Chinese, which according to Franco, is “strong with flavour but more runny”, Malay, which is “very coconut milk forward”, Indian, which is “robust, and more like a masala”, and ‘local’, which is what we got.
Rich, creamy and not too lemak, the gravy is kinda like the one from Golden Pillow 933. Super shiok when eaten with the chicken rice. The accompanying diced carrot, tomatoes and potatoes are a nice addition.
Sticky Sweet Sesame Chicken Wings, $1.80 each
Despite its name, the chook isn’t overly sticky or sweet. Fried chicken is glazed with a sauce made with honey, ketchup, maltose, kecap manis and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. The result is sourish, sweet and savoury wings that look like Korean fried chicken but taste like zi char pork ribs, pai gu wang. Not bad.
Fried Chicken Porridge, $3 (8 DAYS Pick!)
Initially created to use up leftover chicken rice, the porridge has become a sleeper hit. Rice is cooked in collagen broth so it becomes a thick porridge. The consistency is somewhere between velvety Cantonese jook and the firmer rice grains of Teochew porridge.
Amped up with chunks of fried chicken and topped with fried shallots, spring onions, and dong cai (preserved cabbage), the porridge is so flavourful it doesn’t need additional condiments. Thanks to the ayam goreng berempah, it is slightly spicy – a delightful surprise that elevates the dish. If you can’t take the heat, request for non-spicy porridge and the guys will leave out the ayam goreng berempah.
Crispy Kailan ($13)
At Raymond’s request, this dish, which was previously offered at Rays Beach House, was introduced as part of Good Good Bird’s festive menu. It’s basically fried kailan done two ways. The veggie is stir fried zi char style in garlic and oyster sauce and topped with strips of deep-fried kailan leaves. The crisp leaves, thin and light as air, lend a nice contrast to the saucy, crunchy stems. Interesting, but a little salty.
Bottom line
Good Good Bird checks all the boxes for a good plate of fried chicken rice: juicy, crisp-crusted chook, shiok chilli dip and tasty fat-slicked rice — yummy on its own, even better when drenched in curry. But the surprise winner for us here is the fried chicken porridge. Richly flavoured with a little heat, it’s just so comforting and satisfying. We will never look at chicken porridge the same way again.
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