Tian Tian Chicken Rice To Stop Selling Signature Poached Chicken Temporarily With Malaysia’s Export Ban
Meanwhile, the towkay of rival hawker stall Ah Tai Hainanese Chicken Rice at Maxwell Food Centre may still offer the dish using frozen meat.
When the Malaysian government announced it would temporarily halt chicken exports to Singapore (starting June 1) to combat its domestic shortage and soaring prices, our first thought was: can still eat chicken rice or not? And when we think of chicken rice, two of our island’s most famous stalls come to mind: Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice and its rival Ah Tai Hainanese Chicken Rice in Maxwell Food Centre. Ah Tai was opened by the former cook of Tian Tian and is located just a few units away from the latter’s HQ stall (Tian Tian also has two other outlets in Bedok and Clementi). The beauty of chicken rice lies in the simplicity of a skilfully poached bird, drizzled lightly with a simple sauce. Using fresh birds is key to the success of the dish. Prior to this impending export ban, it was unfathomable that a chicken rice hawker would use frozen chicken as the texture and flavour of the meat would inevitably be affected. But now, everything is up in the air — what are the towkays of Tian Tian and Ah Tai going to do, since both use fresh Malaysian chickens (about 34 percent of Singapore’s total chicken imports come from Malaysia, most of which are brought in live, then slaughtered and chilled locally)?
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