Instagrammer Lennardy & Restaurant Labyrinth Owner LG Han Opening ‘Everything Har Cheong Gai’ Food Kiosk
If you are addicted to the zi char classic dish har cheong gai, there’s an upcoming food kiosk that serves nothing but prawn paste chicken. Called Har Har Chicken! (with the exclamation mark), the takeaway eatery will be opening on July 5 at Bishan’s Junction 8 mall.
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Famous owners
The kiosk, which has fun-looking branding with pop colours, is founded by four friends who are all har cheong gai lovers. This includes food personality and chef Lennard Yeong (aka @lennardy on Instagram), one-Michelin-starred Restaurant Labyrinth’s chef-owner LG Han, restaurateur Tay Jianli (who also ran defunct seafood restaurant Momma Kong’s), and Bevin Desker, the former head of corporate development at food tech company TiffinLabs.
The menu
Har Har Chicken!’s menu offers har cheong gai in various iterations, like fried wings, popcorn chook, rice boxes and burgers (throwback to McDonald’s Ha Ha Cheong Gai Burger from 2018, anyone?).
The Har-burger, for instance, features a whole fried har cheong gai boneless thigh cutlet wedged between buns with tomato, lettuce and creamy mayonnaise. There’s a spicy version, zhng-ed with sriracha mayo.
You can get a popcorn chicken snack to munch on too, called Har Har Pops, which is served with mayonnaise or chicken rice chilli.
Customers who order the rice sets can also top up for an extra fried egg, fries or popcorn chicken.
To celebrate its July 5 opening, a day before International Fried Chicken Day on July 6, Har Har Chicken! is running a promotion from July 5 to 7, where you can get a Har-ty Boneless Thigh Rice Box for free when you purchase a Har-ty Double Wing Fry Box.
Each customer is limited to one redemption while stocks last, and you will have to redeem the freebie by following the shop’s Instagram or Facebook page and showing it to the kiosk staff.
Concept took two years to hatch
The pals took two years to craft their concept, with fried chicken being a common theme with them. Jianli’s restaurant Momma Kong’s had served zi char-style jumbo har cheong gai wings before it closed in 2021, while Bevin had experience in launching fried chicken brands like Phat Fingers, La Takorea and Southern Soul during his time at TiffinLabs. LG, Jianli and Bevin, who knew one another from their university days in the UK, eventually decided to focus on har cheong gai, with LG also roping his friend Lennard in.
He points out that there is a gap in the market to offer prawn paste chicken for individual diners. LG explains: “At zi char restaurants, it comes in big portions — 8, 10, 20 wings. So we offer flexibility in portion sizes. You want one wing, you can just buy a single wing. You can also have them as [popcorn chicken] to go!”
But will he ever do an ‘atas’ fine-dining-style har cheong gai for his kiosk? LG replies: “The answer is no. For now, there is only one fine-dining in my heart, and that is Labyrinth!”
Har Har Chicken! opens July 5 at #B1-K15 Junction 8, 9 Bishan Pl, S579837. Open daily 10.30am-9.45pm. Facebook, Instagram
Photos: Har Har Chicken!
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