Food Picks
Old-school chicken rice steamboat at Choon Hoy Parlor
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Choon Hoy Parlor's new Kway Png Club is an homage to Yet Con, a now-defunct chicken rice institution.
ST PHOTO: CHERIE LOK
The spirit of Yet Con, the Hainanese chicken rice institution in Purvis Street that closed down in 2020, is being revived at Choon Hoy Parlor. The restaurant at Capitol Singapore prides itself on serving Singaporean soul food rooted in heirloom recipes and, in October, rolled out a new weekend menu titled Kway Png (Hokkien for chicken rice) Club.
It pays tribute to Yet Con by bringing back the chicken rice steamboat the restaurant popularised in the 1940s.
Here, chicken rice once again becomes a communal experience, rather than a quick bite contained within a single sheet of wax paper and enjoyed in private.
Choon Hoy Parlor’s set contains a platter of chicken breast, drum stick, thigh, heart, gizzard and liver; tiger prawns; cockles; tau kee; cordyceps; lettuce; as well as other mushrooms and vegetables.
The meat is fresh and the mushrooms springy. They add a natural sweetness and herbal lilt to the broth, which is best enjoyed at the end of the meal when its flavour is most concentrated. This is a bowl of soup that hits the spot, especially on a rainy day.
Choon Hoy Parlor’s Hainanese steamboat comes in three sizes.
ST PHOTO: CHERIE LOK
Equally important to the meal is the accompanying line-up of dips: ginger sauce, scallion sauce, garlic lime sauce and, of course, chilli sauce, tangy and bright.
An attempt has been made to infuse a stronger savoury twang into the rice too, with bits of crispy chicken skin sprinkled over the oil-slicked grains.
Prices start at $69.90++ for two people. Four can dine for $139.80++ and six for $209.70++. Because this is meant to be a languorous meal enjoyed in the slow, seamless company of family and friends, it is available only from Fridays to Sundays.
For a greater variety of flavours, augment your meal with one of the restaurant’s a la carte specials. Braised chicken feet with shiitake mushroom ($10.90++), for instance. Or to up your quota of greens, try the chye sim with oyster sauce and dried oysters ($15.90++).
Where: 01-84A Capitol Singapore, 15 Stamford Road
MRT: City Hall
Open: 11.30am to 3pm, 5.30 to 9.30pm daily
Info: choonhoyparlor.sg
