I thought I knew Dover very well, especially this Jumbo Coffeeshop at Blk 19A, but I guess I was wrong!!!!!
I really don’t remember seeing a queue at the chicken rice stall here for the past 10 years but I guess I was really too much of a non-foodie to care because my friend informed me that the queue has always been around! He also informed me that this stall has been around for more than 20 years?! Oh my god. How uninterested was I about the food here?!
So, anyway, wanting to understand the hype, I did something that I would hardly do – I joined the queue on a weekday afternoon!
If you have watched one of the recent Food King episodes on Youtube, the hosts came up with a term called “Hawker Dominator”, referring to stalls in hawker centres that dominate all the customers in a hawker centre. Well, Uncle Louis’ Hainanese Chicken Rice appears to be the ‘Coffeeshop Dominator’ for lunch time!
The queue didn’t feel too long because in front of me was a very friendly auntie who entertained all my questions.
“Hello Auntie! Can I ask? Why is the queue so long here? What is nice ah?” I asked curiously.
The auntie immediately replied enthusiastically, “Oh! This chicken rice stall is very good! Especially the soup! The soup is very good! Every day, there is a different soup and you can see goji berries, red dates, lotus seeds in your soup! It’s really good stuff! It’s also refillable if you dine here.”
“Wow! Amazing!!! But how about the chicken rice? What should I order?”
“Oh! The duck breast is very good. You should order and try! The siew yoke is also good!! The char siew also!!!” she replied.
“Wa ok! I will order these…but how about the chicken??” I asked.
“The chicken ah…ok la. Not bad,” she replied, enthusiasm dying a little.
Hmm?!?!?! I was deciding whether to order the chicken or not because I usually only eat things that people recommend. In the end, I decided to order a roasted chicken to try as well because how can I review this Chicken Rice Stall without trying its chicken?!
Ok, presenting…my very meaty lunch!
1. Char Siew & Roasted Pork Rice, $3.50
My dining companion commented that this is so cheap. But is it??? I don’t know. I thought the price for roasted meat rice is all around this range…but maybe not because I just remembered that I paid nearly double this price for roasted meat rice in the CBD area.
Anyway, the roasted pork is very good!! I really recommend it. The skin of the siew yoke makes a nice cackling sound in your mouth and is crispy without being too hard! I love it!!!
The char siew is not disgustingly fatty like what the friendly auntie told me! I like that too!!! But other than that, the char siew is not exactly memorable. It is not charred and fragrant enough for me and the sauce seemed a bit tasteless? I prefer a slightly sweeter sauce. Anyway, if you don’t want to eat this with white rice, you can ask for chicken rice.
2. Roasted Chicken & Duck Rice, $5
This is served with chicken rice on default, which is not outstanding, so if you are on a diet and want to eat less oil, you can tell the staff that you want white rice instead.
The roasted chicken is…like what the friendly auntie in the queue told me, “Ok lor.” I like its fragrant skin though. It’s lightly crispy and not too fatty. If only they gave more sauce because I feel it’s so dry to eat chicken rice without enough sauce for their chicken. Please take a look at my picture above to see what I mean when I say I feel it’s too dry.
The duck breast was highly recommended by the new friend I made in the queue and indeed, it is worth a try! There is no gamey taste and it’s rather tender!
I don’t know why I have no memory of how the chilli tasted like. Being a true blue Singaporean, I love tasting local chilli sauce and I love it when I add chilli to a dish only to find the entire dish lifted to another level!!!! This one had no impact on me at all.
3. THE LEGENDARY SOUP OF THE DAY, comes free with your meal
What makes this chicken rice stall stand out is really the daily different soup. If you google about this stall, the soup is always mentioned like it’s the highlight of this stall.
The soup is indeed very delicious, reminiscent of soup cooked by your mum/grandma/wife. If you just ask anybody who queues up here, they will tell you that the soup is ‘super got effort one’, making me wonder if the soup is actually the main draw while the chicken rice is the sidekick.
To be honest, I don’t think I will crave for the chicken rice here but if you want good quality soup with your rice, you really should come here. I see it as having Lao Huo Tang with chicken rice, and because of this perspective, I find the price super worth it!
Anyway, even if you don’t come here, I’m sure the owners also won’t mind because judging from the daily long queue, they have long established their own regulars and fans. Good to try it out for yourself if you’re in the area but I wouldn’t travel over here just for this.
Uncle Louis Hainanese Chicken Rice
Address: 19A Dover Crescent, Singapore 131019
Nearest MRT Station: Dover / Buona Vista (Take buses 106/14/185/105 to come here!)
Operating Hours:
Daily 11:30am to 6:30pm or sold out. (Queue starts even before they open!)
Closed on Tuesdays.