Curry Chicken/Noodle

Curry is a soup made from chicken broth with curry paste or powder, a dish from India and popular all over South East Asia, and the world. It is a dish I love and would have it at least once a week.

There are 2 types of curry chicken speciality stalls i Singapore. One sells only curry chciken, these may have other meat options. The other sells curry chicken with noodles. The former would provide rice with the curry at a small price of $0.50. Noodle comes free with the latter.

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Curry Chicken Noodle

Jul 2020, Jun 2023 update

The best curry chicken noodle there is, by a country mile! Finally awarded the bib gourmand, took awhile...

Heng Kee has been around for almost 60 years, now run by a mother and son team, passed down by the late father, who started it in the 60’s. The old lady has been running this stall since the current owner was 3 years old, about 45 years ago…. and the boy has been helping out here and there since then too.

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Heng Kee is one of the popular stalls at Hong Lim, queues of 30-60 minutes can be expected. There was a short debate between my colleague and I about 15 years’ back, she claimed that another stall which she had just tried, was just as good, without the long queue. I had tried both and firmly disagreed. Immediately we came to settle the debate, with the taste of the other stall still fresh. Just one sip of the curry here, she conceded! Haha…

At one stage, just after the handover to the son with the passing of the founder, we experienced a drop in standard, and Heng Kee was often closed for business. Understandable with what happened, however, the last 3 years or so, Ah Huat found his mojo and they’re back on track!

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The chicken is just normal boiled chicken, nothing special. I say it's normal boiled chicken but owner Ah Huat and his mother take pride in cooking this well so that it is consistent, not over cooked, and has the tasty freshness and tenderness. They refused to outsource the cooking of the chicken, saying it is important to make sure the this very important item is up to standard so that it's freshness and sweetness is maintained, and the only way to ensure is cooking it themselves.

The curry powder is also mixed and cooked by them personally, doing this at a kitchen every 2 weeks or so.

They have found a great way to mix chicken soup with curry to give us this delicious bowl of curry. It is not creamy, but has a good body, not spicy and it’s delicious. It is essential a great curry soup. With each spoonful I experience a great tingling sensation. By the time I reach a shallow bowl, I always feel like being Oliver Twist and go back to ask for more…. When the bowl is empty I wish I was Ziggy so that I can lick the bowl dry like he would!

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I really love the curry chicken noodle here, even the supporting elements like the potatoes, fish cake and bean curd skin are excellent, which is never the case at other places. Found out that they are very particular with these too, ensuring that the suppliers maintain their standards, they have been using the same supplier for many years. The fish cake and bean curd skin are of such high quality I consider it one of the better ones, if not the best I have tasted. If one day they've sold out their chicken and are left with only these, I'd happily buy a bowl! I have thought about this scenario!😄

I have tried many others, and sometimes the queue feels too daunting, but none comes even close to the levels of Heng Kee. There are times this feels like an addiction and I must have it. There was a period when I’d eat one there and packet another home to eat in a few days’ time… at least I get to eat twice with one queue, killing 2 birds with a stone! 😎😄

I have also considered that should there be a such a day, this place is a definite contender for my last meal.😎

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Opening hours are approximates. I’d sometimes go early and wait, the lady remembers who comes first once you tell her you want to join the queue; you can then sit around and wait for them to be ready, you’ll be asked to form a queue when they’re ready to serve, usually around 1030am but you could be 9th in line by then. Closing time is when they’re sold out, around 1pm. There might be a line there at that hour but they may have stopped the queue by then, telling customers in theＱ joined where they will sell out.

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If I was offered a last meal, this is a strong contender! This is what's left of the noodle after every visit.....

Heng Kee Curry Chicken Noodle

531A Upper Cross Street, #01-58 Hong Lim Market & Food Centre, s051531

1030am – 100pm, closed on Sun

https://www.facebook.com/raytay6767/

I happened to be there after it was announced that they were shortlisted for 2023 Michelin's Bib Gourmand. Ah Huat was brimming from face to face that day, a journalist was there to interview them, and I learned from her about the award, not from Aunty or Ah Huat... very happy for them! Well deserved.

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Colbar

Curry Chicken, Western Food

Aug 2020

A place I grew up with, a place I adore;

A place with nice scenes, good food, and more...

Try you must, their curry,

Or you might be a little sorry!

Colbar used to the closest place for food when I was living in the Portsdown area, one bus stop away, my flatmates and I would sometimes take a stroll over.

First, a little history. Rustic and old school, the structure is from the 50’s, it has photos of past football teams hung around the walls, and a nice coin slot weighing machine as its centre piece welcoming you as you go through the main door. No, it doesn’t work, says I weigh 68Kg, no way!! ☺ Before 2003, it was located about 200m away at Jalan Hang Jebat, next to an archery range and a football field next to the AYE, opposite Normanton Park.

The Lims intended to retire when the building was to be torn down to make way for reconstruction of the area. Its regular customers petitined to retain it, and thankfully the authorities did their best, painstakingly bringing the structure piece by piece over to its current location. Its neighbour which was also my tailor was gutted, adding much needed extra dining space with an open area we now see. It used to be full on weekends, with customers that would bring their dogs along, sip beer and chit chat while enjoying the cozy environment.

Family run since the colonial days, the Lims took over from their parents who used to serve the British army. It is a nice cozy place for a meal and a drink, with a wide selection of craft beers, and a good choice of desserts from its old school floor fridge, I used to always wash down my meal with a snicker ice cream, not something widely available back then.

If I’m honest, their western selection has its appeal as comfort food and nothing special, it is one of the few places that serves chunky chips instead of fries, good for fans of chips! It has a good variety of Chinese dishes and they are decent but nothing extraordinary too; however, there are 2 items here that brings me back here over and over again. The chicken curry and the omelette!

On the menu, they have ham omelette and cheese omelette. I’d order a ham and cheese omelette, the ham giving the cheese omelette extra savoury, and it’s heavenly! The omelette is a good size, we figured at least 6-7 eggs are used, some melted cheese would ooze out like a lava cake when you cut into it. Melty cheese, ham in a nicely cooked egg omelette, either I’m easily spoiled or does it sound heavenly to you too? Omelettes are served with chips, which you can dip into the curry for extra flavour! It is not cheap for an omelette at $14, but one has to pamper oneself every now and then!

Ham and cheese omelette

The curry is made from a recipe created by a relative, who still prepares the powder for them. Colbar’s curry is their best-selling item on the menu and rightly so, if my taste buds are the judge of curries, it’s the Lebron James of curry (ok, show me a, well, Curry of curry and we can have a nice debate!).

The spice mix for the curry is wonderful, heavier on cumin and with just enough spiciness to give us a kick, it is thick; they serve curry with various food but the chicken is my go to, they blend well. This may sound racist to some, but the Lims are observant, they’d serve local customers with a whole chicken thigh, uncut, while Caucasian customers get a nice piece of breast meat as they say that’s the general preference of each customer base. I did not realise they serve anything other than chicken thigh until one day I went with a friend from the US and he got the breast! And yes, he was happier with that…. At $13, it is not cheap, but I would sometimes crave this and have been coming back for it over the years despite living on another part of the island.

This is definitely one of my last meal contender!

The curry chicken

Below are samples of some Chinese dishes and the chicken cutlet. The chicken cutlet is actually quite decent, thick meat and crunchy batter. The Hainanese pork chop nothing to write home about but the sweet and sour pork quite decent, you’ll definitely find better ones elsewhere…

Clockwise from top right: Hainanese pork chop, chicken cutlet, sweet and sour pork

They do have some pretty decent fried carbos, the special fried rice or fried bee hoon (dried) is something to consider. I haven’t had a steak there since the 90’s, not sure if they’ve upgraded, but let’s just say it was an experience…. Unless I come with more adventurous friends, it has always been the curry chicken and the ham and cheese omelette. Writing about this now has just given me cravings again for the curry chicken…

From left: Pork Chop, Fried Rice, Fried Kway Teow. I always prefer dried fried noodles here instead of the wet ones

Amongst the many items here, their curry is by far the best, and the cheese (and ham) omelette a decent second. Colbar is also a very cozy and relaxed place to hang out, if they have more comfortable chairs, we can stay here with a beer forever!

Colbar

9A Whitchurch Road, s138839

1130am (not a minute earlier) – 8pm, closed on Mon

Side note… my inspiration to get an English Cocker Spaniel came from Colbar, when I saw an unleashed Spaniel adoringly run into a puddle of rain water and splashed itself on it, smiling away with glee, 3 years later when I had my own place, Ziggy came into my life.

GodJolly

Curry chicken rice/Laksa

May 2022

Nice tasty curry chicken served with rice or bread, provides different chicken parts instead of just wings! Marvellous laksa that probably tastes better than the more famous ones too....

This stall stands out to me as it looks interesting, has no fanfare, but there is a good flow of business without the fuss or long Qs.

Gave it a try one day and I was very impressed. They served different parts of chicken, instead of the usual just wings, which I don’t quite like. Chicken pieces were not too big but it was a great treat to not just have chicken wings which is really boring.

The curry was very tasty and creamy, slightly on the spicy side. Very easy to like and definitely one of the nicer curry chickens around.

They serve a great bowl of laksa too, with equally tasty but slightly creamier laksa curry. You have a choice of laksa with prawns and cockles, or with pulled chicken. The laksa curry is not as spicy as the chicken curry, in fact, it is not spicy at all even if you add in all the chilli provided, but definitely creamier, and tastier.

I love my laksa with chicken, so I love this place a lot more than some other "more famous" ones, even if they also serve chicken with laksa (and much nearer home too), mainly because it's tastier here, and cheaper, and bigger in size.

As a bowl of laksa, it is quite a big bowl. Being greedy, I am very happy with the size here, but a friend of mine said that he might not choose to come here despite it being better taste wise, because it is too big a bowl for him, he eats like a princess....

The laksa here is comparable to the more famous ones at nearby Katong, in fact, I think it is the tastier than some of them....

Goody and Jolly Laksa

14 Haig Rd, #01-71, Singapore 430014

930am – 6pm, closed on Mon, Thu and Fri

HockShun

Curry Chicken

July 2021

Thick and creamy tasty curry! One of the best in town.

You can order it with chicken drumstick, which comes with the whole leg, or wings, or go vegetarian. Add $1 for a whole lot of vegetables when you order the chicken.

I ordered a takeaway from here, and my 750ml container was filled to the brim with curry, the whole leg, and vegetables, not an ml of space left. If you eat in, it’s served in a clay pot, both versions are freshly warmed with every order.

You’ll also have a choice of white rice, yellow ginger rice (not gingery) or bread with the curry.

Had to give it a try as my sister suddenly has this craving for curry chicken, so I thought I’d find something for her to try, sacrificing myself to find new frontiers.

Turned out well, the curry is quite superb. $5.50 for a whole leg and a lot of vegetables. Definitely one of the better value for money curry chicken in town. The curry is not spicy hot but full of tasty spices, and very thick and creamy. Burp. Comes with a whole potato in 2 halves for the potato lovers. The chicken itself feels a little over cooked but it is still tender enough.

Overall, I am very happy after eating this and will definitely recommend this as one of the better curry chicken place around town. Brought my sister here but she didn’t seem impressed, or were distracted by other options. I ordered this, let her try some. After our meal, she went to buy some for dinner later…. LOL

After a few months, we have kind of decided that this is the better place for a curry chicken amongst all that we have tried thus far. Do let me know if there are better ones around!

Hock Shun Traditional Homemade Curry

85 Redhill Lane, #01-66 Redhill Market, s150085

10am – 10pm, closed on Thu

Tiptop

Curry Chicken

Oct 2022

Operated by a very friendly guy that is the father of Tip Top Western 3 stalls away. We seldom see this stall open, mainly because we seldom come here in the morning. One day I was here and they were open, got to give it a try!

Curry chicken pieces can be drumstick or other parts, drumstick it was right away… an extra piece or 2 were given to me by the friendly owner, same applied to the customer ahead of me, so it wasn’t my friendly nature or celebrity looks I guess… Asked for it with rice and was given 2 pieces of bread too. Really a lot more than I had bargained for, did I bargain at all in the first place?

Curry was nice, not too spicy, sufficient creamy. Tastes good. It was a decent offer and definitely one of the places to come for a curry chicken meal. The chicken looked a bit like a mutated giant chicken too, the drumstick almost filled up the diameter of the plate! Really felt like a superb deal.

Take away orders are carefully sealed with cling wrap before it is covered. Service here is top notch despite it being a one-man-show.

Do watch out for opening dates, which can be inconsistent. Opening days are advised on the signboard....

Tip Top Simply Curry

84 Marine Parade Central, #01-24, s440084

7am – 1pm (til sold out, could be as early as 1230pm), irregular opening days, watch sign at shop

Curry Chicken Noodle, Satay Bee Hoon

Feb 2021

This is a stall at the Bedok Central Hawker Centre, not anywhere near Hong Lim! I used to patronise this stall quite often when Heng Kee at Hong Lim lost a bit of its magic and was not operating more often than not, and thought it was pretty decent. Besides curry chicken, they serve satay bee hoon too.

Hockha

The chicken here is succulent and very well cooked, you can taste the freshness and sweetness of the chicken. The curry is a bit gingery, it is a decent shout. The many times I visit this place, there was never any queue, however, I came here this time at noon and there was a decent queue swing round to the back of this corner stall. The wait wasn’t too long, about 15 minutes. So my guess is that this place is more popular during lunch, previously, I only visited during dinner time.

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The satay bee hoon is also pretty decent, I have always been curious if I should one day order the satay bee hoon with additional chicken, as they don’t give the usual pork slices. The satay bee hoon comes with cuttlefish, cockles, kang kong and bean curd skin,

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As this place calls itself Hong Lim, there is inevitably some comparison. In fact, my friend who brought me here told me it is the branch of my favourite curry noodle, and I know my favourite Heng Kee distinctly puts up a sign saying it has no branches!

I thought it was pretty good during those days of Heng Kee’s “adjournment” (probably due to the health of the original owner), and I rated it a good second choice, especially as I never had to Q for it, and I can have dinner here (Heng Kee only serves lunch). With the return to normal with Heng Kee, and a re-establishment of the taste there, Hock Hai has sadly gone from a close second to a distant second to Heng Kee; and having found a few decent satay bee hoon places, this is not as attractive anymore.

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Hock Hai (Hong Lim) Curry Chicken

208 New Upper Changi Road, #01-58 Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre, s462208

9am – 11 pm, closed on Mon