Boon Tong Kee Star Vista's $10 Chicken Rice Set Is Good!

Boon Tong Kee Star Vista is located on the basement level of the Star Vista shopping mall at Buona Vista MRT station. We tried two of their chicken rice set menus – the basic $10 Set Menu A and a more ‘atas’ Set Menu D. We were impressed by the more affordable one. BTW, they are closed only on 2024 CNY day 1. From today (年初二), it is business as usual at this outlet.

According to its website, the history of Boon Tong Kee dates back to 1979 when Mr Thian Boon Hua started a small stall in Chinatown serving Cantonese chicken rice. In 1983, he and his family members established Boon Tong Kee’s first restaurant at Balestier Road. And as they say, the rest is history and more outlets mushroomed, including the branches at MacPherson Road, Whampoa West, River Valley Road, Cheong Chin Nam Road and East Coast Road.

The BTK Star Vista Happy Nest outlet has the same concept as the Star Vista mall. It has a small dining area that is air-conditioned. But most of the dining tables are out in the naturally ventilated area.

Boon Tong Kee Star Vista Menu

Here are pictures of the Boon Tong Kee set menus. They range from $10++ to $22++ per person. The choices available are quite varied. Many of the options include the signature BTK chicken and the chicken rice, but not all. In fact there are fried rice and fried mee hoon sets that have nothing to do with chicken rice.

Apparently, the restaurant started in 1999 to include “Zi Char” (home-style cooked food) and eateries. Here are some of the zi char items included in the Boon Tong Kee Star Vista Menu.

Boon Tong Kee Set Menu A ($10)

The standard $10 Set Menu A presents these fixed items: signature chicken, chicken rice and a choice of one main dish. We picked the fried broccoli. There are also add-on options. We picked an add-on of deep-fried stuffed fritter (+$2). This is a picture of our Set Menu A meal.

The first impressions were very positive: the portion size of the chicken was larger than we expected and the fragrance of the rice was impressive. It has been some time since we last ate at Boon Tong Kee. This visit made us want to go again. Both the chicken and rice were top notch.

We were also pleased with the fried broccoli as it done just right – soft with some firmness in the stems. The deep fried stuffed fritter was however not as enjoyable. We would stick to the standard meal on a future visit and save the extra $2.

Boon Tong Kee Star Vista Set Menu D ($18)

Curiosity made us try another BTK set meal. The more expensive set menu D also comes with signature boiled chicken and chicken rice. These were great as discussed before. The pricier menu comes with more side dishes – prawn with salted egg, stuffed beancurd and fried eggplant. It was quite a lot of food for $18. The extra side dishes were of average zi char standard. Nice to have to break the monotony of having mostly chicken for lunch. But we will stick to the $10 meal unless very hungry.