Chicken House Kampong Chicken Rice at Upper Thomson

Chicken House kampong chicken rice is something we have heard of for a while but had yet to try it, until recently. Inspired by our recent chicken rice lunch at Tiong Bahru and being in the vicinity at a good time gave us an opportunity to try this chicken rice which is regarded by many as one of the best chicken rice in Singapore.

Famous Kampong Chicken Rice

Using kampong chicken, which we understand to be free roaming chicken (as compared to caged farm chicken), is the USP of this famous chicken rice restaurant. There are a few chicken rice options in Upper Thomson, including the quaint retro Nam Kee Chicken Rice further down Upper Thomson Road. Notwithstanding the competition, Chicken House has a strong following. A long queue of customers is expected at lunch time. Our visit was at around 1.30pm, the tail end of lunchtime. There was still a short queue of customers, but we got a table quickly.

Air-conditioned and Our Own Table

The Chicken House is an air-conditioned restaurant. Ordering and payment were done at the cashier situated at the entrance. Note – no credit cards accepted, only cash or PayNow. The restaurant is bright and functional but not much else in terms of aesthetics. Hard walls and furniture amplified sound levels. It is an eat-and-go kind of place. Another good thing we experienced was they do not require sharing of tables. We were shown our table after we paid at the cashier. Single diners however may not get their own table. The round table in the middle seemed to be meant for them.

Chicken House Kampong Chicken Rice Menu

Here is a picture of the Chicken House Upper Thomson menu. Only white steamed chicken is available here (I think the kampong chickens are too skinny to be roasted). Other than chicken in different portion sizes, there are only a few other items to order – vegetables, jelly fish and prawn roll.

Beansprouts and Kampong Chicken Rice Lunch

Recalling how good a combination of chicken rice and fried tow-geh made during our recent lunch at Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice, we went with the same combination. We ordered Ipoh beansprouts ($6), a quarter-chicken ($14) and two rice ($1.30 each).

Here are close-up pictures of all the items we ate. The short answer to the question “How was the kampong chicken rice lunch at Chicken House?” is yes, everything is good, except for two things – the noisy environment of the restaurant and the chicken had less meat than we anticipated.

This is a picture of our quarter-chicken. We had the lower quarter which included a large drumstick. The skin of the kampong chicken was more yellow than regular ones. It was expertly cooked just right. The taste was good but the ratio of meat to bone & skin was quite low. We would need to order a half chicken for two persons on a future visit. But whatever meat there was, it was very good in terms of flavour and texture.

Both the rice and beansprouts were great and seasoned just right. There are many places with stronger chicken aromas from their rice, but we were happy with the balanced flavour of this rice and its fluffy texture.

Ratings:
Food: 4
Service: 3
Value: 3
Atmosphere: 2
Overall Rating: 3 TOPs

255 Upper Thomson Rd, Singapore 574382

Open Daily :10:30 am–7:30 pm