The Dead Cockroach: Qi Le Chicken Rice @ Blk 744 Yishun Street 72

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Mention chicken rice in Yishun and 925 Chicken Rice near the old bus interchange would come to mind. I had it before but did not find it inspiring enough to want to write about it.

It has been years since then and now I am back on a food trail around Yishun. I thought of looking for another chicken rice stall to try and my search brought me to this chicken rice stall called Qi Le Chicken Rice located inside the S-11 coffee shop near the MRT station.

It is easy to get here: simply exit the MRT station and follow the footpath to the coffee shop. The stall is right in the middle of the coffee shop, partially hidden behind a pillar.

I have heard about the long queue but there was none when I arrived at about 11.30am. I quickly ordered a plate of roasted chicken rice for one ($3.50). The server asked if I wanted to add more meat to which I declined. As I did not request for any specific part, I was given the chicken breast.

My order came with a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup and a portion of chicken breast served on a separate plate.

The chicken meat is topped with shredded scallions and fried garlic bits while underneath it is a portion of bean sprouts dressed in a savory mix of soy sauce and sesame oil.

I am glad that I did not top up for more meat as there were two pieces of breast meat on the plate which is more than enough for me.

One of the pieces did not come with any chicken skin while the other had most of the skin accounted for however, they are not crispy since they were drenched with the sauce. The chicken meat is soft and tender but lacking in flavor.

The rice is not overly greasy, and lightly perfumed with the fragrance of pandan and chicken fat. As the rice is not too heavy, there is no guilt in having it.

Another reason for me to like Qi Le is the nga choi (bean sprouts) hidden under the chicken meat. Some stalls provide cucumber slices while some provide achar. Then, there are those, like Qi Le here that provides nga choi.

Personally, nga choi with the light soy and sesame oil concoction is one of my favorite thing to have with chicken rice hence, I might be bias here since they cater to what I like.

The fried garlic bits deserved a mention here. Its garlicky aroma and crunchiness goes great with the nga choi which is a little too soft.

Honestly, one of the main reason why I chose Qi Le over other chicken rice stalls is because I found out from the reviews that they provide a large bowl of soup for every order.

It seems the soup they serve here is not the usual sad bowl of tasteless hot water spammed with spring onions.

According to the menu, they have a small selection of soups on a rotational basis like salted vegetable soup, sze chuan vegetable soup, old cucumber soup, winter melon soup, peanut chicken feet soup and corn soup.

I was actually looking forward to the large bowl of soup that I had read about but to my dismay, what I received was the normal rice bowl sized of soup instead.

The soup-of-the-day is peanut chicken feet soup. What I like about it is that there is a lot of peanuts in the bowl and even stray pieces of meat as a bonus!

The only thing is, they are rather heavy handed with the msg which I hope is a onetime mishap.

For most chicken rice stalls, the soup may just be an afterthought but at Qi Le, the effort put into making it (even though it is a tad too salty) makes all the difference for me.

I wish they would go back to giving the large bowl of soup as that is the deciding factor why I picked them over others. I think that is a really good selling point to stand out from their competitors and in turn attract footfall to their business.