$ 3.50 for a plate of Chicken Rice and another $2.50 for Bean Sprouts
Every Saturday I am in the vicinity of Maxwell Road Hawker Centte and I occasionally drop in for breakfast. There is always a long queue for Tian Tian's chicken rice. Frankly, apart from the fact that Chef Gordon Ramsay came and did the Hawker Challenge (and lost), the chicken rice is not typically outstanding.
The $3.50 plate of chicken rice serves maybe a dozen slices of chicken (breast or thigh you specify), some cut cucumber, rice and nothing else. The chicken is tender, and made flavourful due to the thick sauce or gravy poured over it. If you decline the gravy, it is nothing exceptional. The rice is fragrant but you can get very good chicken rice from the neighbouring 2 stalls if you are not bothered to queue. The chilli sauce and black sauce are also nothing exceptional.
There are some really good chicken rice restaurants in Wee Nam Kee in Balestier and Novena and if you like to try roasted chicken, there is a pretty decent Malay stall at Farrer Road Food Centre. I also like to frequent the Big Bird at Balmoral Centre off Bukit Timah. That chicken rice is really good with fragrant rice, but thinly sliced chicken. It is pricey though at $7 per plate on average.
90% of those in the queue are probably tourists who have never or heard about trying the 'famous' Tian Tian through the brochures and Gordon Ramsay's Hawker Challenge.
I guess for first timers it is satisfactory.
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