One thing we came to realise ever since leaving this neighbourhood as the work ‘hood for Marina Bay was how great the food options are at Rochor / Bencoolen / Bugis / Bras Basah. The Central Business District has aplenty of options when it comes to food, but we have yet to find an option that is a comfort food to go for; the former work ‘hood has a decent selection of wallet-friendly fare within walking distance, and there is always something to look forward to whichever building we wind up at. Decided to venture a little further during lunch one day back into the former work ‘hood since the cravings for Butter Chicken with Rice were hitting really hard — just had to make it back to Three Meals a Day 一日三餐 at level two of Sim Lim Square to get it fixed.

Everyone seems to be all over their Salted Egg Chicken with Rice but we are one of the few who would go for their Butter Chicken with Rice over their Salted Egg Chicken with Rice — not that the Salted Egg Chicken with Rice isn’t good, but their Butter Chicken with Rice is the one that really hits the spot for us. The standard plate of the Butter Chicken with Rice comes with keropok (i.e. prawn crackers), buttermilk chicken and rice; the sunny-side-up is an extra that is priced at $0.60. Being one who is into sweet-savoury flavour combinations, what we really love here is how that Butter Chicken is being executed over here — the chicken chunks come piping hot, crisp and drenched in that rich and creamy buttermilk sauce; think of a subdued version of salted egg sauce without the salted egg bits and with a slight note of sweetness (condensed milk maybe?) for a contrast of flavours. Stir-fried with curry leaves and chili padi, the former provides a light crispness to the dish, while the latter provides that slight kick of spiciness that tingles the tastebuds slightly. The sunny-side-up is also well-executed here; the egg yolk has always been consistently runny during our visits previously, and is still so now. Still pretty much the same dish that I have loved despite not having it for a couple of months since moving on to a different work ‘hood.

One thing for sure about how the good the food here is would be the weekday lunch time crowd it attracts from offices within the vicinity. The eatery is consistently packed on weekdays during lunch hours — it is not too easy to get a seat if one were to make their visit during the lunch peak hours of 12 noon to 1pm, with the crowds being there at the earlier end of the time range. That being said, this is pretty much a testament to their food even though they seem to be pretty much the new kids on the block having taken over the former premises of The Rice Bowl Gold that used to occupy the same space. Would most certainly find myself back again here for lunch — there really isn’t many places we are able to hit for buttermilk chicken cravings within the Central Business District; also probably want to try their Plum Sauce Chicken with Rice some time soon, though moving away from the Butter Chicken with Rice would probably be a challenge for me on any given day that we are here …