Maria Virgin Chicken (Chinatown Complex)

New year, old favourites at Chinatown Complex Food Center! Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken 瑪莉亞處女雞⁣ remains one of my favourite soy sauce chicken stalls in Chinatown, and I personally rate it slightly higher than a certain former Michelin Bib Gourmand stall within the same hawker centre. 🐔 The meat under the glistening soya-sauce glazed skin is firmer than those from other stalls but it remains juicy & tender, and a subtle rose wine aroma permeates through each bite. The only gripe I have is that the rice can be served warmer, though I can look past it because of how good the chicken was.

Highly recommend trying their braised tofu at $1.60 apiece before they are sold out for the day! Soaked in the same braising sauce as the chicken, the silky soft tofu melts in the mouth like a pudding!

Been meaning to try this stall where Hawker Chan purportedly learnt how to cook his Michelin soya sauce chicken. But business is apparently good because several times they were closed when I came just after lunch.

Ordered half a “virgin chicken”, a serving of braised pork belly and a plate of chicken rice. Now we are know that we no longer have fresh boiler chicken from Malaysia, only kampung chicken. Yet Maria’s soya chicken is thrill be best I have tasted since the ban on exports to Singapore.

The rice which came drizzled with soya sauce, was fragrant and fluffy. It goes well with the piquant chilli sauce. The braised pork was just normal and a tad on the greasy side.

Can’t wait to come back and try again once fresh chicken import resumes, with noodles.

Chef Maria Siew Pui Yin might have a tongue-in-cheek named stall, a wordplay on "Virgin Mary Chicken", but her 60+ years of experience shows.
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The fresh chicken here is the most tender, bouncy, and succulent ever, with a clean meaty sweet flavour.
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Her signature gravy, a blend of herbs, dark sweet soy sauce, rose wine, and sesame oil, has a distinct herbal earthy salty sweet flavour that is so addictive.
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Some fluffy white rice and crisp bean sprouts, along with a spicy sour chili, round this out. She's equally famed for her braised tofu beancurd, a favourite add-on for regulars.
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Chicken Rice
Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken 瑪莉亞處女雞
@ Chinatown Complex Food Centre, 335 Smith Street #02-189
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More details:
https://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.com/2022/07/best-of-singapore-hawkers-chicken-rice.html

Pretty mild and slightly fruity and sweet, on top of being a normal ckn rice chili

Their rice isn't good, but it's alright to get by

FYI: they recommend this instead of the Hong Kong version. The bird is larger, it's younger, it's more tender too. Definitely get their signature

FYI:quarter ckn goes for 11 because thigh and leg sells for 6 and 5 respectively. However half chicken goes at only 14, for wings and breast. It's annoying because there's really not much choice, otherwise just get ckn rice don't get quarter ckn. I bought this because I saw the ckn was small but turns out the signature one is very big as you can tell

Food:
Smooth flesh, and an intensely savoury marinade. Hardly any sweetness in the marinade, and truth be told its abit salty. It's definitely good though. The gravy brings the sweetness as that is almost completely sweet. Overall it's worth a try if you order properly

It's not free btw

Very generous portion for the price, it's drenched in the same sauce as the chicken is, abit more oil/ water tho because the consistency is slightly different.