Mrs. Hen (Telok Ayer)

Yummy halal fried chicken, moist inside crunchy outside, with a healthy dose of sambal.

If you are looking for affordable and tasty halal certified indonesian food, check out @mrshen.sg !

Here at Mrs Hen, they specialise in Ayam Geprek!

Their ayam geprek is super crunchy, and juicy! Best thing about it is customising the meal to your preference!

1. Pick the protein - Highly recommend getting the ayam geprek, otherwise there is also tahu, ikan and terong to choose from!
2 Pick the base - i tried the nasi white rice and nasi kuning yellow rice! preferred the yellow rice, super fragrant!
3. Pick the topping choice: I got the sambal platter (which consists of 3 kinds of chilli - signature, hijau and matah)! Get this if you cant decide which you will like or if you want more variety! I also got the non-spicy salted egg sauce, which is good for non-spicy eaters! Otherwise, for spicy lovers, y ou can also choose their mango chilli, garlic chilli, sweet soy sauce chilli or manadonese chilli ceviche
4. If you are feeling hungry, you can add-on to the main: Choose from begedil / fried egg / acar / melted cheese / fried tofu

They also have various sides to choose from - we got the fried enoki mushroom and fried crabstick!

For drinks choices, we got the iced passionfruit drink! Ordering drinks is highly recommended here especially if you are getting the spicy sambal chilli toppings!

All in all, greatly enjoyed the food here. The food was prepared only upon ordering and was served hot, and the rice and ayam geprek were super fragrant! 10/10 recommend to give this place a go, you will not regret it!

Checking off yet another one of those spots that I had wanted to check out in the list — had came across Mrs. Hen previously at East Village; that outlet being a standalone eatery on its own, but they do actually have another location at Telok Ayer that is situated in the same coffeeshop where Uptown Nasi Lemak is at. With a focus on Ayam Geprek (Crispy Smashed Chicken), Mrs Hen serves up their Ayam Geprek with different choices of sambal — some options available on the menu include the Ayam Geprek Sambal Hijau (Green Chili) and Ayam Geprek Sambal Signature (Red Chili; also available in varying levels of spiciness); patrons who are looking for non-spicy options do also have the Ayam Geprek Salted Egg to go for. Aside for Ayam Geprek, Mrs Hen also offers Ikan Geprek, patrons also can go also for various forms of carbs such as that of the Nasi Kuning (Yellow Rice) or Indomie at an extra cost should they opt for those instead of the standard Nasi (White Rice) served by default.

Of the various types of sambal served with their Ayam Geprek available, the Ayam Geprek Sambal Matah was the one that stood out the most to us when we skimmed through the menu here — listed as Balinese Lemongrass Chilli, the Sambal Matah is best described as a Raw Onion Sambal according to some online sources. Whilst we initially wanted to go for Indomie, we had to end up with the default Nasi option since they were already out of Indomie when we made our visit during weekday lunch hours. Going straight for the slab of crispy smashed chicken, we were already impressed with this one — it’s tender, juicy and crisp; fried to a golden brown batter, it it is nothing short on being especially delicious. Topped off with the Sambal Matah, the chili is especially zingy yet umami — a very refreshing flavour that cuts through the fried nature of the dish and takes most of the heaviness of the dish away. There is not only some crunch from the raw shallots, but it is subtly spicy — nothing too distinctively hot at the start, but it does build up fast; yet addictively so especially with other elements like lemongrass which sets it apart from the usual red or green sambal that other stalls serve up. Each order also does come served with a side of Acar (Indonesian pickles)— juicy, crunchy cubes of pickled vegetables that resets the taste buds with a zing if all gets a little too spicy to handle.

Given its price tag of $7.90 for the Ayam Geprek Sambal Tambah, Mrs Hen does seem like one of the more affordable options to dine at within the Central Business District — no doubt still more considerably higher-priced than other spots like Market Street Food Centre (i.e. CapitaSpring) or certain stalls at Amoy Street Food Centre, it does seem much of a reasonable choice to go for on a weekly basis. We liked how Mrs Hen does serve up a good variety of sambal with their Ayam Geprek — there are plenty of spots doing Sambal Signature and Sambal Hijau but items like Sambal Mangga (Mango Chili) is difficult to come by. Portions are also on the larger side — definitely filling for those who have slightly bigger appetites even. Crowd management at the coffeeshop may be a little haphazard now that most folks have started to return to office (expect people who find themselves queueing up at the wrong spot, coffeeshop staff moving tables around when patrons are dining since they are too close by the queues etc.), but I guess Mrs Hen is a spot I would consider dining at again when there is a table available; also a good alternative to Uptown Nasi Lemak when the queue for that is a little too long.