Single Portion Rice (Steam Chicken) — add: Braised Egg Ah Lim Chicken Rice is one of those establishments which we had found on social media after scrolling around the phone on a late evening — being a rather new stall that had opened recently, Ah Lim Chicken Rice is located within the Foodloft coffeeshop at Blk 217 Bedok North Street 1. The Foodloft coffeeshop, for those who are unaware, is situated within Bedok Town Centre and is walkable from Bedok Bus Interchange / Bedok MRT Station; it is also the coffeeshop closest to Pasar 216 Bedok Central, and the coffeeshop also houses an outlet of Common Grill by COLLIN'S as well. The coffeeshop has seen a little bit of a switcheroo with the tenants operating within, and Ah Lim Chicken Rice is a new incoming tenant to the coffeeshop; they had started their soft launch in late April 2023. Instagram stories posted by them have suggested that their chicken rice employs the use of an element that boasts of a 30 year-old recipe; recreated by them to bring out the very best to their patrons — their Instagrams stories also showing viewers what exactly goes behind the scenes in the preparation process of their food. Just like most chicken rice stalls elsewhere, Ah Lim Chicken Rice serves up various styles of chicken with either rice or noodles — the types of chicken offered here includes roast, steam and soy sauce chicken; patrons can also opt for Curry Chicken Noodles as well. There is an option to go for the Single Portion Rice, which sees the one style of chicken served with rice, as well as various combo sets such as the Chicken Rice Set or Double Happiness Set which sees more side dishes alongside with more portions of chicken and rice served with the sets depending on how many pax the set is intended to be portioned for. There is also a Triple Prosperity Meal, which is created to allow patrons to give all their different styles of chicken and their star items such as the Lava Egg a try on one single plate. They also do serve up a variety of side dishes ala-carte for those who intend to share a dish around the table.
We made our visit to Ah Lim Chicken Rice during a weekend dinner service — we really wanted to try their Triple Prosperity Meal badly since it does seem pretty much like the one to go for on the menu; the item that comes with everything that one must try. Unfortunately, it turned out that we made our visit a little too late — Ah Lim Chicken Rice had pretty much sold out of most of its offering by the time we had made our visit, and was left with only the Steam Chicken and the standard braised eggs (we only realised that braised eggs and lava eggs are mutually exclusive terms here after reading the ala-carte section of the menu). We found ourselves opting for the Single Portion Rice (Steam Chicken), since that is pretty much the only item left for the day. Digging in straight into the rice, we found that the flavoured rice came with adequate flavour and was pretty fragrant — all that whilst having a good texture that is not too wet but also not too dry; coming with suitable moisture that makes it easy to eat. The savoury rice went well with the steamed chicken; the steamed chicken being doused with just a bit of light soy sauce for flavour. The steamed chicken was as well-executed as the rice here — the meat was slippery-smooth, tender and juicy; the skin above the meat being also kinda gelatinous and gives a contrast of textures from the chicken as well. We are not big fans of braised eggs; especially so for those serve at chicken rice stalls; whilst we only ordered the one here thinking that they were lava eggs (only to find out that the braised egg and lava egg refer to two separate items here), we found it pretty surprising how it came with a light savouriness and that the yolk did not feel dense or clumpy — actually fairly easy to have on its own. The coriander and the cucumber (which sat beneath the chicken on the plate) both helped to cut through the flavours of the meat and rice; the former with its distinct note, while the latter providing a good crunch whilst also having soaked up some of the light soy sauce that was doused onto the meat above. The chili is pretty tangy and zippy; suits those who are tolerable to moderate levels of spiciness, though we were good to have everything on its own.
It is quite a shame that we only got to try out the Single Portion Rice (Steam Chicken) from Ah Lim Chicken Rice during our visit — we were really looking forward to try their Triple Prosperity Meal since we really wanted to give their roast, steam and soy sauce chicken a go, alongside their Lava Egg. That being said, going for the Single Portion Rice (Steam Chicken) would probably tell much about how Ah Lim Chicken Rice does their rendition of the local’s favourite dish — we found the Single Portion Rice (Steam Chicken) to be very well-executed. There are many stalls out there that seems to ace one element, but neglects the other — the sort where if they do the chicken right but the rice just lacks flavour, or that the rice is done with sufficient flavour but the chicken turns out a little too dry; the Single Portion Rice (Steam Chicken) from Ah Lim Chicken Rice is none of that, with attention-to-detail has been placed in all the individual elements here. This also shows with the quality of the chicken, rice and even the braised egg that they served up. The folks at Ah Lim Chicken Rice also seem to be take patron’s feedback on their food during the current soft launch phase pretty seriously — they have been posting Instagram Stories where they are tweaking their recipes based on feedback given by patrons whom have visited them during the day, as well as showing the preparation process of their food to give their viewers a better understanding of what goes into their chicken rice here. With all that effort placed into serving up that perfect plate of chicken rice, Ah Lim Chicken Rice does feel like that they are that sort of establishment that puts in their very best for patrons to have a taste of their very best with zero compromise. Ah Lim Chicken Rice does feel like they serve quite a good plate of chicken rice — we do find them a spot which we would not mind travelling a little further for, especially considering how their Single Portion Rice (Steam Chicken) is still reasonably priced at $4.20 despite the quality; definitely a spot worthy to make a slightly out-of-the-way visit for; also definitely looking forward to giving their Triple Prosperity Meal a go some day!
