Meet The 73-Year-Old Uncle Who Has Been Selling $2 Chicken Rice Since 1996

Fook Seng GoldenHill Chicken Rice has $2 chicken rice

$2. Chicken rice. When these two concepts combine, you bet our team is intrigued. Finding a $2 plate of chicken rice is almost like looking for a needle in a haystack—and yet, we found exactly that at Fook Seng Goldenhill Chicken Rice.

En route to the Bukit Merah eatery, I was holding onto a piece of paper filled with questions for Mr. Chew, the eatery’s 73-year-old owner. But only one question persisted in my mind: how, or why, does he swim determinedly against the current, especially in today’s economy?

I recalled being half an hour early for my interview with Mr. Chew and was slightly abashed for eating into his break time, but he warmly invited me to his stall with a cup of coffee. As I waited in the corner, I observed his laid-back yet confident demeanour that exuded ease and expertise. 

Curious about his story, I broke the ice with my first question: How did you start selling chicken rice?

“I gave up construction, then I came to do chicken rice,” Mr. Chew answered. “I have loved cooking since young, so I wanted to create my own chicken rice.” 

When asked why he chose to specialise in chicken rice out of the many local dishes, his response was simple. “My father-in-law loves chicken rice. I love chicken rice. My family loves chicken rice.”

“My father-in-law loves chicken rice. I love chicken rice. My family loves chicken rice.”

Then came the million-dollar question: How do you keep your prices so low despite increasing rental costs? Perhaps I was expecting a mindblowing answer, but his steady and resolute stance took me by surprise. “Inflation doesn’t really have an effect on me,” he said with a smile. “I just try my best to serve the people. My landlord is very nice, which is why I can sustain the business. I’ve already been here for 28 years.”

But what about rising costs, I asked. Mr. Chew acknowledged that it hasn’t always been a knife-through-butter journey, especially because rice has become increasingly expensive. 

The way he deals with this challenge is to, in his words, “serve according to costs.” Thankfully, his affordable rent, coupled with a steady stream of loyal customers, help ease the situation too.

Mr. Chew then concluded his answer on a positive note. “My passion keeps me going. Actually, there is no barrier to anything. When you create your own barrier, you make it difficult for yourself. For me, I’m very positive!”

“When you create your own barrier, you make it difficult for yourself. For me, I’m very positive!”

Upon hearing that my colleague and I hadn’t had our lunch, Mr. Chew quietly made his way to the kitchen and whipped out a hearty meal for us. For $2, a meal here is as simple as it gets: a plate of fragrant rice topped with steamed chicken breast or wing, paired with a bowl of soup and your preferred condiments on the side.

But don’t think little of this unassuming dish. The meat was memorable as it was smooth and silky; as for the rice, while I’ve had better ones, it was still sufficiently savoury and moist.

When asked if there’s any special technique for preparing his chicken rice, Mr. Chew said that he never hangs his chicken to prevent the meat from drying out. “The chicken needs to be tender, and cannot be too hard,” he added and I chimed in.

According to Mr. Chew, the chilli sauce is the most important element in making good chicken rice. A good chilli sauce must be made in-house, he said. At Fook Seng, theirs is laboriously made using more than 10 ingredients. While he didn’t disclose the list of ingredients, I found it tangy and flavourful, complementing the smooth chicken meat and rice well. My only gripe was that it could have been spicier.

My go-to chicken rice order is always thigh meat or drumstick, both of which I got to try. Two servings of this tender and juicy meat cost $13. 

“When you eat the chicken, the tenderness depends on how it’s chopped. There’s a lot of tactic to it,” said Mr. Chew. It’s clear that he’s a master of his craft, as I really enjoyed the thin gelatinous layer, silky chicken skin, and tender meat here.

Prior to meeting Mr. Chew, I never bothered to observe how a chicken was sliced whenever I ordered chicken rice. But after he shared the importance of chopping skills, I developed a deeper appreciation of how our national dish isn’t simply about plating chicken and rice. This sentiment was reiterated when I asked Mr. Chew about his succession plans. “It’s up to them. If they want, they can come back to me since they have the recipe. But they need to know how to chop, that’s all,” he said.

That being said, Mr. Chew has no thoughts of retiring yet, despite being 73 years old. “As long as I can hold a knife, can already what,” he quipped. If only I had his tenacity, I think I’d be invincible.

For a story about a “coffee prodigy” who helps out at his mother’s drink stall, read our Coffee House Banh Mi feature. For a story about a Chinese hawker running a popular Italian stall with over 50 dishes, read our Il Piccolo Pizzeria feature.

Address: 37 Jalan Rumah Tinggi, #01-431, Singapore 150037
Opening hours: Sat-Thurs 9am to 3pm
Website
Fook Seng GoldenHill Chicken Rice is not a halal-certified eatery.

Photos taken by Paula Formantes.
This was an independent feature by Eatbook.sg.