Lee Fun Nam Kee Chicken Rice and Restaurant
Lee Fun Nam Kee Chicken Rice and Restaurant
Blk 94, Toa Payoh Lor 4
#01-04
Ratings: 5.0/10
I have always been hesitant in blogging about eating places that have been specially recommended by well-meaning friends, especially those who knows about my food blog. There are plenty of reasons to it. Firstly, preferences are subjective. What my friends like may not be what I like. Another reason is because there have been instances where my friends have recommended me food which I feel doesn’t even meet the criteria of delicious food objectively.
In face of such circumstances, there are only a few choices for me:
- Write an absolutely frank comment about what I’ve tasted
- Write a vague entry about the food that I have tasted and try to focus only on the redeeming qualities of the food, so as to give my friends some "face".
- Just don’t blog about it.
Often, I find myself choosing option three. Dining out with friends are often enjoyable social events and I don’t want any overly-frank comments of mine to mare the occasion. Besides that, I love having my friends to recommend me new places to dine in, because there’re only that many eating places that I’ve tried before or have learnt about the great food they serve through blogs, tv and newspapers. Many of my friends’ recommendations or suggestions have brought me to try out a new cuisine or enjoyed some really lip-smacking food and I’ll definitely blog about these experiences. Thus, there’s a part of me hoping that by not blogging down the bad recommendations, my friends will always be gamed enough to continue giving me recommendations and bringing me to new eating places so as to broaden my foodie experience.
Lee Fun Nam Kee Chicken Rice and Restaurant is an eating place that my mum’s colleague had enthusiastically recommended to us while recounting her recent dining experience there that had left her such a deep impression. Since Lee Fun Nam Kee is just a stone throw away from my place, my family and I decided to have our lunch there over the weekend.
It turned out that Lee Fun Nam Kee Chicken Rice and Restaurant is a disappointing recommendation. My main comment is that the food there are just simply too MSG-overload.
The rice, which is one of the defining criteria in rating a plate of chicken rice, totally fails to make the mark. A reason why Singapore’s chicken rice has become one of the must-try local cuisines for tourists is because of the soft and fragrant rice that’s served together with the yummy chicken. The rice served at Lee Fun Nam Kee meets neither of the qualities.
The chicken meat, though tender, left no other impression in me. The only redeeming quality in the Char Siew is the amount of fatty meat in it (and unhealthy fats have the ability to make anything taste delicious). Other than that, the meat that’s served there tastes no difference from the meat that’s served in any other stalls that you can easily get in Singapore.
As for the Dumpling Soup that my mum’s friend has specially recommended, it just tasted MSG-overload and there was nothing fantastic about it.
Most importantly, the factor that makes me really critical about the place is the price that they charged for the food. A small plate of char siew costs a minimum of $7. Half a chicken costs $13. The soup costs $6. A simple meal for three people ended up costing $27. Especially in a HDB estate like Toa Payoh where cheap and delicious food is readily available, the food can be considered to cost exorbitant.
No doubt there are redeeming factors about the place. The eating place is roomy and clean and nicely decorated for a shop in the HDB estate. There are plenty of fans to help the diners to combat the hot and humid weather of Singapore. However, these factors are definitely not enough to entice me to go back and eat there again, despite how near it is to my place.
And no, my mum’s colleague does not know about this blog of mine.
