The Chicken Rice Shop 齊客來

Profile

The Chicken Rice Shop is a chain store serving Hainanese Chicken and other south east asian fare with around 60 shops in locations in malaysia, singapore, the phillipines, and Taiwan. Their Hainanese Chicken is made with a hundred year old recipe containing 16 types of Herbs and spices. The Chicken Rice Shop is on the alleyway with JBSD Tofu and Go Go Pasta near the Zhong Xiao Dun Hwa MRT. Their Hainanese Chicken is very tender flavorful and a big portion at a very fair price (around 350 NT per person). This is kind of a family style restaraunt and not that good for dining solo. Grab a friend and try this place out if you're craving some Hainanese Chicken.

Address: 台北市敦化南路一段233巷19號
                 No. 19, Lane 233, Section 1, Dūnhuà South Rd, Daan District

Phone #: 02-2751-5342
Business Hours: 11:30-14:30, 17:30-22:30
Website: http://www.thechickenriceshop.com.tw/

Accepts Credit Cards: yes
Price Range:   $$$

Attire: casual

Good for kids: yes

Take out: yes
Waiter Service: yes
Outdoor seating:  no
Alcohol: no

Rating

Food Quality: 4 out of 5
Decor:  3.5 out of 5
Service: 3.5 out of 5
Overall: 3.67 out of 5
Recommendation: Great Hainanese Chicken

Review

The interior is decorated with a very modern look. The restaurants in the East District generally design their space with a more modern flair. They tried not to cram a lot of tables together, but some pockets in the restaurant had accessibility problems from table to table.  appreciated their artistic display of their 16 spices in a dedicated area on the left side of their restaurant. It is an interesting sight to stare at while you are waiting to be seated. They seemed quite understaffed during my visit, so I think they can improve their service if they hired at least 1 more helping hand to spread the workload out. We had to flag our servers down and we didn't feel waited on. We were doing most of the waiting. This meal consisted of Hainanese Chicken, Crispy Roast Chicken, Sour and Spicy Seafood Soup, Pai Tee, Gado Gado, and a tall glass of 3-layered milk tea. 

 

A lot of customers got the 3-layered milk tea, which tastes a lot like Thai iced tea. It's sweet and creamy. It is an excellent beverage to add a little bit of sweetness to the meal.

The rice here isn't free, they cost 30 NT per plate. Their rice is oily and aromatic.

 This appetizer is called the Pai Tee, which is stir fried vermicelli stuffed in fried wonton cups. Crispy on the outside with soft rice noodles and sliced vegetables. It's a little spicy and tangy.

This next entree is the sour and spicy seafood soup. It was quite a let down because the ingredients in it were very sparse. There was too much liquid in comparison to the solids in my opinion. The soup base itself is drinkable. It's sweet, sour, slightly spicy, and consisting of a hint of garlic. The ingredients didn't seem to be melded into the soup. Even though the stock was very savory and a washed down the chicken and rice well, I would not recommend ordering this item.

This is the 1/4 Crispy roast chicken. It is nice and crispy, but the meat itself seemed very dry. I guess I was not very fair at judging this entree because in comparison to the Hainan Chicken, this dish just seemed very dry and less flavorful.

This plate of 1/4 Hainan Chicken stole the show. The meat was tender and succulent. It was seasoned well enough, but you coould dip it in their green onion sauce to take th flavor up a notch. Compared to Sergeant Chicken Rice, the Hainan chicken here was more moist and flavorful.

If I had to choose a place to get a overall meal based on Hainan chicken it would probably be at The Chicken Rice Shop because they have a lot more interesting sides that complement well with the meal. Also, the rice itself is so much more tast. One 1/4 plate of chicken is definitely enough for 2 to 3 people, so ordering two orders of 1/4 chicken was overkill. I suggest trying the 1/4 plate of chicken paired with 2 sides and a bowl of soup to make a visit to this place complete. They actually have set pairings for their meals in the form of multiple people combo meals, but we decided to order a la carte in order to try more chicken. The Chicken Rice Shop is definitely a restaurant with high returnability and dominates the Hainan Chicken market in the East District.