Hey that was pretty darned good...and it was purely by chance too. We stopped at a kopitiam on Alkaff Ave (where Upper Serangoon Road meets MacPherson Road) just to get a drink when I noticed a display case selling paper-wrapped salt baked chicken. "What the heck is salt baked chicken?," I wondered. Based on the name alone, I would have thought that it were a salt-encrusted bird, so I was quite bummed when the lady unwrapped the thing to find it drenched in a dark sauce.
Little did I know that that very same sauce was exactly what made this thing so delightful. Of course the meat was moist, but more importantly, the sauce was actually more oil than it was soy sauce. This was a very good thing as it not only kept it from being excessively salty, but also the oil (was it the chicken's natural oil?) was so flavorful that I couldn't stop dipping my pieces back in it. I didn't even bother with that chili sauce on the side, which was good on its own but not even necessary when that tasty oil is around.
What a pleasant surprise; I'm definitely going to try to get this again. I'm a big confused about the naming though. This shop in particular had "Hiang Kee" stamped on the paper wrapping, but they also put the chickens in brown takeaway boxes labeled with a Chakey's brand on it. I'm not sure if the chickens were done here in this very shop or if it were a mass brand that gets distributed around, but it seems like boxing it up for home consumption is the way to eat it. In that sense, it kinda reminds me of those BBQ chickens from back home that one picks up at the deli section of the supermarket using potholders and those foil-lined paper bags so that the whole family can enjoy it later.
6 comments:
i think the chicken is marinated and then wrap in paper, then bake in piles of salt.
delicious.. used to have it when young.
There's an entire shophouse storefront devoted to salt-baked chicken along East Coast Road in the Katong area, just a bit further east from where Aston's is, near the Five Star Chicken Rice stall opposite the Catholic church.
I'm not sure if that is the source of these chickens-on-display, or if their salt-baking HQ is somewhere else.
PS: Cold Storage sells roast chickens (and ribs) in the supermarket here, microwave-safe heat-retaining bags and all.
You should also try the fish steamboat and the tze char from that coffee shop.
Just to say that I really love your blog. I bought one from the East Coast outlet today upon reading this post and it was superb. Gotta thank you for blogging about this.
cool! I used to buy from that store pretty frequently. Glad to see that it made it on your blog and you liked it!
This is quite a wonderful dish. But I'm afraid this store's chicken is not up to real good standards. The chicken is supposed to be stuffed with herbs. However Chakey's chicken lacks of that herb aroma.
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