To give its clients options, a Singaporean food retail chain is offering a fatter and far tastier version of its Hainanese Chicken Rice.
The Wee Nam Kee chain, in its Serendra and Glorietta 2 branches, will serve Yellow Chicken until the end of June.
The chicken is so called because of its yellow skin and is the type traditionally served in the chain’s Singapore branches. The chicken served locally is less fatty and has whiter skin.
“We wanted our customers to have a real Hainanese chicken experience, the way it is in Singapore,” Linfred Hans G. Yap, managing partner at WLA Food Concepts, Inc., told Inquirer Lifestyle.
For two months now, the two Wee Nam Kee branches have been offering Yellow Chicken. The chicken is imported from Malaysia, its yellow color owing to its diet consisting mainly of yellow corn.
Yap was initially wary of putting Yellow Chicken on the menu because it is a bit more expensive than the regular version. (A medium regular chicken is P488; a medium Yellow Chicken,
P768. The large regular is P888; the large Yellow Chicken, P1,488.)
“That’s why we recommend that customers try the small Yellow Chicken first because at P388, it is only P100 more expensive than a small regular chicken (P288). The difference is not that glaring,” Yap said.
Aside from its corn diet, the chickens are allowed to walk a bit during the day; their muscles tend to harden if they’re stationary. “Because of this, they are often called the wagyu of chickens,” Yap said, referring to the Japanese cows predisposed to intense marbling.
The Yellow Chicken at Wee Nam Kee is either steamed or roasted, and is served chopped and topped with a few chives. It goes with minced ginger, chili sauce and dark soya sauce. Eaten with the fragrant chicken rice, it is a meal in itself.
Not a lot of people might know that Yellow Chicken tastes better over time. Yap discovered this when he brought home a few pieces and left them in the refrigerator.
“That evening when I wanted something to nibble on, I found the chicken and began eating a few pieces. It tasted even better than when I sampled it earlier that day. It might be because the chicken was tasty already or it could have been because it remained moist,” he said.
Since they included it on the menu, Yellow Chicken has accounted for 25 percent of the volume sales at the two branches.
“If by the end of the promo, it accounts for 50 percent of our sales, we just might make Yellow Chicken a regular part of our menu,” Yap said.
The desserts at Wee Nam Kee go beyond almond jelly and monggo-filled buchi. An order of three buchi comes in milk, white and dark chocolate.
Its mango sago has Panna Cotta at the bottom, tapioca pudding in the center, and a mango gelatin on top. Given this weather, it’s a refreshing way to end the meal.