As a student at Cornell in New York, I lived in the dorm. It was called The International Living Center in North Campus.

On my first year, I had my dinner at the cafeteria where one had access to unlimited food. The menu was not great, but it wasn’t bad either.

But soon, my friends and I got tired of it. And being students at the Hotel and Restaurant school, we decided to form a cooking group.

Our group of eight came from various countries—Singapore, Fiji, Bangladesh, Tanzania, Greece, Bahamas, and two from the Philippines.

Each was assigned a day in the week to cook something from one’s country. Every week, we wrote our marketing list and Francis Manglapus, the second Pinoy in the group, bought the food ingredients.

We had a grand time doing this and were introduced to many new dishes. We even invited one or two guests from the dorm to join us in these meals. It became an honor to be a guest.

Renowned recipe

I was always excited when it was Steven from Singapore’s turn to cook. He whipped up dishes I had never come across. Of course, one of the first he did was Hainanese Chicken Rice. I immediately fell in love with this dish.

When I visited him in Singapore, Steven was already resident manager of Mandarin Orchard and gave me its renowned coffee shop’s recipe of Hainanese Chicken Rice. But I’ve always believed paying for the dish makes it taste better than if you’re cooking it. That’s me.

Two well-known Singaporean franchise restaurants, Wee Nam Kee and Boon Tong Kee, have set up branches in Manila. Both have exceptional versions of Singapore’s national dish, the Hainanese chicken rice. They also have other dishes such as Bak Kut Teh and Cereal Prawns.

One can also order a well-packaged version of this Hainanese Chicken Rice from Stevie who makes a wonderful version (tel. 0906-5084155).

Last week, I had one of the best takeout versions. I first came across chef Jyn when I tried her Mediterranean Roast Chicken. Complete with sidings of yellow basmati rice, chili oil and tomato dip, it tasted great.

But just when I thought I had tried her best, her version of Hainanese chicken came along. I was blown away.

The meal comes in well-packed containers of light-green flavored rice, almost entirely deboned chicken and three kinds of sauce: ginger, chili, and thick sweet soy.

I encourage you to put all the sauces over the chicken, add rice for that perfect mouthful, and revel in ecstasy and excitement. I love it, sarap!

The rice is very flavorful, the chicken perfectly cooked and with a drizzle of the three sauces, there is a burst of spiciness, saltiness and sweetness. You can tell that a woman is behind these creations because of the lovely packaging—the detail and the color schemes.

Chef Jyn is mulling over putting up a restaurant. With dishes like these, she will go places.

Since my dorm days, my palate has been exposed to all these great and authentic-tasting foreign cuisines. I am eager to experience more. A must-try!

Happy eating!

Chef Jyn’s Hainanese Chicken Rice, tel. 0917-5280563

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