Good Year Local Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball, Toa Payoh Lorong 1

Chicken rice is definitely a local thing. It's something we're pretty damned good at that everyone else's rendition stands a far second. Not entirely true there but, it's almost a generally accepted blanket statement. Chicken rice balls are another thing entirely. It's not so local. It entails additional effort of packing rice into balls which is another layer of hard work over an existing layer of hard work. Not everyone's game. I've heard of them in Malacca, not sure if they're any good there since I haven't tried it. 

I've been wanting to try the chicken rice balls from this stall (#01-366, Chang Cheng Mee Wah Restaurant, 111 Toa Payoh Lorong 1) for quite a while already and now that it's finally happened, I think it's definitely better than the other crumbly one down at Jalan Besar.

What worked for me over at this shop was a more compact rice ball which was almost akin to a chicken rice ketupat. There was definitely enough flavors packed in them and salt going on to make them savoury and tasty. The chicken that was served was also noticeably meatier, more tender and smoother as well. Each serving came with a chicken claw & peanut soup that was rather good. The down side for me was their bland-ish chilli sauce which I couldn't really quite figure out. Still, I'm thinking that this was a pretty decent stall as far as chicken rice joints go. Decent meaning that I definitely wouldn't mind having this place as a semi-regular-crave-fixing-location if not for their slow moving queue.