The Chicken Rice Shop at Harbour Square

While driving along Roxas Blvd. last Saturday, my boys asked me if we have could have dinner at Boon Tong Kee. Given that it was a Saturday (half of the Metro's population's at the Mall of Asia, ergo, finding a parking spot would be a real pain), I said "no way".

I remembered that The Chicken Rice Shop has a branch at Harbour Square, so we headed over there instead. I was so confident that getting a parking slot wouldn't be as hard, and I was right! With the help of Mother Cabrini, we immediately found a parking spot for our little machiney! Lame?

The Chicken Rice Shop at Harbour Square Menu

The Chicken Rice Shop is a chain of HALAL (food that are ritually fit according to Islamic law) quick-service restaurants from Malaysia. They boasts of their Hainanese Chicken rice as being contrived from a secret recipe that has been passed down through generations.

I think that we could use more of HALAL certified restaurants because clearly, we have a scarcity of those. There should be more choices for our Muslim brothers and sisters. I had a couple of Muslim classmates and friends in grade school until high school {our school's multi-faith but predominantly Catholic}. Whenever we would opt to eat out, we had to make sure that the place coincided with their dietary laws, and there were only a handful. That's why, I welcome this kind of change with open arms.

Fried Wonton with Special Sauce PhP 98

We started our meal with Fried Wonton with Special Sauce. The wontons were perfectly fried, giving that wrapper an irresistible crunch that we all love! The filling was juicy but found it a little bland and heavily dependent on the sauce.

Tasty and soothing clear soup as part of the three-in-one meal.

My boys and I each got the quarter size serving of Hainanese Chicken. I'm having a "food order" realization now that I'm blogging about this. We should've just ordered one 1/2 Hainanese Chicken plus 1/4 instead of 1/4 each. It's cheaper. This is a lesson for all kids. Kids, listen well when your teacher discusses addition of fractions. You will need it someday.

Hainanese Chicken at The Chicken Rice Shop

Hainanese Chicken {Quarter} PhP 188

The meat absorbed the poaching liquid well resulting in one flavourful dish! It's also tender and aromatic. The rice made a big difference. It had a hint of butter to it. So good!

The staff were really, really nice. The manager came up to us for some pleasantries while we were eating. While I was making a the-food's-good comment, her eyes widened and asked if she could replace the chicken. "Why?", I asked. "There's a bit of blood in it, Ma'am", she said. It was barely noticeable, so I told her that it was okay, but she insisted so I let her change it.

It didn't bother me because I knew that it wasn't really "blood". Slaughtered meats are free from blood. That red thing we see in cooked chicken or other meat is just myoglobin. Myoglobin is a protein in muscles that gives meat that red color.

We love the Kuching 3 Layered Tea! Actually, we love milk teas to begin with, so this one's a given for us. The bottom layer is gula melaka (palm sugar syrup very much similar to arnibal), the middle layer is evaporated milk, and the top layer is Teh tarik (tea). A glass wasn't enough! Delicious!