If you’re a chicken rice purist, this will probably make you mad. If not, perhaps you’ll be intrigued. There’s a new restaurant in town, and it specialises in various versions of one of Singapore’s national dishes: chicken rice. Located at The Centrepoint, Roost is a 60-seater casual diner that claims to use the world’s first patented automated poultry cooking machine — the Singapore-made iKook — on every plate of chicken rice to ensure consistent quality.
And you’ll be happy to hear that the eatery offers healthier versions of its poached and soya sauce chicken rice dishes ($8.90 each) — these smaller rice portions are apparently made with canola oil and pack less than 500 calories each.
On the, er… creative side, there’s chicken sushi ($4.90) — which is essentially chicken rice in sushi form drizzled with teriyaki sauce (beware, this may anger sushi purists, too) — and stuffed chicken rice balls ($4.90) coated with breadcrumbs and deep fried, then served with a curry mayo dip.
Then you have your chicken chawanmushi ($4.90), pan-fried carrot cake with chicken sausage and mushrooms ($4.90) and diced chicken lettuce wraps ($4.90). Basically, the bird takes up almost the entire menu here. So you’ve definitely gotta be a white meat lover to make a visit.
Oh, and did we mention chicken laksa ($7.90)? But that’s not exactly ridiculously out there, and the menu also offers assam laksa ($7.90) if you’re sick of chicken. Other mains include tom yum fried rice with poached chicken ($8.90), soya chicken hor fun ($7.90) and bamboo chicken broth with rice ($8.90).
As for desserts, you can dig into creamy spoonfuls of durian crème brûlée ($5.90) for a gelat end to your meal or get the Nanyang coffee panna cotta ($5.90) if you’re not in the mood for something too sweet. Otherwise, there’s also breakfast food kaya fondue ($4.90), which is pretty much just pieces of steamed white bread served with a dish of kaya.
Roost is at #B1-17/18/19 The Centrepoint, 176 Orchard Rd, 6909-0411. Daily 11am-9pm.
