The Chicken Rice Chronicles Part 2: Afghanistan

So we are on to the 2nd makan place in our series for Chicken Rice.
I am of course referring to our series called The Chicken Rice Chronicles where we go around sampling the favourite Chicken Rice stalls of YOU – our readers.

You might want to read our intro post HERE before you go any further though.

Anyways on to the food!
Here’s another name that was recommended by quite a number of our readers…

Chicken Rice ($3.50)

Afghanistan Family Restaurant is a name that many people (especially those living in Tampines) will be quite familiar with I reckon. It’s been around for ages and is known for it’s favourites like Murtabak and Briyani. But we’re not here for the Murtabak or Briyani this time are we.

It recently underwent renovations but it’s 100% back on track now and many of our readers felt that the Chicken Rice at Afghanistan deserved a mention on our list.

But will it be as nice as most people remember it to be?

When I first saw the serving of chicken, I thought to myself “No ways is this going to be enough”.
But surprisingly enough, it was actually just nice in terms of the portion.

The chicken comes with some special sauce over the top. I’m not really 100% sure what it consists of but just from the taste, I’m guessing it’s made up mostly of onions and garlic. I have to say it definitely makes a difference in the taste department because the chicken itself is unfortunately not exactly bursting with flavour.

The chicken meat was pretty tender though I have to say.

I have to say I was actually quite disappointed with the rice.

It was quite dry actually. It was a little on the hard side which I actually don’t mind but because of how dry it is, you’re definitely gonna have a sip of drink after every one or two mouthfuls.

Here is where the biggest disappointment came – the Chilli.

This was the type of Chicken Rice chilli which was mostly vinegar so you have a nice sour tang to it. Definitely some sugar to sweeten and even it out a bit. But nothing much at all in the spicy department.
Please don’t get me wrong. I love the vinegary type of chilli. But somehow I guess I was expecting the chilli to be the star since the chicken and the rice were not doing so well in my books.

Let me try and place this taste for you.
I’m not sure how many of you will remember this but bear with me okay.

When I still in school in the early 90’s (I’m talking about the times when Chicken Rice cost $1.50), I used to hit Bedok Library pretty often with some school buddies. And either before or after, we’d have lunch at a nearby makan place called Alfiah.

Alfiah was located along the same row as where the current Bedok Central NTUC stands (but it’s long gone now) and pretty much everytime I’d have the Chicken Rice because it was cheap and we got full.

The Chicken Rice Chilli at Afghanistan tastes exactly like the chilli I used to have as a kid at Alfiah.
Vinegary and sweet. So if anyone of you remembers the Chicken Rice at Alfiah, well, this is the pretty much the same taste for the chilli that you’ll get at Afghanistan.

Adam’s Verdict:
Chicken 2.5/5 — Rice 2/5 — Chilli 2/5 — Overall 2/5

I have a very strong feeling that the standards have dropped at Afghanistan. I’ve heard people saying that about their Murtabak and other stuff and perhaps it seems the Chicken Rice too now?

My darling wife and her family mentioned that some of the stall owners have changed over the many years and maybe even after the recent renovations. And they would know because they live just across the street and have been eating here for ages as I’m sure quite a number of our readers have too.

I’m not even sure if this is the same people selling the Chicken Rice that the readers have recommended.
But it’s still a nice place to have some makan with family and/or friends. I guess that when I do visit again, I’ll probably order something else.

Afghanistan Family Restaurant

201E Tampines Street 23
Chicken Rice Stall

Tel: 6783 7746

Operating Hours:
7.30am til 11.30pm Daily
(Opens at 3.00pm on Friday afternoons)