It just goes to show that you don’t really need a lot of variety in order to be popular. All you really need is one item that everybody likes. In the case of Eng Kee, they just happen to chance upon a fried chicken wing recipe that people would line up even at 3pm in the afternoon to eat.
Now, when it comes to Chicken Wings, you can’t really go wrong if you use fresh chicken and you eat it piping hot. The best thing about a piping hot fresh chicken wing is when you bite into it, all this chicken juices flow out which is just slightly sticky, carrying with it the flavour of all the seasoning. The contrast of the crispy hot skin with the juicy flesh and a nice chilli sauce is one of the most enjoyable things to eat and you can easily down a few at a go.
Well, Eng Kee’s Chicken Wings are exactly like that. The seasoning is not very sophisticated, maybe just soy sauce, msg, salt and pepper. I certainly could not make out any strong spices in it, so aside from it being fresh and piping hot, I could not explain why there should be such a long queue for this except for the fact that they are the only ones which is freshly fried at this time of the day. 4.25/5
Actually, the style of fried chicken wings that I really enjoy are the ones that are served with Malay style Nasi Lemak. Again, it is not overly seasoned, but I really do enjoy the tumeric in the seasoning. Eaten with their sweet sambal tumis, its one of the reasons I head all the way to Changi Village food centre for.
Another style of fried chicken wings I really enjoy are Har Cheong Gai (Prawn Paste Chicken). Unfortunately, these are only found at Cze Char places like the one I blogged about recently at Siang Hee. The best Har Cheong Gai uses only the mid-wings of the chicken and the flavour is fantastic, especially when the juices come oozing out when you bite into it. I sometimes wish that someone would just set up a stall to sell Har Cheong Chicken Wings. That would be nice wouldn’t it?
Conclusion
This stall simply sells bee hoon with fried chicken wings which goes to show that you just have to have one popular item in order to “make it”. Sometimes it pays to be the master of one, rather than to be a jack of all trades.
