Nene Chicken re-visited

UPDATE: Nene Chicken is no longer Halal-certified. Their certification expired in 31 Dec 2014 and they did not renew. Please take note.

https://twitter.com/halalSG/status/565799407488991232

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Took the morning off for a doctor's appointment. With time to spare before I head back to the office at 2pm, I decide to pay Nene Chicken at Bedok Mall another visit.

After having tried the super-spicy one and the cheesy one (opposite ends of the spectrum!) the previous time, this time I plan to try something else.

I'm very curious about the Green Onion version, where fried chicken pieces were topped with sprigs of shredded green onion/scallions; supposedly from Korea.

I gotta' confess that I'm a big fan of green onions, dragon's breath be damned.

Green Onion Tenders meal - $9.90

With the usual suspects, accompanied with the refreshing cubes of pickled radish and the yummy buffalo sticks.

This time, I've learnt my lesson and ordered a small tub of sauce to dip into ($1). Curious as to what 'Swicy' taste like, I got that sauce. 

Green Onion Tenders

Fear not. It's not really fried chicken simply topped with the shredded green onions. The crispy chicken meat were doused in this yummy sauce; which is a mix of soy sauce, mustard and sugar. Very much Asian flavour.

Awesome combo!


My receipt

Anyway, that day was weekday and I stepped in right before lunch hour so the place is empty and food came out fast.

My dining experience even had an added bonus; in the form of a group of Korean ladies seated at the next table, chatting merrily. Boy, does that feel like in Korea or what?

I was curious as to what they might order. They had this:


Green Onion 2pc chicken rice meal

Even they chose the Green Onion.

I almost ordered this set too. Somehow prefer actual pieces of chicken (bones and all) instead of the tenders (fillet strips). However, I love for the buffalo sticks too much to substitute them with rice. :P

Next time, it will be the Black Sesame! And maybe the Bulgogi Wings & Sticks.

Junshin Express - 50 cents Sushi!

This picture is enough to draw me to their shop. Oh, bless social network!

Shopfront

Yes, they aren't kidding with the 50cent declaration. It's the price of ALL sushi varieties, mind you.

I came with low expectations; thinking that the 50 cents charge only apply to the cheapest or most basic sushi types like the (canned) tuna, Kanikama (imitation crabmeat), Tamago (omelette), Inari (sweet tofu skin) or even sweetcorn.

Boy was I wrong. That's when I got delirious and wanna buy EVERYTHING!


Temaki, Sake & Chuka

Here's where the non-50cent stuff are.

On the top shelf are the Kani temaki (sadly, only 1 variety) ~ $1.80 each.

Below that are Sake (salmon) sashimi ~ $4.80.

After that are all the Chuka (seasoned items). Like Chuka Wakame (seasoned seaweed), Chuka Idako (seasoned baby octopus), Chuka Chinmi (seasoned scallops), Chuka Kurage (seasoned jellyfish) ~ $2.80


Bottles of Halal sauces

Soba sauce, sushi shoyu (dipping) sauce and even sushi rice vinegar. All have the Halal symbol on the bottles.

They also have a fridge full of vegetarian sushi. Yes, you read right. Stuff like sushi topped with fruits and veggies. Doesn't really pique my interest, though.


Kani temaki, Tobikko sushi, California maki

Kanikama (imitation crabmeat) handroll, California Maki and Tobikko (flying fish roe) sushi.

There's a yellow version of Tobikko available- supposedly flavoured with yuzu? And another green one (definitely wasabi).


16 sushi(s)

…To be shared with my colleague, Sri.


Up close

(Top-from left) Chuka Kurage (seasoned jellyfish), Chuka Chinmi (seasoned scallops), Tako sushi (cooked octopus), Octopus salad, Chuka Idako (seasoned baby octopus)

(Centre-from left) Chuka Chinmi, Chuka Wakame (seasoned seaweed) x 2, Octopus salad, Shimeji (Japanese beech) mushrooms

(Bottom-from left) Sake (salmon) sushi, Tako (cooked octopus) sushi, Chuka Idako, Unagi (eel) sushi x 2

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Today I have another doc appointment, and yes! Another morning off.

Reminiscent of 2 days ago, I came back to Bedok Mall and of course, Junshin Express for more (cheap) sushi!

Since I now know what the hits and misses are, I'm more confident with my selection, this time.

2nd round!

(clockwise from top-left) Octopus salad, Chuka Wakame, Chuka Kurage, Chuka Idako, Chuka Chinmi, Kani salad, Octopus salad (again), Tako Sushi

If you ask for my favourite amongst all, I dare say it's the Octopus Salad. That's why I took 2 of them, this time. And now I wish I had taken at least 3 instead.

Seeing that I'm currently preggers, I skipped all the raw fish stuff like Sake (salmon), Maguro (tuna), Shiromi (white-flesh fish) or Ika (squid). I got some for my colleague, though.

I still eat sashimi, mind you. But to play it safe, I'll pay more to have them at higher-end places or the Sakuraya Fish Market; where I know that they take pride in providing really fresh, quality fish.

You can view their menu HERE (not that updated, though). You may find some items unavailable when you're at the shop but you may also find others that aren't listed, being available.

You can get updates through their FB, too.

Payment is currently cash terms only. They give ample packets of shoyu & wasabi but you can buy more at 10 cents each.

Nene Chicken

UPDATE: Nene Chicken is no longer Halal-certified. Their certification expired in 31 Dec 2014 and they did not renew. Please take note.

https://twitter.com/halalSG/status/565799407488991232

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I saw someone post pics of her Nene Chicken meal online and I was like, "Halal, meh??"

A quick check on their FB page and… homaigawd!! I. Must. Try. It. Out!

I have been lusting after their chicken ever since I read this post and this post. Yes, it's been over a year! I've seen the branch at Star Vista and it was reaaally tiny. So I brace myself when I head down to their Bedok Mall branch.

It's still a tad small for a fast-food outlet but definitely bigger than that branch in Star Vista. The menu board showcased the 6 different chicken flavours and that's it. I won't fault you if you think that they only serve drumsticks. Only when you reach the counter and saw the actual menu, do you rush to make last-minute decisions… pfft!

Menu

So I shall do you a favour and put their menu here. 

…You're most welcome. : )

The Bedok Mall branch

There are 2 counters but only 1 was active that night. And the queue was quite lengthy. I was wondering why, until I saw the order chits lined up in a row.

I think the kitchen was somewhat under-staffed. Guess it'll be sometime before we'll get our food, then. *rumbling belly*

We were given a disc which will light up and vibrate when our number get called.

Our food tray

Each set meal includes a 2 piece chicken, buffalo sticks (that'll be fries, for you), pickled radish and a drink for $7.90.

The set for the boneless chicken tenders cost $9.90.

The fries were much thinner than the typical shoestring ones and they were skin-on and spiced. But surprisingly, they weren't over-fried till it was too crisp, nor were they soggy. They were done right, crispy outside and soft inside. Addictive, in fact.


Pickled radish

I was very curious about this and eagerly tried it first.

It was chilled radish cubes pickled in this sweet and tangy vinegar. Very refreshing! So sweet that I wondered if they used pears instead.

As with most Korean meals, I guess even the meal here comes with a 'banchan' (side dish).


Snowing cheese tenders

Chose this out of curiousity. Besides we think that this might help to counter the heat from our other chicken order.

Read reviews saying that the boneless tenders can be quite dry. I guess it's because they used the breast meat. We were wondering why there isn't any chilli sauce given. Turns out we can have a small tub of spicy sauces (swicy/freaking hot) for $1.

A bit of warning: The cheese may come off as a bit 'stinko' at first. Like, old socks kind of 'stinko'. But you'll get used to it and may find yourself licking the cheese powder off your fingers, later on.


Freaking Hot chicken

They weren't kidding when they use that name for this sauce.

Here's a nice little warning: They plastic gloves that's been given? Use THAT when eating this. I mean it. For I learnt it the hard way. My finger tips had this slowww burning sensation that lasted the whole night. And still tingle the next morning.

Last time I felt that was when I used to help my mum cut-up dried chillies before they're boiled.

Speaking of dried chillies, that's just what the sauce smelt like, initially. Concentrated dried chillies. Bet they must have added heaps of the famous Korean dried chilli powder into this sauce concoction.

The heat didn't hit you at first, because of the sweet taste. After a few more bites, you may find yourself tearing and a bit of snot dribbling from your nose. That's when the snowing cheese chicken pieces or the chilled pickled radish come in handy. Anything to offset that crazy heat.

Hmm… reminds me of the Hot hot Drums from BBQ Chicken.

But you either get used to it eventually or get numbed, as it doesn't seem like a big deal in the end. I even dip my buffalo sticks in remnants of that sauce!

And you know what? Our heads felt refreshingly lighter! I mean, it felts like we've been to hell and back but the outcome is that we feel… I don't know how to put it. It's just better! Read somewhere Koreans enjoy eating spicy food because they can cool themselves down after sweating it out. No wonder…

Delivery menu

And another thing: They do delivery (but only limited areas).

So what's my take? I'm so going back to try out ALL the flavours, that's what! 

**UPDATE: They no longer have black sesame on their menu?! Wargh!!