Mei Mei in Borough Market specialize in traditional Singaporean cooking & Hainanese chicken rice. The place is ‘apparently’ famous run by Michelin starred Elizabeth Haigh, ex head chef at east London’s Pidgin and is described as ‘a kopotiam for everyone’ on their instagram page.

All I knew before visiting is that they sold Hainanese chicken rice, a dish that I have never had and that I really wanted to try, so once I had seen that on the menu on line it was on my list of places to eat at in the market.

We ordered from the touch screen pads on the counter, got our number and name registered and then waited hungrily for the food to be made.

It was all very busy and frantic in an around the stall, seating up at the counter is at a premium and people are constantly hovering eyeing up potential opportunities to get a spot, almost willing other diners to finish up and leave swiftly. I confess I was the same, thinking ‘he literally only has one mouthful left what is he waiting for?‘

Luckily just as we got the food someone left and we elbowed our way into a couple of seats and tucked in

HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE

The menu described the dish as ‘poached fragrant chicken on rice‘, served with ‘cucumber, coriander, and ginger & garlic priced up at £13, for another £3 you could get broth and pickles and to be honest I am not sure why I didn’t get that too. I feel somehow that I was supposed to, just to make the meal complete

HAINANESE CHICKEN

The meal arrived a little more unkempt in appearance than I had expected being served in a big wide tray as opposed to the neater presentation shown on the menu where it was photographed in a bowl. I guess that is often the way and in the end all that matters is that it tastes good.

Along with the chicken, rice, cucumber, and ginger & garlic mix I also had two pots, one with a sweet soy sauce, and another with a gently spiced sambal of some sort (it might have been chilli garlic sauce).

I was happy to find plenty of shredded chicken on top of my rice. It seemed a fairly generous but to be fair I would hope so too for the money I expected a decent portion!

Flavour wise this was all very restrained, the poached chicken was subtle, the rice cooked in broth the same, it was a very gentle tasting. To make it more interesting I mixed in my sambal and soy mix and then things got a lot more lively on my palate.

All in all I quite enjoyed my first try of Hainanese Chicken rice. I have no idea it was a good one or not, I can only judge by how popular the stall was to find out for certain I think maybe I need to eat from a hawker in Singapore to find out properly and I am probably not doing that anytime soon

DEEP FRIED CHICKEN

The second dish we ordered was the Deep Fried Chicken served on Hainanese Chicken rice. This was perhaps a less daring choice as basically we are just getting fried chicken and rice?

On the face of it it sounded just like the first dish but tbf one of us really likes Fried Chicken and one of us was here for the Hainanese Chicken so maybe I should not be poking my nose into my fellow diners choices? 😋

FRIED CHICKEN RICE

As with the first dish the presentation was a little more clunky than the menu photograph but we were happy again to find a generous portion of crisp crunchy fried chicken on top of that bed of rice.

The side elements of the coriander, garlic & ginger mix together with pots of sauces bring the dish together and certainly helped to enliven the experience. Now don’t get me wrong, I suspect that subtle is the name of the game with this style of food, but sometime I do like a nice pop of flavour hitting my taste-buds to get the juices flowing and create more interest

With this dish I did like the fried chicken with the rice as it brought more variety and texture to each bite. The cool cold crunch of the cucumber, along with the soft silky rice, and then the crisp crunch of the chicken coating was very welcome.

I liked Mei Mei, the food was tasty and there was plenty of it, ok so perhaps it was a bit more expensive than I had expected but hey we are in London.

It was very crowded at the weekend when we visited them but we were here at peak lunchtime and I did notice later in the day and on other days that the stall was a bit quieter. It also didn’t help that it was pouring with rain so everyone had come under the covers and so it was mobbed everywhere.

Located at Unit 52 Rochester Walk, London SE1 9AF Mei Mei is right in the heart of the action within Borough Market. If you want to see the menu and more information check out their website

Check them out too on the socials: MeiMeilondon on Instagram,