Pow Sing Kitchen on Serangoon Garden Way is the Serangoon Garden home of one of Singapore's long-running Hainanese chicken rice names. The story began in 1983, when Mr Lee Chin Soo and Mr Steven Tan — both traditional Hainanese — opened the original Pow Sing Hainanese Chicken Rice stall at the very address where the restaurant stands today, with a simple aim: to share with Singaporeans the true taste of Hainanese chicken rice.
In 1989, seeing room to do more with Singapore's food, the founders engaged a traditional Nonya chef and elevated the stall into Pow Sing Restaurant. Diners came in ever greater numbers, and in 2008 Pow Sing Kitchen was born to welcome a bigger crowd. Through the generations, the kitchen has held to unchanged craftsmanship and carefully selected, quality ingredients — a consistency that has earned it the affection of the public and a steady stream of returning guests.
Under the refreshed Pow Sing brand, the menu reaches well beyond its namesake: alongside the Hainanese chicken rice and the signature Nonya curry fish head are sections for soups, specialties & pork, prawns & squid, fish & tofu, vegetables, rice & noodles, and a kids meal — an authentic Singapore taste spread built for family tables, with reunion menus around Chinese New Year.
In Serangoon Garden, a familiar name has been serving Hainanese chicken rice for more than four decades. Pow Sing Kitchen traces its roots to 1983, when Mr Lee Chin Soo and Mr Steven Tan — both traditional Hainanese — opened a modest stall with a simple ambition: to share with Singaporeans the true taste of Hainanese chicken rice. That stall, Pow Sing Hainanese Chicken Rice, opened at the very address the restaurant occupies today, and the dish it was named for has anchored the menu ever since. More than forty years on, the brand has grown and refreshed itself, yet the address has never moved.
The founders' idea caught on. In 1989, believing that Singapore's food had greater room to grow, Mr Lee and Mr Tan engaged a traditional Nonya chef and upgraded the chicken rice stall into Pow Sing Restaurant. Word spread, and diners began arriving in ever greater numbers, drawn to a kitchen that now married Hainanese foundations with Peranakan cooking.
Growth continued a generation later. In 2008, Pow Sing Kitchen was born, created to welcome a larger flow of customers while keeping the character of the original. Through every stage, the kitchen has held to the disciplines the founders set out with: culinary craft that does not change with the years, and carefully selected, quality ingredients. That steadiness, the restaurant notes, is what has won it the public's affection and a constant stream of returning diners.
Begin with the namesake. Hainanese chicken rice is the dish Pow Sing opened with in 1983 and the natural starting point for a first visit.
But this is not a one-dish restaurant. The signature Nonya curry fish head — a dish the restaurant headlines in its own right — carries the Peranakan half of the kitchen's heritage, the legacy of that 1989 decision to bring a traditional Nonya chef on board.
Around those two anchors, the menu opens out into full restaurant territory: a soups section, specialties and pork dishes, prawns and squid, fish and tofu, vegetables, and rice and noodles to pull the table together. Younger guests have a dedicated kids meal to fall back on, and around Chinese New Year the kitchen has prepared reunion lunch and dinner menus for families marking the occasion.
Eating at Pow Sing is a gather-round-the-table affair. The breadth of the menu is the point: a soup to start, a pork specialty, a prawn or squid dish, fish or tofu, a vegetable or two, and rice for everyone. It is a format that suits family dinners and group gatherings alike, with the kids meal smoothing the way for the youngest at the table.
For longtime regulars it is a taste of continuity; for first-timers, a straightforward introduction to two strands of Singapore cooking — Hainanese and Nonya — under one roof. The brand carries the Chinese name 報喜, and the team frames its promise plainly: to keep bringing diners new experiences in menu, specialties and outlets, and to serve better in many ways and in many years to come. Underneath that sits the same claim the founders made in 1983 — authentic Singapore taste, done the traditional way.
The Serangoon Garden branch is at 59 Serangoon Garden Way, Singapore 555961, and takes calls on +65 62840800. It is a convenient meeting point for the neighbourhood's residents and visitors alike. If you are planning a large gathering — the restaurant has previously promoted Chinese New Year reunion menus — it is worth phoning ahead to make arrangements rather than leaving it to chance.
Come for the chicken rice that started everything, stay for the Nonya curry fish head that marked the restaurant's second chapter, and you will be tasting a piece of Singapore's stall-to-restaurant story: a chicken rice stall from 1983 that grew into a full restaurant without ever changing address.