The Old Raffles Place: Collingwood VIC

Ice Teh Tarik: ‘pulled’ tea sweetened with condensed milk – a bit frothless and diluted even before the ice started to melt

Ask any Melbourne resident about where to find good Hainanese Chicken Rice in Melbourne and chances are, most of them will chime The Old Raffles Place in Collingwood…or simply “Raffles”. You’d probably wouldn’t think much about the simple building on the corner of the street but as soon as I stepped inside, I was almost transported back to Malaysia – the smells, the retro pink walls, the clanging of the kitchen, that you (oddly) have to walk through to reach the dining area. I loved it already. (Ok I know Raffles is technically Singaporean but close enough!).

Armed with an iced teh tarik (that was sadly very diluted and lacking ‘froth’ – but refreshing nonetheless), we set about scoring the famed chicken rice for everybody, which luckily was available after all the warnings I received about how it gets sold out quickly on weekends. Without hesitation I also ordered the Penang Rojak and Chee Cheong Fun – firm hawker favourites whenever I’m back on the humid streets of KL.

Penang Rojak

The rojak was utterly beautiful. A salad of vegetables, apples, pineapple, my favourite yu tiao, tofu and bean sprouts in a black shrimp paste sauce that’s an absolute riot in my mouth with its pungent salty, sweet and slightly sour flavours. It would’ve been sheer perfection if they added more yu tiao (it’s so good when it has soaked in the sauce), more apple, guava and less pineapple – which was mouth-puckeringly sour.

Chee Cheong Fun

Sadly the chee cheong fun was a disappointing follow-up. The rice noodles that were used were like the cheap variation that you buy from asian grocers, which is recognisable by a distinctive musty rice noodle smell. I’m sure you’re probably thinking I’m batty but trust me, bad rice noodles have the most awful stench and taste. Also the sauce itself was uncharacteristically sour instead of sweet and I suspected a rice noodle flavour cross-contamination.

Off-topic: Does anybody know any good chee cheong fun in Sydney?

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Thankfully the chicken rice arrived in time. As Laurent Garnier commented, he loves the chicken rice here as the flavour is ‘clean’ and isn’t overly greasy and I agree. I felt almost healthy eating this. Despite requesting for succulent thigh meat, I received chicken breast instead, which I always find dry and the lettuce that the chicken sat on wasn’t the freshest on one of the plates. Overlooking all that, the chicken rice actually lived up to all the aforementioned praises. It’s may not be the best I ever tasted in Australia however (there are about 3 places in Sydney I can think of that are worthy of that title), but all in all, another successful Melbourne recommendation!

The Old Raffles Place
70 Johnston Street
Collingwood VIC 3066
Phone: (03) 9417 4450

Trading Hours: Tue-Sat 11.30am-3pm, Mon-Sat 5pm-10pm

Follow my blog with bloglovin