Prima Taste

From Prima Taste

I'm on a mission to document Chicken Rice in the GVA. Yesterday was Cafe D'Lite, today it's Prima Taste.

Prima Taste is a restaurant chain headquartered in Singapore. They have a number restaurants scattered all over Asia as well (Manila, Shanghai, Tokyo, etc.). There are only two locations in North America. One in San Jose, and one here...so we are very lucky.

Prima Taste takes this hawker cuisine to a new level. The interior design, branding, food and presentation are expertly executed. They have an extensive menu which covers all the favourites of this cuisine. I'm here for the Chicken Rice, so I will focus on that.

The portions are small and the chicken is not deboned (unlike Cafe D'Lite's). The meat is tender and gelatinous - perfect. The sauces included the entire (proper) triumvirate: Ginger/Oil; Chili/Oil; and Dark Sweet Soy (similar to Indonesian Kecap Manis - it has a deeply caramelized sweetness). To contrast, Cafe D'Lite did not have the Dark Soy...and their Ginger and Chili sauces did not taste bright (it tasted pre-prepared and refrigerated for a few days).

I had great service from Rogerick - my Jamaican bartender. The chef is a Singapore trained Taiwanese chef.

I ordered the Chicken Rice, Roti, and Ikan Bilis. The Roti was tender and flakey. The curry dipping suace tasted lighter (more diluted) that I usually have it. It's very good though. They also serve a BBQ version of Chicken Rice...next time I will try this.

My whole meal was under $20CAD.