Newly opened Din Fried Chicken draws buzz with crispy Malay-style flavours

As I pondered what to have for lunch, a Facebook post with over 300 likes caught my eye — a new stall at the hawker centre near our office, DFC (Din Fried Chicken).

Curious, I braved the sweltering heat and speed-walked my way over to Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Market & Hawker Centre at around noon on a Wednesday. I was even lucky enough to catch the owner, Din, while the stall was empty.

Although soft-spoken, he kindly shared with me that the stall had been open for about a month, mainly selling ayam goreng, which is Indonesian-Malaysian style fried chicken. As lunch hour rolled around, more people started to queue up (call me a trendsetter or something), so I’d say business is picking up nicely for him.

Din shared that he wanted to focus on fried chicken as it is something “easy” that many people like. You know what, fair enough. What’s not to love about crispy, juicy chicken?

Their menu, displayed just below the signboard, is succinct and to the point. It features their signature fried chicken, various curry puffs, nasi lemak and mee soto.

If only I had a little more cash on me, I would’ve ordered Din Fried Chicken’s Nasi Lemak (S$4.50). Alas, as the average Gen-Z who is over-reliant on Paynow, I could only dabao a Quarter Chicken (S$3) and one Sardine Puff (S$1) back to the office.

Please don’t be fooled by the size of the chicken in this picture, as it was super meaty and substantial! The taste of the chicken meat itself was so-so, slightly dry in the way most chicken breasts are.

What stood out to me here was the skin. Albeit thin, it was packed with a well-seasoned, deliciously salty flavour that oozed out as I took a big bite into the chicken. I liked that they didn’t use the skin to cover up the chicken, instead elevating it as a whole.

In the end, I couldn’t finish the chicken, so I just nibbled around the surface to get as much of that oily, crisp skin.

Next up was, in my opinion, an underrated snack: the sardine puff. However, this one wasn’t quite what I expected. The second it landed on my tongue, I could feel the tingling spice spreading over my mouth. Although not unwelcome, it surprised me for sure. Thankfully, the slightly sweet afternote balanced it out.

There was a mixture of onions and sardines in the filling, topped off with a slice of egg. Frankly speaking, the ratio of onion to sardine was quite off, with a lot less sardine than what one would assume a sardine puff would contain.

Din definitely knows what he’s doing with his fried chicken but what about his other dishes? I guess it’ll take me another trip to Din Fried Chicken to find out.

P.S. They do not accept cashless payment (at the time of writing). Please don’t be like me— bring cash!

All ‘Bout Chicken: Affordable fresh fried chicken that is also finger-licking good