Flame-grilled chicken goodness at Chickita — Vietnamese chain opens first shop at City Square Mall

When it comes to chicken, most prefer it fried. Some prefer it poached, a la chicken rice. But for us, we are most obsessed with smoky and juicy grilled chicken.

It’s slightly harder to find good grilled chicken in Singapore, but if you’re a grilled chicken fan too, be sure to check out the new Chickita at City Square Mall.

The brand originates from Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City and is on an expansion path — having debuted in Malaysia and Australia earlier this year — with plans to open in a few other cities in the works.

This will be Chickita’s first Singapore outlet and the decor is done up with the brand’s distinct vibrant colour palette and jazzed up with various bright LED fixtures to give it a lively vibe.

It’s slated to open officially on Dec 10!

Flame-grilled chicken and six sauces

While the flame-grilled chicken is the star, there’s a bunch of other items on Chickita’s menu to go with it.

That includes the signature hot prawn dip (S$9.90) for cheese lovers — basically a rich and garlicky carbonara-esque dip served with tortilla skin for you to smother the cheesy dip all over.

If you prefer something more tangy and appetising, the sticky chicken rib (S$10.90 for nine pieces) is another good choice.

The chicken is lightly crunchy on the outside and comes covered in a sweet and sour sauce that almost reminds us of gu lou yok (local sweet and sour pork).

However, we’ll definitely still recommend the half chicken (S$19.90 a la carte, S$20.90 for combo with two sides) as the must-order dish at Chickita. 

But you also have the option for 1/4 chicken leg (S$10.90 a la carte, S$15.90 for combo), 1/4 chicken breast (S$10.90, S$14.90 for combo) and boneless chicken leg (S$10.90, S$15.90 for combo).

The chicken is marinated for 24 hours and comes nicely grilled, especially with the thigh, where the meat is succulent and juicy, while the skin comes silky with a nice bit of smoke to it. 

That said, we did find the breast part slightly dry — but that’s pretty common for chicken breast.

It all comes lightly coated in Chickita’s signature sauce too, to add that extra bit of spice and fragrance. 

Perhaps the most interesting part of Chickita is the option to customise your chicken, as it offers six different sauce options at each table.

These include the most potent Dynamite, original lemongrass lime leaf chilli, and our favourite Sexy, which tastes almost like chicken rice chilli.

In fact, they even recommend mixing the mango citrus-laden Tropical, Sexy and Dynamite sauces to make a tangy and flavourful concoction that reminds us of Mexican mango habanero hot sauce!

The sauces are quite fun to experiment with the sweet potato fries (S$4.90 a la carte), if you had to choose a side to go with your chicken.

Desserts are simple popsicles that come in three flavours: heavenly Oreo (S$4.90), wild berry dream (S$4.90) and passion fruit love (S$4.90).

The Oreo one tastes like McFlurry and the berry one tastes like the raspberry ripple you’d get from old-school ice cream carts — super nostalgic!

It’s a fun time at Chickita and we think grilled chicken lovers should definitely pay a visit and see how it stacks up against the rest!

This was an invited tasting.

For more ideas on what to eat, read our stories on places to hunt down for authentic Thai food in Singapore and all you need to know about newly reopened sandwich darling Korio.

Enjoy up to 50% off when you dine with GrabFood Dine Out.

You can also book a ride to Chickita’s first Singapore outlet at City Square Mall