Considering that Singapore is famous for being one of the world's most delicious cities, it is surprising that Singaporean food doesn't have more cachet, or at least more of a presence, in Japan.
As Japanese teenagers growing up in Singapore, Daimu Kato and Kota Nagai plotted to change that. "We would eat chicken rice once or twice a week and talk about how we would spread chicken rice in Japan," Kato explains.
Fast-forward several years and the two friends, now back in Japan, have their own restaurant, Mr. Chicken (1-15-4 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; (03) 5772-1931), which specializes in — you guessed it — Hainanese chicken rice.