Singapore dining brand Chatterbox, 55 years old and often called a piece of the city’s memory, is opening in Taiwan for the first time as Chatterbox Cafe. The first store is on the 7th floor of Taipei Far Eastern Garden City at Taipei Dome and opens on 16 September.
The brand’s mascot, Archibald, arrives with the store. From 16 September, diners who spend a set amount in one bill and post a public check-in on Facebook, Instagram, or Threads can claim a limited Archibald gift. Spend NT$3,200 and receive an Archibald keychain. Spend NT$4,800 and receive an Archibald plush. Each table may redeem one gift against one invoice, with no stacking. Stocks are limited and the offer ends when they run out.
A separate 10-day social promotion runs from 19 to 28 September. Show a screenshot of the designated Chatterbox Cafe Facebook fan-page campaign post, dine in, and order a dessert or drink for an on-the-spot NT$50 discount.
From hawker flavours to a five-star kitchen
Chatterbox was founded in 1971. It was among the first to take Singapore street hawker cooking into a five-star hotel, the Mandarin Hotel, and recast everyday flavours with hotel kitchen technique. Its signature Mandarin Chicken Rice has sold more than 12 million servings. In 2016 the brand entered the Singapore Prestige Brand Award hall of fame in the heritage-brand category.
The Taiwan cafe also brings laksa, satay, bak kut teh, and Hokkien fried noodles, in a space aimed at everyday meals rather than a hotel dining room. The cooking and a Taiwan-only mural are meant to show how Chinese, Malay, and Peranakan foodways meet on a Singapore plate.
When the dish launched in 1971, Chatterbox served deboned chicken, chicken-flavoured rice, chicken broth, and three condiments as a personal set, the first of its kind in Singapore, instead of sharing a whole bird. That layout later became the standard for contemporary chicken rice.
How Mandarin Chicken Rice is made
Every step is specified: poaching the chicken, cooking the rice, and making the sauces. The Taipei kitchen follows the Singapore method. Whole birds of a set weight are slow-poached in a spiced stock, then chilled at once to hold the juices and deboned so the skin and meat sit over a clear, tender layer of gelatine.
Rice is cooked in a stock of chicken broth, fresh pandan leaves, and a house spice mix with jasmine rice, so the grains take on the broth, the sweetness of the chicken, and the scent of pandan. The three condiments, chilli sauce, ginger paste, and dark soy, are shipped to Taiwan from Singapore.
Executive chef Liew Tian Heong oversees process and quality at the first Taiwan store. He has more than 30 years in the trade, runs Chatterbox kitchen operations and chef training, and holds the Mandarin Chicken Rice standard. He won gold as Master Chef – Asian Cuisine at the Hospitality Asia Platinum Awards (HAPA) regional series from 2011 to 2013. The recipe is still cooked in a dedicated hotel kitchen; only two people in the world know the full core process. Chef Liew has come from Singapore to train the Taipei team on poaching and stock-cooked rice, so the cafe inherits the brand’s half-century of practice, not only a plate of chicken rice.
A dish that became public memory
On the soft-opening day of 1 August 1971, then future Singapore president Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam and his wife dined at Chatterbox. After the chicken rice they chose the restaurant for their wedding anniversary. That private habit has lasted half a century.
Over the decades the restaurant has hosted Lee Kuan Yew, Muhammad Ali, Jackie Chan, Tony Leung, and Jay Chou. It still keeps photographs from different eras and plates of Mandarin Chicken Rice as a record of the brand’s years alongside Singapore. Aaron Kwok recently put Chatterbox on his itinerary while travelling in Singapore.
From one couple’s anniversary table to visitors from elsewhere, the dish has become a way many people first meet Chatterbox and Singapore. The cafe format is the first time that story has a home in Taiwan, and it opens at Taipei Dome.
The cafe menu and a Taiwan-only mural
Besides Mandarin Chicken Rice, the menu includes laksa with a broth of shrimp paste and coconut milk, bak kut teh with a clear white-pepper note, Hokkien fried noodles wok-fried over high heat, and satay with a house spice dip. Chatterbox’s Coconut Shake is coconut flesh blended into a fine slush, with tender grass jelly and honey red beans.
Singapore visual artist tobyato was commissioned for a store-only mural, Chicken Rice Dance. Flowing lines and strong colour bring in the Merlion’s lion, a chicken, and a heart made of two grains of rice, a contemporary take on Mandarin Chicken Rice.
Practical Details
Opening: 16 September (Taiwan first store)
Archibald gifts (from 16 September): one public check-in on Facebook, Instagram, or Threads plus a single in-store bill of NT$3,200 for an Archibald keychain, or NT$4,800 for an Archibald plush. One invoice per table, one gift, no stacking; while stocks last.
Social discount: 19–28 September. Show a screenshot of the designated Chatterbox Cafe Facebook fan-page campaign post, dine in, and order a dessert or drink for NT$50 off.
Address: 7F, Taipei Far Eastern Garden City, Taipei Dome
Nearest MRT: Taipei Dome Station (Green Line / Circular Line)
Official listing: Commercial Times report on Chatterbox Cafe at Taipei Dome
