Who makes the best Hainanese chicken rice? It depends on who you ask.
The poached chicken and rice dish was invented on Hainan Island, China's southernmost province, but appears on menus throughout Southeast Asia. In Singapore, it is the national dish and there is an ongoing debate over whether Ah Tai or Tian Tian, both at that country's Maxwell Food Centre, serve better. I tried both when I visited last year and neither are bad.
In Los Angeles, restaurants specializing in Hainanese chicken rice, such as Alhambra's decades-old Savoy Kitchen, have helped popularize the dish.
An order of Hainanese chicken rice from Savoy Kitchen in the Alhambra. The restaurant has served this dish since 1982.
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
Although Savoy's menu includes pizza, pasta and even a roast Cornish hen, I've never seen anyone in the small dining room eating anything other than Hainanese chicken rice. Waiters come to the tables about every five minutes to refill their trio of chicken rice seasonings: ginger, chili, and sweet soy.
My best friend will tell you that Savoy makes the best Hainanese chicken rice. My Chinese grandmother might agree. Although I always thought the constant lines had more to do with the small dining room and the affordability of the restaurant. When I was in high school, chicken and rice dishes cost less than $10.
My mom prefers chicken and rice at Cluck2Go in Pasadena, and before it closed, Side Chick at the mall in Arcadia. She's a new chicken and rice convert at Heng Heng Chicken and Rice in Thai Town. If you ask my cousin, she'll tell you that the chicken at Green Zone in Temple City is the juiciest.
If you didn't grow up eating this dish, it may be difficult to understand the charm of a plate of unassuming poached chicken, intentionally loose pale skin, and a mound of rice cooked in the poaching liquid. Its simplicity, pure flavors and contrast of textures are what I find so comforting. And if you really need a dose of salt, acid or spiciness, the dish is usually served with condiments that offer just that.
Chef Hong Xiao spent years cooking Hainanese chicken rice in the San Gabriel Valley before opening Hong Coffee and Bakery in Monterey Park earlier this year. But you'll have to look for it to find it on their menu.
The restaurant and shop has about four tables inside and a long deli counter with cups of silken tofu, pastries and a variety of sweet and crunchy snacks on display. There's a long list of noodle soups on the menu, with broth bowls piled high with fish balls, wontons and springy egg noodles. If you can get past the soups and lo mein, you'll find Hainanese chicken rice.
An order of Hainanese chicken with rice from Hong Coffee and Bakery in Monterey Park.
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
“I know a lot of places around here have the chicken and rice dish, but I wanted to make it and see how the customers did,” Xiao says during a recent visit. “I came up with my recipe by pulling from every place I worked at before, choosing the parts I liked of the dish.”
Xiao's chicken is firm and has barely any slippery skin. Each piece is filled with the poaching liquid, fortifying the chicken with its own juices and fat. Their rice resembles the broken rice you might find at a Vietnamese restaurant, slightly chewy and thick with the chicken broth in which it was cooked.
“The most important thing is to get fresh chicken,” he says. “That and how long you cook it in the broth.”
Xiao serves his chicken with ginger paste, dark soybeans, and a side of pickled cabbage and carrots. The pickles are a nod to his childhood in Guangdong, China, where he would buy jars of pickled vegetables from street vendors.
“I've never had pickles with Hainanese chicken before, but I liked the flavors and thought they would go well together.”
They do it. And it's only a matter of time before chicken and rice dishes start outnumbering soup dishes on your tables.
At the new Burd Chicken Rice in West Covina, real estate agent Dee Meas serves his own version of chicken rice inspired by bai mon, the chicken and rice dish found throughout Cambodia. After working in commercial real estate and helping dozens of restaurant clients find spaces for their businesses, Meas decided to open Burd Chicken Rice in a shopping center earlier this year.
An order of chicken and rice from Burd Chicken Rice in West Covina comes with chicken broth and two dipping sauces.
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
Born in Cambodia, Meas and his family fled the Khmer Rouge to the United States when he was 4 years old.
“Chicken rice is a staple,” Meas says on a recent call. “Bai mon in Cambodia is our version of chicken rice, very similar to Hainan. “I grew up eating Cambodian food with my mother's traditional flavors, but our version is more adapted to everyone.”
Meas toasts his basmati rice in a blend of “secret” aromatics that give it a distinctive yellow hue and a slightly bitter, nutty flavor. The grains are shiny from the poaching liquid and are cooked in the same broth as the chicken.
An order of fried chicken skins for Burd Chicken Rice in West Covina. The restaurant specializes in chicken and rice.
(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
In addition to the more traditional poached chicken, Meas prepares grilled chicken marinated in lemongrass and ginger. Also fry the chicken after poaching it. You can order any of the preparations on rice or wrapped in a giant flour tortilla. And there are cups of fried chicken skin as crispy as French fries.
Each order is paired with one or both ginger seasonings. One is a mixture of garlic, ginger and chives sautéed in oil until the fragrances bloom and the alliums begin to wilt. Chili Ginger is its fiery counterpart, with the heat of bird's eye chili, fresh ginger, garlic and the tangy touch of rice wine vinegar.
In an effort to differentiate Burd Chicken Rice from other chicken and rice-focused restaurants, Meas says he trademarked the concept of chicken and rice sugarcane drinks. He's making freshly squeezed sugarcane juice and mixing it with coconut water, passion fruit, and kumquat, but the chicken and rice are reason enough to visit.
