Hainanese chicken rice is one of my favourite dishes ever. I still remember my first time trying it in the airport in Kuala Lumpur. It was in the early hours of the morning before our flight and boy did it satisfy cravings. Chicken cravings, flavoured rice cravings, ginger cravings and comfort food cravings! I’m big on spice, but this is one of those dishes that is nowhere near being spicy. Some may say bland in comparison to dishes I usually have, but boy you don’t even miss it nor even remember the need for it. I’m also big on grilled chicken (as opposed to poached), but again this dish works so well that I didn’t even realise the need. Quite possibly the only poached chicken dish I enjoy! All components of the dish harmoniously work together like a piece of art you’d find in a Paris museum. It is a dish divided into different elements that have to be consumed in one bite, one glorious bite!
Anyway, enough of the mouthwatering description… let’s tell you what the dish actually is. It is a dish hailing from Hainan in China. But it has become famously the national dish of Singapore and is super popular there as a result. This could be because the country is populated by many Chinese immigrants. We were only in Singapore for a day and so didn’t get the time to try it unfortunately, but I couldn’t leave the region without trying it so that’s why I did so in the airport in Kuala Lumpur. No regrets! And I’m just thinking if the neighbouring country’s airport version was that good, boy the version in Singapore would be… wow! Anyway, back to the description. The elements that make up this wonderful dish are: poached chicken, flavoured rice (cooked in chicken stock), ginger sauce, soy sauce, chilli sauce and chicken broth. That’s it.
Okay, you’re probably thinking just tell me where I can try this without flying out to Singapore/ Malaysia/ China. We haven’t found one that is near as good as the one we tried in the Kuala Lumpur airport, but nonetheless we’ve found and tried some spots in London where you can try this glorious dish. This post will highlight three of the best spots in London where you can try this dish in halal form!
Rasa Sayang
This was our first experience of this dish in London and my wife’s first experience period. She was not feeling well when I was enjoying it in Malaysia… Rasa Sayang is a Malaysian restaurant based in the heart of Chinatown and so it receives a lot of attention. There always seems to be a queue for this place. And like anything that is super popular, you’ll get people who love this place as well as those who hate it. We loved our dining experience there, but in all honesty we enjoyed the other dishes we tried there more so than the Hainanese Chicken Rice. I mean it was still good and we finished it (so it must’ve been decent… or we were hungry…), but it just wasn’t as good as the one I had in Kuala Lumpur, which to this day remains one of my best meals ever! But it was evidently very popular as most people were actually ordering this, so if you’re in the area and looking to try something different for lunch, it’s worth hitting up.
Med Salleh Kopitiam
This spot is a Malaysian Kopitam. A kopitam is a coffee shop or breakfast / brunch spot primarily found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Southern Thailand. Their Hainanese Chicken Rice is supposed to be one of their signature dishes, so it has to be good right? We were not disappointed. It was still not as good as the one I had in Malaysia, but it’s probably the best we’ve had here in England so far. It certainly looked the part and all the elements made for a delicious lunch that can probably be shared between two. I do wish the chicken came out boneless though as it was quite fiddly to eat.
Mei Mei
Mei Mei is a famous Singaporean spot located in the historic Borough Market. Unlike the above two, they identify themselves as Singaporean and not a mixture of Malaysian or Singaporean or just Malaysian. They only do a handful of dishes, and only their chicken is halal, but unfortunately, we haven’t had the opportunity to try their Hainanese Chicken Rice yet, but it’s another spot where this dish is quite popular, so it must be worthy of trying? I do wonder if it can beat Med Salleh or even match up to what I had in Malaysia!?
