Where is the best place for Hainan chicken you might ask? It is Savoy Kitchen, Alhambra, CA you will say! Hainan chicken takes root in a providence called Hainan in Southern China. Hainan chicken is a simple chicken dish in which Hainan chicken is always eaten over rice. The preparation concept is very simple too! How can something so simple be so delicious?! Hainan chicken is prepared by taking a free-range chicken and poaching it at sub-boiling temperatures with fresh ginger, sesame oil, and scallions. But what about the rice?? There is something special about it.. it is different.. definately not just regular white rice! The Hainan rice is also prepared specially too, using the reserved chicken fat broth and shallots!
From left to right – sugar water, lemon tea, and chrysanthemum tea – These are their two most popular teas! The chrysanthemum tea is made fresh and prepared with the perfect amount of sugar to make it sweet and delightful! The lemon tea sounds so simple but it is one of the more popular teas ordered around the restaurant! Iced lemon tea with a slice of lemon! And what is the secret? Add sugar water in until your sweet tooth is content! IT IS DELICIOUS! It sounds like it can give you diabetes but it won’t and if so, it’s worth it?? LOL. With that occasional kick of fresh lemon taste in your mouth.. mmMmm
Pizza bread – Plain and simple. Lightly warm and pretty mild, but goes WELL with the pasta dish to come..
conch and prosciutto pasta – sliced seashell meat cooked with garlic, white wine, olive oil and butter – I’ve never tried conch seashell meat before until today and it was delicous! It resembles sliced garlic cloves and I accidentally mistook one for the other.. The conch was thinly sliced, soft, and tender; probably one of the softest seashell meat I’ve eaten! There is also plenty of garlic, butter sauce to soak the pizza bread in and eat! Yummm!
smoked duck pizza – sliced smoked duck, red onion, enoki mushroom and mozzarella cheese on original potato dough bread – the “asian” version of American Pizza! It was so good!! And super cheesy too! The smoked duck was thinly sliced and cooked perfectly to have the more flavorful, sweet flavors all condensed on the crusty edges while soft and tender in the center! Red onions and mushrooms gave it a special crunch and the cheesy cheese held everything together nicely!
hainan chicken rice (white meat only) – rice steamed in chicken broth and poached chicken served with a small portion of ginger, minched chili sauce, and dark soy sauce! Their signature dish deserves to be talked about last! Now this presentation is the traditional way of how Hainan chicken over rice is served! The rice doesn’t look as different in this picture but in person, it sure does! The texture of the rice is almost like broken rice and has that hint of chicken broth taste to it! You can see the faint color too! My favorite way of eating it is pouring the soy sauce over the rice and mixing it up. Then dipping the chicken into the ginger sauce or minced chili sauce, taking a gobble bite, and feed my mouth with rice after. So goooood! And if you ever opt to try mixed meat or dark meat only, it tastes even better!
Tata for now! Happy Sunday everyone! <3
