Obsession: Hainan Chicken Rice

Hainan Chicken Rice is an obsession that started about thirty years ago when I first had it on a trip to Singapore. I had it at Chatterbox and at various food courts all over that city.

Here in Vancouver, the best Chicken Rice I have ever had in this town was at a now-defunct restuarant on Davie St called Nonya Baba. The HCR there was as close to Chatterbox's exemplary rendition. The for so many years, I felt that there was an HCR void in this town. I had HCR at various restaraurants that came fairly close to the dish I remember.

kwailan4 - a regular poster to Chowhound recommended I try the HCR at Prima Taste. I tried it a few days later. It was amazing. Pale white skin and meat, lots of sub-cutaneous gelatin beneath the skin and meltingly tender.

So what constitutes a great chicken Rice?

• A well poached, gelatinous, tender, flavourful chicken - boned or not
• White or near white skin and flesh
• A good clear, clean tasting chicken broth - without a hint of starchiness
• Bright, fresh chili and ginger sauces - freshly made. The chili sauce should not be sweet.
  
• A caramelized (tasting of burnt sugar) dark soya sauce.
• Fresh garnishes like crisp cucumbers, fresh tomatoes, peanuts, cilantro, or similar
• Flavourful, fatty Rice made from the poaching liquid...traditional ones are augmented with moreflavourful chicken stock that use older birds, from what I have gathered from research.

My quick Chicken Rice survey:

Summary:

Best = Prima Taste
Best Value = Hawker's Delight

The contenders:

Prima Taste http://www.chowhound.com/topics/505845 -- Best one yet
Hawker's Delight http://www.chowhound.com/topics/507082 -- Best Value
Prata-Man http://www.chowhound.com/topics/507078 -- not worth the visit
Banana Leaf http://www.chowhound.com/topics/507021 -- worth the visit
Cafe D'Lite http://www.chowhound.com/topics/505449 -- worth the visit
Angel Cafe http://www.chowhound.com/topics/512695 -- not worth the visit
Hainan Chicken (Aberdeen Center) - aburitoro tried it and gave it the thumbs up in this thread -- he even said that he liked it better than "Best Value" Hawker's Delight
Triple One Malaysian (Crystal Mall) http://www.chowhound.com/topics/51349... - worth the visit