SGV: Hainan Chicken at Red Chicken

 

Red Chicken opened in November last year and in its first few weeks of opening, it’s already challenging Savoy as the contender for best Hainan Chicken in the San Gabriel Valley. I went last month after driving by and decided to pop in the next day. With any new restaurant, you expect them to have to work out a few kinks. And I hope they do. The food is pretty good but I can’t say it’s the best yet.

 

We ordered all the main dishes on the menu and I got a Thai iced tea.

There was some confusion over hot water and tea. We wanted both. And some wanted iced water. We were given a pitcher of iced water two teapots of hot water so we had to ask for the tea again. Then no cups for the iced water so we had to use tea cups which were a bit sticky and oily. Hm.

We were intrigued by the egg wrapped Pad Thai. The photo shows the egg broken up to reveal the Pad Thai underneath. We did like this dish. It could probably have used a bit more lime juice to cut through the sweetness of the sauce. One lime wedge wasn’t quite enough.

You could get either steamed or fried chicken with the rice. We opted for two plates of steamed chicken and one fried. Everything was lukewarm which was a bit concerning for the fried chicken. The chicken tasted very fresh and we liked the rice quite a bit. I wished for slightly spicier sauce and missed the oil with the freshly minced ginger. Still, this must be Red Chicken’s style.

 

I was less enthused by the Mussaman curry. Some liked it but like the chicken plates, the fettuccine noodles were actually borderline cold. The curry was barely lukewarm. The little bits of potato had almost disappeared into the curry. It wasn’t the most attractive dish either but everything tasted fine.

We also got the Pad See Ew (not shown) which a dining companion said wasn’t even worth photographing. However, it like the Pad Thai were quite all right.

They were out of mango and sticky rice. Red Chicken is touting itself to be Singaporean (Hainan chicken though originally Chinese is quite the favorite in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand). I felt this place may have been slightly more Thai with the noodle dishes.

My fave Hainan Chicken is still at Sticky Rice and a chef who cooked there just opened Side Chick at the Santa Anita Mall. I’m curious to see how that spot is doing. Is Savoy in the SGV ever going to be dethroned for best Hainan chicken?

 

Red Chicken

1001 E Las Tunas Dr., San Gabriel, CA 91776  —  (626) 872-0620

 

© The Minty 2017