🍽️ Wenchang Chicken

Thin skin, crispy bone, tender meat, the top of Hainan's four famous dishes.

Wenchang chicken ranks first among Hainan's four famous dishes and originates in Wenchang. Traditionally free-range in coconut groves, foraging on insects and grain, the small bird is best simply white-cut poached, thin skin, firm-yet-crisp bones, tender juicy meat, chopped into glossy pieces and dipped in ginger-garlic sauce. Compact and firm without being tough, it carries a faint coconut aroma. Poaching precision is everything; it is enjoyed warm or cool. At festivals and banquets across Hainan it is the headline dish and the star of Hainanese chicken rice, one fine bird can anchor a whole table.