I was sharpening my pitchfork as soon as I read the initial post like a lot of folks here. I had the same thought about comparing it to a cheese slice as well. A deceivingly simple looking dish that requires good technique and sourcing to really get right. And when it’s done with skill and love, it’s sublime.
I think lapizzamaven could have been a little less abrasive with their wording and other folks (me included) could’ve given more grace. I want lapizzamaven to try the dish, I want to convince them of what I know to be true. Hainan chicken is damn delicious.
Re-reading some of the post I’m getting a bit of a different sense. Calling the dish indefensible initially sounded like an insult, it felt a little personal, but now it reads more like a playful invitation to tell them why their wrong. I’m sure they’ve read enough posts here to know that a lot of people love HCR.
I’m of Chinese descent myself and fully know what it’s like to have the flavors, especially textures, I love be derided. It’s a tender spot. I’m glad I took a step back and processed a bit before posting.
I hope we can all meet in the middle and share what we love. Be able to give each other a little ribbing. We definitely could all use a little more grace sometimes.
Hainan chicken rice looks like plain rice and chicken boiled in water, which is a pretty boring dish, but the flavor of chicken poached in rich chicken broth is second only to a perfectly roasted chicken, and the breast might be better.
Jeez, it’s now a relief to read your rational and friendly comment…my initial comment was made, believe it or not, almost tongue-in-cheek(or tongue-in chicken breast)…the first couple comments(JLee-“I Have no idea why people like it”) and then(Robert-"If it’s done right, the best thing is the rice)were pretty harmless but responses quickly descended into serious contentiousness! But as relieved as I am to read the non-abrasive tone of your comment and as equally relieved you laid down the pitchfork, Im not likely to try it…Now, if a dining partner ordered it and removed the skin, Id certainly try it…I think Im at least meeting you, wanderlustre, half way…
I will add that while most of my posts here are about pizza and that they rarely get much of a response, seeing how my “controversial” comment about Hainan chicken generated such emotional and voluminous reactions, I may have to just keep my comments controversial…lets see, maybe I should question Langer’s pastrami or Sergio’s Pescado Zarandeado! 
You have to come up with something more creative. Our resident “vegan” had already some thoughts
I actually think the grilled onions served w/ the PZ are more interesting than the PZ itself…
There’s a whole hot take thread for controversial statements, no? 
Ohmigod, no need to reference that. I think I have PTSD from seeing the link to that thread.
I had no idea!!!
Well, Im a sucker for grilled onions!!! Id even eat the Hainan chicken with grilled onions!
The pastrami is comparable. As a whole sandwich Katz is laughable
We’ve eaten at Katz’s but for the last number of years we order it.
Oh, now Hainan chicken with grilled onions would be… interesting. But I don’t know if that would be an improvement!
The PZ is very good. But it was not, for, me, transcendent. But I have not had it in a LONG time.
what is that delicious looking meat next to the chicken?
char siu
If you grew up in the SGV you already know why it’s good.
Hot take: I freakin love Savoy’s sauces plus free refills of ice lemon tea. Still love PRD’s and Marden’s as those are probably the best 2 I ever had. Never been to Singapore/Malaysia though.
i must have been on a bender when this thread was posted. came up when i was googling. very funny reading through the whole thing now.
Hot take: I freakin love Savoy’s sauces plus free refills of ice lemon tea.
i don’t think this is a hot take at all. savoy is fantastic. there’s a reason it’s still an institution.
these days, i lean towards Heng Heng’s Thai version. it helps that the folks at their second location in Hawthorne are super nice. they’ll give you unlimited refills on the soup, which in true Thai Hainan Chicken style, is white-peppery as fuck.
they also offer khao mun gai tod, the fried version, and zabb fried chicken/pork (imagine the essence of laab condensed into a dry rub). that dust + well-executed taiwanese popcorn chicken is a cheat code for wedding catering btw.
anyway, i’m sure anyone who cares already saw that Johnny posted his Hainan Chicken recipe when he closed PRD. it’s absurdly involved; leans heavily on having an ongoing master stock, where generations of chickens have swam, to achieve the jelly between meat and skin; and really speaks to his absolute obsession with a dish that grosses out (or, simply bores) a non-trivial amount of people.
the “Refer to chicken cutting video for how to boneless breakdown (will be released maybe sometime in future LOL?)” line in the recipe has haunted me for years.
there’s a content creator who became equally obsessed with Hainan chicken. after spending some time with Johnny, he put up a video a few months ago where you can kindasorta reverse engineer how Johnny separates the finished chicken. it’s much closer to butchering a chicken for high-end yakitori.
he also posted a paywalled write-up with full ass recordings of Johnny carving. not linking because i’m not getting paid. most entertaining part is that Johnny prefers Daiso eyebrow pluckers for extracting small bones.
it is a very fun project if you enjoy descent into madness. thanks for coming to my TEDx talk