Giving that scoring an order of Johnny Lee’s awesome Hainan Chicken Rice at Pearl River Deli in LA Chinatown is akin to winning the lottery, it’s nice that a place has just opened up in Chinatown where you can walk right up and order some Hainan chicken. Maxwell Chicken Rice, named after the Maxwell food center in Singapore has opened up in the same location as, and on a similar basis to MGD Korean BBQ on Spring St., just south of Ord St., essentially a walk-up window/online order drive through operation. I found the Hainan chicken rice there to be OK, with the great sauces offset by a bit overly dry chicken white meat. Maybe I got a bad batch, as for a restaurant that has been open for only two weeks there is an impressive number of Yelpers heaping high praise, particularly for the juiciness of the chicken, and favorably comparing this to what you get in Singapore. Yelpers also praise the fried chicken, though bemoaning the small portion size, which exactly expresses my own sentiments. According to the website, additional branches are about to open in Northridge and La Habra.
Unless I hear to the contrary here, I’ll just dream of Johnny Lee’s Hainan chicken instead of ordering Maxwell.