learning from the best Hainan Chicken Chef in America
hwoo.lee
•
May 8, 2026
As I continue my Hainan Chicken R&D Series, I was incredibly fortunate enough to meet who many consider to be the best Hainan Chicken chef in America. After spending the day learning from him, I've grown to admire his meticulous, scientific, and near obsessive approach to thinking about Hainan Chicken.
Chef Johnny Lee is from a city called Toisan (I think it's also called Taishan) in the southwest region of Guangdong Province in southern China. Growing up, his mother cooked a variety of Cantonese food, including poached chicken.
In 2013, Johnny helped open up the first Sticky Rice location in Grand Central Market LA. The chef wanted to put Khao Man Gai, or thai style hainan chicken rice, on the menu - so this was Johnny's first professional encounter with poached chicken.
In 2016, Johnny opened up Side Chick, his first Hainan Chicken concept in Arcadia. I believe it closed in 2022.
Which was followed up by Pearl River Deli (PRD), a Cantonese concept that sold Hainan Chicken, Char Siu, and much more. Personally, I heard a lot of raving reviews from other chefs about how Johnny's Hainan Chicken at PRD was the best in LA, if not the entire country. Unfortunately, it closed in 2024 and I never got to try it (I actually didn't even know what Hainan Chicken was back then).
Johnny told me that over the 7-8 years of running both Side Chick and Pearl River Deli, he has personally cooked over 10,000 Hainan Chickens.
I don't know exactly he stopped, but he told me doesn't even care that much for Hainan Chicken. He knows how to cook it really well. He's really a connoisseur of all poultry.
Currently, he runs a Southeast Asian Restaurant called Rasa Rumah in Historic Filipino Town. The Cendol Sundae (pictured above) is one of my favorite desserts in the city right now. Once in a blue moon, he does a Hainan Chicken special. Either way, I recommend visiting his spot.
It's sort of simple, but he mixes in render chicken fat into the rice after it's fully cooked.
Johnny noticed that when he would cook the rice, the fragrance of the chicken fat would become dulled after the rice finished cooking. Similar to how western cuisine mounts sauces, rices, or dishes with a dollop of butter to finish - he applied the same concept to fragrant chicken rice.
His second technique for fragrant rice is using a heavily seasoned chicken stock that is precisely at 49 °C, or anywhere from 43 °C to 54 °C. He opts for a rice cooker when cooking his rice. He noticed that when the chicken stock is too cold, it takes longer for the rice to cook and causes it to turn mushy. When the chicken stock was too hot, the rice cooker would finish cooking before the rice cooked thoroughly.
For his rice quantity, he does 1:1 ratio by volume of New Crop Jasmine Rice to Master Stock. If it's not new crop, he may go slightly more on the liquid. In the recipe below, I left it at mL for the unit.
He relies on a heavily seasoned master stock to season his rice, along with minced garlic, minced shallots, and slices of ginger.
I asked if he bothers with sautéing the aromatics and rice in chicken fat before cooking, and he opts not to because it's not feasible for a commercial kitchen. However, he wasn't opposed to it.
Wash jasmine rice (750 mL)jasmine rice 2-3x in cold water to remove starch. Allow to drain in a strainer until ready to use.
Warm hainan master stock (750 mL) to 49 °C. If needed, season with salt until it's heavily seasoned.
In a rice cooker, add jasmine rice (750 mL), temped hainan master stock (750 mL), garlic (2 Tbsp), shallot (2 Tbsp), ginger (4 slices), and 3 tbsp of chicken fat (6 Tbsp). Mix the chicken fat into the stock so it's not in one clump.
Around half way through cooking or when steam starts coming out of the rice cooker, open it to mix the rice briefly. This helps the rice cook more evenly. Execute this step as quickly as possible to not dry out the rice.
Once the rice is done cooking, add in the remaining 3 tbsp of chicken fat (6 Tbsp) and mix/fluff together until incorporated. Adjust seasoning if need be. Sometimes, you may need to rest for another 10-15min if it tastes 90% cooked.
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