From Wudaoying Hutong to U-Town Mall: Wan Opens Its Second Branch, Specializing in Hainan Chicken Rice
It’s been over a year since Wan first opened its doors on Wudaoying Hutong, serving middling Vietnamese cuisine in a traditional courtyard. Wan has now opened its second branch on the fourth floor of Chaoyangmen's U-Town, marking its first foray into the arena of mall dining and a marked difference to its more humble beginnings.
In this new rendition, Wan moves away from pho and spring rolls and instead slaps “Hainan Chicken Rice” next to their logo. From the restaurant's décor alone it's difficult to tell exactly what Wan is going for but it's clear that they're trying to spruce up this common hole in the wall dish with an open-style dining area, potted plants galore, and a ton of Christmas decorations. There's also a clean bar with high stools for solo diners, several larger tables, and a half-private table for big groups.
As for the food, it's safe to say that people who like their Hainan chicken rice really like their Hainan chicken rice, so it's not a bad market to corner. Considered the national dish of Singapore, and also wildly popular in Malaysia and Thailand, the rendition here comes at RMB 52 per set, RMB 68 for half a chicken, or RMB 128 for the whole bird. There is a selection of Malay dishes on the menu, including seafood mee goreng (noodles), stir-fried spinach, curried fish, and stir-fried chili prawns.
Having taken a peek at the chicken set on the table next to ours, we could see that the portion was quite miserable with nothing more than a few measly nubs of the chicken, which pushed us to go for a whole bird. After a long 30-minute wait, our chicken was finally brought over by an innocent wait staff who had been forced to wear ridiculous Christmas-themed specs and reindeer headwear.
The chicken also comes with three sauces: sweet soy sauce with palm sugar, chili sauce, and ginger sauce with garlic. Thankfully, the meat was succulent, savory, and tender, and the soy sauce outshined the other spices. However, Wan dropped the ball with the chicken rice (RMB 8 per bowl), which was too dry and tasted of nothing but plain rice, making it pale in comparison to authentic renditions in Malaysia and Singapore.
As for the side dishes, the stir-fried kang kong (water spinach, RMB 38) was not bad and came soaked in an abundance of sambal sauce to provide it a strong spicy kick. Maybe avoid the fried bean curd (RMB 28, pictured at top), which came floating in a pool of syrup and was so sweet that it tasted like custard.
Upon this visit, it seems like the kitchen has some wrinkles to iron out, including the fact that it took them a further 20 minutes to serve the bowl of chicken soup which was supposed to come with the chicken, and portions have reportedly reduced in size since their first week of business. We hope that Wan is able to fix these issues promptly because when done right there's almost no better comfort food than Hainan chicken rice.
Wan Hainan Chicken Rice
Daily 11am-9.30pm. 4/F, U-Town Shopping Mall, 2 Sanfeng Beilu, Chaoyang District (176 0060 3388)
菀·海南鸡饭：朝阳区三丰北里2号悠唐购物中心4层
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Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
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Photos: Tracy Wang
