The First Dish: Hainanese Chicken – A Humble Beginning

When we decided to launch Chewsarap, our first dish, Hainanese chicken, felt like an approachable choice. On the surface, it seemed simple—poach the chicken, prepare the sauces, and serve. But simplicity, I quickly discovered, didn’t mean it was easy.

The challenge lay in perfecting the chicken’s doneness. Using a sous vide machine was meant to simplify the process, yet achieving consistently tender results proved elusive. Undercooked chicken was out of the question, but fully cooking it often dried out the meat. After countless trials and errors, we made a game-changing decision: switch from bone-in chicken to boneless chicken thighs. This adjustment not only streamlined the cooking process but also became a defining feature of our Hainanese chicken—tender, juicy, boneless thigh fillets that have remained a customer favorite to this day.

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