The Culinary Evolution of Hoi An Chicken Rice: From Hainanese Roots to Vietnamese Identity
Exploring the historical evolution of Hoi An's chicken rice, tracing its transformation from Chinese Hainanese roots into a distinct Vietnamese culinary staple defined by local ingredients and sauces.
Newsnibs Staff
- 2026-10-11
- Updated 12:14 AM UTC
(Hoi An, Vietnam)
Hoi An's chicken rice traces back to Chinese migration into Central Vietnam, where Hainanese traders settled between the late 16th and early 18th centuries and left their mark on the town's architecture, including the Hainan Assembly Hall on Tran Phu Street. Over generations the Hainanese community integrated into Vietnamese society, and the chicken dish they brought with them evolved into something distinct from its origins.
Dobee Lam, a chef at a Vietnamese restaurant in Hong Kong, said the Hoi An version now differs sharply from the chicken rice found in Singapore and Malaysia. Lam pointed to the dipping sauce as the dish's defining feature: a mix of fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, ginger and chili that sets it apart from the ginger-scallion or chili-soy condiments typical of the Hainanese dish's other descendants.
The traditional method starts with poaching free-range chicken alongside ginger and shallots. The resulting broth is then used to cook the rice, often tinted yellow with turmeric. The finished plate carries shredded poached chicken, herbs such as Vietnamese coriander, and a thick, glossy red chili sauce built from tomatoes and sesame cooked down together.
At La Sen, the restaurant inside Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai, executive chef Tran Thanh Cong has reworked the dish for his menu. His version pan-sears marinated chicken rather than poaching it, and serves it with pickled vegetables and a sweetened chili sauce in place of the traditional preparation.
Cong said the dish still reads as itself despite the changes. He traces its roots to China but said it now depends on Vietnamese ingredients, a lineage he sees as the throughline connecting his plate to the one Hainanese traders brought to Hoi An centuries ago.
Photo by Atichat Panno on Unsplash
