Side Chick

Wow! It was my first experience having Hainan chicken and it was amazing! We ordered the Crispy Hainan and the Fried Wing Plate. The Crispy Hainan was absolutely fantastic. Golden brown and super crispy on the outside and very juicy on the inside. The combination of flavor and texture was wonderful. When you add a bit of the sweet chili sauce to it you will hear angels singing as you eat this bite of food sent from heaven. Speaking of food heaven, the wings will keep you there. The jalapeño lime sauce is perfection. A bit of green sauce on the wing and you will want to sing along with the angels you've been hearing. The garlic rice and quick pickle slices are exactly what you need to refresh your palate between bites of this heavenly chicken. The unique wow factor of this experience was the big pieces of crispy chicken skin that you could break off and eat like potato chips. It's true food joy eating these "chips". So, do yourself a favor and give this place a try soon.

Side Chick is located in the new food court area in the Santa Anita Mall. ~Food~ The Hainan Chicken (white or dark meat) came with sliced pickled cucumbers, white rice (they don't serve brown rice)with crispy garlic,and three sauces (spicey chili, seasoned soy, ginger scallion). I like to pour the seasoned soy sauce on the rice and love the taste of chicken with the ginger scallion. The portion was more than enough for me. I also paired my meal with the Chicken Soup which is cooked for 24 hours, it was good! The Roasted Chicken is served with honey glazed sauce, sliced pickled cucumbers, and rice. I enjoyed this dish too. If you don't want rice, you can get a salad. Try the Chicken Wings too. ~Customer Service~ Quick and friendly. ~Notes~ -Indoor and outdoor seating -Parking lot and garages

I've had the best chicken rice in Singapore and as I walked by this store, the fragrant ("pang") smell wafted by. I knew I had to try it. Good: moist chicken (unusually so, as in Singapore the white meat is usually tender at the cost of having slightly undercooked dark meat, and Side Chick actually had a fully cooked, very tender chicken), great ginger sauce, decent chili sauce. In addition to the Hainan chicken rice, the chicken noodle soup is pretty good and uses the roasted chicken. I'll have to try the roasted chicken rice next time as the roasted chicken had a lot of flavor! Needs improvement: dark sauce isn't your regular soy sauce, it's a much thicker soy sauce. Underwhelmed by the dark sauce. Also the rice is a lot healthier (but lacks a bit of the flavor I was hoping for). Needs that fried- in-oil with garlic taste. Please stay! It's nice to finally have good chicken rice without going all the way to monterey park!

I didn't understand the whole Hainan chicken thing. Tried it a time or two before at a different location. It didn't do it for me. Yes I know, not for everyone. Told myself that if Jonathan Gold's pick couldn't convince me, then I wasn't gonna try anymore. I now believe. I love how the ginger soy and hot sauce go together to complement the chicken. Rice is done well. The chicken bone broth is a good portion to wash it down. Try it! You won't regret it.