Gai Wong means “chicken king” in Chinese, so it’s appropriate that the chicken rice reigns supreme here. The dish was popularised by immigrants from the island province of Hainan in China’s south, but today it’s associated with Malaysia and Singapore.
This North Melbourne diner’s version comes with soft, springy chicken that has a thick layer of rich collagen. The flavour-loaded chicken stock that’s used in it is in almost every dish on the menu, which is all about Malaysian comfort food. Most dishes are customisable and there’s a generous selection of extras to choose from.
You can swap the chicken for two kinds of pork: roasted with crisp crackling or barbequed in sticky char siu sauce. Plates are piled high and leftovers are scraped into takeaway containers for you – just like a trip to your parents’ house.
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