Plaeng Nam Chicken Rice – A 70-Year-Old Hainanese Classic in Bangkok's Chinatown

Chicken rice is probably the all-time favorite dish for many of you, right? Today Meeting Point is taking you to eat chicken rice in Soi Plaeng Nam, at a shop that has been selling it for more than 70 years. The taste is guaranteed – once you've tried it, you'll definitely be back.

"Authentic Hainanese chicken rice made with tender Thai capon with springy skin, and rice cooked the traditional way for more than 70 years" – that's the shop's own slogan. Let's see just how good it is.

This is an original Hainanese-style chicken rice shop now in its 70th year – the first and only one in Soi Plaeng Nam. What matters most here is the quality of the chicken: they use Thai-breed capon. Chicken rice fans know how different capon is from regular chicken – the meat isn't tough or stringy, and it's softer and tastier.

For the rice, the shop uses only genuine Thai jasmine rice, a mix of older and newer crop. Raw jasmine rice is stir-fried with chicken fat, then cooked in chicken bone broth – and, most importantly, over a charcoal stove. It's a signature method, because it takes real skill to control the heat and get glossy, perfectly soft grains like these.

The sauces are the well-balanced combination we all know and love: sweet soy sauce, chili sauce and Chinese-style vinegar.

But note: unlike most chicken rice shops, this one doesn't serve soup on the side. Still, you have to try it to see how good it is – it's really delicious, confirmed.

For the soybean sauce (tao jiao), the shop mixes the three sauces – sweet soy, chili sauce and vinegar – with chopped bird's eye chili, ginger and garlic. It's fantastic, hitting every note: sour, sweet, rich and salty. Super rich and tasty.

The shop also offers delivery – if you don't feel like going out, you can order via LINE MAN.

Here's what else is on the menu:

• Whole raw chicken – 700–900 baht
• Whole cooked chicken – 700–900 baht
• Large chicken plate – 200 baht
• Medium chicken plate – 150 baht
• Small chicken plate – 100 baht
• Chicken rice – 50–60 baht per plate
• Chicken rice with drumstick or thigh – 60–80 baht
• Red pork + crispy pork on rice – 50–60 baht
• Kao lao (soup without noodles) – 50–60 baht
• Kuay jab (rolled noodle soup) – 50–60 baht

Drinks

• Crystal drinking water
• est Cola, Pepsi, Coke
• Lipton tea

If you're ever around Yaowarat (Chinatown) or Sampeng, we recommend dropping by. You can eat in or take away.

Chicken Rice Shop, Soi Plaeng Nam, Yaowarat

Location: 32 Plaeng Nam Road, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100 (Soi Plaeng Nam), 800 m from MRT Hua Lamphong

Map: https://goo.gl/maps/nLiY3tMWDGYLhRRV6

Phone: 02-623-1200

Hours: 07:30–16:00

Facebook: Khao Man Gai Jao Kao Plaeng Nam Yaowarat

FAQ

Author Meeting Point Management Team, MBA มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์ MBA University of Technology Sydney (UTS) DBA มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์ Editorial Team

The Meeting Point management team loves eating, travelling, temple visits and lifestyle. We pick the restaurants, cafes, stays, attractions and temples we have visited ourselves and write about them honestly.