Hainan Chicken Rice, Hongkong (HA 28512a) by H.A Studio
Designer and Builder: David Huynh (vboihuynh)
Location: Central, Hongkong
Year: 2021
Scale: 1:1
H.A Studio @huynh_arch_studio
Design Concept
I’m so excited to share my Lego model of the Hainan Chicken Rice which is built in the style at the Kreta Ayer Hainan Chicken Specialist in Central, Hong Kong with the restaurant's boss - David Wu. I tried to use every single element of Lego to build it with many details in order to achieve 95% similarity with the reality of the Hainan Chicken Rice. It's so good and delicious. I always love this dish. So, I want to bring it into the Lego model for everyone could know and learn about its culture. Of course, the Lego model could not eat.
I think that the Hainan Chicken Rice is a delicious and wonderful dish of Southeast Asia including poached chicken, seasoned rice (or white rice) usually with cucumber garnishes. It is served with a variety of sauces which chili sweet and sour sauce, minced ginger, and sweet soy sauce, as well as come with a small cup of radish chicken soup. Have you ever tried the Hainan chicken rice before?
It is considered one of the national dishes of Singapore by the Hainanese immigrants originally from Hainan province in China with a long history. And then its culture spread and became popular in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, and Hongkong). Nowadays, some people would have their personal stories with it. Here, I want to emphasize the Hainan Chicken Rice in Hong Kong.
2. And, why did you choose it at Kreta Ayer Hainan Chicken Specialist - Singaporean in Central Hong Kong?
I accidentally knew the Kreta Ayer Hainan Chicken Specialist in Central, Hong Kong through the interview article of Hong Kong last month. After I read the article, I got the inspiration and I feel that the Hainan Chicken Rice would bring something new to Lego ideas. That sounds really interesting! I would say that this Lego model could be shown the great idea of Asian food culture. Here, I would do that with my strong belief.
According to the interview article, 伍大為Wu Da Wei (David Wu) moved from Canada to Hongkong with his family, he started his business to be a boss at the Kreta Ayer Hainan Chicken Specialist in Central Hong Kong. He is a new boss in business. I really admired David's way of doing business. He's very dedicated and persevered as well as taking care of customers. In fact, opening two more restaurants during this hard time, he didn't give up. He tried to keep with his mind that the most important his employee having a job. He said, "I don't know if I win or lose, but I can win if I do it."─ It's like a “love.” He said that he thanked this Hainan chicken rice, many people could know about his restaurant. On Gilman's Bazaar Street in Central, Hongkong there is a line of people - mostly office workers in front of his restaurant every day to order to-go HK $34 a dish of the Hainan chicken rice with taking customer around 1-minute can pick up, compared to lunch in Central with a leisurely lunch of more than HK $60, I would say that his restaurants did it well with he has made a lot of efforts. I think that it is quite cheap and the to-go food fastest in Central, Hong Kong.
On the other hand, I really love to eat the Hainan chicken rice which made me memorize my happy childhood days spending time with my parents and my younger sister going out to eat on weekends. That is very meaningful to me.
3. What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
I think that a special challenge I faced was my first time using Lego pieces for building a dish with the scaling of 1:1. I'm usually familiar with building architecture than other things.
During designing the model, seasoned rice was the most difficult part for me. Why would I say that? When we looked at the real rice, we would see every single grain of rice. Here, I want to make the rice with a hemispherical shape but I still keep the resemblance of rice grains with dark tan (sand yellow) Lego plate, round 1 x1 in the Lego model compared to reality.
4. Are there any interesting parallels between the model and the real-life Hainan Chicken Rice?
Well, when I completed the model, I found that the appearance of pieces of chicken and cucumbers has some interesting parallels with the real-life Hainan Chicken Rice. It seems I can feel its delicious scent.
5. How long did it take to complete the model?
Actually, it took me three weeks or more but I really enjoyed every moment in the process of building.
6. Approximately how many Lego pieces did you use to create your model?
I would say the model includes seasoned rice with 241 pcs, five pieces of chicken with 74 pcs, three pieces of cucumbers with 45 pcs, a bamboo flat tray and cooking paper with 426 pcs, a cup of soup with 95 pcs, sauces with red (chili sweet and sour sauce), yellow (minced ginger), and black (sweet soy sauce) with totally 282 pcs. I approximately used 1,163 Lego pieces to create the Hainan Chicken Rice model.
7. Are there any unusual details on this model?
To make the model even more real, I tried to use the same technique which is cooking paper can be used to absorb the oil of seasoned rice and chicken.
8. What's your favorite part of this model?
My favorite part of this model might be the power of the model. Of course, in the model context, I like the way to build yellow pieces of chicken. It presents the message of Hainan Chicken Rice that what the Hainan Chicken Rice is and its culture and story. I believe that this would make a great Lego set someday in the future.
Lego ideas: Link
牛車水海南雞專門店 現已登陸@foodpanda_hongkong
Foodpanda 訂餐連結：
中環店 https://www.foodpanda.hk/zh/restaurant/v0fa
ADDRESS:
G/F, 30 Gilman's Bazaar, Central
中環機利文新街30號地舖
炮台山店 https://www.foodpanda.hk/zh/restaurant/d6gs
ADDRESS:
Shop 5-6, G/F, North Point Centre, 278-288 King's Road, North Point
北角英皇道278-288號北角中心大廈地下5-6號舖
旺角店 https://www.foodpanda.hk/zh/restaurant/m2yc
ADDRESS:
Shop 20, G/F, Ho King Commercial Centre, 2-16 Fa Yuen Street, Mong Kok
旺角花園街2-16號好景商業中心地下20號舖
The Interview Article about David Wu (Chinese version, Hong Kong reporter)
中環美食｜$34海南雞飯平絕港九 兩年開3店 老闆身兼食肆醫生止血最叻 發圍靠識計數，在香港搵食難，在中環搵食更艱難，說的是平日一到午膳時間，中環街頭巷尾就擠滿搵食男女。打工仔要在一小時內吃飯，若然還要浪費半小時等位，實在太奢侈，快靚正的外賣店，才是他們的醫肚首選。
疫情下開兩間海南雞飯店, 良心老闆：最緊要伙計有工開
作者：馮柏偉
一場新冠肺炎加上晚間禁止食肆堂食，令餐飲業生意急跌。但牛車水海南雞專門店，在疫情下卻於炮台山及旺角連開兩分店，後者更預計3個月內回本。「人人話香港唔掂，但總有人要做爛頭卒，頂住個市，最緊要伙計有工開。」老闆伍大為（David）說，逆流而上一碗海南雞飯依然賣$35。「贏輸不知道，但做就有得搏。」─像極了愛情。
中環的機利文新街，每天在牛車水海南雞飯店前都排着人龍，無他因為$34一碟海南雞飯，對比中環一個lunch閒閒地60多元，顯得相當佛心。老闆David說，此店是在去年5月爆發社運前開的。「之後經常落閘走佬，總括都keep到條數。上月碰到第三波疫情，中環人不少都home office，人流少了6成。」他說就是上幾月疫情稍歇時，店還是人山人海。「我們由落order到給餐客人，只需25秒時間，一個中午可做5至7轉生意。」
年近60歲的David於80年代在加拿大讀電腦，後從事酒店業，1993年早就搵夠而在溫哥華退休，18年後待女兒大學畢業後才回流香港。「因為爸爸做裝修生意的，間接接觸餐飲行業，後來在荃灣開了間三陂小廚，主打大牌檔式小炒，生意很好又開了分店。做小廚用心做，可交到很多朋友，由上市公司主席到藝員，返工差不多滿場飛飲酒，很開心，但連續5年都是如此，個人就會很累。」
分店投資額45萬 3個月可回本
雖然小廚有錢賺，但David因太辛苦目前已悉數退股，讓給伙計繼續經營。後來認識太安樓滋味屋的陳梓全師傅，認為David做事上心就合股經營這牛車水海南雞專門店。「第一間中環店，現月租6萬，只在午市2小時內盡衝，因為中環周末或假期就好靜，都有得賺但就少一點。」
David自言開海南雞飯分店，都相當倒楣。「第二間在炮台山，今年2月中簽完約就爆新冠肺炎，問業主可否延期或減租，他又無動於衷，那惟有頂硬上。」David說頭幾天確無甚生意，後來伙計落力在門口叫人試下，在「氣氛感召」下才漸見好轉，加上$34的海南雞飯CP值高，經營下來總算有錢賺。
第3間的旺角花園街分號，也是在第三波疫情爆發前的6月中才開，租金58,000元，投資額約45萬，不設堂食純做外賣，David說生意比預期中好。「旺角人流比中環那邊平均，8點過後有人排隊，可能價廉物美，開始積落客人，靠口碑已能打開出路。」他預期旺角分店約到9月中已能回本。比較兩邊客人，David說旺角那邊客人反而更豪。「他們會選$45的雞脾飯，反而中環加一兩元已經好大件事。」
海南雞飯 薄利多銷更實際
David售賣的海南雞飯為「新加坡系」，與泰式不盡相同，油飯選用泰國茉莉香米，雞則以薑、香茅、斑蘭葉等香料熬的雞湯浸製，並以冰水控制，用減溫的方法保持雞肉鮮嫩。他說每次開分店前，都會試勻該區所有的海南雞飯店，有把握以性價比來KO對手，心頭才一寬。他說盡量降低售價，能減多兩元就是競爭能力和最大的營銷武器。
仲包3款醬(辣醬,薑蓉, 豉油) , 同埋一碗細細地既蘿蔔湯
經營過荃灣三陂小廚和海南雞飯，David說前者兩店雖然營業額達百多萬元，但撇除租金、員工薪金、食材支出後，賺到5%至10%已很不錯，不似後者可薄利多銷。但說到底，做海南雞飯其實賺得最多的是滿足感。「好多人覺得香港無得救，但始終有人要出來撑，如果個個無眼睇、結業了，員工們如何生活？我寧可做爛頭卒，不用蝕已經可以，大家有啖飯食，贏輸不知道，但做就有得搏。」
David常秉持將心比己的原則，他說老闆落力的話，伙計是會受感染的。「老闆有熱誠有禮貌，伙計自然跟隨，人前人後講多謝。疫情期間我無炒過一個員工，他們甚至自動請纓調去其他分店幫手，所以大家感情很好。」
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