Yummy Box - Hainanese Chicken in Mesa

[Wilbur]

We stopped at a small place down in Mesa Saturday night called Yummy Box, famous for its $9 quarter-sections of Hainanese Chicken.

My wife and I both grew up as kids on an ethnically Chinese island in Southeast Asia, so Hainanese Chicken (HC) is an important dish to both of us. We are constantly on the lookout for a place that can serve HC that is both hot and cool, spicy and garlicky, etc. etc. Really, we want a replacement for the long-departed and much-lamented Bungah Raya restaurant.

So upon watching the Saturday Faturday video linked above, we decided to make this a destination, and upon arriving, we ordered the following items. Each of these dishes was about $9 to $11, and each comes in a clever dish-within-a-dish combination container.

Hainanese Chicken: We make this at home with packaged spices from Lee Lee, and our result is a "heavy" dish, while this is a lighter, clearer dish, with the rice highlighting the serving. The poached chicken is fine, and you need to remember to stir the ginger and garlic sauce to get the chopped bits up into the solution, but the rice is really excellent. The slight taste of pandan, broth, ginger and garlic in the rice was all just right. The ginger/chili/kalamansi sauce that we expected was absent, so for us, we felt its absence, although some people don't eat HC with the chili condiments.

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Beef Noodles: This is a comfort food of stewed beef over thin wheat noodles with Chinese five-spice. On a cold night, this is very pleasant, and on the total opposite end of the palate wheel from the HC. Dropping the noodles from their container into the stewed beef is particularly satisfying.

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Garlic Chicken over Fried Rice: This was the big winner, as far as I was concerned. Hot, spicy, delightful well-cut chicken in a garlic spice that was too thin to be a breading, but too substantial to be a sauce. The fried rice was a terrific base, and I suspect that this rice had also been originally cooked in a stock or broth prior to being chilled and fried.

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I regret that we didn't get the Wonton Noodle soup, as the cook clearly has full control of spicing and frying. Nothing seems to be pre-made, as it took about 15 minutes between our order and receiving out meal, and as other guests came in, you could hear the cook getting to work for each individual order. It is surprising to me that the store was empty when we arrived, but there were a steady stream of take-out orders.

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The fellow running the counter was very personable, and we enjoyed our meal. The menu does include what we think of as American Chinese food, but the items we ordered were good.

Does the HC meet our highest expectations or replicate that of Bungah Raya? No, but it was also $9, and I will note that my wife did not hesitate to box me out for the final bites.

We will travel back down there to try out the Wonton Soup, Rib Pho and Char Fan, and also perhaps visit the Pasty Shop two doors down.

1430 West Warner Road
Gilbert, AZ 85233

[exit2lef]

Have you, by any chance, been to Chick-a-Dee in Midtown? Its speciality is a Thai version of Hainanese chicken.

https://chickadeeaz.com/

[Skillet Doux]

Wonderful post, Wilbur. Thanks so much. Looking forward to checking it out

[Wilbur]

Have you, by any chance, been to Chick-a-Dee in Midtown? Its speciality is a Thai version of Hainanese chicken.

https://chickadeeaz.com/

Yes, that is an interesting place. I liked the food there, and the first time we went there it was very novel - specifically, the HC was prepared in a way that the chicken, instead of being poached, was a type of breaded katsu dish.

The rice was a heavier, broth-cooked type of HC rice such as we like best, and very much to my taste. I also liked the katsu chicken, and they did give us the chili sauce we expected, but only after we asked about it. The ginger sauce was also closer to what we expected, which sort of put the spotlight on the big difference between those elements and the katsu chicken.

On a second visit, they had changed the menu to include a more traditional HC chicken, and they were also offering red rice (they call it "Purple Rice" on the menu), which is not something you see very often here in Arizona. I thought the HC was fine, but not amazing. The red rice was a nostalgic experience, too. We suspect that perhaps they were moderating the recipe to make the menu items more palatable to Americans and drive repeat business. Not every one of my neighbors has a strong appetite for dishes with a hearty dose of fish sauce, garam asli, etc. etc. Also, the fact that they have a "white meat only" version of HC points in that moderated-for-Americans direction as well.

The Thai Coffee was full strength, much to our appreciation. Leanne added it to her Dining Map, and I will happily return there.

[exit2lef]

We suspect that perhaps they were moderating the recipe to make the menu items more palatable to Americans and drive repeat business. Not every one of my neighbors has a strong appetite for dishes with a hearty dose of fish sauce, garam asli, etc. etc. Also, the fact that they have a "white meat only" version of HC points in that moderated-for-Americans direction as well.

Yes, that's not surprising given that so much of their customer base probably comes from St. Joseph's hospital and neary Midtown office buildings. I'll have to try Yummy Box when I'm out in Gilbert some time.

[davej]

I tossed my chicken. It was tough and inedible. Def one of the worst hainan chicken I’ve ever had.

[exit2lef]

I tossed my chicken. It was tough and inedible. Def one of the worst hainan chicken I’ve ever had.

Just to clarify, was the tossable chicken at Yummy Box or Chick-a-Dee? I apologize if I've muddied the waters by mentioning another restaurant that serves a similar food. Acknowledging that, I hope the record can be clear on which one we're talking about here.

[davej]

Yummy Box