My family loooooves Cantonese-style stuffed chicken (also called Lo Mai Kai) but I have not yet mastered it. It was a dish Grandma used to make all the time, although she didn’t debone the chicken.
It is very tedious to make and I tend to stuff the chicken more than I should, which inevitably leads to a chicken / stuffing explosion situation during cooking ? And that is also why I tend to make just the stuffing (Lo Mai Fan) when requested.
While I do prefer to make my own stuffed chicken because I can put as much or as little of an ingredient as I like, it’s just not something I will do unless I have to (special request by family).
But lately, I don’t feel like doing all the work anymore. And that is how we have recently tried 2 vendors of Stuffed Chicken (Lo Mai Kai). One of the seniors at home requested stuffed chicken for his birthday. He was reminiscing about Ilang-Ilang Restaurant, which was already popular back in the 60s? 70s?
We ended up trying the stuffed chickens from 2 different places – Ilang-Ilang Restaurant in Binondo (for lunch), and Swan Lake Restaurant in Caloocan (for dinner). Swan Lake was a recommendation from one of the FB or Viber groups popular now during lockdown.
Prior to this, we had already tried the 8 Treasure Chicken from Wok with Mom several times, but it was pricey at P1,880 + Grab / Lalamove fee.
Ilang-Ilang Restaurant’s Stuffed Chicken was only P650 + Grab / Lalamove fee – 1/3 the price of Wok with Mom’s.
Swan Lake’s Stuffed Chicken was P800 + Grab / Lalamove fee.
I didn’t take too many pictures nor did I style them because I did not think of blogging them, but as I was comparing them the next day (eating leftovers), I realized that it was a good idea to record my impressions for future reference, if we want to order stuffed chicken again.
Ilang-Ilang Restaurant’s Stuffed Chicken
I’m pretty sure we ordered Stuffed Chicken from Ilang-Ilang 1-2 years ago and I wasn’t that impressed, comparing it to Wok with Mom’s (we had Wok with Mom’s Stuffed Chicken and the fam was craving for stuffed chicken again, but Wok with Mom’s price is a bit steep for regular cravings).
Anyway, this time around, I actually liked Ilang-Ilang’s Stuffed Chicken. It was better than I had expected. At only P650, it was still generously stuffed with the usual fillings – lotus seed, chicken pieces, shiitake mushrooms, etc…
The stuffed chicken was already immersed in the sauce and arrived as one package. The size of the chicken was regular – not as big as the ones I’m used to.
Taste-wise, I liked it. It was close to what grandma used to make 🙂 Happily ate leftovers. Leftovers actually tasted better because the chicken, stuffing and sauce had already infused into each other.
We also ordered other dishes from Ilang-Ilang and they were okay. I’ve had better, but I have no general complaints.
Swan Lake’s Stuffed Chicken
This was our first time ordering from Swan Lake. Their stuffed chicken was bigger than Ilang-Ilang’s and looked more presentable. The sauce was in a separate container.
Taste-wise, I didn’t like it. The “toyo”-ness of the glutinous rice filling was so strong. It’s not like I’m not used to soy sauce, but I couldn’t stand the soy sauce they used. I was expecting much better because it was more expensive at P800, but the toyo they used was very off-putting. You can read more about soy sauce here to know what I’m talking about. It was a little bit better after I drowned it in the sauce. I did not even touch it anymore when leftovers were served at the next meal.
However, in terms of filling, apart from the usual, Swan Lake’s stuffed chicken had big pieces of thick shiitake mushrooms, and even fresh scallops, so at least we didn’t feel that bad about the P800!
We also ordered Kikiam from Swan Lake. It was meaty and didn’t scrimp on the filling, however, I thought it needed a bit more flavor / salt. If you are limiting your salt intake, you might want to try this.
VERDICT
Ilang-Ilang Restaurant’s Stuffed Chicken wins this battle (Ilang-Ilang vs. Swan Lake) 🙂 At P650, it’s reasonably priced enough to order it often, whenever you have a Lo Mai Kai craving.
This is only our second time ordering this from Ilang-Ilang Restaurant, and it seems to be better this time, so I can’t say if they are consistent, but we’re happy enough with their stuffed chicken right now that I am certain we will be ordering from them again.
Compared to Wok with Mom’s, of course, Wok with Mom’s has more filling ingredients and uses more expensive, better quality ingredients, – taste-wise and everything, it’s the winner out of the 3, but it’s also 3x the price. If I remember correctly, Wok with Mom’s 8 Treasure Chicken filling has some liver, or maybe liver sausage, but unless you’re really sensitive to liver, most people won’t even notice it.
For us, Wok with Mom’s 8 Treasure Chicken will be for special occasions, when you want to impress, want to indulge, or want to spend. It’s more like restaurant-quality fare, while Ilang-Ilang’s stuffed chicken feels more like home cooking. It’s also inexpensive enough that I would rather pay the P650 than do all the work myself + buy ingredients + use up my time looking for a vendor who can debone the chicken, which is difficult to do right now when we’re supposed to limit going out, etc…
Are there other good stuffed chicken (Lo Mai Kai) places you want to recommend? 🙂
