The food specialties on Hainan island are different from the Hainanese cuisine we get here.
The Hainanese chicken rice that you get at most restaurants isn’t made according to the original recipe, I was told by several people whom I had interviewed. The chicken rice you get contains a lot of margarine, which shouldn’t be the case. The original way of cooking Hainanese chicken rice is to first stir-fry the uncooked rice with garlic. The chicken itself is filled with crushed ginger before boiling. And everything is cooked using the stock and broth made from the chicken.