Tien Yen Hill Chicken

Tien Yen is a small town in Quang Ninh province. From Ha Long City, you can easily get there by driving 70km towards the North on the National Highway 18. The trip might be long but the result is rewarding after all, because you can find at Tien Yen a wonderful specialty: Hill chicken!

The Hill chickens got their name from the fact that local people always raise the chickens without any cage. As a result, every day the chickens are free to “troll” and wander on the slopes of the hills. At night, the chickens come back and sleep on the tree’s branches. No one quite knows how they can do that, but that must be one of the fundamental reasons why the meat of the Hill chickens is unconventionally delicious, firm rather than tough, buttery rather than greasy.
Photo: vietfuntravel.com 

Tien Yen’s Hill chickens can be used to cook many dishes but the most remarkable one is the simplest dish: boiled chicken. Gazing at a plate of boiled Hill chicken, you can hardly believe in your eyes. Even though the chicken is boiled in a normal way, its skin has an incredibly tempting yellow color as if there are saffron and oil on it. The skin is also thick so it seems to be greasy. However, after one bite only, you will soon experience the firmness and sweetness of the chicken.