The Bo'ai Road qilou district is the best place in Haikou to eat the way locals eat. The covered arcades shelter a shifting cast of stalls and small restaurants serving the four pillars of Hainanese cooking: Wenchang chicken (white-cut, served at room temperature with the cooking broth and a dipping sauce), Dongshan mutton (braised slowly with aromatics), Jiaji duck (fat and well-flavoured, often served with a soy-based sauce), and Hele crab. These dishes are named for the parts of the island they come from, and Hainanese take considerable pride in the quality distinctions between them.
The thing to eat for breakfast, without question, is Hainan rice noodles (Hainan fen, 海南粉) — thin white noodles served in a clear pork or seafood broth with a scattering of toppings: fried shallots, peanuts, dried shrimp, fresh herbs, and a spoonful of chilli paste on the side. Some stalls have been doing the same bowl in the same spot for decades. Come before nine in the morning to find the best of them still at full flow.