A local parody of the popular YouTube series Chicken Shop Date has reached an unexpected global viewership of over 37,000. Co-host Samantha Cheong fills us in. 

Hero Image Credit: Struan Caughey. 

On August 4, a 12 minute video was released on YouTube. In the mixed and matched Lim Chhour Food Court on Karangahape Road, two Asian, New Zealand based creatives sit and ask each other about their steamed bun preferences (“super thick”) before delving into creative inspirations and relationships with mothers. This is the very first episode of Chicken Rice Date, the self-professed “most delicious date on K’ Road”, and new video series which celebrates Asian and LGBTQ+ creatives from Aotearoa while spoofing the British YouTube sensation Chicken Shop Date. 

The pair sharing the steamed buns, rice and chicken – Danielle Hao-Aickin (dān dān, YANZ, Auckland City of Music) and myself (Rolling Stone AU/NZ, UnderTheRadar, TVNZ) – are the co-hosts of the series. Danielle says Chicken Rice Date is “a really fun take on self-expression” and “the natural next step” in her artistry. As dān dān, her music blends vulnerability and difficult conversations with a playful lightness, weaving in puns and food-related themes. Danielle says this new series came from wanting to “lean more into the queerness and Asianness, and the lightness of creativity and art in general.”

Comedy Over Chicken

The creator of Chicken Shop Date, Amelia Dimoldenberg, started with a youth magazine column and has built her following over a decade. Her short interviews with celebrities are viewed by millions. Fans adore her short, awkward front that catches her “dates” off guard. Her flirting reveals silly sides to celebrities such as Trixie Mattel, Damson Idris and Jonathan Bailey.

Like the original series, Chicken Rice Date taps into the awkwardness of non-romantic settings for comedy. We revel in the slight ridiculousness of a first date occurring in a food court. “I do truly believe that humour is another form of self-expression,” Danielle says. There’s cutaways to dishes being prepared, lingering takes at a discomforted table, and banter.

To us, the setting goes deeper than humour: it’s a reminder that it’s okay to be imperfect, unusual, and yourself. Food courts can be said to embody carefree expression, especially for those who sit solo.

In tall poppy Aotearoa celebrity culture isn’t so strong. In Chicken Rice Date we’re presenting locals that you could encounter on the street, at a gig, exhibition or café. Instead of focusing on their achievements, following and fame we want to connect our audience with our guests’ projects and missions.

Unique Premiere

Chicken Rice Date premiered at the film edition of FAM Festival, K’ Road’s latest festival showcasing food, art and music, on Saturday, August 2. On a stage in front of the Pitt Street Methodist Church dān dān performed live performance, screened her new music video pressure cooker and then the episode. While it played on an old-school CRT TV, the intimate audience crowded around. Karangahape Road Business Association’s digital and community lead, Amy Cotter, says “that was really unique to Karangahape Road and the local music scene here in Aotearoa. Where else would you get that?!”

The Karangahape Road Business Association supports our series. Amy says “Chicken Rice Date is a great example of the uniqueness of Aotearoa's creative scene – it's art made by the community, featuring the community, for the community.” She pointed out that the series’ reach goes beyond one subculture – “it's a great way of spotlighting emerging artists while also including the entire music community and collaborating with iconic local businesses like Lim Chhour.”

From Song to Screen

dān dān’s pressure cooker kick-started Chicken Rice Date. The ballad is a tribute to Danielle’s mother, her musically demanding childhood and their relationship, told through the metaphor of food. dān dān’s emotions inevitably steam up the walls she was contained by. In the chorus, she sings, “I’m a pressure cooker. You could make Hainan chicken rice in my belly... the weight of your love is too heavy for me.”

Inspired by that lyric, we filmed at the culturally iconic Lim Chhour Food Court, home to vendors serving their own takes on chicken rice. The building is an historic migrant hotspot. We aimed to honour its comforting space and its role as a multicultural ecosystem. 

Flora Xie expertly directed the pressure cooker music video prior to directing Chicken Rice Date, helping garner over 46,000 views. She found the project to be a “fun follow up” that “made sense” because it “ties in elements of the music video and the song.”

Passing on a Cultural Baton

Chicken Rice Date nods to the 2024 VENDOR project by Goodspace (Jefferson Chen) – also supported by KBA – where the Chinese garage-pop artist posed as a vendor to “sell” free listens of his album Let’s Talk About Death. He rented out an old storage room next to Lim Chhour Supermarket, filling the space with curious customers from all walks of life. In the Chicken Rice Date intro Jefferson cameos as a waiter serving our food trays as if passing on a baton of cultural purpose. 

Just as dān dān’s pressure cooker honours her mother, Let’s Talk About Death commemorates his late father. “It [was] a tribute to the migrant vendors who [came] to New Zealand, set up shop and they just hustled”, Goodspace told Re: News. The project gained significant media attention from national broadcast TV, radio, and print, proving that Aotearoa has long desired the peculiar and uber-creative.

For Chicken Rice Date, we brought on a team of predominantly local PoC creatives: director Flora Xie, logo designer Good Bad English, waiter Goodspace, and Zambian stylist Mukukā Hope Musowa. Each knows the hustle of creative life and recognises a culturally meaningful project when they see it.

The response to Chicken Rice Date has been “exciting,” says producer Natasha Skuljan. “It’s always great when people enjoy watching something you enjoyed making.” Natasha believes the pilot “captures the energy and creativity of everyone involved.” Chicken Rice Date is “super different” to everything else that she’s done, as there was no script or shot list. It’s been a learning experience for the team, but “one that has been so worth it”.

Chicken Rice Date might just satisfy your cravings. Watch the pilot episode below.