Hawaii Fried Chicken Rice Restaurant in Phnom Penh អាហារដ្ឋានបាយមាន់ហាវ៉ៃ

Hawaii_Fried_Chicken_Rice_Restaurant_Phnom_Penh_អាហារដ្ឋានបាយមាន់ហាវ៉ៃ

This is not a recommendation, I mean, I am not suggesting anyone make a special trip for this. This is a "foodilogue" of interesting food I tried during my trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia and I personally would seek out more food like this 😬 I like it though it was not what I expected.

Restaurant name: Hawaii Fried Chicken Rice អាហារដ្ឋានបាយមាន់ហាវ៉ៃ

Address: #190 E0 Street 130, Sangkat Phsar They 3 Khan, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (diagonally opposite Le Hotel at the intersection of Street 130 & Street 49)

Tel: +855 9267 1913

Hours: 6:00am - 3:00pm

I walked past this large corner shop a few times between my hotel and Central Market, one of my favourite haunts in Phnom Penh. The shop was well kept and quite popular with locals. It was busy during breakfast and lunch which got me curious.

There were at least three chicken rice shops around this corner, and Hawaii was the largest and busiest.

Some people like to try the local McDonald's when they travel, I like to check out the local chicken rice 😬

The shops at this stretch all serve this type of fried chicken rice which come with a soup and cup of iced tea. Price USD5 (SGD 6.90) which is higher than the average even in Singapore. But, it was a big piece of fresh, free range kampung chicken thigh. (All the shops at this stretch sell fried chicken rice at USD5.)

The chicken thigh was fried till golden brown outside.

Inside it was quite dry and the flesh was stringy, sinewy, chewy to the bite. Eating this required a bit of pulling and tugging with the teeth.

But, I was surprised and delighted with the subtle rich chicken taste from the flesh. I was expecting that any flavour would have evaporated with the chicken fried this dry. There was no seasoning taste on the chicken, only chicken taste and savoury taste of crisp fried skin.

The rice grains were average quality but nicely cooked in chicken stock ala Hainanese style. The grains were tender nutty which I like, neither wet nor greasy and had a nice subtle savouriness and chicken taste.

I love slow travel, watching life around me in a different country between tugging at my delicious chicken thigh 😄

Looking across from where I sat, reminded me of Parisian streets except for the cute tuk-tuks.

Not quite the soft tender juicy chicken rice we are used to in Singapore, but after trying this fried chicken, I fell in love with it and was looking around for other such restaurants around Phnom Penh. Didn't find another before I left and now I have a slight craving for it. Perhaps, over romanticising my memories of my Phnom Penh trip?