Pochon Chicken and Shrimp

This small stretch of real estate near the office is a hot bed for restaurants.  In the past eight years that I've been working downtown, there has been a high turnover of restaurants in this particular spot.  When I first started working here, this space was occupied by Sand Castle Cafe.  Then came Gordy's, which served local-style Korean food.  After that, was the recently departed Zen Restaurant and Catering.  This new kid on the block is Pochon Chicken & Shrimp.

With it's bright logo and it's pictured menu on the outside of the building, it's easy to see what the strategy is.  Get people to see the food, so they'll stop by and order some.  And that's exactly what I did.  I ended up ordering the regular spicy chicken plate (US$6.89).

My plate came with ten pieces of spicy chicken wing pieces on a bed of shredded cabbage, two scoops white rice, and some macaroni salad.  The pieces of chicken were extra crisp and crunchy.  The chicken was spicy -- not too spicy, but just right.  To me, the chicken was perfect.  The macaroni salad, though, was another story.  I didn't enjoy it at all.  The macaroni was a bit rubbery and the salad as a whole was "dry" and flavorless.  It spoiled what could have been an extremely enjoyable lunch.

At US$6.89, this was expensive as far as lunch was concerned, but I could honestly say that I would come here again.  The chicken was spicy and delicious, and I came here for the chicken and not the macaroni salad anyway...right?  Hopefully, I can try some of the shrimp next time.  A friend of mine had it the next day and said it was great!

Pochon Chicken & Shrimp
1148 Bishop Street
Telephone:  808.585.0678

Comments

[Pantera]

Why do I keep doing this to myself? Tell me please... And I keep visiting your blog in the morning so my mouth waters hour in hour out... and then I have to put up a whole day in this mysery until I get home and cook myself something really nice... It's your fault!! And I just LOVE it!!! Great tip on the chilli! Goal for next weekend: Ono's chilli!! ;o)!

[Julia]

ooh, I'm like drooling over my keyboard now. Those wings look scrumptious; any idea what went into the marinade? And I often noticed that the rice served are shaped into balls. Do you eat them like Japanese rice balls, or do you fluff them up?

[MrsT]

Glad to hear the chicken was nice.. ;)
For me.. i can't eat rice without any gravy.. hard to swallow.. heh!!

[Ryan]

Yeah, that salad looks pretty bad. But just pull out the old local standby: "Regular spicy chicken plate, all rice." Then you can really dig in and get your hands dirty! "No need fork! But plenty napkins."

[milgwimper]

*drool* macaroni salad who needs macaroni salad (well ok it it was good yeah i want it but that mac salad look terrible)! The Chicken and rice look quite nice I gotta find me some eats.

[lance]

My usually solution to bad mac salad is ordering toss greens instead. If they don't substitute, then, as Ryan says, "all rice". Or couple side orders of the spicy chicken wings with couple rice balls from home. Need them spicy chicken wings.

[AugustusGloop]

Mmm... chicken wings are the best. Especially the mid-wing!

I'm not sure that I like my rice all squashed up into a scoop though. But then again I think I would be distracted enough by the finger-lickin' chicken! :P

[Reid]

Hi Pantera,

Long time no hear. I'm glad you enjoy the blog. If you do try the chili, let me know how it turns out.

Hi Julia,

I have no idea what went into the marinade, but I do know that they brush the hot sauce on AFTER the wings have already been cooked. We decided that was the reason for the nice spiciness.

Rice here is served by the scoop. Small shops and even restaurants will use "ice cream" scoops to serve rice...if you can imagine that. It's become a way of life. I wouldn't say that we eat them like onigiri (rice balls), but we don't normally fluff them up either...at least I don't. Most people that I know, just eat the rice as is. Some even put shoyu on it.

Hi MrsT,

The chicken was excellent. What? And you can't eat rice without gravy? Hmmmm...did you ever like plain rice?

Hi Ryan,

Long time no hear!

Yeah, I could have done that, but it didn't say mac salad on the menu. It just said salad, so I actually thought it was tossed. When it came, I was sort of cursing myself. Next time, I think I will order all rice. Then I'll use the furikake that I have at my desk.

Hi milgwimper,

Yeah, it's too bad this mac salad wasn't good. If I'm going to eat it, I want it full of mayo! LOL! The chicken was good, and thinking about it now, I should have bought some to eat for dinner.

Hi lance,

Your solution is the same as mine. I just don't think this place serves tossed salad. I'll have to find out the next time I go. You're right though, maybe a side order would be good, then I could have a Spam musubi to go along with it!

Hi AugustusGloop,

Yes, most definitely. I like the middle wing piece too. Especially when it's really nice and crispy, which these were. In Hawaii, it would be very hard to find rice that has not been "scooped" onto the plate....

[Shirley]

Hi Reid,
Yes, it's pretty expensive for what you've paid, though it's good that the wings kind of made up for the whole meal. All packed and ready to go? How long is your must-try/must-eat list?

[Reid]

Hi Shirley,

It's been a while since you've been here. Nice to see you again! =)

Yes, food in Hawaii is generally expensive. You can get hot wings at KFC for about the same price, but these were so much better.

I won't start packing until next weekend for my trip to Singapore. My "die die must try" list is miles long! I'll have to eat 6 meals a day just to get through a fourth of it. I think I'm up to the challenge! =P

[Min]

Reid,

I emailed u!:)

[lance]

If you haven't tried this already for a simple sweet chili sauce chicken try this: Saute some minced garlic in oil, add some Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce and diced green onions. Add the crispy deep fried chicken wing to that. Saute lightly and serve. I tried it with some shrimp, instead of the chicken and friends really like it. But my friends will eat anything, as long as they don't have to cook. Fast, simple and tasty.

[Reid]

Hi Min,

Thank you! You got mail too!

Hi Lance,

Well guess what? I guess bought some Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce. It was on sale at Safeway for the like 80 cents? I'm going to try it and let you know what I think. Thanks for the tip!

[Shirley]

Hey Reid,
If you are visiting during CNY time, some eating places may not be opened.

[lance]

Reid,

Yes, please let me know if you like it or not. Or if you think by adding other ingredients may improve the flavors. The Mae Ploy Sweet Chili Sauce might be a little too sweet for you.

[Bea]

Thanks for the tip. I keep on debating on trying that place durring lunch. I love chicken wings and for that price ten wings is a great deal. Do you know a good thai place around the same area?

[Reid]

Hi lance,

I most definitely will. I've been thinking of using it as a dipping sauce for deep fried tofu. =P

Hi Bea,

Welcome to my blog. Glad to hear from you. The wings here are great. Got to try the shrimp and they were good too. Depending on where you are, there a quite a few Thai places that I would recommend.

There's Diem Cafe on Alakea and Malee Thai & Vietnamese on Maunakea in the Maunakea Marketplace.

Good luck and hope to hear from you again.

[lance]

Talking about fried tofu. Try this and see if you like it. Slice firm tofu into 1" thick slices across the block of tofu and fry in oil. Salt, pepper and dip japanese eggplant slices in a egg batter. Fry and place on top of fried tofu. Place bottled prepared Japanese mushrooms (nametake-chazuki) on top of eggplant with a dash of shoyu sauce and eat. Nice side dish. Hope you like it. Let me know.

[Reid]

Hi lance,

Sounds good! I'll let you know what I think after I've tried this.

Thanks again!

[vian]

anyone have the pochon chicken recipe? please share it we love the taste