Rico Rico Chicken – Honolulu, HI

I had my first experience with Peruvian food a few years ago. We had a cook-off event at work and for some reason, I decided to make a chicken dish with a Peruvian Huacatay Salsa. I have no idea where the inspiration sprang from but I ordered the specialty ingredients from Amazon and made it…served it up with Costco Rotisserie Chicken. The sauce was bomb and my coworkers loved it, while I didn’t win the cook-off (what do people have against unknown green substances?) I really enjoyed it. Flash forward to now, Rico Rico Chicken has been around for quite a while but I haven’t had the chance to get him out. He makes his own rotisserie chicken and serves it up with rice and his own pepper sauce (different from the sauce I made myself and looks like yellow mustard but no worries, it’s not). He currently opens his truck up on South King Street parked on the side of the road right before you hit Moilili Longs. I would check his instagram for updates, he religiously updates when he will be there.

One caveat, he shares a number to text your order to. I don’t know if you have to place the text order before he opens up shop because I did text my order and received no answer. I risked it and headed out there since it was still pretty early (before noon) and he definitely was not near sold out. So how was the food?

Half Chicken | $12.00
served with peruvian rice and special sauce

Whole Chicken | $20.00
served with peruvian rice and special sauce

So how was it? Stinking good folks. Look, if you ever get tired of Costco or Sam’s Club chicken (and let’s face it, we all have) – come here. And not that I’m trying to compare Rico Rico with them, that would be insulting to him. He puts a lot of care and thought into preparing his rotisserie chickens and the seasoning is sooo good. The meat? Tender fall off the bone kine, including the breast meat. Sorry I didn’t get a picture of the sauce, it’s a small container that looks like yellow mustard (forreal but don’t be deterred by that if you hate mustard), it tastes nothing like mustard…more of a pepper sauce.

You know what would have been perfect…his chicken with the Peruvian Huacatay Salsa I made a few years back but shhh…no tell him I said that. No disrespect to his sauce. Also, I don’t think I want to pay like $20 just for two ingredients to even make the salsa. Anyway, I also like his rice…he uses long grain rice. He warned that while it’s rice with corn, it’s not a lot of corn. LOL, good warning cause barely had corn but it’s okay, I wasn’t there for the corn. He’s a one man show, support small business – it’s delish!

Mimi’s Place – Honolulu, HI

Have you ever tried Peruvian food? My first experience with it was for a dish I made for a cook-off about a year ago. I combined Rotisserie Chicken with a Peruvian Huacatay Salsa which now that I think of it, was quite a risk. I had never tried the sauce before but it came out delicious! I didn’t win the cook-off but it certainly made me a fan of Peruvian food.

Imagine my excitement when I got to try a Peruvian restaurant right here in Hawaii! Mimi’s Place is located on Keeaumoku across from Walmart, let’s check out the food!

Cancha | Peruvian Corn Nuts

Complimentary snack before your food comes out! I can’t say I’m a fan myself, I don’t like corn nuts in general. It’s a bit too hard for my liking but I think if this is your type of thing, you would love it!

Empanadas | $9.00
Home-made traditional empanadas

Mmm…empanadas. Mmm…deep fried meaty goodness. Tasted great! Interesting take? It’s topped with confectioner’s sugar. Huh? I didn’t expect that, is that a thing? I can’t say the sugar did much to influence the taste either…but it was fine!

Ceviche Barrio | $19.00
House ceviche with a spicy lime marinade. Topped with fried seafood.

I have never eaten raw mahi mahi before. I know, I know…the mahi is technically “cooked” through the acid of the ceviche. I’m still gonna say it’s raw…with swimmer’s skin…lol. I enjoyed the dish! So nice and refreshing, I would recommend it!

Seco De Carne (Lamb Style) | $21.00
Slow-cooked traditional cilantro lamb stew

This should tick all my boxes. Sorry, it didn’t. Would have loved the lamb to be fall off the bone kine tender…was kind of dry and stringy. I’m not a fan of beans so that’s off my radar there. And yes, it was $21 for that one piece of meat. Sorry, I don’t plan to order this dish again.

Arroz Con Pollo | $17.00
Traditional slow-cooked cilantro rice with chicken

YAY…okay I will say…I love that cilantro plays a big part in their cooking. For those who hate cilantro, I don’t think the cilantro flavor is strong at all. And even if there is cilantro, it’s cooked down in the dishes so you won’t get the strong raw cilantro flavor anyway. I just love braised chicken thighs…and this was nicely flavored…and cilantro rice? Well, I’ll just keep my mouth open and you can shovel it straight in. Delicious. I would recommend this dish!

Parking? Hmm, a bit tricky. I don’t think they are part of the Samsung Plaza’s vendors (that lot is a nightmare anyway!). My friend parked at Ross and decided to buy something to get validation. I am Chinese and parked at Walmart – break the rules and no have to buy anything. Hahaha just try to park more creatively (i.e. probably not first floor).