Delicious Hainan chicken rice in Hong Kong for only US$7.90 at Thai Princess by Maya Kitchen
The chicken was tender and moist, cooked to perfection, with dipping sauces that added a nice spicy kick. We suggest going at lunchtime to avoid disappointment over missing ingredients
Thai Princess by Maya Kitchen serves a variety of Southeast Asian dishes but with its Chinese name translating as “Hainan Chicken Princess”, it is clear what the priority is: Hainan chicken rice.
Hainan chicken, created by Chinese migrants from the country’s southern province of Hainan, is popular throughout Southeast Asian countries. In addition to poached chicken, the other main component is flavourful rice cooked in chicken stock.
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However, when we visited Thai Princess late one afternoon, the small Sheung Wan shop had run out the rice. Disappointed, we settled for five grain rice, which is admittedly healthier.
The restaurant’s Hainan chicken rice is HK$62 (US$7.90) and comes with two sauces from a selection of three. We chose the Thai-style bean sauce and chilli sauce (a spring onion and ginger sauce is also available). We also ordered Thai-style pork knuckle rice for the same price and a red curry beef brisket rice for HK$68.
The restaurant is bright and colourful. The walls are painted cyan blue and the interior is adorned with hanging pot plants. However, it is more suitable for takeaways as there are only a few seats available in the tiny space.
Once we started to eat, we quickly forgot about the missing rice. The chicken was tender and moist, cooked to perfection. The dipping sauces added a spicy kick and went well with the meat.
The beef red curry was also delicious. Mild on spiciness but big on taste, the curry tasted authentically Thai with hint of lemongrass.
The texture of pig’s trotters – a combination of fat, tendon and meat – can be strange if you’re not used to it, but for us this was also an appreciated dish that was cooked well.
All of the meals came with a salad and a small coconut-flavoured pudding for dessert.
Thai Princess is a good choice if you are in a hurry and want a tasty takeaway meal. When we placed our orders in the shop, the staff were mostly busy preparing meals to go into Deliveroo bags. Our orders came quite quickly, within 10 minutes.
We recommend that you go for lunch in case they run out of chicken rice towards the end of the day. The restaurant is a five-minute walk from the Sheung Wan MTR station.
Thai Princess by Maya Kitchen, Well View Commercial Building, 10 Morrison Road, Sheung Wan, tel: 3618 7818. Open Monday to Saturday, 11.30am-8pm
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