Thursday 4 August 2011

Malay Chicken Rice - Roadside, Taman Desa Kuala Lumpur

I have never been to these stalls although I've been living here over 30 years. Really cannot recall when these row of stalls opened. One thing for sure is that I have always resented this place for a few reasons. 

  1. The stalls are built on top of a big drain. Talk about being hygienic!
  2. There is filth everywhere. These buggers are the main guys that contribute to the rat population and not forgetting that they dump all their rubbish into the drain. 
  3. How the hell does city hall even approve the licenses for such a place? Beats me!
  4. They also happen to cause a jam everyday. Once during lunch, once during tea and once in the evening. 
  5. The one I hate most is that there is a mamak stall located right on top on the same row as them. I am bewildered why those poor fellas keep getting raided by DBKL till the extent of getting excavators in to tear down the concrete platform they built. If these guys are operating illegally, then what about those bunch down 5 meters from them? Malaysian justice as usual.
Anyway, I was finally persuaded to have lunch there yesterday after hearing so much about this chicken rice stall. Located smack in the middle of the row is the stall with no name. Just two elderly "makciks" operate. As it is Ramadan, no one was in sight. 
Empty place. Why? Ramadan mah!

Rice drowned in gravy.  
Chicken done just right. It may look dark but check out the crispy skin. 
The way this dish was served made it look like a mess. I don't really fancy messy looking dishes but heck, I am eating on top on a drain, DON'T expect too much right?
The rice is actually steamed rice or nasi kukus. Just a tad over steamed making it too soft. (one thing to note is that the quality of the rice is not good. They always use the cheapest rice they can get their hands on.)
The second observation is that the rice was drowned in gravy. I was told it was curry but sure didn't taste like curry. It was more like curry looking gravy minus the curry taste.
Deep fried chicken - Now this is their specialty. Looked good. Piece of chicken was big enough. I liked the fact that they took the effort to marinate the chicken well enough making it juicy and tender plus exciting your taste buds with the variety of spices in it. The aroma was magnificent and they know how to deep fry their chicken. It was crispy on the outside and juicy inside. The skin..yummy! that was nice.
They did also throw in a few slices of cucumber mixed with their own chilli or belacan. The chilli was really good. Spicy but had a little tinge of sourness to wet your appetite. 
I reckon that this is actually more Indonesian than Malay. Kind of reminded me of the fried chicken you get in Jakarta. Does it matter? As long as it tastes good right?

RM 8 including my "limau ice". Not bad.


Points - 1.5 The chicken kicked arse but the rest was ok ok only.

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