chicken rice

Porridge and chicken @ Kawan, Seremban

by

seremban porridge stall

I was told there’s this popular chicken rice place that’s only open from 6 pm – 8 pm in Seremban. It’s supposed to serve a mean bowl of pig innards porridge and mighty fine chicken. It usually sells out at around 8 pm so you have to go there early.

kawan seremban

I headed down with Caydence’s family before I had to drive back to KL. The place was packed and the stall was chopping up chickens like nobody’s business. Okay, their business anyway. 😉

seremban porridge display

Look at all the pig offal displayed alongside the chicken!

seremban porridge serve

They also serve normal chicken rice but what this stall is famous for (it’s the only stall in Kedai Makanan Dan Minuman Kawan) is their pig innards porridge. It was dished out into bowls and plastic bags for those wanting a pack to go.

seremban porridge chicken

The chicken is pretty decent but I prefer Kee Kee Bentong Chicken Rice.

seremban porridge

However, what makes this place special is eating the chicken WITH the pork innards porridge. It even has some crunchy bits on top to add texture to the congee.

seremban porridge sesame oil

Splash some vinegar and sesame oil on the congee and you’re in for a real treat!

seremban porridge us

There is a reason why this place is very popular in Seremban – their porridge is infused with the essence of delectable, and eating the chicken with a mouthful of hot congee with bits of pork intestines sticking out is a very different experience.

I love it and I don’t even like porridge! 🙂

Kee Kee Bentong Chicken Rice

by

Kee Kee Bentong Chicken Rice steamed

Chicken rice is a deceptively simple dish but it’s one of those things that’s hard to do right. I’ve had horrendous chicken rice – rubbery and tasteless – and really orgasmic chicken rice.

Kee Kee Bentong Chicken Rice

Kee Kee Bentong Chicken Rice is one of the latter.

Kee Kee Bentong Chicken Rice Kelana Jaya

It’s been dubbed the best chicken rice in Petaling Jaya, and while I will not make that claim, it certainly is the best chicken rice in Kelana Jaya. It’s located near SS6 just after the KJ LRT station.

Kee Kee Bentong Chicken Rice owner

It’s quite famous in its own right; I’ve visited this place numerous times since I used to work really close.

Kee Kee Bentong Chicken stall

I had cravings for chicken rice during the long weekend so I went to revisit this wonderful chicken rice place…twice in two days. I ate ½ a chicken and two plates of rice on the first day. That was how much I missed it. I was STUFFED but satiated, until I woke up the next day and felt like going again. >.<

Kee Kee Bentong Chicken Rice meal

This time I ordered ½ a chicken and a plate of rice. The best thing about the chicken here is the melt-in-your-mouth texture and exquisite taste. It’s so tender the breast meat (almost) passes off as thigh and drumsticks!

Kee Kee Bentong Chicken Rice eat

The juiciness of the chicken is preserved so every bite you take squirts the essence of chicken into your taste buds, saturating it as you chew on the soft and slippery chicken meat.

Kee Kee Bentong Chicken Rice sauce

The rice is fragrant and the chilli sauce + ginger they serve with the chicken is mouth-watering.

Kee Kee Bentong Chicken Rice essence

However, the proper way to eat it (well, the way I eat it anyway) is to salvage the sauce mixed with chicken essence that pools at the bottom of the plate and drizzle it on a prime, tender piece of chicken before eating it with some spring onions.

Kee Kee Bentong Chicken

Heavenly!

Kee Kee Bentong Life Chicken

Oh, and we saw a stray chicken running around the place. What are the chances of that? Heh!

Kampong Chicken Eating House

by

kampong chicken eating house

What exactly is kampong chicken? Translated literally it would “rural chicken” but it actually means free range chicken. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it’s a different species (at least, a different kind of chicken) since it’s much smaller and leaner than the usual poultry offerings.

kampong chicken stall

I went to Kampong Chicken Eating House in Singapore right before we were slated to come home. The bus was about to leave so we decided to head down here for some nourishment before we departed.

kampong chicken rice

This is a photo of a bowl of plain steamed chicken rice. Mundane? It looks that way but it didn’t TASTE that way (which was what compelled me to snap someone’s bowl after I partook of mine). The individual grains of rice is soft, fluffy and infused with the essence of chicken goodness!

kampong chicken liver

I have a huge appetite (which explains my current weight) so I ordered a chicken drumstick with some chopped liver and an egg…

kampong chicken rice meal

…and a quarter of chicken (thigh and drum) to complement the order and make it into a belly rubbing, over eating experience. 😉

kampong chicken us

It tasted good to me and everyone else on the table agreed that it was better than most chicken rice outlets. Good company, good food – it’s twice the fun just like the Xpax XXL double bonus. I particularly enjoyed the tender and moist chicken.

kampong chicken

I finished everything so that’s gotta say something right?

(or not)

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice @ Maxwell Food Court

by

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice Maxwell Food Court

I was at Maxwell Food Court for lunch during the Nuffnang APAC Blog Awards Singapore tour when I stumbled upon a stall in the otherwise modestly populated food court with a long queue. It was for Zhen Zhen Porridge and not being particularly fond of porridge; I explored the other side of the food court and was rewarded (?) with the longest queue I’ve ever seen in my entire life!

Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration…it was the longest queue in the food court, snaking all the way through tables of people eating to the other side. I wondered what the fuss was about and stood in line. 

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice queue

That probably wasn’t a good idea since my rudimentary calculations of the number of people in the queue and the speed at which Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice was pushing its warez indicated I would probably get my lunch at 2013 AD or so. Probably around August 13th at a little past 4 am in the morning. 

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice Citygal

However, I spotted Wei Zhi (otherwise known as Citygal of KampongboyCitygal – pictured above) and Christine (of Brought up 2 SharE – shown below) standing in line in front of me. Ha! If they’re waiting in line, it’s gotta be good, so I trusted in their judgment and casually strolled up to have a chat with them. 

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice Christine

This is a very advanced tactical maneuver which involves pulling your digicam out and nonchalantly taking a narrative video of the queue ending with the two abovementioned people in front. It works best if you proceed to camwhore straight after that and start talking animatedly while pointedly ignoring the people behind.

It is also known as queue cutting. 😉

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice Awards

The list of awards bagged by Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

Despite my strategic maneuvers, it took us 30 minutes (!!!) to get to Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice which is a bit on the ridiculous side considering we were all standing up instead of seated and waiting. My table mates thought I went missing! 

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice

The drumstick chicken rice with a large portion of rice came up to SGD 3.50 which is pretty cheap if you don’t convert it into about RM 8. I liked the taste of the rice; it was very flavorful and infused with chicken stock. I half expected to see a stray chicken or two inside the plate of rice. 

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice Singapore

Having a less refined palate than Wei Zhi (she’s the one who recommended Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice) I found the chicken to be tender and moist – both promising characteristics in poultry. It’s very juicy and the sauce and ginger paste served with it does well to complement the flavor of the chicken rice. I quite enjoyed it to be honest. 

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice Citygal Christine

Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice @ Maxwell Food Court dishes up great chicken rice but I wouldn’t wait 30 minutes for it. I was about halfway through my meal when I was told our group had to leave for the next destination.

*cue speed eating demonstration*

Claypot Chicken Rice

by

jan claypot chicken rice

The humble Claypot Chicken Rice is something which I’ve actively hunted whenever I get a hankering for it (and even when I don’t). I remember having a family vacation when I was 7 years old, with my dad bringing me to Petaling Street and telling me that the claypot chicken rice over here in KL is good and “different” from what we get back home.

jan chicken rice setup

I don’t know why but that memory has always stayed with me. I’ve actively sought out this…er, nostalgia tinged delicacy since then. I was told that there’s a stall at Ming Tien food court that dishes out pretty good Claypot Chicken Rice so off I went with Jan to check it out.

jan chicken rice

The stall sells Claypot Chicken Rice (RM 5) and Claypot Pork Rice (RM 5.50) so if you have any illusions about it being halal, leave them at the door (or the arch rather). It’s pork. 😉

jan feed

I ordered the Claypot Chicken Rice since the Claypot Pork Rice didn’t look that appealing from the photo, but rest assured, I’m going to check it out some other time. You’re gonna see a lot more of Ming Tien posts coz it’s near my condo and I like how they open till late. 😉

jan chicken rice plate

It tastes pretty good, but it’s not the best I’ve had. The Claypot Chicken Rice was flavorful enough and came with the classic, sinful Crust of Charcoal Rice (TM) beneath. This is the best part of the dish, you scrape it into the pot to mix it around but if you’re a crust aficionado, you can opt to leave it longer so the crust will procreate into a veritable swarm of Crust Goodness (TM) from the residual heat from the claypot.

jan chicken rice eat

I don’t make any sense, do I?

jan chicken rice cook

I’ll tell you something though…what the cook lacks in skillz, he more than makes up for with pure enthusiasm. 😉

Melaka Chicken Rice Balls

by

chop chung wah

Melaka is famous for chicken rice balls. It’s practically an institution over there, with shops dedicated to the golf sized morsels of delight every few meters (or so it seems). There are a lot of established chicken rice ball shops in Melaka, with each person having their favorite. Jennifer brought us to Chop Chung Wah at Jalan Hang Jebat, off Jonker Street.

melaka chicken rice ball

This place is arguably one of the best chicken rice ball shops in Melaka. The line snaking out of the shop is a testament to the popularity of the chicken rice balls. People actually wait under the hot Melaka sun just to eat the chicken rice balls here. Don’t play play, got queue one this place.

chopping chicken

The interior of Chop Chung Wah is basic, with seating arrangements that harks back to the 60’s. Think marble tables and stools. It only registered to me while writing this that I could very well have fallen off the stool coz I usually sit on chairs. There are articles from newspapers adorning the walls and an interesting anecdote here is that the place got on The Star in 2006…and Jenn was part of the entourage who went for that food review.

rolling rice balls

The chicken rice balls is hand rolled by an old lady, conveniently stacked five (5) to a plate in an endless stream to cater to the never-ending march of customers filing into the coffee shop. I’m amazed that they can cope with such demand at all – every single table is full, with people queuing up outside waiting to get in. It’s an exercise in efficiency, I tell you.

chilli sauce

The chicken chopping is done by the son of the owner (who can be rather grumpy sometimes ;)). The family operating this place is Hainanese, and word is, the son is so busy with this chicken rice ball shop that his wife was literally shipped in from Hainan, China to help with the business. It’s a true Hainanese place, they take the phrase “keeping it within the family” to new heights.

chicken rice ball

The chicken in Chop Chung Wah only comes in one variant – steamed chicken. It’s very authentic Hainanese chicken indeed. I found the meat juicy and tender, and you can even see the essence of chicken forming a bed for the steamed chicken. The key ingredient in chicken rice is the chilli, as most would tell you, and this place dishes up really good chilli sauce.

chicken

The chicken rice balls are actually flavored with chicken stock and have a slight glutinous texture to it. It goes down really well, and we ordered another plate coz five rice balls each is just not enough. Apparently, five rice balls is equivalent with a regular plate of chicken rice. It tastes delectable dipped in chilli sauce!

It’s definitely a must try if you haven’t eaten chicken rice balls in Melaka before. Just look for the awe-inspiring queue to find the place. 🙂

Aho Mee Sapi Nasi Ayam Restauran

by

aho restaurant

Aho Mee Sapi Nasi Ayam Restauran (Literally: Aho Beef Noodles Chicken Rice Restaurant) is one of the best places in town to have beef noodles. It’s a halal establishment operated by Malays and as the signboard suggests the two flagship dishes are the beef noodles and the chicken rice.

aho interior

The place tends to be a bit packed during lunchtime and parking can be a bit of a problem. I went with Autumn, who doesn’t eat beef (or pork for that matter). I’m not a big fan of chicken rice but I love beef noodles. Aho does a very good version of beef noodles, Malay style. I just love the chicken shaped menu for chicken rice and the cow shaped version for beef noodles. Heh!

aho beef noodles

I had the mixed beef noodles (RM 4) which can be ordered with the noodles in a separate bowl (dry) or mixed into the soup (wet). Soupy dishes during lunch isn’t really my thing, not just coz of potential Splash Damage (TM), but coz it increases the body temperature at the warmest time of the day.

aho noodles

Thus, I ordered the dry version with the noodles on the side. The noodles are mixed with Essence of Cow (TM) – it’s so full of mooing goodness, you can taste the beef in the noodles. It’s delicious!

aho beef soup

The soup is even better – you can opt to have certain parts of the cattle or a mixed bowl, which has everything except the genitalia (that part is reserved to make Sup Power). Aho does a very good beef noodle soup. It’s hearty and has that elusive umami taste to it.

aho chicken rice

Autumn had the other specialty of the house – fried chicken rice (RM 4). Aho serves fried chicken instead of the usual steamed or roasted chicken.

aho chicken

However, they do a very good version of fried chicken – it’s not over fried, so the skin comes out crispy but the inner parts are still tender and juicy.

aho us

Aho Mee Sapi Nasi Ayam Restauran is a great place for beef noodles and chicken rice. The restaurant name can a bit of a mouthful though (pun intended) so we just call it Aho. 😉

Moo…

Wei Seng Chicken Rice and double boiled Cantonese soup

by

wei seng chicken rice

Wei Seng Chicken Rice is a chicken rice shop located at Tabuan Jaya at the food court beside Choice Daily. It also boasts a repertoire of double boiled Cantonese soups in a heating element beside it which the proprietors actively promote.

wei seng soups

The double boiled Cantonese soups (broth) is held in traditional deep ceramic bowls and kept warm in a similar contraption to the double boiling method used to boil the soups. I was told that the soups have been prepared for as long as 24 hours for an authentic slow-boiling Cantonese soup. They have a lot of different soups on offer, ranging from Bitter Gourd soup to Ginseng Chicken soup.

wei seng chicken

I had their chicken rice (shared) with 3 other people and their chicken rice is alright, though not as good as other places like Suan. The rice portion is small, but cheap (a plate of chicken rice costs just RM 0.60, an unheard of price nowadays). The chicken rice itself is good, it’s seasoned well with chicken essence, but the chicken is nothing to write home about.

wei seng ginseng soup

Their double boiled Ginseng Chicken soup (RM 3) tasted good though. It has visible strands of ginseng floating inside and the broth is fairly clear (as all good broth should be). There are several chicken pieces inside and this place seems to subscribe to the less-is-more school of thought as the soup only contains ginseng and chicken.

wei seng ginseng

The Ginseng Chicken soup is a nice complement to the chicken rice – I ended up having two plates of rice. The ingredients in the soup are tender, with an almost melt-in-your-mouth texture to the ginseng. I would recommend this place for their RM 3 double boiled soups as it is hard to come by outside restaurants here. It’s best to go early as the soup seems to sell out really fast.

]]>

The longest chicken rice in the world

by

fang yuen

I have just eaten at the longest chicken rice outlet in the whole
world. I was told that the chicken rice here is the best in Kuching.
It’s called Fang Yuen (opposite Hock Lee Center) and it used to be
located at the old bus stop (or something) until it moved to its new
premises. I was told to go early coz the place is likely to be full, so
we went at 6:30 PM.

It was a sight to behold…the place was indeed full, and we were
lucky to secure a seat outside. I noticed that everyone was
just…waiting.

fang yuen no chicken

Waiting for chicken rice. Except there was none, only neatly stacked plates…

fang yuen lonely broth

Broth simmering in a lonely manner….

Thus we waited…everyone had drinks ordered and were just waiting
for the chicken rice to arrive. This was starting to look rather absurd
to me…this had better be good chicken rice, I told my friend. It took
one hour (and two drinks) before the van carrying the chicken rice
arrived.

the eagle has landed

They unloaded the goods…and now we have…

fang yuen chicken

Chicken!!!

There was a flurry of activity and suddenly our chicken rice arrived.

fang yuen drumstick

The chicken

fang yuen chicken rice

The rice

fang yuen sauces

The three sauces

i pity the fools

The poor people who didn’t arrive early enough to secure a seat and had to resort to take away.

Boxing Chicken Rice

by

scr food corner

Boxing chicken rice! Doesn’t that sound intriguing? The name of the
dish is the best selling point of this rather mundane (but tasty)
preparation. I was searching for food just now (I’m typing this at
home, so it would be “last night” by the time you read this) and walked
past the Singapore Chicken Rice (scr) stall which seems to have
expanded their menu to include the chicken rice variants like salad
chicken rice etc. I was interested in boxing chicken rice though.

scr shrubbery

My apologies about the foliage that obscured the right side of the
first picture. I couldn’t very well move it, look at the size of the
shrubbery and pot. Photographing the outlet from the other side would
miss the main menu wall which has boxing chicken rice (watch the virus
infected chicken box each other!) photo on it.

boxing chicken rice

This is the photo of the menu banner which depicts the Boxing
Chicken Rice dish. It appears to be dubbed boxing chicken rice due to
the double chicken drumsticks…I imagine some marketing person thought
that looks like the chicken are having fist fights or something to that
effect.

scr boxing chicken rice

This is the Real Life (TM) photo of the dish. It doesn’t differ all
that much from the menu picture which is a pleasant surprise. The
drumsticks are the small ones from the wing of the chicken. It tastes
like Ayamas mini drumsticks without the Ayamas flavor. The boxing
chicken rice had a great sweet and sour sauce permeating the dish, this
imparts a nice taste everything. There is also a nicely done sunny side
up egg and some veggies. The rice is chicken rice eg real chicken rice.
I liked it, it’s a nice change from the normal chicken rice Singapore
Chicken Rice offers.

On another topic, does anyone know any er…”duty free” liquor
outlets in Kuching? I used to know one in 3rd mile – fly by night
operation, closed down the same year it opened (when I was in Inti). In
case anyone is wondering what “duty free” liquor outlets are, they’re
the ones that buys in bulk from duty free Federal Territories like
Labuan (usually) and Langkawi (unlikely due to distance) and sells them
at a reduced price (RM 40 – 60 each 750 ml bottle), undercutting
legitimate bottle shops price wise. I didn’t have any problems in KL –
Svenskt Brannvin vodka @ RM 30 (40% 700 ml bottle) in the Swedish
Specialty Shop at your friendly local Ikea outlet. 😉 Thanks for the
tip, Stephanie! I brought several bottles of that and O.P.
Anderson Fine Old Aquavit (another bargain buy @ RM 22.90 for 500 ml,
40% vol) over but er…inventory levels have dropped below the
personally preset threshold level so a re-stock is necessary to
maintain consistant amounts.

vodka vodka

If my math is right, I need at least 1/4 bottle with benzos to sleep
each night, since I drank about 1 1/4 bottles since I arrived (not
including other alcohol containing beverages). Anyone who has a problem
with this can send mail to devnull@sixthseal.com which would naturally
be routed to /dev/null. I go to work on time, I do my work well since
I’ve had a good night’s sleep (I don’t get hangovers, since I hydrate
myself before sleeping), and so what I do at night (which is legal btw)
is my own business. Anyway, any kang tau about duty free in Kuching,
please email to veritas@castitas.com
instead of commenting here okay? Thanks! By the way, I told the truth
about the email addresses – there really is no veritas@castitas.com or
a veritas@sixthseal.com, they all go to the me@castitas.com and
me@sixthseal.com catch all address. So there. :p

P/S – Before the harm reduction police (HRP) jump on me, let me
state that some people think that benzodiazepines combined with another
CNS depressant like alcohol will instantly put you six feet under.
Please do not mock them, for they’re looking out for you, and indeed,
this combination has caused fatalities in the past, but er…it’s not
as dangerous as the HRP makes it sound. But you did not see that last
sentence! I repeat, you did not see that last sentence. Please don’t
drink and take benzodiazepines at the same time. Thank you very much,
I’ve done my civic duty.

P/P/S – I have to tone down the sarcasm, it seems to dominating my posts lately, forgive me. 🙂

P/P/P/S – The conglomeration of veritas and killuminati into a
single entity may have caused unexpected perceived changes in
personality. My apologies, now that I’ve admitted everything, I have no
obligation to stick to the “personalities” that I’ve created. I’m being
the real me now, a bit of an asshole at times, quite a lot of “drug
elitism”, sometimes sarcastic, but generally I like to think I’m a nice
guy, so I hope that you can forgive any transgressions and adapt and
perhaps get to like me as me. 🙂

P/P/P/P/S – I was ethanol impaired when I wrote the above last night…

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...