Chicken rice is perhaps one of the most popular lunch options for Malaysian, a plate of rice, with a portion of the nation’s favorite meat on top and maybe a few slices of cucumber will satisfy most people as a quick refuel option during the day.
Wan Shoon kopitiam, Damansara Kim
When it comes to chicken rice, we’re usually familiar with those offering roast chicken or steamed chicken, but the less popular third option exists – and that’s our topic for today – Fatt Kee’s soy sauce chicken rice.
Fatt Kee is located within Restoran Wan Shoon in Damansara Kim, a small township nested right next to TTDI, on the border of KL & PJ.
Like many other chicken rice stalls, other than chicken, they do offer roast pork (siu yok) as well as bbq pork (chasiu). While I’ve yet to try their chasiu, their siu yok is uninspiringly average and something that I would definitely skip the next round.
The star here is their soy sauce chicken, a version I can only describe as the cross between steamed and roast chicken that managed to have the best of both worlds. It’s flavorful, tender, and succulent all at the same time. The soy sauce blend here is addictively delicious, and I also felt that they put a bit of effort into the accompanying soup as well.
soy sauce chicken rice with roast pork, Fatt Kee
Prices here is a little higher than “usual”, the portion above for two pax came up to RM 18, but well, sometimes it’s worth paying a little more for good food. On my next visit I’m going to only have the chicken and forgo the pork, a position I don’t usually stand for.
When it comes to Ipoh food, kai si hor fun & chicken rice usually comes to mind, and if you along down the list, eventually you may.. or most likely, not going to end up with mee goreng.. I mean, it’s Ipoh, right?
However, since we like to be a bit off the mainstream, mee goreng (and mee rebus) in Ipoh is what we’re going to talk about today.
legit mee goreng
The particular hawker spot is called Cathay Mee Stall, manned by an Indian couple at the ground floor of “New Beauty Hotel” in Ipoh town. Searching by the name “Cathay Mee Stall” will also get you to the same place.
The set up is simple, and they offer 3 choices to choose from – mee goreng, mee rebus, and rojak (which is similar to mee rebus without the mee, essentially).
For our after-hike refueling exercise, we ordered a plate of mee goreng with a plate of mee rebus.
mee rebus (would have been jawa mee if you’re Chinese?)
The mee rebus came within minutes as it requires a lot simpler assembly, while mee goreng took 30 minutes as the stall does get quite busy even during MCO with a lot of takeaways & delivery orders.
Both versions came with generous amount of ingredients – including egg (boiled in rebus, fried in mee goreng), prawn fritter, potato, tofu, and such. The noodle used here is also a little thinner than usual, giving it more surface area to soak up those yummy sauce.
Cathay Mee Stall, Ipoh
The mee goreng is said to be the best in Ipoh, and I must say that it is indeed very well fried & a rather delicious rendition of the dish. However, I do feel that their mee rebus is perhaps even more superior, if you’re a fan of mee rebus or jawa mee, don’t miss this version as their sauce & ingredient paring hits the right spots for me (and perhaps you!).
You know, when it comes to Penang food, most of what people recognize will be from the island – char kuih teow, laksa, prawn mee, curry mee, and such. However, the bigger, less glamorous landmass Penang government “rent” from Kedah does in fact offers a few gems of its own when it comes to hawker food – one of which is the topic for today – yam rice with pork offal soup.
Yam Rice stall at Tien Tien Lai, Ara Damansara
While my favorite version in Penang is from Chip Heng kopitiam at Chai Leng Park, Butterworth, I was recently introduced to a stall offering something pretty much equally as good right here at Klang Valley, at Ara Damansara’s Tien Tien Lai kopitiam.
This particular yam rice stall is in fact introduced to me by my mom’s friend (who is also from Penang). A bowl of soup goes for RM 8 and comes with plenty of ingredients you’d expect in this dish – including pork ball, pork slices, tongue, intestine, coagulated blood, tofu, salted vege, and parsley. You’ll then get to choose to have it with yam rice (RM 2), or white rice (RM 1), and if you ask me, there’s no question the former is the version to go for.
yam rice plus pork offal soup with salted vege and tofu
The yam rice itself is properly flavored with good aroma from yam, and the soup is packed with porky goodness properly balanced with the saltiness & slight acidity offered by salted vegetable. Grab a piece and dip in the homemade chili sauce with dark soya sauce, then mix it up with a spoon full of yam rice, put it in your mouth, and follow up with a spoon full of soup… yums!
If you want some proper yam rice with pork soup without having to travel up to Penang, this is one to check out.
Address: Tien Tien Lai kopitiam Ara Permata, 33, Jalan PJU 1a/42, Ara Damansara, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor GPS: 3.117288, 101.587120 Hours: breakfasts
Kai Si Hor Fun (kuih teow with shredded chicken) to Ipoh is pretty much char kuih teow or asam laksa to Penang, if there’s one hawker dish you should not miss when in Ipoh, it should be this.
And when it comes to kai si hor fun, the most famous of it all is arguably the Tricycle Chicken & Prawn Noodle at Restoran Thean Chun.
Thean Chun kopitiam at Ipoh Old Town
Restoran Thean Chun is located at Ipoh Old Town, and on “normal” days, commands quite a long queue and wait time. Thankfully, due to Covid-19 and being somewhat early in the morning (before 10am), there wasn’t a crowd.
P/S: yes, we did have to obtain police permission for interstate traveling with valid reason.
The kai si hor fun is a dish that has elements of prawns as well as poultry. Shredded steamed chicken & sliced prawn on top, a soup base that’s enhanced by prawn oil, and along those yummy Ipoh bean sprouts and chives, makes for quite a unique taste. This dish outside Ipoh usually can capture some of these elements but falls short when it comes to quality of bean sprouts.
Also, speaking of bean sprouts, they are offered as a side dish as well, which I recommend 100%.
kai si hor fun with bean sprouts
Other than the excellent kai si hor fun, another stall worth checking out would be the pork satay at the rear. We tried their pork meat satay as well as intestine (actually pig fallopian tubes, or “sang cheong”) and they were definitely yummy, especially those intestine, soft and crunchy at the same time and goes super well with satay sauce.
pork satay with intestine too
If you know anywhere else serving this “intestine” in satay format, let me know!
For someone who’s from Penang, I guess this blog will never be complete without a mention to the best chee cheong fun on the island, so here I present to you – Genting Cafe Chee Cheong Fun.
Genting kopitiam, Penang
Genting Cafe is a kopitiam completely unrelated to Genting Highlands in Pahang, it is in fact located at Island Glades amongst residential area and next to a school. The good thing is, the area is rather close to Lim Chong Eu highway, making it an easy stop right after you get on the island via Penang bridge. Parking though is a different challenge.
There are many stalls in this kopitiam, with chee cheong fun being the star.
The default order is 2 piecces of chee cheong fun, wrapped, and served with the dark sauce (har kou in Cantonese, heh koh in Hokkien) and chili paste, topped with some sesame seeds.
The chee cheong fun warms you up the moment you have it in your mouth, and you just let that peanut butter infused dark sauce and chili work its magic to tickle all the right senses. It’s a dish so simple yet ultimately so satisfying, it’s a wonder why others fail to recreate it.
I try not to miss this whenever I’m back in Penang.
chee cheong fun kosong, simple as it gets
Char kuih teow, prawn mee, and curry mee are pretty legit here as well if chee cheong fun isn’t enough for you.
Address: Genting Cafe Lorong Delima 3, Taman Island Glades, 11700 Jelutong, Penang GPS: 5.3829822, 100.303885 Hours: 7am to 4pm, closed on Wednesday
