One of the most ubiquitous lunch dishes in Malaysia must be the chicken rice. A plate of aromatic rice cooked with the essence of chicken oil, a serving of chicken that’s cut into bite sizes, slices of cucumber for that crunchy freshness, and of course, the all important chili paste.
fried chicken rice “shop” under the big tree, with Winnie
Most chicken rice in KL falls under two categories – steamed chicken and roast chicken, but if you look closer, there are several other sub-categories that aren’t as popular, but tastes equally awesome as well (soya sauce chicken and fried chicken, for example.)
Today I’m going to introduce you to this version of fried chicken rice at Segambut that is probably different from any other chicken rice places I’ve tried in KL so far.
The stall/shop is located under a big tree among the light industrial area, so naturally the name is 大樹頭, or “tai shu dao” in Cantonese. Parking isn’t too big a problem, though locating the shop can be somewhat challenging if you’re not aided by a GPS device.
I always ask for whole leg and thigh, love the chili paste too
I always go for the whole leg portion here (RM 8), basically a drumstick + thigh cut that is almost a double portion of meat from what you usually get at other chicken rice stalls. The deep fried but not battered chicken has a crunchy skin with an unmistakeable belacan aroma. The meat too is soft and juicy despite being fried.
Additionally, the chili paste here is one of the best I’ve tried as well. Purists of chicken rice will agree that the chili paste is often the most important ingredient in a plate of good chicken rice.
So if you’re up for something slightly different in a traditional dish, this place is definitely worth checking out. The other similar place I could think of would be Jiang He kopitiam at Imbi.
Address: Segambut Chicken Rice Intersection of Persiaran Segambut Tengah & Lorong Segambut Pusat 1 Segambut, Kuala Lumpur GPS:3.185151, 101.677973 Hours: 11 am to 3 pm
The jawa mee is offered by the same stall that also sells Penang curry mee (the version without pork blood). Operated by a couple who were originally from Penang, the dishes offered by them is more than legit.
a wholesome plate of Penang jawa mee
Unlike other more glamorous Penang hawker dishes, Jawa mee gets little attention from most people. In fact, the difference between jawa mee and mee rebus mamak isn’t particularly big. Both versions come with prawn fritters, potato, tofu, and cuttle fish, but the sauce used for Jawa mee (usually offered by Chinese hawkers) has a stronger tomato taste to it.
Additionally, jawa mee comes with a version of sambal that is usually absent from mee rebus. What I know is that I really enjoy the version offered by this particular stall
If nasi lemak with pork is your thing, you should also visit this same kopitiam.
Address: Kedai Kopi & Makanan Hoi Kee No. 2, Jalan Segambut Tengah, Segambut, 51200 Kuala Lumpur GPS:3.18564, 101.67633
I visit MyDentist for my invisalign treatment almost every two weeks at Jalan Ipoh, and since they’re pretty flexible on scheduling, I always try to set it up on Fridays at around lunch time to allow me a chance to explore the surrounding eateries.
Not long ago, thanks to my friend Winnie, who works nearby, we discovered a rather awesoem claypot chicken rice place at Kim Poh kopitiam in Segambut.
Kim Poh claypot chicken rice at Segambut
Kedai Makanan Kim Poh is located a little bit away from the main stretch of shops at Segambut, within the housing estate just across the Yu Ai seafood noodle place.
The shop is manned by an old couple (I’m assuming) and the lady has been serving up claypot chicken rice for some 30 years.
clay pot chicken rice always go well with double boiled soup
While most claypot chicken rice has everything cooked in the pot with the exception of salted fish (added at the end), at Kim Poh, they add rice wine, dark sauce, fresh ginger, and the salted fish just right before serving. Giving it a fresher and slightly spicier (from ginger) taste that we really enjoy.
mix it up with fresh ginger and salted fish, delicious
Like many other places, Kim Poh also serves pretty delicious steamed soup. There’s usually quite a few varieties to choose from, including salted vegetable with tofu soup, lotus root soup, ginseng with chicken soup, watercress soup and so forth.
These soup go very well with the rice, and I usually choose them over drinks instead.
Winnie & KY at Kim Poh, Segambut
With soup, expect to pay about RM 12-14 per person, pretty reasonable for what you get. Waiting time is usually around 10-20 minutes or as they cook everything from scratch.
Try it!
Address:
Kedah Makanan Kim Poh
Persiaran Segambut Utara
Taman Segambut, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.182856, 101.677664
I’m a big fan of curry mee, the good old Penang curry mee. The type that comes in santan based soup with fragrant chili paste and typically ensures a few smooth trips to the loo if you have it say.. three day in a row.
In Klang Valley, you usually call it curry laksa.
Penang style curry mee at Hoi Kee kopitiam
This particular stall of curry mee was discovered accidentally when we went Hoi Kee kopitiam at Segambut for nasi lemak with pork. It was already finished for that day, I chose to try the curry mee as a substitute, and it turned out to be a brilliant accident instead. 😀
nothing beats that fragrant sambal and raw cockles
While this version at Segambut does not come with pork’s blood (otherwise it’d be totally perfect), the chili, soup, and other ingredients did come together harmoniously to make a great bowl of curry mee. I also especially love those big juicy RAW cockles. Something that I believe people like Kim would love to have her hands on.
KY and Haze, with cendawan joining us too
So if you are a curry mee lover like me, this is definitely a place to check out. For those staying at PJ, go to Restaurant Okay, but be there before 9 a.m. But for everyone else (especially those who isn’t so keen on coagulated blood anyway, or can’t wake up before 9), this is the best place to go!
Oh, they are pet friendly too. 😀
Address: Kedai Kopi & Makanan Hoi Kee No. 2, Jalan Segambut Tengah, Segambut, 51200 Kuala Lumpur GPS: 3.18564, 101.67633
A few months ago Haze and I were at Segambut looking for an ATM machine, we arrived at RHB bank at Jalan Segambut Tengah and parked the car just in front of Kedai Makanan Hoi Kee.
Sitting just outside the kopitiam there was an uncle busy deep frying some sort of meat with irresistible aroma. I walked over to find out what he was doing, it was a Sunday.
restaurant Hoi Kee at Segambut
“Oh, this pork belly, for nasi lemak and we’re open from Monday to Saturday for breakfast and lunch”
And the good uncle gave us each a piece of that pork belly to chew on. The memory of that piece of pork belly deep fried with 5 spice (from what I can tell) and god knows what other spices was so awesome I knew I just had to visit the stall to taste the nasi lemak for sure.
glorious nasi lemak with pork belly
I’ve since been to the same kopitiam 2 more times but missed out the nasi lemak (finished, had very curry mee instead, will blog about that eventually). But last week, on the 3rd try, I finally got it!
The nasi lemak with pork “set” comes with 2 pieces of the pork belly, some silver fish (instead of ikan bilis), a quarter hard boiled egg, kang kung, sambal with shallots, cucumber, and of course, that fragrant coconut rice. The whole thing was about RM 5 or so.
and I finished everything, clean
Was it good? Absolutely.
Would I go back again? For sure!
Another pork nasi lemak can be found at PJ’s 6-10 Nasi Lemak and Grill, but they are very different though.
Address: Kedai Kopi & Makanan Hoi Kee No. 2, Jalan Segambut Tengah, Segambut, 51200 Kuala Lumpur GPS: 3.18564, 101.67633
