Chicken rice with side dishes of crispy tofu, braised egg and tofu, originally uploaded by Camemberu.
Just back from a short weekend trip to Malaysia, bringing the little one to see grandparents in Batu Pahat, Johor. This humble hometown of mine has some gems of good food - I constantly hear rumours of good stuff but I only know of a handful. I must hunt down the rest during these short visits back and blog them.
One of them is this Hainanese chicken rice shop in town, which also serves commendable side dishes like crispy tofu topped with a salad of shredded vegetables, crushed peanuts and a tangy sweet-sour sauce. They also have the softest braised tofu ever, other vegetables, chicken feet skin and chicken innards - prices range from RM2-5 (S$0.89-2.20 or US$0.57-1.45), according to portion size.
The "Hainanese" chicken here is really more of the Cantonese style, where they drizzle the aromatic light soy-sesame dressing on top of the chicken for extra flavour (I prefer this to the dry Hainanese chicken!). This little mountain is a portion for three persons (RM11.40 or S$5 or US$3.30) - fairly generous. We had a mixture of steamed and roast chicken with some gizzards. Condiments include a garlic chili sauce (a little diluted for my taste but can still pack a punch if you ladle on lots), minced ginger and dark sweet soy. The rice is plump, decently fragrant and slightly greasy. Even the complimentary bowl of soup here is good!
They used to feature kampung chicken here, but of late, I think they've had to resort to farm-raised stock - obvious from the visible chicken fat and tender meat. But the chicken taste is still strong. What I really like here is that they are generous with the savoury dressing (I like to scoop some onto my rice as well). And they also serve the chicken atop a bed of blanched beansprouts and fresh cucumber (which also goes really well with the dressing). I hear the beansprouts are an Ipoh-style feature.
This chicken rice shop is at the corner of Jalan Rahmat (which is the main thoroughfare in town) and Jalan Fatimah (near Carnival Hotel).
SWEE BEE HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE
25 Jalan Rahmat
Batu Pahat
Tel: +607-4389891
wow.. we're from the same town.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally I was back last weekend too and had pretty hearty meals at Chok Dee, Thai restaurant opposite the new Fire Station and our regular cze zhar at Dian Fa, somewhere near Taman Banang/Taman Emas(i think!)
Heya Southernoise, nice to meet a fellow hometowner. Is Chok Dee nice? I almost wanted to go - I read about it on batupahat.org but my bro told me their business is slow due to food not being great. I need more food recommendations! The better restaurants are all fully booked for weddings during weekends. I'll ask about Dian Fa.
ReplyDeletethe food at chok dee was pretty decent. not mindblowing but decent and at least they bother to use basil leaves unlike some pseudo localised thai food that emphasis only on spiciness. we were quite pleased with the food.
ReplyDeletedian fa is a little run down "hut" that serves economical fish heads (curry, claypot, tomyam and steamed). recently they've added crab to their menu. they're my regular coffee/makan stall.
Great! Thanks for the tips, Southernoise!
ReplyDeleteyou from BP too kah!!
ReplyDeleteMy parents were both from BP and I still have many relatives there.
RUSS
Hi Russ!! Glad to find more BP-related folks! Do you visit sometimes? Any good food to recommend?
ReplyDeletehi, this is ivy here..
ReplyDeletethx for visiting and try my dad;s chicken rice
there is another branch at '' sam chun'' another area of BP.
free can drop by have a try^^
thx
hi, this is ivy here..
ReplyDeletethx for visiting and try my dad;s chicken rice
there is another branch at '' sam chun'' another area of BP.
free can drop by have a try^^
thx