Grandmother Chicken Rice @ Pandan Jaya

Farewell 2018, Hello 2019!...and a happy new year to everyone!  So, how was your Christmas celebrations and year end festivities?  Did you partake in the must-have traditional turkey? ;)

We did...at our usual venue...and, for some reason, I was just focussed on eating turkey this year with roasted potatoes and vegetables, served with brown jus and cranberry sauce, that I pretty much ignored the rest of the buffet.  Ok, ok, I did have a bit of something else...like roast beef with mushroom sauce and sauteed onions, baked fish with pineapples in citrus sauce, fried spaghetti with sauteed mushrooms, onions & herbs, stir-fry black pepper beef, mushroom soup...I think that was about it.

But each time I got to the turkey, it was already cut up (they went through quite a few that day) until I got lucky and found an intact turkey to photograph....kekeke! :D

Now, back to another kind of fowl!  I was alerted to this place near me, Grandmother Chicken Rice @ Pandan Jaya, after reading about it from a blog I stalk (!)...hehe, I'm a stalker.

Now I don't usually get the chance to visit poached chicken rice specialists as my family isn't keen on poached chicken.  The only reason I could visit this one was because I was alerted to the fact that there's curry mee on the menu too.

Looking at the menu, I was happy to see they had lots more to offer besides poached chicken.   They have other roasted meats (char siew, siew yuk, duck & roast chicken), Ipoh chicken sar hor fun, Penang prawn mee, fish ball soup and vegetables like bean sprouts and spicy & sour vegetable.

We wanted siew yuk rice but it wasn't available yet when we were there, so we had the Char Siew Rice @ RM7 instead.  The char siew was tender but I won't go as far to say it had a melt-in-the-mouth texture.  It also had less of that caramelised outer layer except for the edges...and the sauce didn't impress.

The rice, however, I loved as it had a good dose of chicken flavour in it.  As for the dips consisting of fresh chillies and ginger paste, I can't quite remember what it tasted like (at the point of writing since this was eaten last year).  Well, if they weren't memorable (though I do remember the chilli condiment tasted better than the ginger paste), it could only mean they weren't particularly outstanding. ^_~

The soup, I remember, had a distinct taste of peanuts in it (something like lotus root & peanut soup).  It was subtle and nice.

Now this was the reason why I could visit this chicken rice shop as I wanted to try the Chicken Curry Mee @ RM6.80 (and my husband can have it too since he's not into poached chicken).

The bowl was filled with poached chicken (of course), beancurd puffs, taugeh (beansprouts) and a generous amount of, albeit slightly smallish, sihum (cockles).  I guess I should have made a specific request for the cut of chicken I wanted and was unlucky to get some bony parts of the wing.  The chicken was not particularly wat like some of the smooth poached chicken I've eaten in some curry mee.

But the most disappointing aspect was the broth....look at how watery it is (and the sambal didn't help either).  And to add to that, it was devoid of santan flavour...or any flavour for that matter. >_<

Of course one can't leave this place without trying the Kampong Chicken Rice @ RM8 (if I remember correctly, prices differ depending on the part you choose).  After all, this is their speciality...grandmother's chicken rice (and we can't argue with grandmother, can we?).

The poached chicken ultimately impressed.  It's the single best item I've eaten here.  The chicken was irreproachably tender with a good flavour in the meat but probably not as smooth as some wat kai because of how lean the meat is.  Even the skin is devoid of fat and (for once) I didn't have to discard it (I could actually eat it...and enjoy it) ^o^  If you like chicken without any fat, then the one here is perfect for you.

I've been back numerous times to tapau the poached chicken rice....sometimes with an added 'sidekick' of chicken liver @ RM8.30...hehe! ;)

Noticing that the Iced White Coffee came without much foam on the top, I wasn't expecting it to be any good.  It tasted somewhat diluted...and it's the packet-kind (although I've drank some prepackaged ones that were really good).

My Personal Opinion

I'm afraid Sean was right...the curry mee here wouldn't rank among my top favourites...heck, it wouldn't even rank among my lesser favourites....wuahahahaha! :P

Since neither the char siew nor the curry mee impressed, my husband will be reluctant to make a second trip here.  But the chicken rice definitely deserves a revisit (listen to grandmother, she's always right!).  I guess I'll have to tapau this chicken rice then (which I've done). 

Grandmother Chicken Rice
No 22-G Jalan Pandan 3/2
Pandan Jaya
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 010-266 9668