Nasi Lemak Bamboo @ SS2 PJ

When phonghongbakes wrote a post on Nasi Lemak Bamboo @ SS2 PJ, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I ventured there coz I love to eat nasi lemak to begin with + it's located on a jalan (road) which is a familiar hunting ground for us when it comes to food.

Originating from Sabah, this flavour of Sabahan reached our shores with their first branch outside of Sabah in PJ (opened in late November 2020).  They have since opened another branch in Sri Petaling with more franchise outlets to open soon.

We actually came here twice.  The first was a disappointment because we found a queue waiting to be seated...and we didn't want to wait.  The second time, we arrived not long after they were opened and found no queue.  We got one of the last available tables...and that's when I noticed everyone who was sitting down wasn't eating yet coz the 'queue' has moved inside...meaning everyone was 'queuing' inside instead for their food...lol!

Well, at least queuing when one is seated isn't that bad.  The shop is basically self service, so you need to order at the counter and self pick up your food and drinks from two different counters.  I would have preferred for the food to be served to us at the table.

Well, our first order has to be none other than their Nasi Lemak Bamboo Kari Seafood @ RM16.90 as that's obviously what they're best known for (otherwise it wouldn't be in the shop's name...hehe!).  This was how it was served.  It arrived with an inverted bamboo on a rattan tray lined with waxed paper laden with the usual toppings of hard-boiled egg, fried ikan bilis & peanuts, cucumber and sambal.

When I lifted up the bamboo cylinder, the contents melimpah keluar (flowed out) with steaming hot rice mixed with prawns, sotong (squid) and sambal that was wrapped in banana leaves.  They made this by lining the hollow bamboo with banana leaves before filling it up with cooked rice and seafood curry to be steamed.

You know me, the food already gets off to a flying start when it arrives piping hot.  The seafood of squid and prawns were adequately fresh and it was a generous amount of seafood for the price.

The medium-sized prawns had a slightly (very slight) bouncy texture when I bit into it and were only mildly sweet, not near the low quality of frozen prawns but also not quite the good quality, sweet tasting fresh prawns that I know.

What looked like small squids turned out to be baby cuttlefish.  They seemed like baby octopus initially but taking a closer look and based on size of the tentacles to body ratio, they're more likely to be baby cuttlefish (they call it sotong katak?).  The cuttlefish had a nice, soft texture.

The seafood curry is very light tasting, not the robustly flavoured kari we know, so those expecting traditional curry flavours will be disappointed.  The curry has this light, sourish tang to it (with kaffir lime leaves)...nothing quite like a savoury curry but I quite enjoyed it eaten together with the sambal.  The sambal is more on the sweet side rather than spicy which works for me but some will prefer it spicier and more savoury (like my husband).  Mix the curry with the sambal for a delicious mouthful.

I wanted to try the Nasi Lemak Ayam Rendang for our other choice but it was not available that morning.  Not sure why since we were there when they opened shop, so they couldn't have run out of it already.  Perhaps it wasn't ready yet which leads to the next question....why wasn't it ready? >_<

So, we chose the Nasi Lemak Ayam Goreng @ RM12.90 instead.  It was served with a whole fried chicken leg with the same condiments of hard-boiled egg, fried crispy anchovies & peanuts, cucumber and sambal.

The coating on the deep-fried whole chicken leg was very crunchy but the meat could do with more seasoning and flavour (according to my spouse) though it was alright for me.  The batter coating of this fried chicken is crunchy but a bit hard and seemed a little over-fried.  It's not as good as Village Park's Nasi Lemak Ayam Goreng (which I prefer) where the batter coating is finer and much crispier with better flavours in both the coating and the meat.

I was able to taste the santan in the rice a bit more with this one coz it was not doused in the seafood curry. The ikan bilis weren't of the best quality though they managed to be crispy but a tad hard.

I ordered a Mee Siam Kosong @ RM5 to go (for my lunch later).  The plain mee siam came with a few slivers of omelette.  The mee siam may look deceptively simple but I did enjoy it as the flavours were nicely balanced between sour and not too spicy.  Something light and appetite inducing.

The Hainan Kopi (Cold) @ RM3.50 is as decent as it can be for an establishment like this.  They also have on their menu mee rebus, soto ayam, sotong goreng, cucur udang, otak-otak, cendol, soft-boiled eggs & Hainanese toast.  They've recently added nasi lemak rendang daging to the menu (now this I'm interested).

My Personal Opinion

For me, it's the uniqueness of the seafood curry in a bamboo that differentiates it from the rest of the nasi lemak joints (although nasi lemak served in a bamboo isn't something new as it has been done before). Nevertheless, if you're someone who enjoys eating seafood (like me) and who doesn't mind a light tasting, faintly sourish, appetite inducing curry, then this is the very thing you should order when you're here. ^o^

But their ayam goreng is not quite in the same league as say Village Park's fried chicken.  I've not had their nasi lemak ayam rendang and certainly wouldn't mind trying their rendang daging on my next visit.

Overall, it's a pleasant enough nasi lemak (I'm referring to their signature dish, of course) though many will probably say they can find many other better tasting nasi lemak than this.  Nasi lemak is just one of those dishes that everyone tends to have their own favourite and it's difficult to convince them otherwise. ^_~

Update:  This branch is permanently closed but they have other branches elsewhere (google to find out where)

Nasi Lemak Bamboo

28 Jalan SS2/66

47300 Petaling Jaya

Selangor

Tel: 016-801 3007