Nasi Lemak @ Village Park

Village Park Restaurant
5 Jalan SS21/37
Damansara Utama
47400 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 77107860

Ever since the Fried Chillies' award given to Village Park for being the "Best Nasi Lemak in Klang Valley", there had been lots of reviews about this place. With so many raving write-ups about them, I knew it would be a matter of time before I make my way there.

So this morning was the "right" time. "Right" because I had a chauffeur in LL to drive me to work and this place is actually quite close to where I work. It's a good thing we went there early (about 7.30am) because this place is just about the most-jammed-up location in Damansara Uptown - you can never find a decent parking space if you come any later. It's crowded at any time of the day, don't even talk about peak hours, ok!

Even at that early hour, the place was already bustling busy - customers had already taken up all the tables placed outside at the 5-foot-way and there were even 3 tables there with "Reserved" signs placed on them! Talk about being popular, man!

Their signature dish - Nasi Lemak with Fried Chicken (RM6.80). As you can see, the piece of whole chicken thigh (and they don't come in any other chicken parts) clearly outsized the rice portion. If you're a rice lover, you better order "nasi tambah" ok! The rice was suitably fluffy and santanny-fragrant ... and that's important for good nasi lemak, as we all know. Peanuts and ikan bilis were fresh & crispy - another plus point. Slices of cucumber were also freshly cut and crunchy (i hate those dried & stale almost-rubbery ones that some cheap joints pass off on their nasi lemak!). OK, so far so good. Now about the fried chicken... I found it a tad too dry (overfried perhaps?) and it could do with a bit more of kunyit for that "ooomph" I associate with "ayam goreng berempah".

Oh...what about the sambal? Well, it looked red & fiery but actually taste-wise, it was quite bland - I prefer my sambal to have a bit of kick!

On the way in I saw some yummy-looking Rendang so we ordered a plate of Fried Meehoon to go with it. That was a good decision because the Beef Rendang turned out to be absolutely delicious! The meat was melt-in-the-mouth tender and every fibre was infused with the lovely spices and must have been simmered slowly in coconut milk - a winner in my book! This totally made up for the somewhat-disappointing fried chicken, I must say.

Just look at the huge pile of gargantuan fried chicken thighs!
Even at that early hour in the morning, there were already lots of dishes, including various malay kuehs, all ready for serving...
I can imagine the long queues at this place come lunch time...!
My rating: 7/10 - go for the Beef Rendang!

Read what others say about this place: NomadGourmand, Jules