Restoran Loke Yun Ampang 安邦樂園海南雞飯

Once again we were tempted by the food introduced by Taste with Jason, hosted by Axian 阿賢 on Astro channel. We decided to try out the Hainanese chicken rice shop at Pekan Ampang. Loke Yun here we come!

The shop is located nearby the balai polis Ampang. Finding a car park is not easy at the area. When we finally got to the shop, we found that the queue were long. The staff had to take down the name and the number of people for the queue. After waited about half and hour, finally we got a small table to squeeze in the six of us.

The staff took our order and busied off with thousand other things. I took a good look at the shop. The renovation is quite simple, with big menu board displaying the price clearly. Of course, the banner of Axian is displayed. Another big printout displays the endorsement of another food TV show by Hong Kong Artist, Sik Kar Yin, naming it the best Hainanse Chicken Rice. And a big photo frame caught my attention. I walked nearer to the photos and take a good look at it. It has photos of many famous and celebrity who came to this shop, like Chui Ling (host), Kar Yin (HK artist), Datuk Ong Tee Keat (minister), etc.

About 5 - 10 minutes later, finally the tea we ordered is served. When I take a sip of the tea I find that the pu-er we order has a unique bitter-sweet (甘甜) which usually pu-er don’t have. I took a look into the teapot and found that they put some extra leaves inside the teapot. I don’t know what leaves was it. I guess it is probably is a type of spice called “tim kuk” 甜菊I forgot the English name of it.

While waiting, I started to try out their ginger sauce (姜茸) and the chili sauce. The aunty sat beside our table is the regular customer here recommends us to try the special blend of chili sauce here. Even Axian also recommend the chili sauce, I’m looking forward to taste it, because sometimes, for Malaysian like me, the sauce is equally important as the main dish, and I knew how a good sauce can differentiate a chicken rice from good to moderate or bad. First, I try it ginger sauce, but it is disappointing, as it is sourly, taste like vinegar ginger (酸姜). Then I try the chili sauce, it is not exceptionally tasty to me, but it is still consider as not bad. What I would say is that it is unlike the usual chili sauce (for chicken rice) we get outside.

Ok, ok. I know the 1st photo uploaded is a bit small. here's a better photo of the mouth watering "bak zam"chicken.

And we waited about 10 minutes or so, finally, they served the rice followed by the chicken, chicken parts (雞什) , soup, and the vegi. Hhhmm… all look nice and yummy. I take a spoon of the rice. Yummy, the rice is nicely cooked, smooth and not too soft, a bit salty and very fragrant. Now the chicken. We ordered the “pak zham chai yuan” chicken. The skin of the chicken look yellowish and shinning with the oil, it looks tempting. Take a bite of it, and found that the chicken is tender, juicy and sweet. The soy sauce and sesame seed oil blend that pour on the chicken give the chicken a taste of sesame aroma and the saltiness of the soy sauce brings out the natural sweetness of the chicken. Great! It is worth all the hassle of beating the traffic to Ampang, hunting for car park and the long queue and waiting. I then try to dip the chicken with the chili sauce. Unfortunately, I personally think that I like it without the chili sauce. Just the soy sauce blend pour on the chicken works the magic best.

Now, another highlight of the must try dishes of the shop, the chicken parts. I know many people would turn their head on animal spare parts. Well, actually, I ‘m also very skeptical to those food. But since it is very famous here, I might five it a try. For the first time in my life, I eat the chicken intestine. The white and transparent little thingy, I took a bite and surprisingly it is quite good. Munchy and springy feel. The “kai chan” 雞胗 and the “kai gone” 雞肝 also taste quite ok and it do not have any weird taste around. Well, that’s a good try though.

Overall, I would rate this chicken rice shop a “GOOD”. The setbacks are that it is too crowded and it is a bit too salty. When I take the dishes separately, the seasoning of the food appear to be ok, but when all the food tend to has salty taste, gradually, when taking the rice and the chicken and other dishes in, I feel that it is a bit too salty. The price is ok. It is priced higher than those normal chicken rice shops, but it is still consider ok la… Six person, 1 whole chai yuan chicken, 6 big rice, one small chicken parts mix, one small vegetable, plus a pot of tea amounting to RM 83++

Below I add in a summary of my tasting experience in Chinese version for those prefer to read in Chinese.
白嶄菜園雞- 雞皮看起來鮮黃﹐脆口。肉滑而有嚼勁。麻油與醬油調配的醬汁剛好帶出肉的鮮甜味。難得的是雞肉是熟透的﹐許多雞飯商為了要保持雞肉滑的口感﹐常常都有點還是生的。
雞飯 - 香﹐軟而不綿。帶着淡淡的咸味。
雞什- 雞肝﹐雞胗和雞腸。雞腸和雞胗非常爽脆。沒有任何的異味。總結: 值得一嘗。難得的海南雞飯享受。

Additional Info:
Restaurant name: Restoran Loke Yun Ampang / 樂園海南雞飯
Address: 158, Jalan Besar, Ampang, Selangor.
Tel: 03-4291 9884
Business hour: Business hour: 10.30am - 3pm & 5.30pm-8.30pm