Every now and then I eat something that really rocks my world. The nasi lemak with ayam goreng at Village Park Restaurant was one of those things. Holy moly, it was so good.
Ayam goreng is Malaysia’s version of fried chicken. Nasi lemak is a dish in which rice, cooked with coconut milk, is served with a tasty chili sauce called sambal and various sides. Put those two things together and you’ve got pure magic on a plate — at least if Village Park is serving it up.
Village Park is one of those places that gets recommended in basically every article about the best food in Kuala Lumpur, so suffice it to say, the place is popular. I showed up at around 10:00am on a Friday and the place was an absolute madhouse. Apparently it gets even busier closer to noon, so yeah, they’re doing okay.
I thought it might be one of those touristy places that isn’t actually that great, but that is absolutely, positively not the case.
They didn’t even bother showing me a menu. Everyone knows what you’re there for.
The waiter came by and made a drinking motion with his hand. “Drink?”
I ordered an iced Milo, which is basically like Ovaltine but way better, and which is huge in this part of the world.
“Lemak?”
I nodded yes.
“Ayam?”
I nodded yes.
And that was that. A few minutes later I had a beautiful plate of fried chicken and rice in front of me.
The plate comes with a generous dollop of sambal, peanuts, a few crispy little fishes, sliced cucumber, half a boiled egg, a piece of fried chicken (leg and thigh), and of course, the rice.
It’s amazing. All of the flavours work so well together. The sambal is a little bit sweet, a little bit garlicky, and a little bit fishy, but without any single flavour overwhelming the mix. It’s spicy enough to wake up your tastebuds, but the spice never feels overwhelming. It’s perfect. I could happily eat this with every meal for the rest of my life.
And that fried chicken? Come on, man. It’s perfectly crispy on its exterior and moist on its interior, and it’s seasoned so well. Plus, it comes heaped with a whole mound of crispy bits from the fryer, and holy crap, those things are basically gold dust. I could eat a whole bag like popcorn.
The fluffy, mildly coconutty rice brings it all together. A mouthful with a little bit of everything is the stuff that dreams are made of.
In case it wasn’t obvious, this was one of the best things I’ve eaten in a long, long time. If you’re in Kuala Lumpur, skip going to Village Park Restaurant at your own peril.
Location: 5, Jalan SS 21/37, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
How to find it: Just look for the crowds. It’s impossible to miss.