If you’re a spicy food lover and you’ve never heard of Ayam Penyet (smashed chicken), you’ve been missing out!

I first heard about ayam penyet when I was doing my internship at a production company. Everyone was talking about how good the food is, and how spicy the sambal (chilli) is. They had an Indonesian helper at the office so he probably introduced it. After all that buzz, I decided to try it for myself. Boy, little did I know from that day on, I’d be ayam penyet lover and addict. It’s all about the sambal which is soooo spicy, it’ll sure give you stomach burn for a whole day. Ayam penyet originated from Indonesia and has currently became a huge hit in Kuala Lumpur, with branches popping out here and there.. there’s Ayam Penyet AP, Ayam Penyet Ria etc. I hope they’ll expand the franchise to other states..especially Ipoh.

According to their website, ayam penyet is described as:

Ayam Penyet is a traditional Indonesian cuisine which originates from Surabaya. It is a popular chicken dish where the fresh chicken is specially marinated with various spices and herbs . The meat is then smashed with a wooden headed hammer and deep fried until golden light brown. One of the unique feature in preparing this funny name dish is the art of frying where it is crispy from outside and juicy inside.

I knew they were opening a new branch in KLCC when I saw the sign. when I was attending a very sucky and shitty 1Malaysia1Halal campaign or something at the national mosque few weeks later, I decided to stop by at KLCC and found out they’ve opened the new branch of Ayam penyet Ria at the food court.. boy was I happy. But sad news is, Yoshinoya (my favorite restaurant) has been replaced by almost similar Japanese stall.

During my first visit it was almost lunch hour so KLCC wasn’t packed with people yet. The girl there was very friendly and chatty with my mom. But during my 2nd visit, and 3rd visit, during peak hours, they weren’t quite as friendly and chatty as they were when they first opened. Plus different people too.

Ayam Penyet Set : RM8.80

A set of ayam penyet @ Ayam Penyet AP KLCC consist of rice, ayam penyet (smashed chicken), tempe, fried tofu, and little of greens (cabbage etc).. they ‘sprinkled’ some bread crumbs I assume on the chicken. Of course, the sambal. I love to have extra sambal for super extra spicyness. Be warned to those who can’t stand spicy food, avoid the sambal.. but then again, what’s the point? Their specialty is the sambal. That’s what made ayam penyet famous. The chicken, since it’s smashed, is very,very soft but yummy and crunchy for the skin.

For the KLCC stall, the set also comes with a bowl of soup which is an extra nice surprise because Ayam Penyet Ria or other ayam penyet place I’ve eaten at doesn’t give the soup. So yeah, that’s a nice surprise. If you want soft drinks, it’ll cost RM2.30 each.

Of course, there are a lot of other varieties and not just ayam penyet. You can have beef, fish or any Indonesian delicacies like gado-gado, etc. Trust me, if you love spicy food, you’ll love ayam penyet.

RESTORAN AYAM PENYET AP
Level 2 (Stall 10)
Signature Food Court
Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur
http://www.ayampenyet-ap.com

They also have outlets in Subang, Bangi, Sunway, Punchong and are opening more outlets.

Sorry I haven’t been blogging for a long time. College has taken all of my time again. I have lots of pending food review to make so stay tuned!

I do however wanna make a quick review. Sorry no pictures because I didn’t take my camera with me. Last week my uncle came to visit and I was cruising around Sunway Damansara area and saw a restaurant called “Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa Kampung Bharu“. Now, if you’re familiar with Kampung Bharu, it has the most famous nasi lemak. So my uncle wanted to try it, so I took him and mom there.

So mom and uncle ordered the standard nasi lemak set which comes with teh tarik while I ordered laksa combo set which comes with ice lemon tea and one scoop of ice cream. Drinks came around 5 minutes and nasi lemak shortly after. The nasi lemak was disappointing, since it’s what it is famous for. My mom got like one.. ONE anchovy, and and my uncle got a small amount. Everything was in small amount .. even the sauce which tasted sweet to me. However, I did love the teh tarik.

Now here’s the thing— my laksa did NOT come after half an hour.. which I thought was ridiculous since you’re not frying the laksa, it shouldn’t take long. So I called the waiter, and my laksa came around 40 minutes later, and it was nothing special either. Then they forgot the ice cream, so I had to wait around 5 minutes more after requesting my ice cream. They DID NOT even ask what flavor I wanted.. they assumed I wanted strawberry, but I wanted chocolate.

That was one of the worst dining experience ever. I was already in rush for time so that was uncalled for. So at the counter, I complained to the cashier, and she explained that their system broke down earlier, hence the forgotten order. Wtf. NOBODY mentioned that to me. I had to wait more than half an hour for my food, the waiter did not even inform me, let alone apologize for the late food.

The restaurant has been opened for one week and it was already giving me a bad impression. But to be fair, I’ll revisit it again someday, with my camera, and review the restaurant again because they did have technical difficulties so I can forgive them. Blah.

PS: More food blog coming soon!

IKEA is on of my favorite restaurants. One of the signature dish is the delicious swedish meatballs. That has always been my favorite ‘must get’ food each time I eat there until I tasted the chicken whole leg with swedish herb and lemon sauce.. I still love the meatballs but I wanted a change and taste other food. So yesterday my friend and I went to the restaurant to eat and I get to satisfy my craving for that chicken.

The first I tasted this, the chicken leg was so big and it had so much meat on it that it took me longer than usual to indulge myself into its greatness. However, this time, my 2nd time of tasting it, it was a huge disappointment. The chicken leg was so small that it had barely any meat on it. They were quite generous with the carrots, and the potatoes were soft this time, unlike the first time. I don’t like that kind of potatoes and was hoping I could change to fries but they won’t let us. I did ask for a bit extra sauce cuz the I love the sauce. My friend said it tasted milky-ish.

The meatballs is undoubtedly the best thing ever. Usually we’d request for mashed potatoes but we were told that they don’t have it anymore except on Sundays :( I prefer the presentation of it on a normal big plate (with Sweden flag they used to put couple of years ago) rather than the kiddy plastic plate for the 5 pieces even though the plate would be too big for just 5 pieces. The presentation is not that appealing anymore. Good thing the gravy tastes really nice.

One of the good thing about IKEA is that you can have unlimited refill for your drink. We always have a mixture of all soda drink, which was my idea at first (and everyone thought I was crazy!) to create some sort of tangy, sweet and sour-ish kinda of taste if you mix the drink right!

If it wasn’t for the disappointing chicken, it would’ve been a great meal. If you’re there, try their Daim cake or their other sweet dessert, and also their cinnamon bun.. they’re great to me. I’ve tasted their sandwich before but I thought it tasted bland. They also have like a chef special meal daily which sometime could be good and tasty. If you want something very light and on the go, check out IKEA’s cafe … they have really good curry puff for RM1, drink with unlimited refill, and hotdog with self service topping… so you can put as much sauce, mustard, onions and relish as you want!

IKEA Malaysia
No.2, Jalan PJU 7/2, Mutiara Damansara,
47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Malaysia
www.ikea.com.my

Mon – Thurs 9.00am – 9.30pm
Fri, Sat, Sun, eve of Public Holiday 9.00am – 10.30pm
(Breakfast 9.00am – 11.00am)