When I tell my friends that my kampung is only a short 15 minutes drive from KLCC (sans the horrendous weekday traffic congestions), their reply was unanimous. So cool lar. Me, on the other hand, wish my kampung is an hour’s drive from the city (because two would be too tiresome and I’ll need to stop to leak, hence interrupting my little concerto).
My perfect kampung will have a lake that I can jump into as I please, a few friends to hunt for spiders (and monkeys), an abandoned haunted house that we can explore at night, tall trees to climb and of course, endless supply of ayam kampung (free range chicken).
To be honest, processed white chicken is not really my thing. I’m sure many will agree. Young chicks have soft meat, oh yes they do, but do they taste like chicken? Most certainly not. It’s exercise, maturity and undisturbed food that maketh a good piece of meat.
Looks can be deceiving and I must confess that I’ve been cheated one too many times by these chicks. All’s well until you tear them apart to taste their meat. Pure white and tasteless.
It’s been two moons back since I met the real deal in a long time. Even without the ayam kampung, I will gladly revisit this restaurant, simply because of the good spread of mostly traditional Malay dishes. The endless selection of ulam greens itself is already an attraction.
The pucuk paku manis (fern), especially the shoots type, cooked lemak (in coconut milk) with a hint of tumeric is a favourite of mine. Sweet, crunchy and soft, it’s good stuff. A natural remedy for the reluctant royalties sitting on the throne as well. What yoghurt??
There are a few dippings to choose from. A combination of the onions/chilli cencaluk-like, tamarind-flavoured sauce and the red hot sambal is the ultimate appetizer and dressing for anything and everything. I’ve seen patrons shamelessly filling up plates of this sweet/sour/spicy/free-of-charge condiment and happily licking every drop of it. I was one of them.
It goes very well with the much-hyped ayam kampung goreng. One bite and you’ll know that this is one hot chick. Simply deep-fried and perhaps marinated with just a pinch of salt, it was full of essence of chicken. Tasty!
It’s a relief to know that this type of chicken is still conveniently available among us. A meat man may not enjoy this rather skinny version but if you are one who appreciates the real taste of chicken, you’ll certainly like this. In fact, it’s not that skinny lah. Not Kate Moss, anyway.
Restoran A Hassan Sdn. Bhd.
Nasi Ayam Kampung (Cawangan Awam Besar)
Lebuhraya Shah Alam (KESAS Highway)
Kompleks Rehat Awam Besar
