PETALING JAYA, Dec 9 — You know you're in for a treat when a nasi kandar fan takes you to his current favourite.
For about a month, I had been drooling over my friend's Instagram feed showing his visits to Nasi Kandar Berkat Deen Maju. Even the Nasi Kandaq Hunters, a Facebook group set up by a group of enthusiastic nasi kandar lovers, keep coming to this stall.
Opened about a month back, this humble eatery is located among the popular stalls located near McDonald's at Section 6, Kota Damansara.
It's their first eatery and they are said to have come all the way from Jelutong, Penang where they worked. You can dine there but the space is quite small with just a few plastic tables and chairs.
It may be better to take away your food since it also allows the flavours from the mixed gravy and dishes to mix happily with the rice grains in the takeaway packet, or what my friend calls peram; a method also recommended by the Nasi Kandaq Hunters.
In the morning, they serve roti canai and thosai for breakfast. From 11.30am, the nasi kandar dishes start emerging from the kitchen.
As my friend is incredibly familiar with the dishes, he zoomed in on the must eats. Of course, you need to ask them for kuah campur with your rice. If you prefer to completely banjir your rice, ask for extra kuah hitam to flood the plate.
What makes this nasi kandar especially special is they serve it with sambal nyoq. That soft quenelle of pounded fresh grated coconut with herbs gives the whole ensemble on your plate a nice creamy taste. Apparently they put mint leaves in the sambal giving it a nice freshness too.
If you see tenggiri fish cooked in curry, you must order that! The fish is incredibly fresh where the flesh will flake easily from the bone. There's a lovely sweet taste of the fish that goes well with the mild curry.
Another recommended item is their ayam bawang. Here the quintessential ayam goreng gets a huge flavour boost with the use of deep fried battered onions. The chicken is also different as they batter that with the flour mixture before deep frying it. If you prefer ordering something else, you can also add the fried onions to your rice.
Try also the mutton stomach curry cooked with diced potatoes. The pieces of stomach are soft and tasty with the just-cooked potatoes. Another recommended dish is their ayam masak kicap cooked with dark soy sauce.
You have a choice of blanched lady's fingers or cooked shredded cabbage. I do like the lady's fingers as it has a bit more bite. The cabbage is also nice and not overcooked to a mushy mess.
There's lots more to choose from such as fish eggs, sotong and beef too.
So head here, select from the array of dishes and take away a packet of rice with the dishes. Leave it wrapped for about an hour to peram and enjoy.
For solo eaters, the nasi kandar with ayam goreng and your choice of vegetable is RM5.50. If you select the ayam bawang, it's RM6.50. My meal shared with my friend with drinks came up to around RM25.
Nasi Kandar Berkat Deen Maju, Lot 39, Penjaja Section 6, (Near G Ekspres), Jalan Cecawi 6/19A, Section 6, Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya. Open: 7am to 11.30am (breakfast), 11.30am to 8.30pm (nasi kandar). Closed every second Tuesday of the month. Tel: 016-4529221.
