IPOH, Jan 19 — A local restaurant selling mix rice gained international stardom after Hong Kong director-actor Chapman To revealed on Facebook that he flew all the way to Ipoh just to indulge in their fried chicken.
For over three decades, the fried chicken sold at Restoran Canning Garden already has a huge following among locals but thanks to To's Facebook posting more customers have started lining up at the restaurant just to try their fried chicken.
To posted on his Facebook, recently: “Just for this fried chicken, I am back.”
“So succulent, even the chicken breast can be so tender, it is really out of this world,” To, 46, said.
During a visit to the restaurant yesterday, a worker told Malay Mail after news broke that To had eaten their fried chicken immediately the following day a long queue was outside the shop was spotted.
“We were not even aware the actor was in our shop,” she said.
The helper said besides the fried chicken, the restaurant also sells other dishes but the fried chicken is definitely the crowd favourite.
The worker said it usually takes her boss 10 minutes to fry the chicken and within two minutes it will be sold out.
The economy rice stall is open from 10.30am daily but the fried chicken would only be served 30 minutes later.
It was learnt that the queue is long only on weekdays and there is smaller crowd on weekends.
The worker who declined to be named said the fried chicken was popular as it is freshly prepared daily using fresh chicken.
Ho Sow Fong a regular customer said the fried chicken was nicknamed Brigitte Lin fried chicken because of the stall operator's wife's striking resemblance to the Taiwanese actress.
“The nickname somehow stuck as people would refer the shop as Brigitte Lin fried chicken shop,” said Ho who has a book shop nearby.
Ho said what she like the most about the fried chicken is that it's always tender and juicy.
“It is way better than the commercially sold ones,” she said.
Restoran Canning Garden is located at 27, Lorong Cecil Rae, Canning Garden, Ipoh.
