Nasi Beriani Chinese Style 车站黄姜饭 in Batu Pahat, Johor

I was enjoying a curry mee at Batu Pahat's "glutton street" when a stranger walked up to me and asked if I am "Johor Kaki". Daniel introduced himself and we quickly settled down to a nice conversation like old friends :) Naturally I asked Daniel about what to eat in Batu Pahat. Daniel said I should try "Bus Station Chinese nasi beriani" 车站黄姜饭 which is just around the corner from "glutton street" at Jalan Jenang.

Daniel took his leave and when I finished my curry mee and went to settle my bill, the lady boss told that my meal was already paid for by Daniel. Thanks Daniel for the treat, it was nice to meet you :)

We took a short walk to "Bus Station nasi beriani" 车站黄姜饭. 车站黄姜饭 is a kopitiam type of shop. Everything is very basic, no frills and laid back.



I couldn't get much from the somewhat reserved shopkeepers, only that they are at this shop for about 3 years. They probably have been in business a long time before moving here since this shop is no where near the bus station 车站.

The shop is open only briefly from 9:30am to 1:00pm and it closes on unspecified days - quite common practice for smaller towns. The business is small scale or more like larger scale mum's home cooking. In my humble opinion, few can beat mum's cooking - so the closer a shop is to mum's cooking, the better.

车站黄姜饭 sells only one thing - "beriani rice" with curry chicken at RM4.60 a set.



The rice is not the basmati type - just ordinary fragrant rice. The rice was light, fluffy, mildly flavoured with cumin and kept warm in a steamer. Those pickled cucumbers and pineapples at the side were crunchy, sweet and mildly tangy.



Each set comes with two large chunky pieces of chicken and curry. The curry is quite lemak with santan, smooth and mildly spicy. The creamy curry was sweet from having tomatoes among its ingredients. There was a gentle aroma of spices. The chicken was tender. Many people prefer this mild curry compared to the more pungent, robust variety. I like both types.



Even though 车站黄姜饭 is certainly no Michelin Star restaurant, it's deep in the fibre of the lives of Batu Pahat folk - part of the sense of place that makes a country or town a home.

Batu Pahat is actually the nasi beriani capital of Malaysia, anchored by famous shops like Nasi Baryani Mohd Shah and Nasi Bariani Power. 车站黄姜饭 is actually "the other", lesser known nasi beriani shop. So, if you want to try nasi beriani besides the big name mainstream shops, you might want to give 车站黄姜饭 a try.



Restaurant name: 车站黄姜饭 "Bus Station Nasi Beriani"
Address: 36-5, Jalan Jenang, Batu Pahat, Johor
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/sCnRj
GPS: 1.854069,102.927748
Hours: 09:30am to 1:00pm (no fixed off day)
Non Halal

Date visited: 18 Mar 2013