During the last couple of months, this home based nasi kukus stall at Jalan Hang Jebat 5 in Skudai has been the rage in JB social media.
But, the chatter and buzz is more about the three to four hour queue than about the food 😂
So, busy body foodie me cannot resist joining in to find out what is it all about, lah 😄
The stall opens at 12:30pm but there was already a queue outside the shut gate when I got here before noon 😂 When I asked, everyone was here for the first time because they heard about the 3-4 hour queue. Who says only Singaporeans like to queue, hah?
Each customer is allowed a maximum of five packets so that almost everyone who come will have a chance to try the famous nasi kukus and not just experience the queue.
The lady boss does the frying.
The chicken breasts and legs marinated with spices and lightly battered, are deep fried till golden brown outside.
The boss, Mr. 蔡, handles the steamer and takes charge of the packing. Mr. 蔡 hails from Kelantan, the home of nasi kukus which simply means "steamed rice".
Mr. 蔡 used to be a kopitiam boss in Kelantan. He moved his family to JB in Dec 2016 to be closer to his two sons who are working in Singapore.
Everyone who didn't give up mid way and reached the front of the queue after 3 - 4 hours have suggestions for Mr. 蔡. "Tow kay, how about more frying stove? Have more rice steamers lah! Get more workers!" 😄
Mr. 蔡 was polite and cautious with his responses. I can see it from his point of view. If he changes the process of preparing his popular nasi kukus, how might it affect the taste? Whatever Mr. 蔡 intends to do to speed up the delivery, he has to make sure it does not "kill the goose that lay the golden eggs".
Tadah!
My nasi kukus after about 4 hours. (My Instagram/ Facebook post is wrong - it's nearly 4 hours.)
99% of customers take away their full entitlement of 5 packets of nasi kukus at RM9 per pack.
I am the 1%.
I ate one set at the stall and took away 4 packets for my buddies.
The chicken leg was fried till golden brown and slightly crisp outside. The inside was moist but only slightly (meaning it might feel a little dry for some).
The overall flavours were very mildly savoury spicy from the marination on the skin and subtle natural sweetness from the slightly moist fresh chicken meat inside.
It's nice and likable but this quality of fried chicken is not uncommon in JB.
What won me over was the rice, curries and sambal chili.
The steamed rice was tender but slightly nutty and not as starchy as boiled rice. It was also sweet.
Mr. 蔡 splashes a savoury sweet spicy chicken curry, a sourish sweet spicy pineapple based curry and a savoury spicy green chili sambal on the mound of tightly packed steamed rice.
A well balanced blend of sweet, sour, savoury and spicy flavours with a lingering mildly hot sting - win already lah, lidat 😄
No wonder Mr. 蔡 said he can't have just any worker pack his nasi kukus for him. The curries and sambal chili have to be added at the right proportions.
👉 I like Nasi Kukus Skudai mainly for their rice, curries and sambal chili. It's good that the fried chicken is also nice. Will I come again? Yes! I will make more trips here when the queue is about one hour long.
This post received a lot of feedback from readers. Here are two, on the merits of waiting 4 hours for food.
I welcome your views in the comments 😄
Nasi Kukus Skudai has moved (since 13 Aug 2017)!
Restaurant name: Nasi Kukus Skudai
Address: #128 Block 34, Jalan Pendekar 1, Taman Ungku Tun Aminah, Skudai, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1°30'42.2"N 103°39'02.2"E | 1.511716, 103.650608 (very rough - look out for Block 34)
Tel: 017 984 6188
Hours: 12:30pm till sold out (usually between 2-3pm) (Thurs off)
Non Halal
Date visited: 30 Jul 2017
Return to Johor Kaki homepage.
But after you post this blog post... the queue will be more than 4 hours...hahahha
ReplyDeleteif they read the detailed description of the food, some may not want to come. personally, i like it, especially the rice with curries.
DeleteTony, did I read correctly, you reached there at 12 noon and managed to get your food only 4 hours later?
ReplyDeleteTo speed up the process, Mr 蔡 can get a worker to pack the ingredients and he add the curries, sambal chilli and and finishing touches..
yes, that is correct. actually i wanted to give up after 1.5 hours thinking that it could not be be longer than 1 hour. but, i already promised my buddies that i will tabao (take away) for them. so there is no backing out. anyway, it was quite fun chatting with the others in the queue and the 4 hours seemed bearable with the friendly folks around. i won't be back unless the queue is back to 1 hour.
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI was there (the new location) maybe around 2pm but there was no sign of them... i asked the ppl working in the coffeeshop nearby, seems they have not seen them around also...
oh.. wow.. I wonder where they went. Things change really fast.
DeleteAnyone know where this stall has moved to?
ReplyDeletehttps://maps.app.goo.gl/QXaEVZ4DMvqN7xYv7
ReplyDelete