I am not a fan of "roast" chicken even though chicken rice bosses told me that "roast" sells better than old fashioned poached nowadays. "Roast" though looks very appetising often turned out dry and flat tasting. But, not at the chicken rice stall at Fong Yem coffee shop 丰源美食中心 in Johor Jaya - it's my favourite "roast" chicken stall now.
Fong Yem is a typical busy Malaysian coffee shop where there are many stalls serving different dishes from early morning till late at night.
Fong Yan Hainan Boneless Chicken Rice works the "morning shift" at Fong Yem coffee shop from around 9:30am till about 1:00pm.
Boss Chong 張 hails from Kuantan and went to work at a chicken rice stall in Singapore when he was 15 years old. 張 was a wide eyed teenager, first time in a big city, in a foreign country. He is grateful to his former boss who showed him the ropes of the chicken rice trade.
After 5 years, 張 set up his own chicken rice stall at Fong Yem coffee shop and he has been here for nearly 20 years.
張 first boils the fresh chicken in stock with malt sugar and then air dries the birds to lock in the chicken's natural flavours with a coat of sugar glaze. The birds are then deep fried in oil till they are golden brown outside.
Gorgeous golden brown fried chicken which is referred to as "roast" in Singapore and Malaysia. Fong Yem's roast chicken is smooth outside, whereas the birds are often fried till they are wrinkled at other stalls.
At Fong Yem, the chicken are served deboned. They also have char siew which I have not tried yet. Business is brisk at Fong Yem, so we always get freshly fried chicken straight from the pot.
My roast chicken set at RM5.50.
I asked for the thigh. Every part of this boneless chicken was tender. The skin was soft with a delicate crisp. The meat was juicy and tender with a slight chew to the bite.
The flavour was mainly sweet with a bit of underlying natural chicky sweetness.
The dressing sauce was also sweet balanced with a bit of savouriness from soy sauce. The aromatic oil added fragrance to the sauce. The mild tasting sweet savoury sauce complemented the sweetish chicken meat.
Together, it's nice 😋
Though the rice was only of average quality with some chipped grains, it was nicely done with pleasant garlicky aroma and good round savoury sweet flavour. The flavoursome rice was not greasy at all.
Fong Yem serves real chicken soup made by boiling chicken carcass with feet which gave it body and radish which added sweetness to the savoury broth. It's a solid soup, though a bit greasy (old school is like that lah 😄 ).
The chili sauce is the sourish spicy type with a sharp sting, commonly found in Singapore.
Suggestion: While you are here for Fong Yem chicken rice, order a bowl of fish ball soup (tell them that you just want the soup, no noodles) at the kway teow thng stall. They have one of the best real hand made fish balls in JB. Tender, springy with natural fresh fish taste. Chicken rice and fish ball soup go very well together.
4-Star (out of 5). I enjoyed Fong Yem's roast chicken. Shall be back to indulge in half a roast bird and also to try their poached chicken.
I like Fong Yem's roast chicken the most after trying so many through the years.
My previous post on Fong Yan 👈 click
Please recommend me your favourite roast chicken. I love to try it too.
Restaurant name: Fong Yan Hainanese Chicken Rice stall
Address: Fong Yem Coffee at intersection of Jalan Dedap 13 and Jalan Dedap 18, Taman Johor Jaya, Johor Bahru (opposite RHB Bank)
Map: http://g.co/maps/dm5zd
GPS: 1.542325,103.801724608
Waze: Fong Yem
Hours: 9:30am till sold out (usually by 1:00pm) Weds closed.
Non Halal
Date visited: 18 May 2012, 26 Feb 2018
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