We ate at Ambok Corner twice and like their nasi ayam penyet as well as nasi goreng kampung.
Ambok Corner is a humble little stall in Jalan Biru Taman Pelangi hawker centre - a small public hawker centre where the public gather for simple, affordable meals.
Mak Is who runs Ambok Corner, came to Johor Bahru from Surabaya, Indonesia 3 years ago. Mak Is was a homemaker before coming to JB, so her food has a homely, home cooked feel.
Our lunch and drinks all for RM21.50. I didn't ask for the breakdown.
Nasi Ayam Penyet set with a large piece of fried chicken breast, plain boiled white rice, fried tempeh, tofu, sambal chili and a bowl of soto ayam soup.
We did not specify the cut of chicken, and was served a large piece of breast. It was fried till crispy brown and slightly stiff outside. The white flesh inside nearly dry.
Over the years, I have asked many Indonesians what they consider is a good fried ayam penyet, and most said it should be dry and crisp, just like this.
As I prefer chicken thigh, we ordered one separately. Same golden brown crispness outside while slightly dry inside. Non greasy.
There's a bit of savoury and spice flavour from the seasoning used on the chicken but no natural chicky sweetness as almost all the juices were dried out by deep frying.
Nice chewy crunchy, once I made up my mind to appreciate it the way many Indonesians do. (Crispy outside, tender and juicy inside 外脆内软 is not quite the way most Indonesians like their ayam penyet.)
The nasi ayam penyet dish rely a lot on its sambal chili for flavour. Ambok Corner's pulpy samabl chili was savoury salty spicy.
If you prefer a sweetish spicy flavour profile with underlying anchovy taste, ask Mak Is for her nasi lemak sambal chili. I like this more than the salty spicy one (especially when eaten with the next dish - kampung fried rice).
We had nasi goreng kumpung and it turned out to be our favourite dish of the day.
The fried rice was full of flavour - layers of savouriness from sauces, spicy heat from spices and chilis, underlying sweetness from rice and diced vegetables and a bit of egginess. Flavours were at just the right intensity - neither mild nor overpowering. The hot fried rice had a nice aroma of caramelised sauces on the rice.
Texture was spot on for us. The rice grains had just the right moistness. They hang together loosely, together but separately. The mound of rice was moist but neither wet nor greasy. Each grain was tenderly nutty and packed with savoury spicy flavours infused into and enveloping each grains. Diced long beans, cabbage, carrot, chili padi, crunchy bits of fried chicken with tendons etc, here and there added interesting variety to each mouthful.
We love Mak Is' nasi goreng kumpung.
Information for you 👌 After our meal, I asked Mak Is if we could order ayam penyet with nasi goreng kampung together (instead of plain white rice). She said yes. I think that would be an unbeatable combination for a nice affordable brunch/ lunch. Flavour packed nasi goreng kampung with crispy chewy fried chicken and sambal chili.
Restaurant name: Ambok Corner
Address: Taman Serene Food Centre, Jalan Biru, Johor Bahru (opposite the famous San Low seafood restaurant)
GPS: 1.472193,103.774613
Hours: 8:00am - 4:00pm
Halal
Date visited: 16 Oct 2019
Shouldn't the title say Taman Serene instead of Taman Palengi?
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