Cloudy With The Chance of Chicken Rice Balls

One of the most talk about must have food when you are visiting Melaka is chicken rice balls. Why is it so famous? I do not know. It's just amongst those few things you must try in Melaka. There were three most prominent chicken rice balls eating place in Melaka which is Restoran Famosa Chicken Rice Balls, Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Balls and Chung Wah restaurant. During our stay in Melaka, we tried all three places just to see which one suits our taste better. So, before you read further on - you are reminded that this is solely our opinions and we are not associated to any of these three places or any other places that is included in this blog.

Restoran Famosa Chicken Rice



The shop claimed to have used traditional Hainanese chicken rice recipe, whereby their rich-balls are served with the tender and juicy chicken meat from Bukit Mertajam, which is well-known for its free-range chicken.



The place does not only serves chicken rice but they also serve roasted pork, duck and also curry dishes. We ordered chicken, roasted pork and choi sam and we ordered additional 5 pieces of rice balls.



We also ordered a bowl of cendol.

It was at around 6:30 pm when we got there, and there were still quite a number of people around. The service was quite slow due to heavy orders but given that nobody bothered to take our orders kind of deteriorate the feeling a bit.



Interior decor of the place - not bad



Overall we think that there's nothing to shout about regarding the rice balls and maybe because of the slow service it did give an impact to how we judge the taste of the food there but I give a two thumbs up for the cendol. It was nice. We like it.


Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Balls



We went into this shop as early as 9:00 AM. We went in for breakfast before we started our journey to The Red Square and St Paul's Ruin. This place is located just a few shophouses away from Restoran Famosa Chicken Rice Balls.



I like the very "chantique" look of this building. (Chantique - Beautiful + antique).



I must say that this particular shop got one of the best or if not the best Hainanese chicken I've ever tasted. It was so tender and nothing like those in KL and of course Ipoh Chicken rice is a totally different thing but this? It's out of this world.



Again, the chicken rice balls they have nothing to shout about but it was better than the one we tried previously. Overall, we like the ambiance, the restaurant itself is very spacious and comfy and it's cool eventhough it's not air-conditioned.

Kedai Kopi Chung Wah

From the look of this place, you would not know that they're selling chicken rice balls because the place looks a little dull and it looks rather like a normal "kampung" type kopitiam. It does look like it serves nice coffee judging by the look of it.



and so I ordered white coffee "ping", which was not bad. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of it here. The place somehow gave you this very relaxing feeling - a summary of what it is like to live in Melaka. It's a different kind of feeling from entering "Old Town Kopitiam" if you get what I mean.



Lo and behold! The chicken rice balls. Mama Mia! This is the best we've tasted so far. According to Mani, this shop claimed to be one of the pioneers of this chicken rice balls business. Located nearby the red square, exactly after the bridge, the first shop after the parking space, even as early as 9:00 AM, they already have big orders. Well, not that 9:00 AM is late, it's just that the shops here in Melaka opens at 9:00 AM, so I can't really complaint!



The chicken was so-so, I prefer the ones at Hoe Kee compared to this one.

And so, overall the best chicken rice balls award falls to Chung Wah but if given a chance - I'd have cendol from Famosa, Hainanese chicken from Hoe Kee and rice balls from Chung Wah. That would pretty much make my day!

P/S : In about a few hours I'll be flying back to Bintulu. Thanks so much guys for the company all these years. I'll pay you guys a visit some time. Until then, take care!