The Coco Rice – Nasi Lemak With Pretty Blue Pea Rice & Gigantic Chicken Thigh!

“Authentic taste in new lemak experience,” is what Aries Chan hope to achieve with her new stall, The Coco Rice. I think she has hit the bullseye with all her carefully-curated nasi lemak sets. I was greatly impressed by the presentation of the food and her thematic stall front. My food looked like it’s from a restaurant, and not a hawker stall. IT’S SO PRETTY!

Aries, who is behind popular home-based business Nasi Lemak Indulgence, which sells Nasi Lemak cakes decided to bring nasi lemak on a plate to a whole new level. From eye-catching blue pea rice to a secret marinate for her gorgeously fried chicken, she’s here to change the nasi lemak game. I was won over by her sheer effort to make everything from scratch, while maintaining the aesthetics without compromising on flavours.

I got the signature Set B ($7.90) which promises an enormous fried chicken, and Set A ($6.90), a very healthy-looking set with an otak ($1.80) add-on.

Let’s start with Set A because I like to follow the alphabetical order. The main features of this set are the fried tempeh and tau kwa, and the other ingredients are sambal ladies’ fingers, a sunny-side-up with a runny yolk, fried peanuts and anchovies, a bunch of cucumber slices and a dollop of homemade chilli. The real reason why I got this was that I’m a sucker for anything that has tempeh in it.

The sambal ladies’ fingers was a little underwhelming for me. It tasted a little raw in my opinion like it was not cooked thoroughly. The sambal chilli, on the other hand, did not have the kick that I was expecting.

The tau kwa was fried to perfection, with a crispy exterior, and savoury and moist interior. While the tempeh had the perfect crisp on the outside, it looked like it wasn’t fully cooked on the inside as it still had the “fermented fibre look”. However, I was fine when after eating it so there’s nothing to worry about!

The highlight for me strangely was the rice and the fried peanuts and anchovies. Although the lemak in the rice was not as strong as I had expected, the rice was still very fragrant and fluffy! The lightly salted peanuts were larger than usual, with a nice crunch. What I’m most impressed with were the anchovies. It was crispy and wasn’t too oily.

Onto Set B, the signature. Before anything else, let us just appreciate how enormous the fried chicken thigh is!!

This set is much simpler than the others, consisting of a fried chicken thigh, a sunny-side-up, a dollop of homemade sambal, fried peanuts and anchovies, and sliced cucumbers. The main star is obviously the chicken thigh. It was seriously so so good.

The batter encasing the chicken was clearly studded with some of the herbs that it’s been marinated in. Beautifully fried, the chicken was crispy, flavourful, and not overly oily. The meat was very tender and juicy too! *chef’s kiss*.

Overall, this is a very hearty meal and a great rendition of nasi lemak! Even though it’s on the pricier side for hawker food, you’re surely leaving with a full tummy. I’ll definitely be back for the signature chicken set, and to try the other sets available!

MissTamChiak.com made an anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

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