Village Park Restaurant

Address: No. 5, Jalan SS21/37, Damansara Jaya, Petaling Jaya

Phone: 03-7710-7860

We're Back!!!!! :) My goodness, our food tour to Malaysia, especially in Kuala Lumpur/Petaling Jaya was absolutely amazing! Gan's brothers, who are just as yaokui as us, brought us to some of the nicest restaurants/food stalls in the city. We had nasi lemak, banana leaf curries, seafood, char siu, shanghainese food etc. Among all the places we have tried during this trip, the Nasi Lemak at Village Park Restaurant is one of our favorites.

Nasi Lemak, which literally means "Oily Rice" is the ultimate national dish of Malaysia, at least to me. Most Malaysians grow up eating Nasi Lemak for breakfast - fragrant coconut rice topped with sambal (spicy chili sauce), cucumber slices, fried ikan bilis (anchovies), kangkung, and hard boiled eggs, which are usually served on a banana leaf. That is just the most basic form of nasi lemak, there are also many restaurants that sell Nasi Lemak with varieties of side dishes to go with the coconut rice. Since we were so deprived of decent Nasi Lemak in NYC, Gan told his brothers that we need to eat the best Nasi Lemak in the city to make up for it, and we were brought to Village Park Restaurant at SS21/37. Man, it was the best darn Nasi Lemak we have ever eaten!

Gan: This recent trip to Malaysia and HongKong has been a gastronomical delight. I am still amazed neither of us balooned up or died of food coma. Imagine: constantly having 3-4 servings on each meal, 3 main meals a day plus countless in between snacks that sometimes could pass for a full meal, cantonese-teo chew-malay-shanghainese-indian; street food-fine dining; fusion-authentic-regionals, 4 meals in "One night in Mong Kok"; "Chinese New Year food orgy" and many more. And we were still vying for more! It was a truly productive trip for us yaokuis and we can't wait to tell you all about it. Here goes one of our most memorable one - the first breakfast meal.

Waking up on the first morning back in Malaysia, we went out hunting for food. We spent the first 3 nights in Kuala Lumpur, staying with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew. They're as much of a yaokui as us - guess it runs in the family. After being away from the country for a while, I thought it was appropriate that we started our gorging trip with the national dish of Malaysia - Nasi Lemak. When asked about the best Nasi Lemak, we were at first presented with several choices on Nasi Lemak the night before. The more popular place for that dish for the KLers/PJers are the Seapark Nasi Lemak and then there's this Village Park Nasi Lemak (don't know why it has to be a park for good Nasi Lemak). We ended up going to Village Park in SS21 (in Petaling Jaya, a satellite city for Kuala Lumpur). Hands down, this is the best Nasi Lemak I've ever tried.



Village Park restaurant which is famous for its Nasi Lemak, is packed with customers going there for breakfast.

Gan: Nasi Lemak is usually a nostalgic dish for most Malaysians as we grew up with it.. with memories of small little packets of banana leaf wrapped fragrant rice, served with sambal (chilli paste), ikan bilis (fried anchovies), kacang (fried peanuts) and occasionally fried eggs or hard boiled eggs. It's a usual fair in primary or secondary school canteens all over the country.


Kakak was taking our orders. I took a long time to decide which side dishes to pick for my Nasi Lemak since they all look so delicious! They have cuttlefish sambal, curry fish, rendang, fried fish, achar, stir fried veggies etc.

Gan: Glad to see that Village Park has a "canteen style" serving. This is definitely a much more luxurious version of Nasi Lemak. You get a basic serving of nasi lemak with the fragrant rice, sambal, ikan bilis, kacang, kangkung, hard boiled egg, and cucumber. The rest are all additional options which you get to choose to add onto your basic serving. The breadth of choices were amazing but what blew my mind away was each of these side options can be as good as an entree on rice in its own entirety.

They even have my favorite traditional Malaysian doughnuts!

The fried chicken is to die for. Imagine this - crispy, moist fried chicken thighs with a hint of turmeric, curry, chili & ginger. I want more!

Restaurant: No self service!

Lontong

They serve lontong here as well, a traditional Indonesian dish which my sister in law ordered.

Sarah's order of Nasi Lemak - simple & basic

Gan's order of Nasi Lemak - with almost everything piling on top of the rice

Gan: I think it could easily add up if you have no self control. The assam fish was good but the friend chicken was out of this world. I like that the sambal were not nuclear-explosive level of spiciness so you actually get to really save your taste bud on tasting all the incredibly tasty condiments. The main focal point, even with all the distractions, were definitely the rice. They were very fragrant with hint of all the aromatic infused into it (pandan leaves, coconut milk, star anise? and cinnamon sticks?)

Colin, our honorary yaokui member and Gan both enjoying their breakfast

Milo & Kopi O (Black coffee)

Thumbs up!

Gan: My younger brother, Colin was with us that morning and ordered this "Dinosaur Milo". Interesting ice blended Milo chocolate drink with extra dallops of chocolate powder added on top. Quite refreshing and cooling for the Malaysian hot and humid weather.

The final bill - about USD $17 for 5 people! Amazing!

Gan: Best part of being in Malaysia! You get the best food you ever had without breaking the bank!