Famosa Chicken Rice Ball @ Jonker Street, Melaka

Had a chance to visit Melaka so decided to drop by for a good lunch. Most of the city in Malaysia have their own local special food, and for Melaka, there are plenty of choice. One of the famous food that's only available in Melaka is the Chicken Rice Ball. Funny thing that I don't see copycat for this dish in other part of Malaysia.


The famous traditional Famosa Chicken Rice Ball Restaurant in Melaka. They have 3 branches around the city, and there are 2 branches along the Jonker street while the remaining one located in Jalan Bendahara. Are they genuine traditional restaurant, that I dont know. Have to ask the local people.


The famous busy Jonker Street in Melaka, it's actually named as Jalan Hang Jebat. I don't understand why the authority want to allow cars to use this road. Just block it off and make it like Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur, much better. Dangerous to have cars moving around in such a narrow street with lots of pedestrian.


Famosa Chicken Rice Ball Restaurant just located beside the Jonker Street and with it's red building with yellow signboard, it's hard to miss it. We went to this branch instead as it has more space and easier to find table.


Entrance of the Famosa Chickren Rice Ball Restaurant. Please up, and a lady will direct you to your table, like fine dining eh? Hehe. They not only serve chicken rice but other chinese dishes as well. If you want chinese dishes, there are lots of place to eat that. So let's stick to the rice ball.


Chef in action, actually cut the chicken only, all pre-prepared already.


Full house, and luckily there have another shop beside for more tables. Don't worry, it's a quick lunch, just wait for a while and you will get your table. Good thing that they are organised with coordinator to arrange table for the customers.


Second part of the shop with more tables. The waitress work very fast, so no worries. Only complain is that the floor is dirty with chicken bones and stuff. It's a little crowded so I'm not sure how they suppose to sweep / mop the floor. Just don't look down, no problem.


My mum picked up some local delights from the stalls in Jonker Street for us. Kuih Muih, Melaka's specialty as well.


First to come is the highlight of the day, Chicken Rice Ball priced at RM0.50 each. It's actually normal rice that's used in chicken rice dish, but made into round shape. A simple research online will reveal that there is a reason for such funny shape. Here go the story. In old times, people purposely shaped the rice into round shape to retain the warmness of the rice within the ball and also for conveniency to carry it to work. Hey, that's very thoughtful and practical as well. Love every bit of it, but a bit pricy for RM0.50 each. For a normal guy like me, I will wallop 4-5 balls anytime. that's RM2.00 to RM2.50 rice for myself. Acceptable though, not a problem. Small price to pay for a special food.


Bean Sprout for RM7.00 and it's normal only. There is no way bean sprout outside of Ipoh to be able to compete with them as Ipoh has the best water and condition to grow the best bean sprout. Purely raw material quality, can't blame them. Treating them as just some greens to go with the food.

 
For a full family, we ordered Half Roast and Half Steamed Chicklen for a total of RM32.00. The chicken is good but not great. Normal quality in my opinion. Still got long way to go to compare to Ipoh Chicken. It's called the Chicken Rice Ball restaurant, so we stick to the name. Didn't try out other dish, but if you fancy a complete lunch / dinner, they do have set lunch menu. Check out their website below.

Overall, the only highlight is the rice ball, which is the specialty. It's not wonderfully nice to eat, but something special. All other dishes are normal and not that great. No reason to eat Chicken Rice Ball other than having something special and unique while in Melaka. I personally don't fancy the food but I will still come back whenever I'm in Melaka, just another way to remind myself that I'm in Melaka and what's the reason that you don't see this dish in other part of Malaysia, probably because no one will bother to eat? I don't know, just a question to ponder with. However, if you are in Melaka, try it out. If not you wouldn't know what to answer when people ask if you try their rice ball =)

Famosa Chicken Rice Ball Restaurant
No. 28-30 Jalan Hang Kasturi
Off Jonker Street
75200 Melaka
Tel: +606 286 0121
Fax: +606 282 4595
Website: http://www.chickenriceball.com/
Opening Time: 8.00am till 9.00pm (Monday - Thursday) or 10.00pm (Friday - Sunday)
Location Coordinate: N2 11.733 E102 14.859