PETALING JAYA, June 2 — Whenever I used to drop by the food court at SS3 Petaling Jaya, it was always tough to decide what to order as there were many stalls to entice me.
One of them was Botak Nasi Lemak. The fragrant coconut milk rice served with their nasi lemak was what kept me going back.
Their tagline, "second best nasi lemak in Petaling Jaya", has many questioning them and they will often reply that they are humble enough to be ranked second.
In November last year, they moved out to a shop just behind the food court.
Even though one couldn't pair the nasi lemak with ais kacang from one stall or grab some fried bittergourd from the Indian stall, it was a move welcomed by many regulars since the space was much larger.
For the nasi lemak, you have a choice between the small or large versions. The small (RM2.20) is basically nasi lemak bungkus with just a hard boiled egg, peanuts, ikan bilis with sambal and the fragrant rice. It's great for a quick meal on the go. There's also a bigger version for RM4.50 with a choice of fried egg or hard boiled egg.
It's the rice that draws me back. Fragrant rice grains with the distinct aroma of coconut milk. The sambal is the slightly sweet type. Usually it's not spicy but it depends on the chillies they use as the day I had packed this home, it was pretty spicy.
With the packet version, they aren't very generous with their fried peanuts and ikan bilis so ask for extra if you love that.
The fun part comes in choosing the other sides. There's their fried chicken, sotong or even chicken curry. It's RM4.50 for each item, depending on your selection.
Usually when I dine in, my choice would be the fried chicken as that is juicy and tasty but I reckon the sotong is better for takeaway. The chicken is still juicy but the fried batter tends to soften a little. They also have chicken curry which I didn't manage to try as it was sold out early.
For the sotong, you get tender pieces of the brown calamari paired with a nice spicy sauce. Douse the rice with lots of the sauce to get maximum satisfaction.
Aside from nasi lemak, they also sell an excellent pulut or loh mai fan. It's simple and tasty with a few fried peanuts but done very well as the glutinous rice grains are soft but not sticky. Make sure you take home a packet of this for RM3.50.
Even the simple mee siam (RM3.50) that is just plain fried beehoon with a slight spiciness is good. I had paired this with the leftover curry gravy for extra oomph.
You can WhatsApp 019-7007193 to place your orders. You will need to arrange for a third party delivery company where charges are borne by you. If you're within the delivery radius, they are on Grab and Beepit.
Botak Nasi Lemak, No. 13, Jalan SS3/37, Petaling Jaya. Tel: 010-7007711. Open: 8am to 3pm (Tuesday to Sunday). Closed on Monday. Facebook: @botaknasilemak
