We love fried chicken with hot white rice and recently there has been a lot of great Indonesian franchises offering this out there. Fatmawati is the latest in Indonesian restaurant chains, however this particular branch is run by a husband and wife team that is very proud of their food. And yes… you have to try the sup ekor here…

“Now take that kicap manis and squeeze some on the belinjo,” mmm… we are waiting for our food at Fatmawati and stuffing our faces with the keropok belinjo. There’s something addictive about these crackers, crunchy with a bitter edge and then with that dollop of sweet soy sauce… ‘berhantu’ as they call it. Anyway one of the main things you should really have here is the Sup Ekor or Sup Buntut. You can have it normal style in the soup, you can have it deep fried in batter (it’s a little like KFC batter) or you can have it barbecued. The last one, you can’t get it on the menu. Only people in the know, order this. So if you really want to sound like you know what you are talking about, get it barbecued or ‘bakar’.

With this order a side of Nasi Timbel. This rice comes wrapped up in banana leaf and it’s great. There’s not a lot of starch content so it falls in grains- what we call ‘ceroi’. This goes really well with the soup. As for the soup itself it is light but has a lot of flavour. Usually light sup ekor comes swimming in MSG to give it punch. But here they have their balance of flavours right with good marrying of ‘bumbu’ that brings out the flavour of the meat. They also add a bit of fresh tomatoes to get a sour edge to it that is different from Malay sup ekor which usually derives flavour from celery.

Now the barbecued oxtail comes on the side dripping with flavour. We reckon thay marinate it with kicap manis and some pepper and whack it on the grill so everything seeps deep in. The meat practically falls off the bones. We suspect they boil the meat first in the soup to render it soft before massaging the kicap in and then grilling it on a high flame. Both the barbecued and deep fried versions come on the side so that it does not disturb the subtlety of the soup. So you can eat it in relay, alternating mouthfuls of savoury soup with sweet oxtail meat and rice.

“The barbecued oxtail comes dripping with flavour”

They also have their own version of what is now the infamous ayam penyet. However, they use ayam kampung here so it’s smaller but a whole lot tastier. You can have it grilled or fried. We prefer the fried version because it’s not too oily and the chicken remains succulent. They also give a bit of crunchy ‘rempah’ with it. The side sambal that goes with it is killer and coupled with sweet kicap… damn…

We are starting to really get into Indonesian kicap manis. It just goes great with everything. If you ever get your hands on nasi goreng belacan with cilli padi just a spray of this kicap will take you into another level. Malaysians have nothing on Indonesians when it comes to kicap manis. Some do like the chicken grilled but this version has a very strong taste of coconut to it so we recommend the ayam goreng for first timers.

Over there they also have great set lunches. If you order the meals ala carte, you have to order the rice separately. Set lunches are fantastic value for money. For RM7.70 you can get the ayam kampung goreng with tempe, tauhu, soup, sambal and a drink. They also have Teh Botol here in a box and thick creamy avocado shakes.

FOODSTERS’ VREDICT Pros: Great bang for your buck Cons: Service a bit erratic during busy times

Address: G-18, Jalan PJU 8/3, Bandar Damansara Perdana, 47820, Petaling Jaya – Malaysia Telephone: 03- 77109158

Source : http://www.friedchillies.com/index.php/site/detail/ayam-goreng-fatmawati