Chicken with rice balls is one dish that is well-known and very popular in Malacca. Several restaurants serve this local delicacy in Melaka Old Town and Hoe Kee Chicken Rice (和记鸡饭团) is one of them. The restaurant is located next to San Shu Gong (三叔公), a local products shop, at one end of Jonker Walk.
Hoe Kee's signature dish is, of course, Hainanese-style chicken with rice balls. For à la carte orders, different portions of chicken can be specified with desired number of rice balls (sold per piece). For set meal, the minimum serving size on their price list is for 2 pax, but they halved the size and price accordingly for solo diner. Apart from chicken rice and other side dishes, Hoe Kee also serves assam pedas, or sour-spicy fish, which is another hot-selling dish too.
A set meal for single pax comes with a reasonable portion of chicken meat with 5 pieces of hand-rolled rice balls. The ping-pong-size rice balls, dribbled with sweet dark sauce, are fragrant with mild flavours of chicken stock.
The chicken meat with skin is drenched with light soy sauce and fragrant sesame oil before serving. There are no fats underneath the skin. The silky-smooth and tender steamed chicken was what made Hoe Kee one of the popular places for chicken rice.
Hoe Kee's chicken rice is really delicious and difficult not to eat it again and again when I was in Malacca — and missed the assam pedas again. I need to borrow a stomach.
Address:
468, Jalan Hang Jebat, 75200 Melaka, Malaysia
Opening Hours:
9am to 4:30pm | Closed on Thursday
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