Even before i had bought my hotel tickets to melaka i investigated what foods are famous from there. One of the most famous choices are chicken rice balls, I wasn’t sure what these were so i did a little bit of research on what chicken rice balls exactly are. Well it turns out that the only difference between standard malaysian/singaporean chicken rice and melaka chicken rice balls is that the balls are formed into the shape of balls rather than being a normal plate of rice.
I checked into my hotel in melaka and as soon as i set down my bags in the room i started to get the familiar feeling of being hungry. I grabbed my camera, phone and wallet and set out in search of these chicken rice balls. It turns out i didn’t have to look that hard as there are lots of different places to try this speciality. I decided to go for famosa chicken rice as I was a sucker for the beautiful exterior.
Walking in i was greeted by the very friendly staff and directed to a table, i sat down on the stool and began to take in my surroundings. I really liked the marble tables and chairs, i felt that this was a really nice touch. In terms of decor I felt that this is the sort of place that hasn’t changed it’s design in a while but it doesn’t really need to. I really found the decor to be quite endearing.
Looking over the menu I ended up going for the roast chicken rice ball set. It arrived extremely quickly after I placed my order, I think with this particular lunch i am going to separate my opinions of the chicken and the rice. Firstly the chicken was fantastic! Malaysia serve chicken slightly different to Australia in the sense that they chop up the chicken into chunks with the bone intact. I found that the chicken was super juicy with a nicely seasoned skin, I really enjoyed it. The rice i didn’t enjoy so much, I just found it slightly gimmicky more than anything else and that forming the rice into balls had caused the rice to form into overcooked mush. 9/10 for the chicken, 3/10 for the rice
I also had a yummy iced lime drink to wash it all down. As you will have seen in my other Malaysia and Singapore reviews lime juice is sort of a standard order for me. It really combats the humid weather really effectively.
While i can finally say that i have had chicken rice balls in melaka I wouldn’t order it again. I would order the chicken again but next time I would just stick to standard rice, I mean rice is so wonderful that it doesn’t need gimmicks.