Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Ball
Every weekend and any public holidays, Malacca town is seriously jam packed because of the out station’s and Singaporeans’ cars flocking to the same restaurants and tourist attraction spots using the same road like every other road users, causing traffic jam and long queues at every possible places.
And one of the places is none other than the Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Ball shop, which is located at the far end of Jonker Street. I guess there’s no need introduction and elaboration on the origin of chicken rice ball and one of the pioneers, Hoe Kee.
This delicacy and restaurant have been featured by countless food magazines, food shows, blogs, newspapers and every other print media and I don’t think they need to be introduced here again. If you don’t know what is it, by all means, please go flush yourself at your house’s toilet bowl. This shop has been featured by countless magazines and TV shows
Every weekend, the shop is packed to the brim with people from all over Malaysia, Singapore, foreign countries. There are so many people waiting outside the shop that it never fail to amaze me. The queue sometimes can go up to three to four shop lots and I even heard some of them had to wait for more than two hours just to eat chicken rice. You can see this phenomena during weekends while as weekdays are slightly better.
Chicken rice ball is basically just chicken rice cooked slightly longer and then molded into a ping pong ball size. It has the same taste just like the normal chicken rice except its’ texture is more slimy. They say five rice balls are equivalent to a bowl of rice. Hence, although they are about the same amount, I need to eat three times more of rice balls compared to two plates of rice, that’s about 15 or more rice balls before I start to feel like I have eaten two plates of rice. Yet, they have the same price! Kind of cheating customers, isn’t it?
After all these years, I still don’t understand why people are so easily fascinated by these balls. Are you guys and girls worshiping the balls?
Hainanese never cook their chicken to 100% cooked but somewhere around 90% cooked, so that the raw meat and blood tastes will retain in the meat itself. Hence, if you have stomachache, like a few of my friends did, fear not, it’s not because the chicken rice is dirty but rather your stomach isn’t able to take it. Ask Juliana, she had a bad stomach ache after eating it for the first time.
Did I mention that the chicken is very oily too due to the seasonings they put before the chicken is served? If they cook the chicken properly and just nicely, the meat will be very tender and you don’t have to chew for ages just to swallow it.
Of course, there are other side dishes like cabbage, asam pedas fish and black bean soup to go along with your chicken rice, making it a rather complete wholesome meal for your family and yourself. Their black bean soup is quite tasty actually, natural sweetness from the red dates and porks. And who can forget the not spicy at all and sourish chili sauce?
Of course, there’s another option which is just directly opposite Hoe Kee, the Chung Wah Kopitiam. Chung Wah Kopitiam is as famous as Hoe Kee and it was rated as the best chicken rice shop by Hitz.FM. Many people argued is it Hoe Kee or Chung Wah that serves the best chicken rice. To me, chicken rice ball is no longer a secret recipe and anyone can cook as good as them after numerous trial and error. It all boils down to personal preference, that’s it. Read more about Chung Wah’s chicken rice balls at Amazing Melaka.
Well, after staying in Malacca for five years and blogging for two years, I, finally, blogged about the chicken rice balls. And no, I don’t visit the shop unless I have friends not from Malacca are here. I still think it is a rip off as its not cheap eating a meal there due to its tourist attraction status.
You guys do worship the balls, don’t you?
Related posts:
- Tim Kei Chicken Rice, Equine Park
- Singapore Chicken Rice, Kepong
- Crepes And Chicken Rice
- Pak Putra’s Tandoori Chicken
- Claypot Beef Rice
May 2nd, 2007 00:18
aiyaa…u dun call that asam fish ya?tat one is so delicious.next time ask me go,i help u order the most delisious food ther…haha
May 2nd, 2007 00:24
oops! I shouldn’t be reading your blog at this hour. It makes me hungry! I wanna go down to Malacca for chicken rice balls and jam up your streets, haahaha
May 2nd, 2007 00:29
Jason…i miss those Malaysian food damn much after viewing your blog…haha….
May 2nd, 2007 00:46
Last Sunday, my friends came to Melaka. Initially, the planned itinerary includes a meal of chicken rice ball. But, in the end they given up on the queue hehe. Public holiday and weekend are really not the right time to worship for these balls.
May 2nd, 2007 01:09
omg.
i love love love LOVE hainan chicken rice so much that the love is literally intense!
May 2nd, 2007 02:20
i only been there twice, both in alpha year… hahahahhaha
May 2nd, 2007 07:53
OMG!!!!!! I loveeeeeeeeee Chicken Rice Ball!!!
May 2nd, 2007 10:28
i prefer the one next to the bridge, altho i’ve tried both. hoe kee is more popular with all the photos of celebrities!
May 2nd, 2007 11:15
Sam YP : Haha! I didn’t order because we have a lot of places to visit after that. We want to save stomach space.
JLShyang : Haha! So it was you who jammed up the streets of Malacca!
Seong Yee : Just 2 years in Korea, just tahan loh!
Tien Soon : Definitely, the queue is damn long during holidays.
Kristin : -sweat- You do worship the balls.
Hao : Go there for what? Got alternatives also.
Mochii : You also worship the balls.
Simon : Heh. It’s just personal preference because I have tried both and it tasted very similar to each other. Besides, it’s not a secret anymore in the chicken rice’s recipe.
May 2nd, 2007 13:50
Ohh, so this place is nice. Must go try it out. Honestly, I am really skeptical with crowded eateries along Jonker Street. That Famosa Chicken Rice Ball is crowded too, but it is … bleh.
May 2nd, 2007 15:04
we definitely like the ball, balls..lolz
May 2nd, 2007 19:22
err… not cheap ler! And taste juz ma ma dei only…
i preffer the beef noodles at Melaka Raya there!
May 2nd, 2007 23:30
Actually, chicken rice ball is no big deal. White chickens are the same… well… the dishes are the same as any other chicken rice. Just something unique and different from what we got in KL. As long as the chicken is good, whether you eat it with normal rice, rice ball or even koay teow…. its the same.
But then, bean sprout grown in Ipoh is damn damn gooooood. No offence bro. Next time if I go Melaka again, be sure you be available to take me to the BEST rice ball shop.
May 3rd, 2007 00:22
my dad and bro are the ultimate rice ball worshippers!!!! Lol that time we went to malacca it was super duper crowded. My bro would cry if we went on a trip to Malacca and didn’t get to eat those rice balls.
May 3rd, 2007 00:48
YC : Only stupid people wil go try that A Famosa Chicken Rice and The Chicken Rice Shop. This one is way much better but still, its nothing special.
Simmy : Hehe. But, do you worship them?
Anston : You cannot compare chicken rice with beef noodles lah! Besides, its just chicken rice. How nice can it be, right? Heh! That shop also not very nice, the original one at Tangkak is better.
Endroo : Yes, totally agreed with what you have written. Yet, I still don’t understand why people are still so fascinated by the balls. No doubt, Ipoh’s bean sprout is the best because of the water they used to plant the beans. Heh! There’s no best chicken rice shop in Malacca but I will bring you to one. ;)
Debbie : @.@ That devoted.
May 3rd, 2007 10:20
i love the balls! fuck the chicken, just gimme teh balls!!
May 3rd, 2007 15:00
must blog about malacca food more often ok. i think i wanna go back end of this year. i just miss the food there. chicken rice ball near jonker street? sure very expensive coz they doing tourist biz. i used to eat near melaka baru, nice and cheap. i also like the satay there. few shop next to this dunno whut association where my grandma’s funeral was. lol… my ancestor house used to be in jonker street, selling hand made bead shoes.
May 3rd, 2007 21:14
Overrated!!!!
Although haven’t tried it before, many people said it’s just like rice but instead you’re eating it in the form of balls
I therefore don’t like it because I like to pour the chilli all over my rice n mix it into a mash :D
May 3rd, 2007 21:38
Suanie : Another devotee. Haha! All hail the balls!
Wendy : I do blog a lot Malacca food actually, just that you haven’t been reading. Heh! Yes, its kind of expensive because of the fame they have. There’s a branch in Malacca Raya which I think is slightly cheaper too! And if you are willing to travel a little bit, there’s even cheaper yet tastes equally good one. Oh, which shop house is that? Heh!
Boss Lepton : Totally overrated! Hehe! Yes yes, its just in the form of rice balls, nothing special but I don’t know why they all worship the balls. Heh! So you eat your chicken rice that way? I eat it by putting a piece of chicken, a piece of cucumber and eat together with the whole ball at one go. :D Big mouth, I have.
May 3rd, 2007 22:42
jason: i read ur blog la. whut i meant is…blog more and more nicer place to makan. :)
May 3rd, 2007 23:47
Kenot la… too overrated. My mom teach me dun each rice that are ’sticking together’ in one lump - .. must use fork n spoon to break it flat oni eat ;p
May 4th, 2007 13:08
Oh No! Those yummylicious chicken rice balls. You are torturing me!
May 4th, 2007 13:10
Wendy : Oopss… My bad. :P
Narrowband : Haha! Yeah, too overrated! Aiyah, if break it flat flat only eat, then why people take the trouble to make it into ball shape. :P
Mumsgather : Time for a trip to Malacca? Hehe.
May 15th, 2007 14:59
I prefer the chicken rice ball of Kedai Kopi Chung Hwa.
Oredi get used to the taste since i was small.. hehe..
May 15th, 2007 15:16
湘绣蜻蜓 : It tastes the same to me leh. :P
May 21st, 2007 04:20
I honestly think Chung Hwa is overrated :P
Prefer Hoe Kee more. I guess every one has a personal preference.
May 21st, 2007 12:37
Anthraxxxx : Haha! I think both of them are overrated. :P
May 22nd, 2007 00:25
lol actually hor, I enjoy eating ciken ball at Melaka Baru than both of these shop.
May 22nd, 2007 00:27
Anthraxxxx : Actually, I don’t enjoy eating chicken rice ball in Malacca at all. LOL. But the Melaka Baru branch has less queue, no doubt. :)
May 24th, 2007 11:24
口感不一样 :)
May 24th, 2007 11:25
湘绣蜻蜓 : 可能要很用心地吃才能吃出其不同之处。下次会留心。
October 2nd, 2007 14:06
[…] 2: Chicken rice ball at Jonker Street for breakfast depending on whatever time they wake up. Then back to their apartment to pack and […]
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