Jimmy's Recipe Malaysia

I went to Jimmy's Recipe Malaysia at The Galleries Victoria for two reasons - 

(a.) Five weeks ago, I chanced upon this tucked in a corner eating place when I was on my way to my hairdresser at TGV. Being a pseudo son of Malaysia (circa nineteen sixties Malaysia lah), this find is like finding emas (gold, for you anglo folks).

(b.) I chanced upon this food blog and decided it is a perfect day to try the laksa, one of the dishes that was highly waxed laksa-rical by one more bite. What? As if you didn't know it was bucketing down this morning? Laksa does indeed not mix well with white but you will find out goes perfectly with cold rainy days.

And so, I arrived at JRM at ten to eleven and voila, I was the third (okay, fourth if you count the towkay-neo (literally meaning boss's wife but can also mean proprietress) of JRM sitting at a table in the corner, wielding a cordless telephone) person there. The lady in front of me was collecting her murtabak, and then promptly (sic) took another six bloody minutes to add a stick of chicken satay, and not before pulling out a $100 note to pay for her food. I breathed a food curse on her and found out to my dismay the murtabak was for her dining companion and so have to undo the curse. Damn.

I wanted the laksa. I braved the wet weather to have laksa at JRM. But when my mouth opened the order was for the Hainan Chicken, with emphasis I preferred chicken breast meat. What the  . . . . ? I must have been distracted by the youngish bespectacled girl taking my order; she was wearing what looked to be a most unflattering batik print vest, reminiscent of the 1968 Pierre Balmain print design for the sarong kebaya worn by Singapore Airlines stewardess. I don't know if it was the wearer or the garment but the ensemble just seem wrong, somehow. Perhaps she read my mind, well you know service professionals can be oh-so perceptive, the Hainan Chicken was served to me before I can say, Hainan Chicken! 

If you are beginning to get the nudge that this is kinda going badly, you are not entirely wrong. The Hainan Chicken is not bad. Okay, I told a lie. It is the rice that is not bad. As for the rest, all I can say is the kitchen have to notch it's game plan up a tad. 

First of all, the chicken breast meat was served in huge chunks. This only mean one thing - the eater has to do further carving up into bite-size before partaking, how annoyingly inconsiderate. And the chicken was overly dry, no hint of sinful oiliness, and that is a big no-no for Hainan Chicken

Next, the soup is a pale version of the hearty and stocky chicken soup we all Singaporean/Malaysian love with our Hainan Chicken. Which probably explains why there are heaps of choy sum (Chinese cabbage) to camouflage the weak stock.

Do I even need to mention the absence of the dark soy sauce? This is not the ordinary dark soy sauce from your Woolies Asian section. In fact any chef worth his Hainan Chicken will have a dark soy sauce side to him; it is a closely guarded recipe. It is also what makes an authentic Hainan Chicken stand out from the other contenders/pretenders.

And lastly but very importantly, the chilli condiment is a great disappointment, no hint of garlic whatsoever! Mind you, the taste is of chilli but just not the correct chilli for Hainan Chicken, if you know what I mean. And this for me is a cardinal sin where Hainan Chicken is concerned. 

I was very tempted to have a word with the towkay-neo whom I sat next to. Well, we have a table between us but I could hear she was not too happy when she was on the cordless phone and thus decided to give it a wide berth. "It" because I was referring to the topic, not the person. 

In short, today's eating-at-JRM experience is not inedible but neither was it incredible. But don't worry guys, I will be going back to JRM, I want to try the laksa, remember? And when I do, you will be the first to know. 

Jimmy's Recipe Malaysia
The Galeries Victoria
Ground Floor, Shop RC16 

500 George St
Sydney NSW 2000
+61 (2) 9267 2288