Madam Kwan's Nasi Bojari

My wife mentioned "Madam Kwan's" more than she mentioned anything else for the past one year. She used to brag how good is the food there and especially the Nasi Bojari... cannot get elsewhere, something like the best of the best! She has been frequenting the place numerous times for Nasi Bojari over the years. She said her ex-boss ( a Mat Salleh) claimed that the Nasi Bojari was the best food that he had ever tasted in Malaysia. What a shame, I had never been there!

Well, actually Madam Kwan's was started out as Sakura Restaurant which was famous for its 'Nasi Lemak' years ago at Jalan Imbi in KL. They re-branded and opened new outlets under the name of 'Madam Kwan's' few years ago. They still offer their same old favorite dishes as well as the new signature dish, Nasi Bojari.

Anyway, the opportunity came last weekend when I visited the PC Fair at KLCC. We reached there early and could not decide what to have for our lunch... and finally we said, "why not Madam Kwan's?" since I had never tasted their so called Nasi Bojari. Well, it was not a difficult decision!

Truly Malaysian Cuisine...

Nasi Bojari, which I did a bit of research and understand that it's originated from Indonesia and it is meant for royalty only. The rice is fried with a bit of chicken, garlic and dried shrimp. The rice is lightly tinged with red and yellow color.

The tri-colored rice is served with assam prawns (the size of 50 cents - 2 pcs), beef rendang ( 1 tbsp full), 1/2 hard boiled egg and deep-fried chicken drumstick. - RM 21.50++
The assam prawn is indeed very delicious.
The nasi lemak set came with this tasty 'acar' in a sauce plate.

The aromatic coconut steamed rice served with curry chicken, a bit of sambal ikan bilis, dried shrimp floss, 1/2 hard boiled egg, acar and cucumber. - RM 14.90++Crowded all the times...

If you ask me to comment on their foods, I'd just say, "overrated and overpriced!"

The Village Park's fried chicken is much tastier and much cheaper! I personally feel that the standard of their nasi lemak has dropped compared to the one when they were still in Sakura.

Well... if you will to take the location into consideration, the rental at KLCC and the tourists who are eagerly wanting to try the 'truly Malaysian cuisines', then I think the pricing would be reasonable in that sense.

I have never seen Madam Kwan in person but from her call cards above, I guess she may look like Rafidah Aziz. With stream of people flocking to her restaurant everyday, no wander she laughs until 'kin nga mm kin ngan'(can only see the teeth but not the eyes in Cantonese), how happy she is!

As of now they have branches in Bangsar, Suria KLCC, Mid Valley and Pavilion.