Nasi Kandar Melayu Mad, Cyberjaya: Kashmir Mutton Curry & Ayam Kuwata

Nasi kandar is often associated with mamak restaurants, but Restoran Nasi Kandar Melayu Mad at Biz Avenue Neocyber, Cyberjaya proves that Malay cooks can do it well too. The shop has long been talked about by Cyberjaya folks, and for us it's one of the tastiest nasi kandar spots in the area.

The line-up of dishes is long: kari kambing Kashmir (Kashmir mutton curry), daging masak hitam (beef in dark soy sauce gravy), ayam madu (honey chicken), ayam bawang (onion chicken) and big fried chicken, including ayam kuwata. You just point to the dishes you want at the counter. We took as many as five plates with different dishes so we could try almost everything.

We completed our ayam goreng kuwata set with salted egg and cabbage. The chicken skin is crispy and the meat stays tender. The kari kambing Kashmir comes with big chunks of meat and a thick, spiced gravy, while the daging masak hitam is so tender it falls apart easily. The ayam bawang is also big with a flavour all its own, and the ayam madu is only moderately sweet, not overdone.

Everything tastes best when the rice is flooded with kuah campur (mixed curry gravies). To give you an idea of prices, the foodpanda listing shows the fried chicken nasi kandar set at around RM14, the ayam madu or ayam bawang set at RM15.50, daging hitam at RM17 and Kashmir mutton at RM20, though in-store prices may differ slightly.

The shop opens from morning to early evening and is closed on Fridays, so the best time to come is lunch. Bring your office mates, pick your own dishes and see for yourself how this Malay version of nasi kandar differs from the one you usually eat.