Mohd Yaseem Nasi Kandar

Mohd Yaseem Nasi Kandar

351 Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman

50100 Kuala Lumpur

(Coordinates: E101° 41' 51.1" N3° 9' 39.9")

Brendan had to replace a school day today, and since we were running late (school bell at 12.45PM) we needed to have lunch in a hurry and in an area not too far from St. John. I immediately thought of this ¹Nasi  Kandar joint. Truth be told, this restaurant has long been on my list of must-visit, and my curiosity has finally gotten the better of me, since today we would finally be paying  this Nasi Kandar restaurant a visit.

What is it that has perked my interest, you ask? It seem that everyday without fail, be it a weekday or weekend a large crowd will usually gather at lunchtime to form a long line along the front of this restaurant. Today I will finally put this mystery to rest. Also, there seems to be a dispute as to the actual name of this restaurant. While it clearly states YASEEM on the large signboard outside, for all intent and purposes it is known as YASEEN to all and sundry. In fact, the little signboard at the dish racks inside allude to YASEEN.

¹a popular northern Malaysian dish which originates from Penang. It is a meal of steamed rice which can be plain or mildly flavoured, and served with a variety of curries and side dishes.The word Nasi Kandar, came about from a time when rice [Nasi] hawkers or vendors would balance a large pole [Kandar] on their shoulder with two huge containers of rice meals.

YASEEM or YASEEN?

right across from CIMB

YASEEM or YASEEN?

Thankfully we were early enough that we were among the very first in line at the restaurant. Brendan settled on Nasi Kandar with Chicken Curry (as if you’d need to ask?) while Cat and I settled on Nasi Kandar with Fried Mackerel.

crowds gather even before lunchtime on a Saturday

Cat at the head of the queue

we both had the fried mackerel

standard nasi kandar fare

YASEEM or YASEEN?

Brendan's chicken curry

my little fried mackerel

Cat's fried mackerel was even more diminutive!

Iced Lemon Tea & Iced Black Coffee

The verdict? The taste in itself does not explain the long queues, since it is pretty much the standard fare. In fact, the cuts of chicken and mackerel were very ‘economical’ in portion, which leads us to the second question; the damage? it all came to a very cut-rate total of RM20.20 which amazed us. A-ha, is this why  crowds  gather here at lunchtime 7 days a week?

To be perfectly honest, we would rather pay not much more more to have very generous portions of chicken, mutton and/or mackerel at Sithique which, in our humble opinion, has the better selection of even more flavourful curries. But that’s just our two cents.