A couple of weekends ago, my husband and I went shopping at iOi Puchong Mall. I actually wanted to go all the way to Mutiara Damansara but my husband insisted that it was too far and he's kind of tired, so we opted to go to iOi instead. After buying all the things we needed and feeling a little bit famished, we decided to try out Ayam Penyet Restaurant there (actually that was the nearest restaurant at the moment and we didn't want to walk any further! Hehe..).
First off, when we walked into the restaurant, there were not many patrons dining in at that time. We sat at a table near the window and waited for some time watching the waiter walking by several times without acknowledging that we are still not served. After quite some time, a waiter finally decided to come and give us the menu. Hmm.. talk about service! I was about ready to get my bum off the chair while my husband was still playing it cool wanting to wait.
After perusing the menu, we opted to try the signature dish, Ayam Penyet AP, Gado-Gado, Sayur Pucuk Ubi (Cassava leaf sprigs in spicy coconut milk) and two plates of plain rice. For drink we ordered Indonesian Hot Tea with Milk and Blue Coral Shake. Surprisingly, the drinks came quite fast making my desire to get out quick cooled down a little bit.
The Indonesian Hot Tea with Milk is basically Teh Tarik. It tasted just normal, nothing to shout about. My husband said he had tasted better Teh Tariks but this one is just all right. The Blue Coral Shake is definitely yummy! It tasted sweet but not overly sweet and has this ice cream soda-ish tang to it. It reminded me of a drink I had a long time ago but had forgotten what and where. There was a bit of Palm Sugar at the bottom of the glass giving the drink a creamy sweet taste. Oh, there was some bubble sagoo bits at the bottom too. I did ask the waiter about the blue soda-ish ingredient but even he didn't know what it was and only said, "It's blue coral". Anyway, it'd definitely delish to my tastebuds.
Left: Blue Coral Shake, Right: The Hot Tea with Milk.
Next, the dishes came a little bit later.
Top left: Gado-Gado, Top Middle: Ayam Penyet, Top Right: Sayur Pucuk Ubi.
The Gado-Gado is vegggies such as potatoes, cabbage, spinach, bean sprout and salad all mixed together with spicy peanut prawn sauce. This dish is served with some crackers on the side. Basically the dish is the same as any vegetable rojak. The peanut sauce was spicy but was not that sweet. For those who doesn't like sweet tasting sauce, this might go down all right though. As for me, I would have liked it better if the sauce was a little bit sweeter to complement the vegetable.
Gado-Gado.
The signature dish Ayam Penyet is a very popular traditional Indonesian dish originated from Surabaya and is served as the main dish in this restaurant (hence the name of the restaurant).The chicken is marinated with herbs & spices and then smashed with a wooden hammer making it flat (hence the name: penyet which means flat). It is then fried to golden brown perfection with the chicken being crispy on the outside and juicy in the inside. In this dish, you will get a quarter of the chicken served with hot sambal belacan (shrimp paste) with some bits of fried fritters as topping, some vegetables on the side and a couple of fried bean curd.
The chicken was indeed quite spicy (I think it was the belacan sauce). The outside of the chicken is very crispy and the inside is tender. We both enjoyed the taste of the marinated fried chicken. It's great to eat with a little bit of spicy & sweet soy sauce and white rice. If compared to Wong Solo Restaurant's ayam penyet in Bangi, I think the latter fared a little bit better. But if comparing size of the chicken, then this dish wins.
The chicken was indeed quite spicy (I think it was the belacan sauce). The outside of the chicken is very crispy and the inside is tender. We both enjoyed the taste of the marinated fried chicken. It's great to eat with a little bit of spicy & sweet soy sauce and white rice. If compared to Wong Solo Restaurant's ayam penyet in Bangi, I think the latter fared a little bit better. But if comparing size of the chicken, then this dish wins.
Ayam Penyet.
Next is the Sayur Pucuk Ubi (Cassava leaf sprigs in spicy coconut milk). Now this one I like. I am normally not a vegetable lover but this dish was prepared nicely. The coconut milk gravy was very creamy and has a little bit of spiciness taste to it. There is also a hint of sweetness from the Cassava leaf sprigs. Very nice to eat with rice and the chicken. Now only if they'd put in more sweet potato the dish would definitely be the bomb!
Sayur Pucuk Ubi.
My verdict: Dining at Ayam Penyet Restaurant iOi was only so-so for the both of us. The service at first was quite slow even though there were only a couple of patrons in the restaurant. The food was okay with some being delicious but nothing that I would crave over though. Well, maybe I will crave the Blue Coral Shake one day.
You can check out their menus at their official website.
