Friday 28 January 2011

A different taste of KFC (kampung fried chicken)

On Thursday, The Star Online carried a news item about a blogger and Google being sued by the owner of a fish head curry restaurant in Kota Kinabalu. Apparently the blogger had written a negative review of the restaurant in May of last year and this supposedly caused a drop in the restaurant's business.

Although the suit has just been filed, does it mean that bloggers cannot do anymore food reviews, or at least the negative ones? I have read the blog posting in question and except for a demeaning phrase, I consider the rest of it as the blogger's personal opinion of the food that he had tasted. If the restaurant's business can significantly suffer because of that one review, then whoever wrote that piece must've been one influential blogger indeed! Instead of trying to improve the taste of his dishes, the restaurant owner has decided to sue the blogger... and amazingly dragging Google into the process at the same time. Let's pause for a moment and consider the reverse scenario. If the blogger had written a ravingly positive review and this helped improve the restaurant's income, would the owner pay the blogger some form of reward?

Lest I get sued next, I am not naming the restaurant or the blogger, or linking the post that caused the restaurant owner to be upset.... read the Star article and google the names for yourself. I note that a few other blogs have also picked up on the story.

I have written a few restaurant and food reviews myself... and why not? Food is my second most favourite subject. Will I be discouraged to write anymore reviews because of this incident? I don't think so... in fact, I am writing one right now...

Ever since being transferred to Kuala Lumpur early last year, I have heard a few friends mention of a certain makan place in Cheras that serves tasty ayam kampung goreng. The proper translation for this is actually `fried kampung chicken' but saying it as `kampung fried chicken' gives it a twist in comparison to the other more famous fried chicken variety. The operative word here is `kampung', which is the adjective describing the chicken. Translating it to `village chicken' somehow does not sound quite right. The closest equivalent in English that I can offer is probably `free-range chicken'. This is the variety of poultry reared in open farms as opposed to the broiler chickens bred in closed pens strictly for their meat where their lifespan is a mere 42 days (or thereabouts) from hatching to slaughter.

Restoran A. Hassan is located next to the KL velodrome in Cheras. Their signature dish is ayam kampung goreng. Yesterday, with the help of a colleague, I visited the place for the first time. It was packed with the lunchtime office crowd but there were tables available because the restaurant has additional eating areas on the upper floors. That fact alone tells us how popular the place is. If fried chicken is not your fancy, not to worry.... there are plenty of other dishes to choose from. Prices are reasonable and parking surprisingly is very convenient. Made me wonder why I had not discovered this place much earlier.

So the next time I am in Cheras during lunchtime... you know where you can find me. That concludes my first food review for the year.

Sorry for just including the pic of the building. Pic of the actual ayam kampung dish is too blurry...

14 comments:

Lili said...

Oldstock,

I'm travelling to KL this CNY, insyaallah, and a cousin in Cheras is willing to be my 'chaperon' hehe, to anywhere I want to go and of course to whet my appetite!
Looks like you've just given me the right place to start piling on my pounds quest!!

*I could almost hear my cousin says,"orang datang KL sibuk nak shopping, dia sibuk nak makannnnn!"

p/s: my word verif. zessity.. =))

Pak Zawi said...

Oldstock,
I am really proud of this guy Hassan of Restoran Ayam kampung especially now that he has his own building in Cheras.
I used to have meals or buy takeaways from some of his outlets, the one in Subang Jaya, Shah Alam and Bukit Puchong. By a fluke I once tasted the one near the velodrome prior to this new building. I came to know about his restaurants from my children who frequent them since all of them are staying near to their outlets. For us Kelantanese his fares are exactly to our taste and for your info Hassan is from Kelantan.
Hey you can try his budu or air asam to go with the ikan tawar. You will love them too.

Unknown said...

Ahhhhh....

Nak kena gi try nih!

Nurie said...

Yeah I read about that too..kinda funny that he is suing google as well..(i guess becoz thats where the big money is..)
Maybe now all our blogs kena letak small disclaimer that whatever we wrote is based on our personal opinion and tiada kena mengena dengan yang hidup atau yang mati...hehehe..macam disclaimer dalam drama melayu pulak!

Fadhil said...

Lili, if your cousin is orang Cheras, I'm sure dia tahu this place. Enjoy the meal... and remember me masa makan tu ye.. hehe..

Fadhil said...

Salam Pak Zawi,

I gathered that the restaurant is run by Kelantanese from the dialect of most of the workers there. And yes, there are other delicious dishes apart from the ayam kampung. That's my I must make more trips there to try them.

Fadhil said...

Verse, you must ask Koka to bring you there. I'm sure he has heard of the place.

Fadhil said...

Noor,

The part where he wants to sue Google is what puzzles me... the reason he chose Google, as opposed to the other search engines, is quite ridiculous. I did a search of the restaurant name using Google and the top result is actually a review from Trip Advisor website, not the offending blog as he claims.

Yeah, I guess maybe we should put a disclaimer at the end of our own blog reviews.

Anonymous said...

The food is fairly good BUT beware when parking your car there. Ours was broken into last Oct.

Unknown said...

..yes, I know this kampong chicken..its good..

Pat said...

I hope that if the numbers go up in his Cheras restaurant, he pays you for the positive advertisement!

I wonder if Defence Counsel will use this point in the defence. How, I wonder, does the restaurant plan to prove that the blogger's post was what caused the drop in customers? It all sounds very circumstantial and coincidental to me! But, if the case makes it to court, and the judge rules for the restaurant, that would be one stinky precedent, don't you think?!

Fadhil said...

Anon of 29.10.11,

So sorry to hear about your car. Hope that won't deter you from eating there again.

Fadhil said...

Pakmat, I googled the restaurant's name and found that they have a few other branches too...

Fadhil said...

Pat, I would be surprised if the case goes to court. Even if it does, I would be triple surprised if the judge rules in the restaurant's favour!

BTW, Restoran A Hassan does not help from my review. They already have a few well-patronised outlets. You should see the lunchtime crowd and realise that they have something good going for them...