Last thursday, a bunch of super semangat youngster took an hour drive to Bukit Jugra (Banting) for the famous beggar’s chicken. I heard of it numerous time but yet this is the first time I’m trying it. The ride was bumpy and my heart is bumping with excitement too. It took us another 15 minutes from Banting town to reached here. The journey is like some adventure because we were surrounded by scarcely distributed rumah panjang and nothing but forest!
So do you know about the origin of beggar’s chicken? It happened long long ago. The federal dynasty imposed heavy tax on civilians, and people were deprived of everything. Family broken up, they strayed everywhere as beggars. One day, a beggar was floating in Changsu of Jiangsu Province, cold and hungry. Little by little, he couldn’t stand up and fainted. His fellow sufferers were trying to save him. They collected wood and burned it to warm him up. One fellow sufferer took out the only remained chicken and prepared to cook for him. But without any tools to cooking, they were very worried. Suddenly, one of them got an idea. He suggested wrapping up the chicken with slush, and putting the mud pie into fire to bake. They continuously collected wood and baked mud pie. Finally, when the chicken was fully cooked, they began to knock open mud. To everyone’s surprise, the feather was also falling off with mud, and the chicken smelled very nice. The aroma attracted all neighbors around. They came and couldn’t stop praising the unique cooking style and the unique taste.
I came to know that there are only two beggar’s chicken place around Selangor – Ijok and Bukit Jugra. Is it true? The bukit jugra place is so well known that most Banting folks can point you the direction once you asked.
The ‘kitchen’ for all the beggar’s food item. The stuffed food were cooked under the hot ashes of charcoal fire.
The chicken were stuffed with herbs, wrapped in layers of silver foil and grease prove paper before the clay. It is then cooked under the heat of glowing ashes. It’s a bit disappointing because we never get to see the knocking of the clay layers. The food were served this way.
Because the chicken is cooked in a sealed envelope, the original taste is perfectly kept, we can feel a fragrance coming when opening the grease proof papers. Only complain is that the chicken meat is a bit dry.
Other than beggar’s chicken, their specialty includes beggar’s duck, beggar’s pig leg, beggar’s stomach, beggar’s mutton, traditional rice and traditional fish. The traditional rice is cooked in beggar’s style where it was wrapped and cooked under the charcoal fire. It’s actually glutinous rice with mushroom, dried oyster and dried shrimp. This is nothing fantastic compared to those that I have eaten in banquet dinners.
The traditional fish is actually saitoh fish or ikan parang. The flesh is scrap off from the bone and minced repeatedly before some seasoning is added. The glue-ify fish paste is then attached to the head and tail to be deep fried.
The fish paste is springy and full of flavour.
Stir Fry Choy Dam
The longetivity soup combines ginseng roots, whole chicken and assorted herbs and being cooked for hours. Chicken is rich in high-quality protein and fat, while ginseng effectively relieves fatigue and depression, and even helps fight anemia and diabetes.
Thus this dish is full of not only nutrition but also sentiment.
The rosy-cheeked clan for taking in too much of tonic – 2 chickens, a duck, 2 fishes, 2 traditional rice and a longetivity soup. Very “bou” a!!
The pricing – reasonable for pricey?? You judge it. The total bills come about rm 280 which amounts to rm 28 per person. Only complain is the traditional rice costs rm 33 each! Is there hidden abalone slices or sharfins inside? Overall, it is a bit dissappointing because we heard so much about this place and we took so much effort to reach here, we tend to expect more than these.
Restaurant Bukit Jugra (Banting)
03-31202525
Bukit Jugra (Permatang Pasir),
42700 Banting,
Selangor.
Opens from 1 am to 8 pm.
Kinda pricey for a place deep in the jungle. Don’t be disappointed, never try never know. By the way, I passed by the Ijok on my way to Kuala Selangor, will try to convience my Makan Gang to stopby and try.
What a coincidence, we were just talking abt this place last week. Heard from a friend that Banting is not as nice as Ijok.
I think the chicken is ok but RM33 for the rice?? o_O Maybe they put in bird’s nest 😛
Been to d one in Ijok a few years back. If I remember correctly, it’s right smack in a palm oil estate. The crowd was crazy as there were loads that came in buses. Personally, the food tasted ok but not worth the long journey. However, remember the bestseller prepacked ‘har-pheng’ was very good.
this place was featured in newspaper, famous for its beggar style cookin. Hmm…but i think Rm28 per person is quite pricey but a gud try on something special 🙂
actually there’s a little hill nearby where some paragliders practise on some weekends. Theres another seafood rest. facing da river mouth right below ( probably called Viking ) serving instant beggars chicken @ 30RM each, Not bad too no need to book nor wait ! ( and much)better view ! try it !
precious pea: a lot of ppl commented that ijok’s one is nicer..u shud try it out
boo: yeah..my fren who went to both places said the same thing
jason: haha..yeah overcharging
tummythoz: arh i also wana go..so much of nice comment about ijok
xiu long bao: yeah at least we tried :p..
team bsg: ooo we saw that place on the way!! my fren just said Viking Hotdog ? Viking Seafood? and i know exactly where is it..cheaper by rm 13 le..must try
The rice is pricey even looking at it by Sydney standards. The food looks good although if he used Aussie ingredients, it would probably be heavenly.
Gee there are a lot of parts to the beggar huh?! Leglah, stomachlah, wah… Have you had the beggars duck at Overseas? Very good and so close by!
The lunch was really value for money and what big servings we had until we had to tapau the
leftovers! The beggar’s chicken,mackarel’s fish cake and pig’s trotters were all very sumptuous and the herbal free range chicken soup was glorious.
Wondering if the stall will be opened during Chinese New Year? If it is closed for CNY, when will business resume?
What happen to the contact number (03-31202525). The number is not working at all.