The Famous Salt Baked Chicken

    Salt-baked Chicken loosely translated ‘Yim gouk kai’ in Cantonese. This dish is prepared by using paper to wrap the chicken with salt and chinese herbs such as Dong Guai and Gei Zhi (wolfberry) and covered with salts in a big oven. With this cooking technique, the meat will not lose its tenderness and the essence of chicken can be preserved as well. The combination of salt and herbs gives the meat a unique flavour.

    How can you miss Aun Kheng Lim’s salt-baked chicken if you are around Ipoh? I’d seen people bought it in bulks, probably 10 to 12 boxes of them. However, they major income would be the household business where housewives bought the chicken on a lazy-to-cook day. My mum is one of these housewives. The chicken are packeged nice boxes, as you can see from Aun Kheng Lim. They have included reheat instruction on the packaging too.

    I consider myself lucky because the branch is located somewhere near my Ipoh house. What I have to do is just to give them a call and specify the time that I want the chicken to be delivered. The whole ugly act of tearing and gobbling take place in my dining table. :p

    Pictures taken from masak-masak – Their salt baked oven where the chickens wrapped in paper are covered with the course salt.


    Caution: Pictures might contain some violent element that causes discomfort!

    Kampungboy will always leave the best part of the chicken for me – smooth and tender thigh. I had the skin together with the meat because amazingly it is not oily AT ALL!

    It is perfect with some mixture of pounded chilli, garlic, onion and lime sauce dipping made by Kampungboy’s mummy!

    Main: Aun Kheng Lim Restaurant, Theatre Street

    (opposite Martell house or near Bak Gong restaurant in the city centre)

    Tel: 05-254 2998.

    Branch: Kheng Lim Restaurant, Taman Rapat Setia

    Tel: 05-3138306

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