I remember back when I was still in primary school years, after attending our Church mass like Easter or Christmas Eve, my dad would always bring us whole family to have the BEST HAINANESE CHICKEN RICE IN TOWN (his exact words!) located at Wishbone Cafe in Jesselton Hotel Jalan Gaya (Gaya Street). It was quite a popular coffeehouse back then, and my parents would always bump into people they know whenever we were there.
Even though the rest of the family always eventually ordered something else other than this famous dish, my dad and I were usually the ones who ended up ordering the chicken rice every single time. Which was fine by me, as I absolutely LOVE this dish! Love, love, love! Can't have enough of it! Even until today!
The taste of the rice, the soup, the condiments, and most importantly the chicken, they were out of this world! Just mouthwatering!
Well it is to me, at least.
Anyway, the Hainanese Chicken Rice served at Wishbone Cafe looked something like this:
Photo taken during my Valentine's Day lunch at Bella Italia a couple of years back!
Generous portion of everything (especially the chicken), but with the price that it's at, the portion SHOULD be a lot, right?
I don't remember the bean sprouts being served back then, though!
I'm sure most of you know that Wishbone Cafe has been replaced by Bella Italia now, so when I saw this:
Those sweet memories of my family outings and the Hainanese Chicken Rice came flooding straight back!
But is this Restoran Wishbone as good as the one served at Wishbone Cafe?
Restoran Wishbone has a kopitiam feel instead of a usual restaurant: open aired (for downstairs), having to order and pay at the counter, and taking your own utensils and condiments before sitting down.
Definitely suited for the mass crowd now. Not a problem, though.
You can also opt to sit facing the wall; best for those in a hurry during lunchtime.
Order, sit, eat, go!
The air-conditioned area upstairs
Now, the comparison between the 2 places..
Hainanese Chicken Rice at Restoran Wishbone, RM5
Obviously, with the huge difference with the pricing, (RM20+ served at Wishbone Cafe/Bella Italia) and only RM5 here at Restoran Wishbone, you can hardly expect it to be the same. Though I have to say, even though the fragrant butter rice tasted good, it was slightly dry. The portion of the chicken was reasonable though; tasted good, too.
The one big thing that I didn't like?
When I dined there in early September, I noticed that the condiments were just open and exposed to the air; no lid on it at all. Which means, easy targets for the flies and other insects to land, isn't it?
I surely hope they have fixed this matter by now; I haven't got around to dine there for a second time yet.
But anyway, they also serve Nasi Lemak and other dishes too, like the Oxtail Assam Pedas, which tasted quite good, but looked horrible in photo (due to the colour and texture), so I've decided not to post it up.
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Restoran Wishbone
Lot 109, Jalan Gaya (Gaya Street)
88100 Kota Kinabalu
Tel: +60 88 239533
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