Woon Tung Kee

Hi Eaters.

Do you like chicken?
Well, this particular protein is definitely one of the easiest to find, right? Fast food joints, fine dinings, food stands, up until the small "warung makan", most likely have poultry served in their menus. Easy to cook and can be blend with so many other components, make chicken to be the most popular kind of protein.
Speaking about the way of cooking chicken, I am a big fan of Chinese cookings. Mainly because the wide variants of herbs and ingredients used to cook the chicken. And indeed I was so lucky to have tried one of that stunning Chinese style cooked chicken here, at Woon Tung Kee.

This is the Indonesian's first ever restaurant outlet for the infamous Boon Tong Kee restaurant which is originated from Singapore. The restaurant's name slightly change to adapt with the Indonesian language spelling, but the quality is guaranteed to be as perfect as its flagship in Singapore.
Finding this restaurant was quite easy, but finding the entrance to the parking area is a bit tricky.
Claimed to put a very high standard on quality, I was so eager to find out the taste of the infamous chicken rice by myself. Coming there last Sunday I was surprised to saw the restaurant was quite packed and I had to wait a while, because the empty seats were already reserved. So while waiting, I decided to take several snapshots of the interior. Here goes:

The interior was quite elegant. It made me feel like I'm in a very pricey fine dining restaurant in a five-star hotel. Really elegant. The dominant colors were black and red, since this restaurant is applying a Shanghai-styled interior decoration. The ceiling was incredibly beautiful, with wood pattern and traditional chinese paper lanterns hanging. It's really awesome.
The service must be given two thumbs up. They're really nice and polite with the customers. And the food didn't come too long, which added another plus point for this restaurant.
But all of that must be balanced with good food, because at the end of the day what matters is what I get on a plate. So let's check out the food.
Wonton Meat-Ball Soup - IDR 26,1.

Served in a big bowl, two quite-large-sized meatballs with a soup that had a very tempting aroma.

I don't know wether to classify this dish as an appetizer or as an entree. But let's just call this an appetizer since the portion wasn't that much for a big biter like me.
For my palate, this was a delicious dish. The soup especially won my heart. The flavor of the stock was mind-blowing and I really loved the aroma it made.
The meatballs were nice. Firm and juicy. And the taste was also quite good too.
Kangkung Garlic - IDR 40K.

The stir-fried kale tasted decent enough. Although I was hoping for more bold flavors. I mean, this is a chinese restaurant and they should have been more tricky with garlic as a chinese restaurant would do. But fortunately it tasted mild. The good thing is that the kale was fresh and cooked to the right level.

Woon Tung Kee's Signatured Boiled Chicken (Half) - IDR 105K.

Finally the main event, the star of the restaurant, which is the chicken.
There are two options for the chicken, boiled or roasted. Since I just had roasted chicken about a week ago, I opted for the boiled. This is the half portion, for a whole chicken it will cost you IDR 198K. Quite pricey, as good as it is, still in my opinion it's quite pricey.

The boiled chicken was claimed to be boneless, but yet I found several parts to be boned. Duh?! The taste was quite excellent, though as I would remember the original Boon Tong Kee had more exquisite flavors. Maybe for my consideration it would be better if it was more gingery and had more strong herbs incorporated. Still, quite tasty though. The chicken itself was moist and tender. And the portion was quite big for just half chicken. A good dish, but could've been better.

Hainan Rice - IDR 11,5K.

It was shaped like a pyramid. The rice for my consideration was a little mushy, too oily and wasn't pleasing for me although it was quite fragrant. The taste was quite good and quite strong too in terms of the chicken stock.

Iced Tea - IDR 10K.

The tea was good. Strong and fragrant aroma and taste. I actually ordered the Teh Tarik but it wasn't available that day. Maybe next time I'll give it a try.

Overall conclusion, bearing the name and origin of an already infamous restaurant is never easy. People will put high expectations for the taste to be at least similar with the flagship.
Woon Tung Kee, in the other hand, might have its slips and misses in reference to the expectations. But for locals who have never tried the food at its flagship, may not be too objected. The actual flavors are actually pleasing and considerably tasty too.
But as someone who had tried Boon Tong Kee, I have to say Woon Tung Kee still needs improvement to be able to bear the flagship's name.
Prices are quite pricey here. So do remember to bring sufficient funds if ever you want to dine here.
Will I be back? Well, I'm still curious about the crispy roasted chicken and the teh tarik. I might be back again.

Keep on chewing!


Jazzy Dee
Twitter: @jzzydee
Instagram: @jzzydee
Questions: http://ask.fm/jzzydee


Woon Tung Kee
Jl. Boulevard Raya Blok LC 6 No. 36 - 37, 
Phone: (021) 4515553, 4515554

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