Char Siew @ Jia Jia Lai 家家来, Jalan Peel Cheras

Jia Jia Lai / Kar Kar Loi is a road side stall along Jalan Peel that is famous for their char siew, roast pork, steamed Tilapia and braised chicken feet. It has received unanimous praise from most of the people who had eaten here, but unfortunately our experience was not as great as expected. As far as char siew is concerned, I think this place might be a little over hyped.

We wanted to order the roast pork as well but was told that it is only available after 12.30pm. So we settled for char siew, steamed Tilapia with assam sauce and braised chicken feet. The complimentary soup is super tasty for a reason – heavily laden with MSG, so much that one small bowl is enough to leave you dry mouthed afterwards.

The Char Siew looks great and all and you would probably think it tastes awesome, well only true for the juicy and fatty portions. I honestly could not bring myself to enjoy the leaner parts which are tough and chewy. Personally? I would say that the Char Siew I had recently at this Jalan Ipoh Wantan Mee stall tastes better, especially on the texture.

While the steamed Tilapia @ RM24 is fresh and tastes appetizing with rice, it is a bad idea to order this with char siew because the strong flavor overwhelms anything else in the same sitting. In hindsight, I should have predicted that assam sauce and char siew sauce will not go well together.

The braised chicken feet is not the best I have had (if compared to Sky Emperor in Penang) but still commendable.

Braised pork knuckle is another specialty here and almost all customers that came in groups ordered this. By the way it looks and smells I guess another visit is warranted just to give this a try.

The easiest way to find the stall is to look for Carrefour which is inside Plaza 393. The stall is just diagonally opposite, right after the traffic light.

Kedai Makanan Nasi Ayam 家家来
Jalan Peel, Cheras
GPS Coordinates: N3 07.752 E101 43.461