It’s well worth a look!
Located on the ground floor of the Strand Mall in Kota Damansara, we first discovered this place by
accident one afternoon after we’d been to the cinema upstairs. “Ayam Gepuk Top Global” – what a
strange name!
Having first caught our attention with its bowls of fresh homemade sambal lined up just
to the left of the entrance (well, that and the length of the queue and the fact that there are never any
empty tables), It quickly cemented itself as a regular after-cinema fixture.
More recently, it has
progressed to one of our absolute favorites that we look forward to once a week or so, regardless of
whether or not we have been to watch a movie.
Ayam gepuk originates from Indonesia and literally means “pounded chicken”. The name refers to the
way in which they beat the chicken before serving it after it has been fried. This is some of the best fried
chicken you’ll ever taste, yet the chicken is arguably not even the best thing on your plate!
The 2 sambals are outstanding.
They complement each other – and indeed the chicken – so well that
they are simply indispensable. The dish would not be possible at all without them. The red one is a very
high quality and delicious homemade version of the standard red chilli sambal that you will find
throughout Malaysia and Indonesia. The yellow one is a non-spicy sauce made from ground cashew
nuts, water and salt. A quick bit of googling after our first visit revealed that these two sambals are the
very essence of a good ayam gepuk – it wouldn’t be ayam gepuk without them.
There are three sambal options from which you will need to choose one when ordering your meal. You
can have biasa (normal), pedas (hot) or extra pedas (you guessed it, extra hot). Not wanting anyone to
think that I couldn’t handle my spiciness, on my first visit I decided to go for pedas. Great! But I quickly
realized that if you order pedas or extra pedas, you won’t get any of the cashew nut sambal. Instead,
you will simply get an extra large serving of the red chilli sambal. So from my second visit onwards, I
converted to biasa. Clearly this is the way to go, especially as, I later found out, they offer unlimited refill
of whichever sambal(s) you have signed up for. This means that in fact you can quite easily create a
pedas or even an extra pedas just by topping up the red sambal, while at the same time enjoying the
cashew nut sambal for the best of both worlds!
Next, there are a couple of other choices you will need to make. The first is your choice of meat. Ayam
(chicken) is obviously the speciality here, and it is very good. But you can also have tilapia fish, or ikan
keli (catfish). The two types of fish are fried, just like the chicken. I love both but have yet to try them at
this restaurant, partly because I am already more than satisfied with the chicken, and partly because
judging by other people’s plates that I’ve glanced at, both the tilapia and the catfish seem to be quite
small portions and slightly shriveled up. I bet they are good though!
If you do opt for chicken, as recommended, be sure to specify whether you’d like breast, thigh or
drumstick.
Last but not least, you will need to decide which, if any, bonus items you would like to have on your
plate next to your chicken/fish, sambal and rice. The options are: cabbage and cucumber only (set A);
cabbage, cucumber, tofu and tempeh (set B); cabbage, cucumber, tofu, tempeh and chicken gizzards
(set C); cucumber, tofu, tempeh, chicken gizzards and fried cabbage (set D). Set D is the most highly
prized as it contains all the perks plus the cabbage has been fried – and I must admit the fried cabbage is
surprisingly delicious. In fact I didn’t even recognize it as cabbage on my first visit! While being the most
expensive set, set D will only set you back about rm3 more than the cheapest set (set A). So don’t
overthink it; I would definitely recommend choosing set D so that you can try everything.
The local Malay people here tend to pair their food with the sugary drink of their choice, but I would
recommend a cold ice water – you will already have more than enough flavour on your plate.
Once you’ve paid, take your plastic table number and choose your table (or, more than likely, you will
need to wait a moment for a table to be free).
Your order can take a while to arrive, as the restaurant is typically packed full of customers. It’s well
worth the wait! Thanks to the high turnover, the chicken is always served piping hot. It is juicy and not
greasy at all.
No more KFC once you’ve sampled this! Ayam Gepuk Top Global has to stand among the very best fried
chicken I have ever had. ?
Ayam Gepuk Top Global Strand Mall
Located in: Strand Mall
Address: Lot G13 & G15, Encorp Strand, Pusat Perdagangan Kota Damansara, Jalan PJU 5/22, Pju 5 Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
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