Nominate your favourite nasi briyani place

By FARAH FAZANNA ZULZAHA and YASMIN AHMAD KAMIL

YOU have until tomorrow to nominate your favourite nasi briyani place in the Klang Valley under The Star People’s Food Awards.

To enter, all you have to do is visit your favourite eatery or stall and take a photo of the meal you want to feature. The photos must be your own and not taken from blogs or websites and should be no less than 1MB in size.

You should say something about the food and post your nomination on Metro Online Broadcast (mob.com.my) to stand a chance to win attractive prizes such as hotel stays and dining vouchers via

For details on how to nominate, endorse and vote, visit MOB and click the “Foodboard” tab under The Star People’s Food Awards to read the FAQs.

Those who nominate, vote or successfully share a link can win the prizes.

Nominations are open for the first 10 days of the month, followed by voting from Jan 15 to 31.

The Star People’s Food Awards is a monthly contest that recognises the best street food in the Klang Valley.

Every month until May, the public can vote for the best category-based street food with the next food category being popiah.

This week, we feature three popular nasi briyani eateries.

RESTORAN RUZ ALADDIN

Top quality ingredients The lamb briyani is flavourful, especially when eaten with high-grade basmati rice.

The restaurant is managed by Mohd Hafiz Hassim who said that the Batu Pahat briyani recipes are from his grandfather.

“My grandfather used to cook for wedding receptions in Batu Pahat. My mother uses his recipes, but has added her own touch,” he said.

The lamb briyani is the best seller at Ruz Aladdin with up to 300 plates being sold a day.

At RM20, the lamb briyani comes with dhal, acar timun and a hard-boiled egg. Mohd Hafiz said they wash the lamb with flour and lime to remove the strong smell. The lamb is flavourful and tender, thanks to the briyani spices.

Mohd Hafiz said they cook the spices before adding the lamb slices.

“We cook it twice a day — in the morning and at around 5pm,” he said.

Apart from lamb briyani, the restaurant also serves chicken, fish (RM16), cuttlefish and prawn (RM17) briyani.

Restoran Ruz Aladdin is located at Lot 1243, Jalan Ulu Klang, Batu 4, Ampang in Selangor.

RESTORAN TAJUDIN NASI BRIANI

Top seller Thajudeen with Restoran Tajudin Nasi Briani’s best-seller, nasi briyani with fried chicken.

I realised the popularity of Restoran Tajudin Nasi Briani after sampling their best seller — nasi briyani with fried chicken.

The meal, consisting of warm, soft and fragrant rice with specks of yellow, fried chicken, cucumbers and a dollop of sambal that got me sweating as I dug into my meal, was certainly one of the best.

The fried chicken was fresh and incredibly juicy while the sambal, despite being slightly too spicy for me, gave the meal an added kick.

With encouragement from the restaurant owner, Thajudeen Abdul Majeed, 53, I added some mutton curry, which was rich and full of flavour.

Thajudeen said the restaurant grew from a stall in Lorong Bandar 13 and they moved into their current premises over two years ago. The Penang-born added that the recipes came from his father who is from Tamil Nadu, India.

Apart from fried chicken, patrons can also choose from mutton, beef and squid to accompany their nasi briyani. For RM6, I found their basic fried chicken briyani to be value for money.

Thajudeen sells about 30kg of briyani rice daily and also does deliveries.

Restoran Tajudin Nasi Briani located at No 8, Jalan Hang Kasturi, 50050 Kuala Lumpur is open from 6am to 6pm daily.

NASI BRIYANI GAM AN-NUR

The yellow sign reads ‘Briani Johore’ but Nasi Briyani Gam An-Nur is located about 200m from Kampung Baru’s entrance along Jalan Raja Muda Musa.

The restaurant is run by Norafizah Buang, 35, and her family, who are from Johor and they specialise in nasi briyani and briyani gam Johor.

During a recent visit, I sampled their nasi briyani daging (beef briyani) (top pic).

The dish came with a sizeable portion of rice, acar, pappadom, some chilli and dalca.

For RM9, it was value for money.

The meat was incredibly soft and tender, with very little fat. Non-beef eaters will likely enjoy their nasi briyani kambing (lamb briyani), which was equally tender, chunky and flavourful.

Norafizah said the difference between nasi briyani gam an-nur and nasi briyani Johor lies in the cooking method ­— the former is cooked with one’s choice of meat while the rice and meat is cooked separately for the latter.

She added that the nasi briyani gam an-nur is only served on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays.

It takes approximately three hours to cook the briyani gam rice,

Their chicken and beef briyani Johor costs RM9 per serving while it is RM12 for the lamb.

It is RM12 for the chicken and beef gam briyani and RM14 for the lamb.

The restaurant located at 15, Jalan Raja Muda Musa, 50300, Kuala Lumpur is open from 10am to 7pm from Tuesday to Sunday.