Monday, 2 December 2019

Monga Fried Chicken, Damansara Uptown


A few restaurants/shops along Jalan SS 21/39 Damansara Utama (Uptown) have closed down and no sooner than a shop lot is vacated, another fills the vacancy and springs into action.

I would say that this row is the most "ong" in Damansara Uptown but still many enterprises did not survive, among them Go Street NoodlePizza CraftSRK Noodle House and Chilli Pan Mee.

One day I saw this.


Monga Fried Chicken opening with a bang with lion dance and all. Initially when they were still renovating, I thought this was a Japanese outlet as Monga sounds Japanese to me. But with all the tong tong chiang! going on, this must be Chinese.

After some googling, I found out that this is a Taiwanese franchise specializing in Taiwanese fried chicken. Well, you might know how I feel about Taiwanese food. But still - fried chicken.


My sentiments aside, I had to try it at least once.


I was super early, knowing how the crowds swarm to newly opened outlets, to make sure that I can eat in peace.


Ordering is done at the counter and after you pay, you need to wait for your order number to be called.


I chose Taiker (fried chicken with Japanese Sauce & Seaweed Powder) and opted for the value meal Combo C. This combo comes with a soft drink and chips. You can upgrade your drink (if you don't want a soft drink) and chips (for a fancier flavor or other fried stuff).

It was quite a long wait, something like 20 minutes. I don't know if this is the norm. Even then, only the fried chicken was ready and I was told to wait for the drinks and chips. Service does not seem very efficient to me.


 The chicken comes in a paper bag like this.


While waiting for the drink and chips, I started on the fried chicken.


It's chicken breast (my least favorite part of the chicken) but giving credit where credit is due, it was moist and juicy. Flavor wise, it was just flat for me, nothing remarkable. Sure there was the seaweed flavor coming from the seaweed powder and that was it. 

I  thought it needed some chili sauce. As a matter of fact, a customer went to the counter to request for chili sauce. She was told that sauce is not provided and that she would have to pay for it. I saw her go to the cashier for a small tub of sauce.

Well, I wasn't going to pay an extra RM1.50 for sauce as I had already spent RM28.40 on something I wasn't quite enjoying. This fried chicken is not what I would want to eat again.

As I was halfway through with the chicken, my number was called again.


This time for the Jasmine Green Tea (it was slightly sweetened) and Signature Chips, ready finally. I don't know what happened with the chips because they smelled of plum powder. Not exactly an ideal flavor to go with chips (in my opinion).


It turns out the chicken is not a fillet (fillet is boneless, right?) as I bit into bone and ribs.

So what did I think of Monga Fried Chicken? It's not for me but I am sure there are many people out there who may enjoy Taiwanese style fried chicken. But I am glad I gave it a try. Once is enough for me.

14 comments:

  1. What on earth is that? Taiwanese, eh? Hmmmmm.... I guess SRK moved elsewhere - there's an outlet at Paradigm, I think...if it is still open.

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    1. It did not tickle my fancy one bit. I guess Taiwanese is not to my taste, except for their beef noodles. I believe SRK has many other branches that are still in business.

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  2. for Taiwanese big chicken chop, the longest chain in kl is the Shilin stall. Have you tried it? the shilin big fried chicken? think it is in one utama. they use chicken thigh meat. the plum powder is common to sprinkle on sweet potatoes fries.

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    1. I have heard about Shilin but never tried. I'm afraid I don't fancy plum powder on potato chips or sweet potato fries.

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  3. Taiwanese fried chicken!? I only know one franchise, Shihlin. I used to like its xxl fried chicken. Haha.

    Luckily your breast meat was nice and moist. I also dont like breast meat.

    I dont think you would be patronise this place again. Haha.

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    1. Yes, Shilin is quite established and well know but I never tried. I don't think I ever will hah..hah...

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  4. At least you tried. Not into taiwanese fried chicken though.

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  5. All the Taiwanese fried chicken are quite tasty and delicious at all the night markets I have eaten at Keeliung, Taipei, Taichung and Kaoshiung. I need to speak to the boss of this Uptown outlet for losing a VIP customer like Ah Hong Chee. Haiks!

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    1. Taiwanese food not for Ah Hong Chee lah. The taste is too bland/mild or strange hah..hah..

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  6. This brand has quite a lot of branches in Taiwan which is opened by a Taiwanese artist. The chicken looked big and juicy but too bad it was bland tasting.

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    1. I googled after eating the chicken and it looks like so popular in Taiwan. Not for me though :(

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  7. Both the Koreans and Taiwanese stake a claim at doing fried chicken well, don't they.

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    1. They do! But to me, the Koreans win hands down!

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