The charitable rice shop of Fatt Ki發記飯店

‘Every 1^st day of the month we will hand out 50 sets of free meal to senior citizens from the age of 65 years and above at our shop in Jalan Zaaba’ said the 58 year old Mr Phan Chong Fatt, the owner of Fatt Ki rice shop or better known as Ah Fatt.

They first mooted the idea of handing out only 50 boxes of free meals to the elderly but soon grew to 100 boxes a day when members of the public decided to chip in and support the cause. And it didn’t take long for their charitable deed to be noticed by the members of the press and social media to come and cover the story.

The charity sale at schools.

They are also involved in charity sales at schools by setting up a stall to sell the food via coupons and as usual Fatt Ki Chicken rice stall attracts most of the crowd and has the longest queue.

And on a particular charity sale dated 30th September 2018 at the Mambau Chinese school Ah Fatt suddenly saw Mr Loke Siew Fook among the crowd and he quickly shouted ‘Hi Mr Loke can you please come over and help us chop the chicken’ The young minister nodded and sportingly complied.

Everyone was grinning from ear to ear watching the Minister of Transport chopping chicken and Thank you Mr Loke for lending a hand for charity.

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Throwback to how it all started.

During the mid-1970's Ah Fatt followed his father and sold sugar cane juice at a stall in town and one day his father's close friend whom is a chef offered to teach them the ropes in making Chinese dishes especially in roasting chicken, pork and Char Siew (BBQ pork)

Ah Fatt paid close attention and mastered the art and started a stall by the road side selling chicken rice in the mid 80's. It was very difficult during that time as customers were hard to come by and the work was very tedious with no one helping him out. 

But over the years he slowly got accustomed to the business and fine-tuned the recipes to his customers liking and in the 90's he finally opened his own shop in Jalan Zaaba, Seremban.

They have been at this shop for more than 20 over years and has acquired a steady stream of regulars. Inset: Ah Fatt busy preparing the chickens before the lunch crowd arrives.

What's so special about Fatt Ki's roasted chicken?

Do you still remember the roasted chickens in the 80’s where it was all deep fried in hot oil and the meat would be dry and hard but when they moved to a shop they started experimenting the roasting process by using in a specially custom made stainless steel stove.

‘We call it the ‘Apollo stove’ maybe it looked like the Apollo rocket from NASA’ he jested.

They put rocks in the stove so that the natural heat would roast the meat to perfection thus making it entirely different from what you would get outside and please take a closer look at Fatt Ki’s specially roasted chicken.

'And when you cut it you can see the juice oozing out from the meat and if you deep fry it you’ll never get this kind of juiciness' 

Dubbed as the Golden Roast as it is very much like the white steamed chicken but in a different hue where the skin is soft and the all the juices is trapped inside and the aroma of the chicken will simply whet your appetite. 

Fatt Ki's Sticky Char Siew BBQ pork.

'It’s our secret recipe perfected over the years and you must try this' said Ah Fatt.

A perfect shot of the sticky Char Siew together with a slab of their Golden Roasted pork hanging on the side and when you combine all the three you’ll get this ↓↓↓

A trio of golden roasts, Fatt Ki’s crème de la crème.

Up close and personal with a plate of Fatt Ki's trio Golden Roast of chicken, sticky Char Siew and roast pork with rice.   

And another thing you must also try is their homemade Thai Tofu. 

The Thai Tofu is also one of Ah Fatt’s invention.

A single serving.

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It's a family affair.

Blessed with 3 sons Ah Fatt delegates the jobs to them.

Brothers at arms manning the fort at all times especially during the busy lunch hour.

The oldest son Phan Tat Seng (right) mans the chopping block while the youngest son Phan Tat Hong would help with the food preparations and their mother would wait on tables.

The second son Phan Tat Man is in charge of all the drinks and beverages and with all their family members helping out, their services and food preparation is silky smooth as Thai Airways.  

A rainbow of selection.

They have a wide selection of dishes where you can opt for a simple bowl of fish ball noodles and they would prepare for you on the spot.  

Talking about rainbow here’s another one of their specialty, the white curry mee using the santan (coconut milk) as the soup base and combining it with their homemade hot & spicy chili for that extra kick. 

And you will catch an array of rainbow colors when you stir them up. 

The taste of the 80's lives on.

‘Maintaining the taste of the 80’s as I vividly remembers when were all young back then enjoying the simple food in town and today I’m proud to serve it in my shop’ beamed Ah Fatt.

‘Like for example the Mee Hoon Sotong that I cook is completely different from those outside as I'm preserving the taste of the olden days and so do you want to try it? He asked and I quickly nodded.

Tat Hong preparing the Mee Hoon Sotong for me. 

Rekindling the taste of the 80's where the Sotong Bee Hoon was all about the gravy and the stewed pork and who knows it better than Ah Fatt. 

When I took a bite it brought back memories of me as a boy eating Sotong Mee Hoon with my parents at a road side stall in town.

It is very important to preserve the taste of the olden days as modern generation nowadays has forgotten how to maintain the taste as everything is about for fast food, diet commercialization and making fast money.

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Future plans 

Fatt is always open for future plans and hopes to open more similar eating outlets but due to the shortage of manpower it would be hard because all the dishes in the shop are cooked by themselves.

And they have a wide array of dishes thus requires them a lengthy cooking period to ensure quality control and it would be hard to implement these at another shop.

'We cook everything by ourselves while the workers only handle the preparation of food ingredients, cleaning and chores' said Ah Fatt assuring on the quality control of the food.   

One can measure the scale of one's business by simply looking at the quantity of chickens at the counter and in Ah Fatt’s case it is more than a dozen.  

Meet their regulars

During lunch hour it would usually be crowded. 

The banner at the top left hand corner in Mandarin clearly states “Free meal for senior citizens aged from 65 and above on every 1^st day of the month”

The shop is located on the right hand side of the main road along Jalan Zaaba right after KGV secondary school.

They used to rent this shop but when the owner offered them to purchase it the entire family helped with getting the bank loan approved and it is a good buy and fully utilised where the upstairs is used for roasting the meats and downstairs solely for dining.

Add: 5G Jalan Zaaba same row with 99 SpeedMart.

Operating hours: Breakfast & lunch 9am – 2pm open daily and closed on every Fridays.

Tel No: 016-280 5577 or 016-633 1313