[UPDATE] The stall in Seri Kembangan burned down. They’ve since moved their operations to Wangsa Melawati.

I’m not usually one to jump on the hype train – but when I saw a viral post recently about a nasi lemak / nasi kukus place serving humongous portions of fried sotong, I knew this was one I’d be willing to queue for, since I’m such a huge fan of squid dishes. So off the Hubs and I went in search of Warong Nismilan, nestled within the University Putra Malaysia Agricultural Quarters in Seri Kembangan.

A warung typically refers to a small shop or eatery by the road, and Warong Nismilan fits the bill, comprising a few zinc-roof structures and a pitched tent. Be prepared to sweat coz it gets pretty hot inside, and there isn’t any air-conditioning – but that’s part of the whole warung experience.

We got there around 11-ish and there was already a sizeable queue. The system is a bit haphazard as there isn’t any indication whether the people are queueing to take away or waiting to be seated. Seeing how stuffy it was, N and I already decided beforehand that we would get our food to go. It took 45 minutes to get to the ordering counter.

Food was being churned out constantly to keep up with the crowd’s orders, so you know the stuff is fresh. They ran out of nasi lemak (only available on weekends) just before we got to the counter, so we opted for Nasi Kukus (steamed rice) instead, ordering one with Ayam Rempah (RM7) and their signature Sotong Crispy (RM25).

Other popular favourites here are the Ayam Crispy and the Kambing Bakar (grilled lamb), which is cooked with black pepper sauce.

Our ride home took about 30 minutes, so the food remained relatively warm. The sotong was still crispy, so that’s a big plus. For RM25, you get about 250 gm of battered squid: the shop packed it separately so the pic might not be a good visual representation, but if you’re dining there, it lives up to the ‘melimpah‘ (overflowing) name, with the sotong blanketing the rice completely.

Verdict? I give it a 7.5 / 10! The food isn’t mindblowing, but its tasty – the squid is fried well with a springy texture, the batter stays crunchy even after awhile and has good flavour, and the creamy curry sauce that comes with the rice has a great balance of savoury / sweet, which helps to alleviate any greasiness. I prefer sweet sambal which is typically served with nasi lemak, so not a big fan of the nasi kukus sambal, which is sour since it has limau kasturi (calamansi) and tamarind(asam jawa) in it. If you like spicy sambal, though, the version here packs quite a punch.

Honest thoughts: the food is decent, but because the shop has gone viral, expect super long queues. Will probably go again once all the hype has died down. RM25 for me is a decent price for the amount of sotong they give, but I’ve also seen comments complaining that it’s pricey lol. You be the judge!

WARONG NISMILAN

 Warong Nismilan , No.1, Quarters Jabatan Pertanian, Lot 5377, Jalan Institut, 43400, Seri Kembangan, Selangor

Opening hours: (Mon – Fri) 10AM – 4PM, (Sat-Sun) 7AM – 4PM

Phone: 017-314 9519

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PS2: All food expenses are out of my own pocket unless otherwise stated. Views here are my own and are based on my personal experience. They are not meant to endorse or disparage businesses in any way.