For nostalgic 80’s style ‘nasi lemak’ with ‘ayam goreng’ fried to order, head to PD Nasi Lemak in Semenyih

‘Nasi lemak ayam goreng’ at PD Nasi Lemak. — Picture by CK Lim

By Kenny Mah

First Published: Tuesday, 10 Nov 2026 8:58 AM MYT

Last Modified: Tuesday, 10 Nov 2026 9:02 AM MYT

SEMENYIH, Nov 10 — Golden, well-battered piece of chicken, fried to order. An entire bowl (now that’s generous!) of slowly simmered sambal. Fried ikan bilis and peanuts. Thickly sliced cucumber. A fried egg, not hard boiled.

And possibly the largest mound of pandan-infused coconut rice we have been presented with!

This is our plate of nasi lemak ayam goreng at PD Nasi Lemak in Semenyih. What a beautiful plate it is too. 

Located near the Semenyih Sentral Wet Market, the shop is a new addition to the neighbourhood, having opened less than half a year ago.

Owner Mark Govinda tells us that he and his wife Fiona previously ran a stall at Kopitiam Semenyih a couple of streets away, and before that in a different kopitiam in Bandar Teknologi Kajang for seven years.

Moving to their own shop felt like a way to introduce their signature style of what he calls the “original 80’s flavour” of nasi lemak to more customers.

PD Nasi Lemak in Semenyih serves the ‘original 80’s flavour’ style of ‘nasi lemak’. — Picture by CK Lim

Mark’s take on his approach to nasi lemak is inspired by traditional beachside nasi lemak from Port Dickson (hence the abbreviation “PD” in the shop’s name stands for Port Dickson).

Certainly, the shop has that laidback ambience, with a taste frozen in time. No trends or gimmicks here. How refreshing. How inviting.

The display counter was laden with vats of various lauk-pauk. Sides and kuah for the nasi lemak, from ayam rendang, sambal sotong (squid), sambal kerang (blood cockles), sambal udang (prawn) and petai (stink beans).

I appreciated how each vat was covered with a lid and only removed when they were showing us the add-on options. Tiny details like these matter.

Various ‘lauk-pauk’. — Picture by CK Lim

As it was with our order of nasi lemak ayam goreng. The pieces of chicken are only fried when an order comes in; there’s nothing quite like freshly fried chicken, don’t you agree?

The crust is incredibly crunchy thanks to a chunky batter; its colour somewhere between pale and golden brown. 

This makes it an appropriately 80’s style fried chicken: the meat moist with wisps of hot steam as you bite into it (be careful!); the audible crackle of the crispy skin reminding me of a nostalgic meal at an American fast food chain.

(All we needed were onion rings and a root beer float to complete this Back to the Future vision, quite frankly.)

Thanks to a restrained hand with the seasoning, we couldn’t resist dipping pieces of chicken flesh into the sambal.

Freshly fried chicken. — Picture by CK Lim

Which is another highlight. Mark had cautioned us that his sambal isn’t spicy — an unusual moment as usually we get warned that a restaurant’s sambal might be too fiery — but leans mild, perfect for children and the elderly.

Indeed, his style of sambal is intentionally milder and subtly sweet, rather than aggressively flavoured. Slow-cooked for three hours, this is part and parcel of PD Nasi Lemak’s classic seaside, old-school kopitiam breakfast vibe.

Mark calls it bringing a tiny bit of Port Dickson to Semenyih. We reckon it’s working; we are considering a foodie tour to the coastal resort town even before we were midway through our meal.

Beyond the ayam goreng, we also ordered nasi lemak accompanied by a side of two different sambals, mixing sambal sotong and petai. The squid is tender, not rubbery; the stink beans fantastically aromatic (if you like it, you’d love this).

A side of different ‘sambals’, mixing ‘sambal sotong’ and ‘petai’. — Picture by CK Lim

Even the topping of eggs are fried to order, which meant we could ask for them over hard instead of runny yolks.

Now you might look askance at this request; a generation that grew up with eggs Benedict might insist on poached eggs with the liquid yolk spilling out over sourdough toast, blending luxuriously with hollandaise sauce.

Ah, but when we have nasi lemak, we prefer the yolk to be firm. What with the sambal being “wet” already, we wouldn’t want to moisten the rice more than necessary.

For, ultimately, the sign of a decent nasi lemak still resides with its rice: the fluffy, individual grains of rice infused with coconut cream, fragrant with plenty of pandan leaves.

In this, PD Nasi Lemak passes with flying colours: forget the tasty sambal and sides — I could eat the rice alone!

Old school style ‘kopi’. — Picture by CK Lim

We washed it all down with cups of old school style kopi. Not too sweet, just the way we like it.

During our meal, we observed customers coming for a quick meal and workers at neighbouring shops dropping by for takeaway nasi lemak and kopi. Everyone was happy to wait their turn and strike up a conversation until their orders were ready.

A slow rhythm, a simple small town life. The best sort of life, if you ask me.

PD Nasi Lemak

9-G, Jalan Semenyih Sentral 2, 

Taman Semenyih Sentral, 

Semenyih, Selangor.* 

Open daily 6:30am–5pm (with irregular days off)

Phone: 012-697 9205 (or Fiona at 018-326 6785)

For more food fables and café chronicles, visit Life for Beginners. 

* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.