Hot Bird Damansara Uptown — Restaurant in Petaling Jaya

BEST CHICKEN JOINT IN TOWN PART 1!

We finally made it to Hot Bird, my my my... this experience will be the par to many more chicken shop adventure.

My partner and I have been planning to make the rounds for "Best chicken shop in town" and first, it's Hot Bird.

We were passing by and saw no queue outside, this was our main reason to finally swing by. Got a spot on the most notorious lane of Uptown Damansara, which was a plus.

Got to the shop, we saw a lot of patrons and instantly we know, this joint is a fan favorite. I know us malaysian loves our fried chicken but to see foreigners salivating while waiting for their orders, that made the adventure even exciting.

At the order counter, I saw trays of their fried chicken, them fried chicken looks more professional than any chicken ads I have seen, and mind you, I am in advertising line.

CHICKEN BURGER - Street Cred ready!🍔 We didn't get the fried chicken, instead I went for a chicken burger set (first experience, this is a must for me). It came with a side coleslaw and fries. Had the "HOT' level as my initial gauge. This burger is a street fighter and it's pending the cred. Pickled cucumber was a big surprise ( I'm taking about that nasi lemak cucumber yo!) they did well with it. A bed of coleslaw and sandwiched in a very good brioche - again, this is key, as well. Delicious, my top 5 chicken burger. THE FRIES SLAMS!🍟

BUFFALO WINGS - oooh, they fly...✈️ My partner had chicken wings since she already had lunch, but she's a massive wings fan. We asked for the Buffalo sauce on the side, so the chicken came fried, baseline. The sauce for this wings, oh wow, we were sure it is butter based because the texture is different from the sauces we ordered. Once you slap that Buffalo butter sauce (yup, we calling it butter😌), it just melt on the hot wings! We dip our fries in it too, it was a good idea to have the butter sauce on the side.

SIDE SAUCES - The Agency of tasebud 😋 You must get the sauces. Hot Bird make awesome sauces. They make 'cool guy' sauces, kid you not. It is not overpowering the whole chicken experience and every sauce taste distinctive. My favorite is the Cool Ranch and Garlic Mayo. SAUCE IS A MUST TRY!

TENDERS - Call Top Gun because burn baby burn 🔥🔥🔥 While waiting for my partner blasting through the wings, I was menu watching, I saw that I can buy ala carte tenders for RM7 a piece! Got me going hmmmm, this is my chance to try their 2nd most spiciest offering dubbed "BURN BABY BURN". It came with a disclaimer "We are not responsible". Thought process was "i am a responsible man!", this is a good level to either go up or down a notch on the next visit heatness check. Chicken came in a pair and I was wondering why, they said its a little small so they gave me 2 pieces! I win! The tenders is juicy and scrumptious, the meat was flawless. Had my 2nd bite, sweats under my eyes, 3rd bite came with runny nose and a sudden panic attack as the hotness creeps up on me and spin back kick my senses! Had a minor cold sweat and heart palpitation. The the tip of my tongue was on fire and I started doing that spicy exhale. I wasn't looking cool anymore but I keep it calm as much. Finally I hit a wall and the mouth no longer receiving the next bite. I took a break for 5 minutes and it finally cool down for me to continue. We had so much fun (my partner that is) watching my slow decent into madness. Lesson learn.

I know we will hit the fried chicken on our next visit because Hot Bird do not overly batter their chickens, it's the best looking chicken around and I'm sure the taste is a level higher than the rest. But, since this is the start of our chicken joint adventure, I can't give Hot Bird a full mark (yet). Will make more rounds and conclude the best from the rest (soon). For now, Hot Bird is the Prince of Chicken shop.

PRICE - $ and a half LOOKS - 10/10 TASTE - 9.4/10

Full...

DISAPPOINTING IN EVERY WAY

For starters, I had been craving for Hotbird for years but I wasn't able to visit their resto due to health and distance issues.

I would watch every review of them on YT and TikTok and I always felt assured that my experience with Hotbird would be nothing but satisfactory.

So on Sunday ( 27/4/2025 ) at around dinner time ( 8. 23 pm ) I went to the Damansara Uptown branch for takeway.

There were around 8 ppl queuing for their in dine option and there was no queue for their takeway line. I was served first at the counter by the cashier, and I had mentioned to him that it was my first time at Hotbird. Despite that he wasn't forthcoming with helpful suggestions if I'm being honest but he was professional so that was great.

I got the 50.90rm set. After taxes it came up to 54.90rm. my order num was 0279 and there was only 1 order ahead of me. I got my food within 10 mins.

Upon reaching home and plating the food, I discovered my fries were mostly and mainly the short , burnt end pieces and they tasted chared. I had to dispose more than 1 and 1/4 packet ( I was given 2 packets as per the 50.90rm combo. ) as they were inedible.

As for the fries being soggy, I understand that as I did get the takeway but the fact I got mostly the hard burnt end pieces was just so disappointing.

Next, the chicken ( I got the no heat ) was such a huge let down as one of the chicken was actually burnt! Plus one of the drumstick was not fully cooked inside. The pieces were all small and I was in shock coz it was literally the opposite of the many reviews I've seen online.

Plus there was no bread in both the chicken boxes to soak up the fried oil. As a result the chicken was not crispy, was super oily and soggy.

I was also left wondering if I really did order the Coleslaw Large which was stated in the combo as it was so little.

For 5 pieces of chicken, I only got 3 packets of chili sauce. I am only bringing this up as it's my first time buying Hotbird and I'm unaware of what is the norm , if I knew I would be getting only 3 packets, I would have asked for more.

I was also only given 1 paper plate instead of 2 and no gloves despite me seeing many ppl online getting 2 plates and plastic gloves for their takeways.

All on all, I was left feeling gaslit, sad and disappointed in every way possible and I couldn't even enjoy my chared burnt chicken and fries. I was looking forward to enjoying Hotbird for so long only to get what I got.

C'est la vie.

Ps I did take pictures but I can't seem to upload them here lest ppl...

Fried chicken is a dish that’s really hard to get wrong but really hard to be exceptional. Hot Bird serves good chicken but nothing particularly special.

I had quite a high eggs-pectation for the place looking at the other reviews and recommendations from friends. Went with the Peck Group set which was RM50. Came with 5 pieces, fries and coleslaw. Went with no heat and a mild cause I’m a wimp that can’t take spicy :(

THE GOOD: Hands down the best FRIED chicken (emphasis on the fried) I’ve had in a long time. A good piece of fried chicken is piping hot when served where you can still squeeze the oil out. The meat was extremely tender and juicy. Half an hour in and my meal was still steaming. Also, the meat was full and the skin wasn’t hiding an empty crevice of air.

The mild flavour spice on the skin was actually really good and I can only imagine how the other spicy levels would have tasted (albeit the chicken itself wasn’t fully marinated). Mild was already pretty spicy so if you like the heat, this is the place to be. It doesn’t have the artificial spicy flavour you’d get from Mcd or bigger fast food chains.

The coleslaw was also really good. Hit and miss depending on your preference as my partner didn’t like it but I loved it.

Ambience is as you’d expect from a fast food store.

THE BAD This is mostly preference-based but I found the skin to be very bread-y and relatively flavourless for the no heat. It doesn’t have a crunch to it, more like a slightly soggy toast. It also has a strange powder like texture. I ended up just removing all the skin as it wasn’t adding anything to the chicken. Whilst the seasoning did have flavour, everything else did not.

Fries were less than im-peckable. The seasoning again was great but the fries were hard and tasted like cheap frozen fries. They were also mostly lukewarm which was a stark contrast to the lovely piping hot meat.

OVERALL: I do think Hot Bird is definitely worth the meal compared to other fast food chains, but in portion only. If you like hot and spicy fried chicken, this is worth a try but don’t expect a burst of flavour with your chicken.

Hoping they’ll find a unique flavour because the chicken was cooked to per-peck-tion. Worth the try only if you...