Hong Kong people are crazy about this “two-dish-rice meal”

Chap fan, or what Malays call Nasi Campur, is now regaining popularity in Hong Kong, where it is known as “two-dish-rice meal.”

According to an article by South China Morning Post, chap fan has recently made a comeback thanks to Hong Kong’s economic downturn post-pandemic, and it’s gotten so popular that a Facebook group called “The Hong Kong Rice with Two Dishes Concern Group” is dedicated to it.

FYI, this writer actually loves chap fan so much, so we did some research on how chap fan became famous in Malaysia. Unfortunately, there’s not much info about it, but here’s what we found out instead…

Chap Fan is also known as economy rice in Malaysia

Chap fan (or in other Malay names; nasi campur, nasi berlauk, etc) is essentially rice sold with a variety of side dishes (or lauk), and it’s popular in Malaysia because it’s cheap and you can easily rotate your dishes considering that there’s a variety of them being served.

Lee Khang Yi, a Malay Mail food journalist, wrote an article on their love for chap fan as these stalls are the lifeline for those who are going through financial difficulty.

“… if you’re a solo diner, it doesn’t make sense to buy ingredients just to cook one dish, when you can stretch your money more by dining at the chap fan places. Hence I do believe, these chap fan stalls are our heroes as they help us through these difficult times.” – Quoting from Malay Mail.

Yes, chap fan is loved by many Malaysians and Hong Kong citizens, but did you know that…

Other Southeast Asian countries have different varieties of it

Even the smallest T20 country in Southeast Asia, Singapore, has it.

In Singapore, the meal is called economy rice because it serves the regular people at an affordable price.

Indonesia has a variety of chap fan dishes that are served buffet-style too, like Nasi Campur Kedaton, Nasi Rames, and Nasi Campur Bali.

Brunei’s version is also interesting. They certainly have their own kinds of chap fan, but this one caught our eyes simply because it resembles Malaysia’s well-known dish, nasi lemak, a little. Nasi Katok is basically just a simple meal that is made of plain white rice with sambal and chicken.

This simple dish may not be particularly the same as chap fan as there’s no other dish option people can add to it, but it is the same in the sense that it fuels the locals on a daily basis.

PS: Plus point if the sambal is finger-licking-good.

Getting back to chap fan, the price is one of the main selling points, but it had gone up in recent years. According to our 38-year-old Ciliboss, a chap fan meal of rice with two dishes used to cost him RM4 back in 2002 when he was still in college in Kuala Lumpur. A 2009 article mentioned that a ‘typical spread of three side-dishes, rice, and a glass of hot Chinese tea’ would cost RM5.50 then.

With a higher cost of living today, how much does your chap fan meal cost? Share with us in the comment section!