Sunshine Free Range Chicken Farm @ Kuala Lipis, Pahang

By now, you would have heard a few of us stormed Kuala Lipis the previous weekend. Thanks to Cumi who initiated the trip to visit Sunshine Free Range Chicken Farm and also to Gerald and Mr Ong plus their staff for the hospitality.

Upon reaching Kampung Binjai, Thule Leo is already waiting in his truck and up we go thru the steep hilly terrain in 4x4s before hitting the farm entrance. When I got out of the truck, oh wow, the lush greenery and fresh air are so welcoming. No wonder the chickens thrived here as they are not cooped up and free to roam about the hilly terrain. Capt’n Hook mentioned that the chickens seems to have a great healthy life here with such nice view and fresh air :D



Gerald had gotten Chef Marinus of The Grand Life Sdn Bhd, a halal meat processing facility producing items like terrines, pates and sausages; to let us sample some of his products. There were 4 types of terrines and pates served with French loaves. Amongst them the Walnut Chicken and Duck terrine came out to be the top fave. The combination of chicken and duck is brilliant as the texture melded well against each other. I had to coax Boiboi to try some and ended up he loved the Chicken Pistachio terrine and even asked for seconds. Then we have the Duck Liver pate which is creamy and a bit too liverish for me, perhaps I’ve slathered too much on my slice of bread. We also tried the Farmer pate. You can find these items at the halal section of O Gourmet, Bangsar Shopping Complex. Thank you Chef Marinus for the wonderful breakfast.





Mr Ong then gave us a short talk on how the chickens in this farm are raised. Since I’ve tasted their ma cho kai (horse grass fed chicken) at Hakka Republic, I finally got to see how the horse grass looked like. I was surprised that they’ve long leaves with fat whitish stems. Mr Ong mentioned they’re from the family of Napier grass and these are usually eaten by horses. It was Mr Ong himself who discovered rearing chicken this way will result in a perfect chicken texture. We were told this grass can be made into a healthy juice which is great for diabetics. We tasted the grass… the leaves portion ermm tasted green, almost like wheatgrass but it’s the stem that yields a slight sweetish juice. The roughage is similar to of sugar cane.



Do note that the chicken in this farm are fed with ma cho and feeds that does not contain growth hormones, antibiotics nor any vaccines are used. These chickens are raised as naturally as possible so you can eat them tanpa was was (without any worries) heh. They can't brand them as organic though as the feed they used is not.



We proceeded to the farm to witness Master Fatt castrating the roosters usually at the age of 8 weeks. Add another 12 more weeks, these roosters can be dished out. Gosh he’s quick, almost like a chicken whisperer as the roosters hardly flinch an inch when he tuck their wings to lock them. His fingers then went on to check where is the area that he needs to “operate” on. The cut is about 1 cm, and then he inserted a metal device that keeps the cut opens. Using a rod he digs inside to look for the testicles. When he finds them, he inserts a hollow stem of a type of plant that contained a piece of string (not sure of what material). Master Fatt moves the string in a sawing motion and in no time he picks up the testicle with a tweezer before dropping them into a bowl of water. After removing the metal device he just pasted some feathers on the wound and that completed the operation! Little wonder that Master Fatt’s hands are deft as he has been doing this since he was 15 years of age and he’s now 58! He’s the 4^th generation in his family in this line and sadly he will be the last as none of his children took up the skill.

You can witness the video of the process over at A Lil Fat Monkey and Cumi dan Ciki but only if you have a strong stomach!

It seems like Capon chicken (yim kai) that came from here are of two different types. The one I had tasted at Chef Tam was of the Fah Loh Kai (colour bird) variety that yields a smooth and softer meat as compared to the Ma Lai Kai (free range kampong/village chicken) variety which is smooth but tougher. I still have one ma cho kai in the freezer which my mother is going to steam for the Winter solstice (Dong Zhi) feast which falls on 22^nd December oh yumyum.

It’s easier to reach for one of these ma cho kai or yim kai now as you can get them from the non-halal section of O Gourmet, Bangsar Shopping Complex and later on The Meat Experts (TME) in Hartamas Shopping Centre. Do check Sunshine Chicken website to keep a tab on where you can buy them. In there is also listed the restaurants where you can savour these lovely chicken.

More over here:
A Lil Fat Monkey
Cumi dan Ciki
A Whiff of Lemongrass

Sunshine Chicken (Sales & Marketing)
45-2, 2nd Floor,
Jalan Menara Gading 1,
Medan Connaught
56000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) 9102 3950