Fat Rice

Fat Rice is located in a residential area called Logan Square in the northwest of Chicago, about six miles from the city centre on the way to the airport. It is unusual in that it serves an American take on the cuisine of Macau, which mixes influences from India and Portugal as well as China. The premises are unprepossessing, seating around 40 people with tables arrayed around an open kitchen. Owners Abraham Conlon and Adrienne Lo opened Fat Rice in November 2012. The restaurant does not take reservations, and it is safe to say that the owners did not spend a fortune on the decor. 

A generous portion of curried vegetable dumplings ($8) had reasonable texture but had one dimensional chilli flavour rather than the blend of spices that the description suggested (11/20). Nasi lamak ($10) comprised coconut rice with sambal, greens, peanuts and tiny fried fish. This was pleasant enough, the rice nicely cooked and the sambal providing a hint of tamarind sweetness (12/20). 

Piri-Piri chicken was a long way from that of Nandos. Half a chicken was cooked with a robustly spicy sauce. The bird was cooked well enough and avoided dryness, though the skin could have been much crisper and the flavour of the meat was limited (12/20).

 Service was friendly and mostly functional, though one dish that we ordered never appeared. The price for lunch with soft drinks was $25 (£16) a head. If you had dessert and something alcoholic then a typical price per head might be around £30. This seems fair enough for what was simple but decent food, though if you are staying in Chicago then Fat Rice would seem to me to be somewhere to go if you happen to be in this area rather somewhere worthy of a special excursion.