Motormouth From Ipoh – A Malaysian Food Blog

Last post for the year 2009 – Let me recap on some of the year’s highlights. Cannot write about food for the time being, for some specific reasons (P/S : You can find some hints in this post). So kindly allow me to gloat (ahem, NOT) or rather, write a complete summary of my travels throughout the year. You ready for this?(Go for toilet break, a smoke or something, this is gonna be LONG!)

1. HANOI ON A SHOE-STRING (FEBRUARY 2009)

No doubt one of the year’s most memorable moment was our Hanoi trip back in February-March of this year. Back then the weather was cool, almost freezing at times, especially when we were strolling around Hoan Kiem Lake near to Old Quarters. The incessant honking of motorcycles aside, the 8 days trip were filled with adventures and MISadventures (what else do you expect, with Motormouth around?), ranging from nearly frost-bitten on the deck of the junk boat at Halong Bay to getting pestered relentlessly by the natives at Sapa town. Not to mention the magnificent street foods of Hanoi, from the perennial favourite of many ; the Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup), extra ‘kaw’ Vietnamese coffee by the roadside (literally, as we were seated on those small plastic stools), and Banh My (baguette sandwich with PORK!).

We did dine at some restaurants, albeit not of 5-stars stature. Highway 4 Restaurant serves wacky snails, tiny crabs fried WHOLE, and delicious catfish spring rolls. Quan An Ngon remains as our top pick; a place for an extensive array of ‘cleaner’ street foods, all aggregated in one location.

For the whole itinerary, jump over to this post : HANOI 2009 – On A Shoestring Budget

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Recovered from a dastardly bout of food poisoning, no thanks to some stale prawns that I ate the night before. Yesterday was almost a fully-detoxifying day, with no more than 2 bowls of oats for meals, plus some crackers here and there. And I slept the whole day through. All 10 or so hours of my day. And thank goodness they were broadcasting some rather good shows on TV (The Incredibles was shown on TV2 in the afternoon !!!!), hence lessen the bore. I could not bring myself to surf the Net, nor read food blogs, for the sight of food was too revolting. Yes, I even felt like puking when I was viewing my own blog. Imagine that ….

The Red Rubies (Sek Lau Ji), the Bee Tai Bak (the wriggly strands made from rice flour), and the condiments of coconut milk (santan) and syrup.

Hence, I’ll share something which I have always been intending to, but somehow various distractions and barriers stopped me from doing so. Have you heard of “Sek Lau Zhi”, or “Bee Tai Bak”? In Malay, this bowl of refreshing dessert is called Ais Sagu. In all of Ipoh, and even all throughout the many decades of my life (remember, I am from the Jurassic age okay?), I have only tried this particular version at a pushcart stall at the corner of Jalan Prince and Jalan Pasir Pinji in Pasir Pinji of Ipoh. Since I was a toddler, really. And since moving away from Pasir Puteh, I hardly returned to this Chinese-populated area, unless for some Big Tree Foot’s goodies aka Fried Liew, or Poh Lee Fried Chicken.

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Restoran Lou Wong Tauge Ayam Kuetiau has to be the MOST famous of all Ipoh’s restaurants, bar none. Ask any outsiders, foreigners, or even the locals themselves on where to have dinner (or supper, commonly) if you’re down in Ipoh for one night only, the chances are most would mutter the name; Lou Wong Nga Choy Kai (“Nga Choy Kai” means Tauge Ayam, or Bean Sprouts Chicken).

Even when most locals do not frequent the highly-sought after, yet slightly over-rated premise any longer. You can find out more about other Nga Choy Kai outlets in Ipoh by clicking the following link : Tauge Ayam in Ipoh.

Come early or come late, and you’re bound to get yourself worked up, frustrated, or even astonished at the sheer amount of human traffic going for their Ipoh famous bean sprouts chicken fix. Come rain or shine, night or day. For your information, Lou Wong opens for lunch and dinner now, until the late hours of the night (or should I say wee hours of the morning?).

If you’re there on a weekend, or public holidays, be prepared to stand around (much like Foh San, but only not as sightly, for you’re practically forced to stand by the roadside for this one).

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I was sour. I felt disappointed. But yet I concurred and paid a visit to Ipoh famous “Tong Sui Kai” aka Dessert Street (Pusat Makanan Rainbow City yesterday night (anyone bumped into me there?), for the inaugural Ipoh Hawkers’ Fest/Karnival Penjaja Ipoh, lasting from 25th-27th December 2009.

I can’t hide the fact that I felt short-changed when first laying my eyes on that piece of flyer distributed prior to the launching of the event yesterday. But Christmas SHOULD be a time for forgiveness, joy and a resounding cheers, instead of jeers.

So, just sit back, embrace the long weekend, and enjoy the shots of the event mentioned ……

Menteri Besar of Perak – Dato` Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir making his rounds, buying some HEONG PENG?!!!

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‘Tis the season to be jolly, and I don’t really wanna project a grumpy image ala The Grinch. But when your pictures are blatantly ripped off from your blog, without prior notifications nor credits given when they’re supposed to, I could not help but feeling somewhat cheated. Plagiarism at this time and age may seems rampant (given the era of social networking and seamless-connectivity),  but this incident had me furious initially, confused the very next, and in the end I was somewhat amused.

Why? Because my photos were stolen and used for a campaign jointly organized by Tourism Malaysia and MCA of Ipoh Timur (both governmental bodies in Malaysia), to promote the recently initiated food portal named Fabulous Food 1Malaysia – With a month long campaign this December, highlighted with food fests all over Malaysia.

This promotional flyer was distributed and reached my hands yesterday night. I was well aware of this event from The Star (read article HERE, dated 22nd December 2009). But never would have imagined the publicity campaign took a most wicked turn on its own, by indulging in shortcuts and plagiarism.

Out of the 15 foods shots above, at least 12 were mine. I was astounded and speechless at the moment I was browsing the A4-sized flyer, for I instantly recognized some of the food pics from my previous posts. Not to say they’re professionally-shot pictures or anything; in fact some of the pictures were taken with my cheapo 3.2megapixel camera phone back then, when I have yet to purchase my Lumix LX3.

No contact numbers, e-mail addresses nor identity of the PR company which printed these was available.

So what would YOU do if you’re in my shoes? On one hand, I’m feeling mighty pissed-off for they took the easy way out and acted like thieves. But on the other hand, this event will no doubt increase awareness and general interest on Ipoh’s most famous Hawker Food, a notion I fully support for this is one of the MAIN reason I’m blogging about Ipoh food anyway.

Details for the Event :

IPOH HAWKERS’ FEST 2009
25-27 DECEMBER 2009
LOCATION : PUSAT MAKANAN RAINBOW CITY
(This is the famous stretch of hawker stalls at Tong Sui Kai aka Dessert Street)

You think J2Kfm’s motormouthing without substantial evidences? Hop over to the following posts, and do simple comparisons …

Mee Kari Ipoh Garden @ Jalan Pasir Puteh

Teluk Intan Famous Glutinous Rice @ New Weng Fatt, Ipoh Garden South

Canning Garden Famous Chee Cheong Fun

Kam Hor Tauge Ayam/Bean Sprouts Chicken @ Ipoh Garden

Ah Leng Char Koay Teow @ Jalan Dato Keramat, PENANG

## And with that, J2Kfm would like to wish all the readers … a MOST Merry X’mas, and a splendid Happy New Year! ##