Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

Either you’re salivating in front of your screen (certified carnivore) or you’re looking away in disgust (sorry my vegetarian / Muslim friends). Klang Bak Kut Teh ‘almost’ at its purest (tell you why later), Chow Kiat Restaurant is one of the more popular BKT places in Klang; even among the locals, apparently.

Ahhh … heaving a sigh of relief to be back home in Malaysia (this was last weekend though), juggling my time eating around Ipoh and Klang Valley has left me very focused in prioritizing my meals. Or rather, how to maximize the food run to quench the homesickness.

Not to say that I am giving up on writing about Singapore food (don’t worry, the entire saga will continue soon, I promise), but when opportunities come, I will choose to return home for good old Malaysian street food. Hands down. Maybe it’s the flavours that I grew up with. Or the priceless experience of being seated on plastic stools laid out on the tarred roads or by the walkways, with barely a pair of dim lights to illuminate your piece of drumstick or bowl of noodles.

And so, one fine morning, we ended up driving over to Klang for a taste of Bak Kut Teh. Read the rest of this entry »

To minimize the guilt of over-indulging prior to the festive season, we settled for lean pork only during our Bak Kut Teh session this morning. Yes, I let my cravings got the better of my judgment. 

Now hands up how many of you in KL or PJ got stuck in the congestion around shopping malls over the weekend? Or got caught up in perpetual queues at the check out counters? Last minute shopping frenzy seems to be the activity Malaysians love to indulge in the most; and retailers are having a whale of a time participating in extended hours shopamania.

In a blink of an eye, 2013 has come and gone; not without leaving a trail of memories. And devastation no less. Don’t hit the panic button yet, it’s not of the catastrophic kind but more to bearing witness to a failed healthy eating plan meticulously devised at the end of 2012. Yup, you can read snippets from the Top 13 Ipoh Food Finds post.

Anyway, after one too many cafe visits, I relented and gave in to my carnivorous calling. “Bak Kut Teh!” Waking up at a relatively early hour on a Sunday, to Klang we went.  Read the rest of this entry »

Large chunks of pork. Minimal serving of soup. Slightly oiled rice. A plate of ‘Yau Char Gwai’. And Chinese tea. If this doesn’t scream KLANG, then I don’t know what else will.

When push comes to shove, I guess it’s really passion that drives me through. The tumultuous journey of transition plus a few other tribulations in life sapped my energy like mad. If

Suddenly, it felt like everything’s going in the opposite direction. I almost lost track of things I wanted to share with you guys, the new places in town (okay, maybe not so new but I haven’t been blog-surfing for months now) that I enlisted to try and the travel stories floating inside my cranium (not done with Saigon yet, while Manila was 3 months back!).

Nevertheless, if I am slow in replying your comments, e-mails or messages on Facebook, I apologize. I have to thank good old Maxis for the inefficiency in setting up Internet at my home.

Enough whining … let’s pork out today. Read on and drool. You know this could be a great weekend breakfast plan. Read the rest of this entry »

Bagan Hailam Seafood Restaurant – A nostalgic throwback to the olden times with dining tables lit by tungsten light bulbs and arranged on a wooden platform hovering over the Klang river and docked ships …

Happy holidays fellow Malaysians. A privilege to be a Malaysian; relishing in the avalanche of public holidays within the first two months of 2013; leading to the most anticipated festive season for the Chinese folks; the Lunar New Year on Feb 10th.

Have you started the preparations yet? Or are you still impervious to the creeping elements of reds or the at-times-annoying tunes blaring over the airwaves and malls? The sea of red lanterns and ornaments (just realized what’s a pussy willow recently … yup, I’m dumb) decked out in plain sight at souvenir shops around PJ had me slightly excited.

I’ll do a post on CNY foodstuff that I like when I’m back in Ipoh. For today? Capitalize on the holiday and here’s a post on Bagan Hailam Seafood restaurant in Port Klang; about half an hour away from PJ. Let’s dine under the stars ….. Read the rest of this entry »

Short of being labelled as one lackadaisical review, let’s enjoy the food shots pumped with captions this terrific (or terrible, but let’s be positive, ya?) Tuesday evening, and spread your loving arms to welcome the month of October!

Fresh seafood tightly-wrapped in banana leaves and grilled without much seasoning, or any gravy. The cooking style used at Medan Muara Ikan Bakar might be unconventional; especially if you’re expecting your ‘ikan pari’ (sting ray) or any other fish to be smothered in a thick, devilish red and spicy sambal sauce.

Fresh catches laid out to your visual delight, sending pulses of signals to the gluttony segment of the brain. Don’t expect anything less than the freshest seafood at Tanjung Harapan, Port Klang.

Medan Muara Ikan Bakar @ Tanjung Harapan, Port Klang. About 40km from Petaling Jaya. But felt almost like a world’s apart. Full story after the jump.

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The Star Metro started a marathon of 10 highly-regarded kopitiams across the country yesterday; featuring a story about this almost unheard of Hainanese coffee shop bestowed with close to half a century’s worth of legacy in Taman Eng Ann of Klang.

You must have noticed my fascination with Hainanese style of coffee stall (the recently retold story of Ah Weng Kor in Imbi kept my faith in check); a casual joint routinely featuring the breakfast ensemble of thickly brewed coffee, tea or Hainanese Tea which in its essence should be renamed to ‘cham’ and not forgetting the half-boiled eggs with runny yolks to envelop the toasted breads sandwiching a cold slab of butter and ‘kaya’ with.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fried Porridge (RM12/USD4) – Just when you can’t have the best of both worlds, ie; eating healthy food (porridge) yet not bland and character-less, try “Bubur Goreng”.

I know. I should not have gone all out and walloped everything in sight when nursing a sore throat, terrible cough and giddiness.

But then again, that’s just the rebellious nature in me.

To lessen the guilt, so to speak, I have decided to go against all my principles and went all out to hunt for porridge for dinner. And knowing me, you would have laughed at the thought of dear Motormouth seated obediently on a stool while scooping plain old, boring porridge into his dropped jaw; wet towel on the forehead and thermometer under his tongue.

Heck, I can’t imagine the atrocity of it all myself. *shudder*

And hence, off I ventured to territories unchartered; this residential area named Berkeley garden in Klang for something unlike the version of a poor man’s food laden with sinful bits of fried pork lard, cubes of mushy yam and tofu, and fine strips of dried cuttlefish …..  Read the rest of this entry »