Motormouth From Ipoh – Malaysian Food & Travel

If this plate of rice loaded with SEVEN medium-sized prawns cost you only RM4.30/USD1.40, would you have jumped for joy, rubbed your eyes in disbelief, or await the jolt to wake from the dream within a dream?

I love eating in the smaller towns of Perak. The loyal readers (ahem, I can’t dream?) of this blog would be able to relate to this unconventional travelling fiasco, whereby sometimes back-to-back trips to rural areas are considered as normal. While seated idly in the office Facebooking, MSN-ing (all the in the name of …. searching for information, of course) and of course, blogging sounds like the occasional, once-in-a-blue-moon phenomenon.

How things have changed now.

Anyway, a sudden need to travel all the way to Tanjung Piandang (Tanjung what?! Read my first acquaintance with the small fishing village back then) was instead greeted with cheer, instead of jeer. After a prolonged period of stagnancy, I presumed that I would even say yes to an outing to Selama, Hutan Melintang or heck, just gimme Bota anyday!

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Spot the anomaly?

But it’s not all fun and play though, we literally were dragging our a$$es along, visiting towns after towns, for a stretch of more than 8 hours in a day. Yeah, poor civil servants are overworked. Seldom heard of? =P

(Btw, the anomaly in the pic above is the HUGE bee nest, though not clearly visible after zooming with my 5610. This tree is found along Jalan Pantai, a road that stretches from Kuala Kurau to Tanjung Piandang)

We did not stop for lunch in Kuala Kurau, though most of us were screaming with hunger. Instead we miraculously managed to reach Tanjung Piandang, got some work done, then began food crawl (yeah, I really mean that literally). The Malays entered a “warung” style shop selling rice, noodle and the usual, situated on the main road, right at a turning. We, the original Food Gang (me, KYT, Tall Gal, FCOE) crossed the road to a nameless Chinese shop with some customers. Some, they say, is better than NONE. hehe ….

Watch the chef in action …

Oh, open kitchen concept? Yeah, surprised that the cooks in such an isolated town practise the aforementioned concept. But really, do look from your seats ONLY. Getting any closer, and you will discover the hidden, “dirty” truth … If you know what I mean.

Plain, stir-fried Choy Sum ( Mustard Greens) with Pork

We asked for recommendations, but clearly, either the lady boss did not understand Cantonese perfectly, OR could not give a damn to supply recommendations. But we pulled through, ordering initially 3 dishes.

The vegetables cooked with slices of pork was basic, simple home cooked style. No complains here. The only dish she recommended with slight enthusiasm was the deep-fried prawn rolls. Or something like that.

Signature Prawn Rolls

Hmm, these rolls resembling ‘lor bak’, and tasted somewhat the same. But with softer texture, and the prawn+pork paste was flavourful. Dipped in sweet chilli sauce, these come highly recommended. Most of the patrons were having them at that time.

Stir-Fried Pork with Ginger

Me : Any pork dishes?

Lady Boss : Har? What pork dishes?

Me : (confused, sounded like she asked me for recommendations instead) Erm, anything like, sweet and sour pork, etc? (that was the only dish that comes to mind at that moment)

Lady Boss : Oh, OK, sweet and sour pork.

Me : And? (half expecting her to rattle off some exotic pork dishes off her head)

Lady Boss : Or pork with ginger strips.

Me : (gave up) OK, that one then ……

But was glad the pork did not disappoint. Though slightly darker than your usual dish, the pork was thinly sliced, and were not tough/chewy, and the addition of ginger shreds added zing to the dish.

Curry Chicken Wings

After the first 3 dishes were served, we knew that to feed 4 of us, those were merely appetizers. Haha … So we asked for a chicken dish, and she recommended fried curry chicken. Huh? OK …

But the dish was the usual chicken curry, but ONLY wings were served. The gravy was too thick, we could taste the curry powder in the sauce, but not spicy. However, kinda awkward to eat curry chicken wings, as the bones/skins require the usage of hands, and we certainly wished breast meat/thighs were served.

But anyway, in a flash of light, the end result was as above. Muahaha … Manners were thrown out of the window when it comes to lunch anyway.

The total damage, IF it can be considered as “damaging”, was RM26.50 for 4, including rice and drinks. Yeah, dirt cheap right? Guess this town’s monetary gains surpasses Ipoh’s? =)

Location : Main Road of Tanjung Piandang. Beside a petrol station named Decro or Depot, or something like that, which you can’t probably find anywhere else. Tall Gal read the Chinese name of the shop, and it sounds like Hung Hing, or Mun Hing, or something along the line.