A Taste of the Exotics @ Lawan Kuda, Gopeng
November 24, 2010 | 13,012 viewsA sudden two days one night excursion to that same hot springs park we ventured to back in 2008 had me feeling somewhat thankful; no matter how mundane the itinerary might get. After all, this might very well be the LAST outing with my current colleagues. After 3 whole years of tirelessly travelling on the roads, to the most ‘ulu’ (rural, outskirts) of places, eating at the most off-beat stalls and nameless eateries, putting up nights after nights in hotels, budget inns, training centres and even dodgy chalets.
With the size of a drumstick smaller than the size of a fork, is your interest piqued?
More on the surprisingly comfortable, pleasant and delightful stay at FELDA Residences Sungai Klah later. For now, let’s forgo the formalities, leave out the generics and clean your palate from the same old flavours. Let’s do ‘exotic meats’ in Lawan Kuda of Gopeng ……
JJ Fatt Restaurant is separated into two sections; the air-conditioned seating area and the half-open air area with fans.
Since the inception of this blog, I have always pushed for the idea of eating at Lawan Kuda in Gopeng, a small township populated by the Chinese community, and (in)famous for the many ‘dai chow’ restaurants serving an array of exotic meats.
Yup, from the more acceptable wild boar meat to the funkier terrapin soup, snake soup, and even stir fried fruit foxes. If you’re feeling squeamish this very moment, you can avert your attention to the safer choices like chicken, seafood and greens.
Lusciously creamy and pungent dry curry wild boar (RM8/USD2.60)
Thankfully, Mr Z came up with this brilliant suggestion today. To imagine I did my very best to gather a group of slightly more courageous and adventurous eaters back then. Sadly to no avail as the mere mention of exotic meats put some off like suggesting cannibalism.
JJ Fatt Restaurant came up somewhere on the first page of a Google search on restaurants in Lawan Kuda. Naturally, since we were unequipped with any GPS device this afternoon, we had to trust the power of Google.
Stir-Fried “Hiong Mak” (iceberg lettuce) in a “Fu Yee” (fermented beancurd paste) sauce (RM6/USD2)
Anyway, we were the first customers of the day. Ushered to the air-conditioned seating area (maybe we did look slightly flustered from the humid and scorching weather), we proceeded to browse the menu; a piece of laminated A5 printed with mostly Chinese characters, with some Malay descriptions.
Strange enough the more exotic options were not listed on the menu. Or anywhere else on the boards for that matter. Possibly a measure to protect themselves from the authorities prohibiting poaching? We never bothered to find out.
Anyway, since there were only 3 of us and it was barely 2 hours after the previous brunch, we settled for 3 dishes only. A recommended dish of wild boar in dry curry, the compulsory fibres in the form of ‘hiong mak’ in ‘fu yee’ base, and a claypot of squirrels.
SQUIRRELS?!
Yup, a hearty pot of squirrels (don’t worry, you can’t even recognize the poor rodent anymore!) for RM20/USD6.70
The wild boar curry was certainly up to standard. Slices of leaner wild boar meat (unlike the ones from Son Wun Nam in Tanjung Malim) cooked in a robust curry paste. The gravy did not overpower the natural gamey taste of the wild meat, but complemented the wild boar really well. No laments here, and this was definitely the dish of the day for me.
The squirrels cooked in a creamy, pepperish gravy with lots of onions, carrots, black fungus (wood ear fungus) and ginger had this very warm/hearty sensation to it. Of course, since squirrels are not that easily available on the market (to imagine finding frozen squirrels in your regular hypermarket!) they were priced slightly higher than the average meats.
About two squirrels for RM20 per claypot, and there was barely enough meat to go around. But worth a try, and definitely meatier than a fruit fox in my opinion. Don’t worry, squirrels taste just like rabbits, chickens or even frogs.
Interesting enough, I bumped into an old ‘friend’ at JJ Fatt. Read the full article from Jason’s blog HERE.
JJ Fatt previously was opened for 24 hours, but then again due to the lack of help (or maybe customers, and increasingly competitive F&B scene?) they’re now operating for 14 hours/day only. A feat, nonetheless.
The meal came to RM39.40/USD13 for the 3 of us. Very reasonable, and predicted as this type of small town eats rarely cost a bomb. Especially when there are at least 8 or so Chinese restaurants along the same stretch. Maybe someday we will return for the “Seh Gang” (snake soup), terrapin (“Sui Yue”) soup, “Kor Ji Lei” (fruit fox), and whatever else they can surprise us with.
Until the day comes, I just hope that I can still do road trips like this in the near future.
J.J. FATT RESTAURANT
PT2032-2033, Jalan Besar,
Lawan Kuda Baru, 31600
Gopeng, Perak, Malaysia.
Telephone : 605-359 5701, 6016-442 2713 (Kong Yoong)
Business hours : 12pm – 2am daily. Off days not fixed.
GPS Coordinates : E101 9′ 32.8″ N4 27′ 27.5″
Google Map to JJ Fatt Restaurant
*Directions : Exiting the Gopeng toll exit on the PLUS highway, you turn RIGHT towards Gopeng town. Halfway there, you can see a turning to your LEFT, with a signboard stating Kopisan/Lawan Kuda. Turn LEFT and soon you will see Lawan Kuda on your LEFT. The restaurant is somewhere on your right, after turning into the main road of Lawan Kuda.

No thanks. Squirrels? :/ I don’t want any other animals to end up in my tummy. Enough of pork, chicken and fish… 🙁
[Reply]
J2Kfm Reply:
November 25th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
How about beef and mutton/lamb then? 🙂
Nah … once in a while, gotta ‘prime’ the tummy to accept funkier meats?
[Reply]
Poor lil’ squirrels! You evil boy! lol. 😛
(Mmmmmmm. The curry wild boar looks good…….)
[Reply]
J2Kfm Reply:
November 25th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Nah …. squirrels are rodents. (At least, I think they are from the same family).
Meant to be barbecued, smoked, grilled, or cooked in a hearty stew like this one.
[Reply]
I totally forgotten about the printing of the post (my Gopeng friend told me about that previously). Good to know they are still in business, although the shorter business hour.
[Reply]
J2Kfm Reply:
November 25th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Yup, the lady boss mentioned that they’re short on staff. Hence cannot open 24 hours anymore.
And I should have read your reviews earlier. The other dishes you had seemed delicious, esp the pork ribs.
[Reply]
I don’t think the squirrel has much flesh, does it?
The exotic meat that u mentioned I had them before, the snake, terrapin, and even the “leopard hutan” ^.^
[Reply]
J2Kfm Reply:
November 25th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Wah … you’re kind of adventurous eh?!
Not much flesh, the pot can probably serves ONE diner. If only it’s not too pricey.
[Reply]
I passed by this area using an uncharted road fr Tanjung Tualang to Ipoh… my wife even commented that the Lawan Kuda’s CHinese name sounded funny…lol!!!
[Reply]
my favourite favourite dining place in lawan kuda is called pang you (friend). their herbal sang yu soup is reli nice!
[Reply]
J2Kfm Reply:
November 25th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Pang You is deeper into the village? Or near to JJ Fatt and the morning market?
I noticed from back then that there are many restaurants along the road.
[Reply]
hooray finally you made a review of a kedai tat i nvr fail to go once a week.. hope you enjoyed ur wild boar…
nxt time you can try the wild boar in other style..dry chilli_kung po..
… their nasi petai dish chou tau fan is good too…
further up opposite the wet market there’s a food court..the australian chicken rice is very tasty too…
the shop beside JJ fatt…Qia Jia Fa..is also good too…the lasy owner mite look a bit unfriendly but the food is sama macam JJ fatt…
there are 3 other shops further inside whose food is great butr for my palate
KA KA FAtt wild boar is the best…they have air kelapa pandan too…
[Reply]
[…] Exotic Meats @ JJ Fatt Restaurant, Lawan Kuda, Gopeng […]
[…] in a seafood restaurant and we had FROGS? A reminiscence of a post recently, when we had wild animals in Lawan Kuda, the frogs at Lala Chong were unbelievably fat and tasty. Yes, cooked in a simple ‘kung pao’ […]
[…] The boss ONLY allows good quality wild boar meat to be cooked and served. And unlike in Gerik or Lawan Kuda, where you can order the same dish everyday, supply of game meat is scarce here in […]
[…] Lawan Kuda – Chee Cheong Fun Lawan Kuda – Exotic Meats @ JJ Fatt Restaurant […]
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about chinese food.
Regards
[Reply]
“Strange enough the more exotic options were not listed on the menu. Or anywhere else on the boards for that matter. Possibly a measure to protect themselves from the authorities prohibiting poaching? We never bothered to find out.”
So you would advise to people to frequent the establishment that serves illegal, poached and possibly (probably) endangered wildlife? Yah, I love it when my fellow Chinese Malaysian proclaim that they are so much more better, modern, worldly and “civilized” than their cousins on the mainland.
But no, we aren’t are we? We’re as backward as they are. Aiyoh.
[Reply]