Motormouth From Ipoh – A Malaysian Food Blog

It was ironic that I went to Penang twice last week, almost back to back. Within the span of a week, in fact. Whereas the short excursion to the mainland of Penang (Seberang Jaya/Butterworth, to be exact) saw us scavengers ravaging through the myriad of stalls selling delicious hawker food at the newly-discovered (at least to this most innocent-cum-naive Ipoh guy here) “Wai Sek Kai” of Chai Leng Park in Butterworth.

But as destiny would have things her way (overly-dramatic?), I was back to Penang a few days later for a short getaway. In case it’s your first time here, or amnesia struck again, I absolutely fell in love with Penang food, especially food from the streets. In fact, time and again I’ve stressed that I developed my inquisitive, epicurious and gastronomic taste bud NOT in Ipoh, but when I spent my 4 years in USM of Penang. Yeah ….. those dastardly-memorable years saw me ballooning from a frail weakling to a mass of gigantic blob, to an almost ogre-like creature now.

Regrets? Nah …. FAR from it.

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After a few months of some serious honeymoon-ing, finally Motormouth got back to action. It’s been quite some time since ze butt got off from ze daily routine of sticking to ze office chair. (But of course, there are exceptions). If it’s your first time here, probably you’re not used to the onslaught of food posts from the other towns and states, no thanks to the immense frequency of travelling owing to the nature of my job. But if you’re a regular, then that most dreaded feeling of ‘Uh-Oh … here he goes again …. >_<” might be all too familiar.

And to kick things off,  here’s a short recap of the whirlwind ‘tour’ around the mainland of Penang – Seberang Jaya and Butterworth.

Hello Kitty Leng Chee Kang. How SWEET, huh? Another one in the book of ‘Names That Got Stuck to One’s Mind’

Thanks to CK Lam (she’s like ze walking directory of Penang food), my stay at Chai Leng Park of Butterworth, Penang got lifted with a short detour to Wai Sei Kai (Food Street) of Butterworth, Penang. Not one who’s accustomed to food-hunting on the mainland of Penang, I was a lost sheep. We were required to stay somewhere on the mainland, instead of on the glutton’s paradise (read : Penang island).

Like only Penang could. The northern intepretation of Leng Chee Kang; with EVERYTHING thrown in for good measure!

This was my first visit to Chai Leng Park of Butterworth, and a Google search for food in and around the vicinity will reveal the name Wai Sei Kai (Food Street in Chinese) more often than not. Situated near to the Market Square of Chai Leng Park in Butterworth (was a little confused, since I never knew Seberang Jaya and Chai Leng Park share the same perimeters).

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Continuation from previous chapter of Motormouth in Malacca Again (Part One) ….

That Portuguese seafood feast was somewhat disastrous, but given the dire state of my gut at that very moment, I would be balking at the sight of, say ….  Lobsters, Alaskan King Crabs, or even Bluefin Tuna.

The very next morning, after some serious deliberation, I agreed to a ‘light’ breakfast at our guesthouse – Tang House. Breakfast is provided FOC for your information, to guests only. Though we saw many outsiders, even construction workers from a nearby area having their leisurely-paced breakfast at the cafe, for the pricing is rather reasonable. Even comparable to the average coffee shops, with drinks priced at below RM2.

I had an Egg Burger, which was an omelette sandwiched between an Apollo bun, that most nostalgic wave washing over me all of a sudden. I could imagine the ancestor seated on the very same stool, biting into his Apollo bun with kaya and butter decades ago. Morbid thought?

The day started with a second breakfast (yeah, THAT fast although I was already half-repulsive at that thought) at Donald & Lily’s, a small charming outlet situated at the back of Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, within walking distance from the centre of Melaka town, the Jonker Walk area.

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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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A most saliva-inducing, gastronomic trail awaits you …. DON’T say I did not warn you …….

After the amassed listing of Ipoh Street Foods not long ago, I’ve decided to write about a few eateries in one single post, rather than separating them into several shorter blogposts. No particular reason for this, but I’d rather have you tormented enjoying a much longer rambling extravaganza from J2Kfm, than having you begging for more at the end of the post.

I can be such a nuisance, can’t I? It’s all in the spirit of giving, nonetheless. So here goes nothing  …..

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