Motormouth From Ipoh – A Malaysian Food Blog

Intensely deep in thoughts, the staff was having a whale of a time sniffing the enticing whiffs of lemongrass freshly-cooked crabs

Okay, so it has been AGES since the feast happened. 8 months to be exact. Whatever it was that was holding me back, I don’t know. But searching back through the archives, I noticed that most of my KL food hunts had gone unnoticed, and left to rot in my folders. Better dig deeper and write about them before my memory falters me completely.

Claypot Crab with Rice (RM45/USD12.80) @ Robson Heights Seafood Restaurant

This dinner marked the first time I met Jonathan of A Lil’ Fat Monkey, Meena of A Whiff of Lemongrass, Su of Delectable By Su, and KatCL in persons. I was star-struck, yes. And even Boo of Masak-Masak was there too. The conversations, the acquaintances and the vibrant camaraderie set the mood for the feast that ensued, and boy did we have one ….

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Rarely do I venture out to the streets of Kuala Lumpur for my meals, especially with the sheer number of air-conditioned eateries in the malls promising convenience and comfort, paired with the myriad of international cuisines readily available almost everywhere. Moreover, KL’s streets and public transportation systems are NOT the most accessible options, in the first place.

All dishes and condiments (including Hong Ngek‘s signature ‘sambal’ on the lower right of the photo), halfway to being polished off in a flash. I tell you, when gluttons bumped heads, all hell broke loose. Literally.

And worse is, when you’re hunting for grubs in the most congested nightmare that is Petaling Street and its vicinity, you’re probably learning a smattering of new curse words you’ve probably never heard before. And putting them to good use. For the pesky “double-parkers” (me thinks this should be a term coined by Malaysians) lining up by the streets in a parade-like camaraderie will test your patience to no end. Not to mention the incessantly-blaring horns, buses and cabs bellowing smoke sufficient to paint the skies black, and far-from-courteous drivers with a penchant for dagger stares, and flipping fingers.

No, they rarely use the thumbs-up sign, in case you’re being optimistic.

Eat with family members and everyone digs instantly. “If not, it’ll get cold ma ….”
Eat with food bloggers, and everyone’s eating cold dishes. “Lighting, angle, composition ma …”
(Ciki snapping the fried ‘peh koh’, or sliced chewy glutinous rice cakes – Nian Gou)

Thanks to Monkey (of course not his real name lah …), this lunch was made possible on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Hong Ngek came to my attention when I was reading EatingAsia’s brilliant post on Top Ten Eats in KL, then reading Monkey’s comical intepretation a short while later. I am a sucker for all these charmingly nostalgic kopitiams since the colonial days, preserved miraculously until this very moment. Yut Kee on Jalan Dang Wangi comes to mind, if I am to ever compare Hong Ngek to another similar eatery. But the former champions their Hainanese cuisine, while Hong Ngek is essentially a Hokkien food Hing Hwa cuisine (subgroup of the Hokkien clan?) specialist. (Thanks to Tham for the clarification)

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