The Rendezvous with Menglembu’s “Wai Sek Kai”
November 22, 2014 | 5,778 viewsWanton Mee dressed in a mix of soy sauce and lard oil, with a handful of bean sprouts from Buntong, finely-chopped scallions, and bits of pork fat (notice those tiny, white speckles on top of the noodles?), served with a side of fish balls and stuffed beancurd sheets in peppery soup.
There probably isn’t any other way to fully immerse in the Ipoh hawker experience than by zooming in with a bunch of equally (if not even more) voracious eaters, picking a seat by the streets or a table set up on the sidewalks, order a crazy load of food to be shared, and tucking in with hands and all.
Come sundown in this sleepy city of Ipoh, the number of hangouts made possible for the night owls (okay, depends on your definition though … in a serene, slow-paced city like this, anything beyond 10pm on a weekday is considered late) are seriously limited.
The wantan fish ball noodles stall is operated by a family with a somewhat short fuse.
I have always been thrown with this challenge to recommend supper spots in Ipoh. First of all, 24 hours establishments are limited to a handful of Mamak stalls and the fast food chains.
But obviously, one does not come to Ipoh for a serving of we-hope-they-are-chicken nuggets or a plate of freshly smoked Tandoori chicken.
The choices for hawker fares are aplenty, though most of these are situated at odd ends, for instance, the Menglembu Glutton Street (Wai Sei Kai) that I am going to cover in today’s chapter. Read the rest of this entry »
