Motormouth From Ipoh – Malaysian Food & Travel

Short of being labelled as one lackadaisical review, let’s enjoy the food shots pumped with captions this terrific (or terrible, but let’s be positive, ya?) Tuesday evening, and spread your loving arms to welcome the month of October!

Fresh seafood tightly-wrapped in banana leaves and grilled without much seasoning, or any gravy. The cooking style used at Medan Muara Ikan Bakar might be unconventional; especially if you’re expecting your ‘ikan pari’ (sting ray) or any other fish to be smothered in a thick, devilish red and spicy sambal sauce.

Fresh catches laid out to your visual delight, sending pulses of signals to the gluttony segment of the brain. Don’t expect anything less than the freshest seafood at Tanjung Harapan, Port Klang.

Medan Muara Ikan Bakar @ Tanjung Harapan, Port Klang. About 40km from Petaling Jaya. But felt almost like a world’s apart. Full story after the jump.

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Nasi Lemak CT Garden – A tray loaded with goodies? Nasi lemak, otak-otak, rendang daging, ayam goreng, sambal tempe and more.

It’s always fascinating to bump into places hidden within the nooks and crannies of the metropolitan that is Kuala Lumpur. Especially when you least expect a wondrous eatery in the midst of the skyscrapers almost overflowing with customers with a perpetual grin on their face and overwhelming appetite overruling their sense of judgment.

Like us. Our tray got too heavy from the food and started to bend inwards towards the bottom; although from the looks of it, the food that we took was not exactly of gargantuan proportion either.

Halved hard-boiled eggs and killer sambal with onions ready to be loaded upon the waiting packets of “nasi lemak”

Which of course led us to one last deduction; this tray must have been overloaded by the previous ‘owners’ …. how not so when everyone had at least two packets of nasi lemak each (we saw some having more than 5!!!)? Read the rest of this entry »

The Johor Famous Three-Storey (San Low) Fragrant Fried Beehoon @ San Low Seafood

Seriously, tell me that Johor Bahru (JB, for short … and no, this post’s nothing to do with Bieber) is famous for a dish this simple; a plate of fried beehoon (thin strands of rice vermicelli noodles), and I would have definitely chuckled and took your words with a pinch of salt.

But then again …. when this Malaccan colleague of mine took me to not one, but TWO places back to back (for dinner on consecutive nights) serving the SAME dish, my skepticism ran low. And curiosity piqued to the extent of actually …. taking his words for it.

Yes, folks. Another Travel Blitz chapter. This time we move from the East to the Southern region of Johor; the state that shares border with our neighbour; Singapore.

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*For the first half of this series, jump to THIS post.

And he means business. Continuously dishing out plate after plate of his signature Mee Kahwin (literally translated to “Marriage Noodles”); a combination at times also known as ‘Mee Rojak’ elsewhere.

The onslaught of eating throughout the previous day got us reeling from the after effect; bloated, tired yet satiated. And brushed with not the slightest hint of regret. But of course, the post-holiday effects got me staying away from sinful stuff for days.

We could have gone for Chung Wah chicken rice balls, since we were up pretty early (okay, it was already about 10am, but still good enough for a Sunday brunch) and the tremendously famous shop on Jonker Street was still pretty vacant.

Instead, defying all odds … or rather, expectations, we ventured over to this almost non-descriptive coffee shop named Ming Huat on Jalan Ujong Pasir; directly opposite of Portuguese Settlement’s entrance. Interested to know where else we went on the second day? Read on ….. Read the rest of this entry »

Nasi Lemak with Sambal Sotong (RM3.50/USD1.20) – From Wak Nasi Lemak, stall no 51 @ Medan Selera Stadium Ipoh

Medan Selera Stadium; that row of stalls beside Stadium Ipoh houses an impressive range of hawker fares; from the fan favourites of wanton mee stalls (one in the morning, and one at night) to freshly steamed rice rolls; aptly named Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun, and a bean sprouts chicken stall that proves to have a stellar following (Michelle Yeoh’s preference, supposedly) as well as the banana leaf rice stall(s) in the afternoon.

Fuad Roti Canai (Stall no 54) has been on my list of to-eat since I was still THE Motormouth in Ipoh. Now I am this immigrant in the lost city of skyscrapers and bumper-to-bumper vehicles.

But what I have missed in the previous reviews are the last row (from the roundabout, towards the public swimming pool’s direction) of gems featuring various Malay food stalls. Most glaring omission? Fuad Roti Canai (Stall No 54) and Wak Nasi Lemak (Stall No 51).

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*The original article appeared in the May edition of I.M. – a one of a kind, reader-powered lifestyle magazine. Go grab a copy from your favourite bookstore; for RM3.50 each.

It’s disheartening to see the youngsters nowadays, rushing for nothing but empty calories in the form of fast food, frozen pre-packed foodstuff, greasy unrecognizable morsels and eating in the malls for the sake of convenience more than anything. And yes, even when the price is a few folds more expensive compared to the real deal out there.

You can barely hear about stories on how people travel far and wide, going on food hunts to the rural outskirts of the city, or appreciating a good old feast cooked from the freshest of ingredients from the wet market, or noodles fried with charcoal fire in a most labour-intensive manner, or even biscuits/breads baked NOT in electronic/microwave ovens, but utilizing the most traditional of means.

Talk about Kalumpang, a small town in Hulu Selangor and chances are the young ones will be scratching their heads in a puzzled manner. I don’t blame them, for I myself was one who has never heard of this place that reminded me of Sungkai; an equally small town in Perak where I used to visit when I was small. Only until the time when I passed by Tanjung Malim en route to Kuala Lumpur, that we decided to venture off the beaten track, and into the wild, so to speak. A road less traversed equals a gem worth discovering, usually …… Read the rest of this entry »

Nasi Lemak (literally translated to FAT/OILY rice, but in reality the term came from the liberal use of coconut milk in the rice; hence the rich, sinful and aromatic taste) @ Village Park, Damansara Uptown.

Since I got ‘sounded’ for being tooooooooooooooooooooo long-winded recently (hehe), I’ll cut this post to as short as possible. So brief you can’t even believe your eyes. Yes, and you’d feel that you’ll be craving for more words of wisdoms/rants/incoherent ramblings/nonsense from Motormouth.

Okay, that’s enough. Let’s read about how Village Park; THE king of all Nasi Lemak in Klang Valley (they got the ex-PM as one of their fans, AND voted best nasi lemak twice in a row!) fared in my books ……. Read the rest of this entry »