Motormouth From Ipoh – A Malaysian Food Blog

Continuation from the previous post of Chalet Air Panas @ Pengkalan Hulu ….

In case you’re wondering, what else to do in Pengkalan Hulu, en route to your most sinful destination of Betong in Thailand (over the border, about 7km away from the custom checkpoint – for more information hop over to our 3 days/2 nights Betong experience last year), you can consider appeasing that hungry beast deep within you, with some simple Chinese food or Hainanese fare. Yup, read that right. Hainanese food in Pengkalan Hulu, courtesy of Gong An Restaurant. With a solid 30+ years of history, and opens from 11.30am until 9.30pm everyday, this restaurant is but a mere handful of Chinese restaurants in the small town, and possibly the only one that’s pork free. (Do correct me if I’m wrong)

Hainanese Style Fish & Chips (RM10.00)

A little underwhelmed by the spread served in Chalet Air Panas, we took a most delightful detour to town in search for some food. REAL food. Our eyes spied on a few Chinese restaurants believed to serve ‘Dai Chow’ type of cuisine (Rice with Dishes, and Noodles), one being 126 Seafood Restaurant, another named Huang Chau which I’ll get to later in this post, and of course, Gong An Hainan Restaurant which also acts as a guesthouse, All three restaurants are situated on the main road of Pengkalan Hulu named Jalan Iskandar, hence locating them requires no complicated directions whatsoever.

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Tranquility reigns supreme in the town of Pengkalan Hulu, in northern Perak

Pardon the hiatus. Been up and down Perak so often lately I’m having recurring nightmares. Really. In a short span of two weeks, I have been to Kuala Kangsar for four times, Taiping for three, and eventually culminated in the ‘grand finale’ of 4 days spent in Gerik-Pengkalan Hulu (both northern-most towns of Perak, with the latter sharing the border with our neighbour Thailand) last weekend.

And NOT for holidays, mind you. All in the name of work. See? J2Kfm REALLY, REALLY works lah …. unlike what most of you might be thinking, reading posts after posts of outstation travels.

Chalet Air Panas, aka Hot Spring Chalet in Pengkalan Hulu. The newer chalets with the most classic, wooden ‘kampung’ house setting. And to tickle your fancy, do consider skinny-dipping in the hot water canal running around the middle of the chalets!

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After the slightly disappointing breakfast (or probably I was expecting too much), we moved on, or rather sped off to Pengkalan Hulu for our real job at hand. Wondering where in the world is this town? It’s roughly 42 km north of Gerik, at the Malaysia-Thai border. Yup, Perak HAS a Thai border after all. The neighbouring town is Betong in Thailand. We did not manage to cross over this time, but someday down the line, we won’t hold back our urges. (I meant that in a good way … stop thinking otherwise) =P

If you’re wondering what we did there, make a wild guess. I’m sure it’s easy enough with all these photos assisting, no?

No, we’re not officers from the customs department. We do not even wear uniforms. Nah … nevermind. During lunch break, we inched our way closer to the border by crossing the custom, and proceeded to …..

Yup, DUTY FREE. Magic words for shopaholics?

Don’t mind the cam whore … LOL

We did not buy any chocolates, liquor, or cigarettes. But instead, we bought a tin of candies each. Yeah, supposedly on offer, 2 tins for RM10. No pic, sorry. “Supposedly” imported from UK.

Variety of fruits sold at the border

Various local fruits on display, but be reminded that the prices may vary, and not all variety is cheaper than the ones you can buy from your grocery store. But the ‘dokong‘ is considered a steal, at RM5/kg, if buy in bulk, you can get RM4/kg even! But I’m no fan of the fruit, thus did not purchase any.

These, on the other hand, are my absolute favourite! But I dunno how to pick good ones from bad ones. Naive me? End up did not buy any as well. Muahaha ….

The final arch, leading to the town of pleasures …. (“,)

Look at the camwhore @ work, again …

Lunch was a simple meal in town, at a restaurant called C.K.S. Probably the initials of the owner? Dare not ask, to avoid being labelled as nosy outsiders. We had our meals here before, and the food quality was passable.

Braised Rice with Seafood (Wui Fan) RM3.50

Since there were only TWO of us, we did not order ‘dai chow’ but instead chose to have individual portions. KYT praised their ‘Wui Fan’, with lots of ingredients thrown in for good measures, and the rice braised and cooked to perfection.

Sweet and Sour Pork Rice RM5

My rice arrived much later, probably cz the chef was cooking for the next table which ordered the same dish. Though slightly pricey for a restaurant of such scale, the meat was deep-fried until crispy, and marinated well before frying. The tomato gravy concocted was just nice, tangy enough, yet not overwhelmingly sour.

Goodbye peaceful town …

After the meal, we decided to skip the afternoon session at the customs, and proceeded back to Gerik for some unsettled matters. Truth be told, the authority/men-in-uniforms working there are a bunch of inefficient personnels. Sigh …..

~ The End ~

Finally some well-deserved time to myself, after a hectic week, travelling to Gerik-Pengkalan Hulu on Mon/Tues, then Taiping/Kamunting/Selama on Wed/Thurs, followed by former colleagues’ (yeah, BOTH of them were) wedding marathon on Fri-Sat, eventually culminating into a marvellous wedding dinner at Sun Lee How Fook yesterday night. But more on that later. For now, let’s do some backtracking, k?

Gerik town … Everday is a winding road ?

Our lodge for the night, upstairs, NOT the Kedai Keropok …

We stayed at Hotel Avana. Yup, NOT the famed Awana, but a slight variation. But who cares? Where else can you find a room with TWO queen-sized beds, clean, with air-conditioning and hot shower, all for only RM60. Yup, a room for FOUR, but pay for the price of ONE. (Haha, I didn’t get paid for this, in case you’re wondering)

Most buildings in Gerik were built with 3 or more storeys.

View from our balcony after office hours. KL-ites would KILL for this …

Unpretentious warung, manned by a makcik and her son, making a living …

Though initially we planned for lunch at Lenggong, somehow KYT threw a spanner in the works. LOL. Once checked in, my stomach grumbled and my food radar was put to test. A short walk from our hotel is this stall, by the roadside at an empty parking lot. The throngs of customers stopping by sent positive signals, and needless to say, I warped there in an instant.

Looks and shapes do not matter,right?

The lady was selling fried goods, ranging from tapioca balls to banana fritters, and various other stuff. I placed my order for RM1 worth of banana fritters (comes in 6 pcs) and RM1 for another 3 fried tapioca balls.

Crunchy, sweet, and soft-centred tapioca balls

I was digging at my packet of ‘treasures’ while walking back to my room, and pleasantly delighted by the yumminess of the tapioca balls. The batter was crispy and fragrant, not really oily, while the tapioca was soft and sweet. The banana fritters though looked a tad ugly, but who cares? They were fresh from the wok, very hot and crispy. But I’ve had better ones.

Location : At a parking lot in the middle of Jalan Takong Datok, the 3rd road parallel to the main road in Gerik. This stall is next to a burger stall.

Still nursing the drumming hunger pangs, MBoy recommended one of his favourite mamak shop in Gerik. (MBoy, Zmin, and a few others are working there, btw) Restoran Thaibah is situated on Jalan Tun Saban, the 2nd road parallel to the main road.

Nothing beats frothy, milky teh tarik (RM1.30) for tea time. I’m a caffeine addict myself, probably possessing trails of my late grandfather’s genes. He could drink mugs after mugs of milk tea, chugging them like beer. =)

Roti canai with Sambal Dhal (RM0.80)

The roti canai should be paired with their sambal dhal, or so I was told. Normally, I prefer curry, but decided to trust others for once. The roti is nothing to shout about, but the sambal was piquant, slightly spicy, but too salty for my liking. Though the combination of dhal with anything works, as dhal on its own is pretty tasteless. Except Kalai’s, which I adore whole-heartedly. =)

Location : Jalan Tun Saban, the 2nd road parallel to main road. Turn right once you arrive at the traffic lights with Shell petrol station. Take the first turning on the left, and go until nearly the end of the road. Restoran Thaibah is on your left.

(to be continued …. )

The Gerik-Pengkalan Hulu Trail (Part 2)

The Gerik-Pengkalan Hulu Trail (Part 3)

The Gerik-Pengkalan Hulu Trail (Part 4 – final)