"Oh that sambal…I could just drink it on it’s own"
“It’s located where?!?” I exclaimed.
“In the car park…and make sure you go during lunchtime and not a minute later because the food disappears fast…oh that
sambal…I could just drink it on it’s own, ” my colleague replied with a distant look in her eyes.
My curiosity was peaked from this conversation and I just knew that I had to try the mysterious ikan bakar place located in the car park behind the Estana Curry House on Sultan Ismail. It was still two hours till lunch and I was eagerly counting down the minutes, after all places that usually taste best are in the most obscure locations.
To find this gem you have to walk through the hot dusty car park meandering past the vehicles parked in any which way. It’s situated in the little section in the corner of the lot by the trees. A tattered tin roof along with barebones tables and chairs scattered around is the scene you’ll find once you arrive, along with a crowd lining up for food and waiting for available tables. The area that is most crowded is where the food is laid out and this is where you have to use some elbow action to be able to grab at the best dishes and pieces of fish. This shack serves typical nasi campur with a huge array of Malay dishes freshly prepared each day.
From fried chicken to beef rendang, kangkung belacan to spicy tofu just about any dish can be found here during lunch but it gets snapped up pretty fast. By 1:45pm you’ll be lucky to get a little sauce leftover from the dishes with your rice.
The piece de resistance here though is the ikan bakar which is grilled right on the spot just before the lunch crowd trolls in. Different types of fish are marinated overnight and then grilled to charred perfection.
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"Fresh squid right in the centre"
I was biting into a pyramid of fishy goodness. It was sweet, slighty sticky with strings of coconut in it and the taste of newly caught fish glistening in silver nets. Somehow the blend of coconut and fresh fish makes one think of sun, surf and sea the essence of Terengganu. Earlier we were just driving from one long windswept beach to the next thinking of irrational non-city slicker thoughts- like building a
sekuci (a local sampan), living a nomadic beach existence and planting coconuts. Such is the appeal of the East Coast, it allows you to drift on modest wholesome dreams.
Back to the Satar. It comes wrapped in coconut leaves, after being stuck on long spits and smoked on hot embers. Made out of fish, grated coconut, santan and a bit of sago- it's a favourite snack here. While we were there, car after car came to buy dozens of it to take home. That and the sea air makes this snack really addictive yet small enough so you won't feel too guilty about scarfing down a truckload of these tasty little morsels.
Pak Nor (the father who started the stall) also makes otak-otak from tenggiri and other fishes. The otak-otak is not as juicy as the satar but has a really smouldering flavour. Best thing is that at the centre of each otak-otak is a chunk of fish. Yesiree...
orang ganu ni suka ikang...
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"Here they make gulai tempoyak like grandma used to make"
As a Perak-born girl, the predilection for tempoyak seems to be ingrained. I never really touched it as a child but somehow one day finding myself on a mat in a friend’s house in Sitiawan I was honing in to the sourish edgy gravy with the keenness of a heat seeking missile. And yes, patin is the perfect fish for this, soft flesh yielding hidden depths of flavour within the gulai. Corny, but to me gulai tempoyak tastes like coming home.
However, outside the realm of homecooks, gulai tempoyak is not necessarily well executed in eating shops. Until one day, I was driving to Grik for a hike in Belum and discovered Restaurant Tasik Raban, literally a restaurant in the middle of nowhere perched at the banks of a lake (that would be Lake Raban). Here they make gulai tempoyak like grandma used to make. All you need folks, is hot white rice slightly on the lembik (soft and squishy) side, lashings of gravy and a side of tongue tingling sambal belacan. And then to complete this, a light afternoon rain drumming across the lake during the meal.
Imagine my delight when they opened an Ipoh branch some time ago near the stadium. Pak Teh, the same guy who started the original shop, transported the same formula here- a specialisation in freshwater fishes and ancestral recipes. Forget about asking for the recipes here, it’s all strictly family only and even then you need talent to make it taste the same. Other than tempoyak, they have a huge ikan bakar counter, again with an emphasis on freshwater fishes like catfish, terubuk and temoleh (a rare fish but my dad will drop everything he’s doing and pop over here when they have it a supply). Apparently this is a nostalgic fish for those who grew up near Sungai Perak before the Japanese Occupation. Tasik Raban also do sea fishes like stingray and mackerel very, very well.
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"You know they use good stock for the rice"
It's hard to find halal nasi ayam hawkers that has been serving 'kai fan' for a long time, and it is even harder to find one that is Halal. This one is. Laily's customers are old timers and even kids whom has grown up eating her chicken rice. Nasi Ayam Laily is located at the SS15 Subang Jaya Food Court called the Square. A typical chicken rice here will consist of a plate of roasted chicken, a bowl of chicken broth, a plate of rice with cucumber slices and of course, garlic chili paste for that extra kick. No steamed version but just as good.
They don't make chicken rice like Kak Laily's anywhere else. The rice is delicious and flavourful. You can taste the chicken stock in the rice, not too overpoweringl, just right. The tender chicken is glazed slightly with honey and roasted crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside. We suspect that the chicken is semi-boiled, semi-roasted and then fried in a huge wok to give it the nice distinctive Laily flavour. On top of the chicken, light soya sauce is poured.
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"Can fish really make you stare into space with pleasure?"
We are going for some curry ikan termenung. A makan kaki friend of us asked what was so great about this curry ikan termenung. Well we said that with one taste of the curry, you will also 'termenung' (staring into space like an idiot). He didn't believe us. That was before he had a five second phased off 'termenung' session when he first tried the curry.
There's this small busy stall in front of a padi milling factory in the middle of nowhere in Kedah (Along the road going to Teluk Kechai/Yan actually) that serves one of the best lunch-breakfast we've had in a while. Does that makes sense? The whole village-like town is peaceful and quiet in the morning, except for this small stall with an 8am queue; which sometimes hit the road outside the shop. They are all here for one thing only. A warm plate of rice and several ikan termenungs swimming in a curry pot.
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"They use wood fire to cook it on"
You've not tasted laksa until you have tried Laksa Teluk Kechai in Kedah. This is one of the best Malay dishes I have ever tasted and if you are from KL, it is worth the four hundred fifty kilometer drive to Zakaria Laksa for several plates of their laksa! Ultimate satisfaction!....
This particular laksa dish is made of rice flour and clear gravy a concoction of sardine fish, bunga kantan, onions and lemon grass to give it a very distinctive laksa fragrance. This dish is nice eaten with hard boiled eggs, chopped cucumber and onions. At Teluk Kechai, there's the additional daun putat and coconut sambal that will definitely send your tastebuds skyrocketing to laksa heaven...
This laksa tasted homemade and the best thing is that this is one of the few places I know that still uses wood fire to cook both the laksa and the clear gravy! Their additional effort to maintain the taste by slow cooking over wood fire shows in the wonderfully delicious taste of the sardine gravy, not overly fish pungent... just nice smooth flavourful taste.
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"Satay Kajang is synonymous with these grilled morsels"
Kajang has long been known for their satay. People from all over flock to Kajang just to try out the Kajang Satay. Satay is an Indonesian traditional cuisine. It made its mark in Kajang after the world war one in 1916 by two enterpreneurs. Ever since then Satay Kajang took off.
There are approximately over ten stalls to choose from. All serving satays. Most owners of these stalls are related to one another. The one that I normally frequent is Hj. Samuri's joint. Their business is so good that they've opened up an adjacent restaurant at a nearby building. Now they have franchises at rest stops on highways as well.
So how good is the satay? Pretty good but it was slightly better the last couple of years. What's great about Kajang Satay is not much the taste of the satay but the peanut sauce. They really know how to make the kuah. And they give you generous portions of it. If you have hot taste buds, I recommend that you take the kuah with some sambal that they provide on the side. One minus point about Hj. Samuri's satay is that since they have a lot of satay to grill, we sometimes find one or two of the satays not fully cooked. But us Foodsters... 'bantai' onlylah! Alternatively, you could ask them to regrill the satay.
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"People still come to Tanglin for nasi lemak fix"
Nasi Lemak Tanglin has been around for ages. If you're craving for a nasi lemak from these people, you can queue up for one somewhere along Jalan Cenderasari (lake Gardens, Off Jalan Tanglin) with everybody else(Open Mornings only, Closed Sundays). If you're unlucky, the queue is very long, if you're lucky, the queue is just long. If there's no queue, then they are probably closed or the food's all gone!
There are two good items at this place. The nasi lemak and the kopitiam tea. Let's put the kopitiam tea aside first and try some nasi lemak tanglin style. Tanglin sells the usual fried chicken, chicken rendang, sambal sotong and beef lung dendeng among others. From all the myriad of lauks available, my heart fell for their beef liver sambal and sambal sotong. Their sambal sotong has ground peanuts in them giving it a slightly nutty taste but with a slight chili kick. Complimenting their sambal is the beef liver. The sweet sambal has somehow found its way deep into the cuts which makes it that more enjoyable eating.
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"The perfect sambal is hot and sweet at the same time"
Who said that delicious food has to be expensive? Here at Pantai Dalam, teeming with patrons, Warung Rindu serves one of the best nasi lemaks in town at and it comes with a big piece of chicken. I heard of Warung Rindu through friends referring it as the "stall opposite Komuter-lah!" saying that they frequent this place at least four, five times a month. Hmm… time to check it out.
The nasi lemak comes served on a banana leaf lined plate and has the usual nasi lemak toppings plus a big piece of chicken. One taste and I was hooked. It’s great. The nasi is so-so but the sambal and chicken is just delicious. Apart from chicken, they also serve burung puyuh. I can see why they have many loyal patrons.
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"There's a separate queue for lontong"
What's a Lontong you ask? Nope it’s not a simian-like animal but rather a Malay delicacy from the South of the border. It’s a combination of nasi impit, sotong, telur, kuah kacang, kuah lontong, cabbage and sambal. I don't usually like lontong but since my Grandpop took me to this particular stall, I was hooked. I don't know how he knows all these places. Maybe he’s in a secret society of senior food lovers.
It’s not that easy to find lontong in KL. So if you’re a fan, this stall is for you. People queue up from 7am just to get first dibs of this delicious breakfast. Yes, only us mad Malaysians will eat coconut milk broth with peanut sauce and sambal this early in the morning. Mak Yah gets all the ingredients just right.
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