Suddenly Johor Mini Food Hunt

 

Few words: With Dwight Howard trade to Rockets, they are a promising 2014 championship contender. But wait, Nets just got massive upgrades too. God Bless!

 

Here is a spoiler for you: Dinner Crab.

If you are looking for what to eat or photo of good foods, please proceed to other food blog. This is merely a food hunt log with good friends.

 

It all started when three curious men babbled on the recent food victors of Singtel hawker foods challenge, we then came up with a rough idea to go food hunt for all these hawker foods that beat Ramsay in Singapore. That already sound attractive enough for me. Plus I haven’t had any nice food hunt recently, so why not?
 

But how we actually ended up in Johor, I have no idea.

 

To keep my story short - our friend, Mek who is a frequent traveler to Johor and also our driver that day decided to change course to his favorite makan place in Johor. We were told beforehand that the area is famous for their Bak Kut Teh (BKT) and Crispy Duck Rice. Of course we couldn’t have both for lunch, that would be too intense for our stomach to handle. So judging by the number of customers, we opted for BKT which has a larger crowd instead.

But how we ended up eating both, I have no idea too.

  

Anyhow, the foods weren’t really something to brag about. The BKT broth was really dilute, even it is safe to say to the extent of typical herbal chicken soup or perhaps we're way too used to the richer and more concentrated BKT herbal broth back in Perak. Meanwhile, crispy duck rice is just crispy duck rice, despite all the hype and publicity.

  

From my food hunting experience, the trick to good food hunt is to not set expectation too high. The point is to enjoy the ride and accompaniment, and the second is to always stay positive and hopeful for more good foods. With that being said, of course there is time when I came home frustrated with almost none good foods to share but the great accompaniment alone is already worth the shot.

Thus, with a hopeful heart and after a whole afternoon of burping, we arrived at Restaurant Todak for a scrumptious seafood dinner. The whole place is actually a fishing port or a port near a fishing port (whichever make sense to you) which is a good sign for fresh seafood. The crowd there were really no kidding; if you want a comparison, it would be at least 10 times the crowd in BKT.

This is actually my second visit to Restaurant Todak, so I do have a little experience on how to order fast. Upon arriving, first stop is to check their fresh catches of the day at the back of the restaurant. Then find the lady in yellow shirt with notepad and ask for her recommendation for fresh catches. Order everything there. Also, don't forget your table number. In the end, we ordered 2 kilos of crabs, a proclaimed absolute vodka drunken prawn by Mek, handful of escargot and suspicious snail, some mussels, stir-fry vege, butter sotong (squid) and later a top up of sambal crawfish and lala (small white clams).

 

Although the foods were overally good, one thing that annoyed us the most was their slow serving especially for the crabs. The crabs were literally cool when it reached our table, in fact the meat was a little soggy too. We suspected that the crabs are all cooked in advance and simply pan-fry with sauce prior serving to customer. Another thing is their magenta light which I guess is to keep the flies away. It distorted my camera white balance massively – foods turned to be not very appealing in photos. Thus, there are no photo of the foods. Blame the light!
 

Lively ambience, fresh catch, great seafood and that summed up our amazing seafood experience in Restaurant Today. It was by far, one of the best dinners that I had in Johor and was of good value. The damage was around MYR 60 per pax which I assumed still in a considerably cheap region. We left with a full stomach and a cheerful mind. In fact, Mek regretted for ordering so much.
 

But how we ended up in another place for burgers half an hour later, I really have no idea.

The burger was equally good as the seafood, nonetheless.

As I said, great accompaniment alone is already worth the trip. This is, after all, a very good food hunt.

Another Year

Few words: Listen, listen, listen...and I knew she has no idea what she about to say. Animals' problem, Pffft!

 

So… the Mayans were wrong about the end of world, which is totally a good thing and life move on to 2013.

……

Craps! I’m totally clueless on what to write after few months of not writing. If that's the case, I’ll just scribble down whatever on my mind then. Speaking of 2013, it's that joyous time to dump your old girlfriend calender and start a new one. Am I the only one that feel the clock ticks faster last year (by the way Happy New Year) and as cliché as it sounds, a brand new year do need a brand new resolution. Hereby, I’ll list down my 2013 NY resolutions.

1. Delay no more

 

Recently a friend of mine asked me to recommend her place to have seafood in Sitiawan. With a hidden motive of promoting my blog, I asked her to refer to my blog. But she later complains that she couldn’t find any in my blog. To my surprise, I even checked it myself and (gasp) she is right; no seafood post to be found anywhere in my blog. You see, I have visited most of the famous eateries in Perak but I had hang fire my blog post for quite some time until one point I wasn't sure whether it is uploaded or not. But the last time I checked, there was at least 1GB worth of photos in my Dropbox pending for me to blog. My friends whom at first rushed me to blog were eventually given up. So my first 2013 resolution is to try to blog at least 50% of my current Dropbox content.

 

And also more food hunt this year. Maybe also to blog a bit bout Ipoh underrated makan place (eateries).

2. Stop comparing

 

I considered myself as a fairly competitive guy. One thing bad about competitiveness is you will try to compare everything. I had been doing that a lot for a very long time but at one point I started to feel pointless. Face it, a sedan car can never outrace a sport car and the same apply to comparison. The more you compare, the more ‘pariah’ (inferior) you become; for the reason, you’re forcing yourself to become a sport-car-wanna-be. Eventually I learned that rather to force myself to become something I’m not belong to, I choose to remain who I am. If you know you can’t beat a sport car on straight road, why not try changing the course? After all, it worth a try.

3. Start with what you hate

 

Despite I play basketball on regular basis, many didn’t know that I actually hate doing cardiovascular (hereafter refer as cardio) exercise. I’m quite a gym rat myself but I never once spent more than 15 minutes on treadmill, cycling or rowing because I couldn’t understand the fun part of cardio exercise - I mean like running without purpose or rowing without goal. But when I found out that my body fat rocketing with high cholesterol on the verge of attack, I knew I have to do something with my gym routine. So I started to jog and today marks one month of me jogging before lifting weight in gym.

4. On-time

 

My life was a mess - waking up in the afternoon and sleeping early in the morning had totally compromised my lifestyle. Just imagine having dinner at 11pm or so. Nonetheless, I’m actually pretty comfortable with this lifestyle until my skin start giving me signal to stop my current lifestyle. That rang another bell in 2012. Hence in 2013, I vow to sleep on time – maximum tolerance by 1 am. *crossfinger*

5. Spare time for what I like

 

I may not be the most religious person on earth, but I figured if God give us a two sided brain with each to play and to work respectively, it will be utmost sinful if we only know how to work. In 2013, I vow to spend more time on what I like – play a new song with my guitar, shoot more with my camera, finish a latest PSP game and hell yes blog more. Also, an oversea vacation would be great too – sometimes you just need a break to take care of other things important in life.

6. Be initiative

 

The first time I am being initiative, my superior ask me to see him in his office. You see, when you were working as a team, being initiative to customer simply equal to suicide for your team. That was the last time I being initiative. Fast forward to 2013, this time I’m not working as a team but more on a one-man-mission. I guess I would like to be initiative this year, at least to me, initiative means I’m able to reach my goal one step closer each time.

7. World Peace

 

Every resolution has one. Seriously, Miss World does it all the time.

As much as NY resolutions motivate one to achieve certain goals instead of wasting his/her 12 months doing nothing fancy in that particular year. There is one inevitable fact that we will most probably look back at our resolution list by the end of 2013 with a sorrow face and bucketful of remorse for not completing even half of them. 

 

Well, don’t worry! Just add them to your next year resolution list. That is the main reason people always have resolution every years. After all, I almost squeezed my brain out just to come out with 7 resolutions this year. It will be a big help to make up the number really.

Tempted to attempt

Few words: Do I need to stand up straight and sing aloud if some Hawaiian restaurant put on Mamula Moon? Maximum confusion, man!

 
It had been a while since I last blogged. Most of the time, I’ll just be an arse blaming it on something else which doesn’t really matter to you but I’d have a good reason this time – I was abducted.

 
Okay, fine! I wasn’t abducted but I’d have some really compelling grounds for not updating regularly. I’m sure you guys realized that my blog post had gone down despite I’m not working now. Well, the fact is I have been busy adjusting myself to the different lifestyle and environment in the Lion City – officially back to a student and as a foreigner… and when I say foreigner, I mean a legitimate foreigner with a valid student pass that last for the next four years. Oh cut the crap!

 
I don’t usually do this, but here I am, staring at my laptop blankly for hours trying to figure what I’ve done for the past few months while I’m not blogging. I got to say, SNSD’s Tiffany does make a fine wallpaper. I mean, it had been quite a journey for me to reach this point.

1. Leaving my company

 
After a year working, I finally have the courage to hand in my resignation letter. I had a short discussion with my boss and he eventually accepted my resignation somehow. It took me a while to accept the fact that I would be soon leaving my colleagues. But still, I was able to deal with the whole resignation thing professionally - minimizing every drama scene I could for the next few weeks. In the end, I didn’t cry or moan but I wasn’t smiling either when I left. I was officially free from responsibility; no more waking up early in the morning or caught in the traffic jam or dealing with customers’ complaints. That should be a reason to smile for, not? But I wasn’t. For some reason, the next few days I still wake up six in the morning. Ironic huh?

It is the first company I ever worked in as an engineer and I’m grateful for every experiences and opportunities you gave me. And for that, thank you Unisem!

2. Accepting the challenge

 
More often than not, people asked me: Why choose this path? Why become a doctor that cannot cure? Why PhD? Honestly speaking, I just gave them whatever answer that makes them happy. The fact is I have more than enough reasons to support my action and more importantly, I know what I want and I’m happy with it. Nonetheless, my family was against my will when they first know my intention to further study but I guess my perseverance and determination somewhat convinced them. In the process of making choices, I learned that if you follow your heart, you won’t be wrong and even if you are, you won’t regret your choice. Maybe, it is too early for me to say. Haha.

 
The journey to here wasn’t a pleasant one; it was one of the bumpiest rides in my life. To keep story short, I have to go through hell to make things right. Being a foreigner here, you have to adapt fast and start learning that things work differently here. Not knowing that, I had become a victim of this system. Anyhow, things are better now, despite some glitches in the beginning. But these glitches turned out to be a huge reminder to me to not think worst and continue to be grateful and hopeful. I guess people are right, when you forced yourself out of your comfort zone, you really grow up faster. 

3. Slowly catching up 

 
It had been more than a year since I last saw my university friends. Since I have a few days off during my recess week, so why not organize a gathering. The thing is we had not seen each other for a year but I’ve been following their FB almost daily or whenever I have the chance, so I don’t feel left out from the group. Even after a torturing 10 hours journey, to be honest, I was still excited looking forward to meet them. As usual, we had an exclusive tour around Penang Island pampered with lots of good local foods (speaking of foods, Malaysia foods are the best!!). The hangout was good and I’m glad to see everyone is doing well in whatever they are doing. Yes, it’s been a little crazy for them, but in a good way though.

I tried to have beers with them but guess what – all still good boys; which is not exactly a bad thing. So, we have milk instead that night. But despite that, I’d really had a good time catching up with you guys.

4. Live your best

 
One year is just a blink of an eye; it is already my junior graduation. That is exactly one year from my graduation. One senior year rolled over just like that. I guess time flies by fast, especially when you’re having fun or working your ass off. Anyhow, due to limited time, I couldn’t travel all the way to Perlis for their convocation but I was lucky enough to meet up with some of my juniors in Penang. Seeing them in academic dress, it had me reminiscing of my graduation day - it was hard to think about anything on that day, but the cap and gown and making most of the time left as an undergraduate. Honestly, I feel bad for not attending their convocation but a junior texted me ‘your notes and guidance are the best graduation gift ever’. Gee, thanks! Psst...I secretly cried my heart out in the bus.

 
Congratulations and ‘live your best’ in the next chapter of your life! Proud of you guys!

A Road Trip Story – Day Three

Few words: MLMB will have a major makeover in layout starting from today post because Bagger Blogger decided to upgrade their posting style and the user, mostly ME, lose all my usual blog style from font colour to photo size and orientation (and yes I can't upload vertical photo anymore). Damn you Thank you blogger.

 

The part three was delayed long enough that I have actually revisited Sitiawan for a few more times and have the same foods dozens of times. Okay enough of light comedy, time for serious stuff. Let’s carry on from where I drop off in day two.

 

The next morning, as usual we stayed in our room till the last check-out call. Don’t you realize that we seldom check-out early? In every Malaysian’s eye, nothing should be wasted if you have paid for it. The same applied to hotel room, ‘die die’ also maximize our stay. Talking about typical Malaysian, I couldn't deny that I’ll always aim for the shower cap, the tiny cute bottles of shampoo and even the tea sachet the first moment I stepped into the hotel room. What? We have paid for that already, not? As I said, typical Malaysian – and you included as well so put away that disgusting smirk face. And for the non-Malaysian, you know better. Remark: Don't proceed further if you can take my JOKE. You may be affected by TOO SERIOUS flu.

One of the must try food recommended by most of the Muslim friend is Mastan Ghani’s mee rebus. We in fact paid Mastan Ghani a visit late evening the day before but alas they only open till 6 pm – I was expecting typical 24 hours operating Mamak stall but it appear not. Despite that, we are even more determined to try this halal food, so we pay Mastan Ghani another visit first thing in the next morning – literally though but it was already lunch time when we checked out.

Anyhow, we reached Mastan Ghani just past lunch hour. Don’t be surprised or confused when you saw two Mastan Ghani stalls just opposite of each other, in fact both belong to the same owners. According to the owners, there was no shop next to their current shop available when they planned to expand their business. But they never gave up and coincidentally the opposite shop is available, so they expanded their business just opposite of their current shop. I got to admit I’d admire their business mind, but I think their franchise is too near. From the latest information, there are actually 4 stalls in Teluk Intan but the best stall is the one opposite The Store.

The two killer dishes served here are mee rebus and mee rojak. The direct translation for the former is steamed noodle while the latter just don’t make any sense – a fusion between two different foods of very contrary category. Let’s skip mee rojak, I will explain later. Mee rebus is traditional Indian-Muslims dishes served with thick sweet and sour prawn gravy. Often it is served with prawn biscuit, fried tofu, boiled egg, plentiful of green salad and a finishing touch – a perfect dash of lime juice right on top of everything else. Voila! That is the Mastan Ghani's killer mee rebus. The noodle blend in so well with the thick gravy which make it totally irresistible, even for a prawn allergy guy like me.

Then here come mee rebus strange sibling, mee rojak which in my opinion is nothing differ from mee rebus. The appearance and everything else is just the same except for the extra fruity rojak taste in their gravy. However, no fruits were found in that plate of mee rojak, I think they mixed the fruits during gravy preparation. Indeed, another ‘mouth opening’ for me.

It was time to head back Ipoh and by looking at our GPS, we must or we could pass by Bidor and what else can we find in Bidor if not that yellow building that serve duck noodle wan ton mee and yam puff. The Pun Chun. I’m not bragging, almost all that travel from Ipoh to KL, back or forth or somehow using that road will stop by to have their lunch there. Don’t believe me, watch 8tv Ho Chak. Speaking of Ho Chak, they aired this a few weeks ago and I was jumping around excitedly telling my friend I went there before but none believed me. Friends, here are some picture to prove you guys wrong.

One of the reason, they are so famous is their location – right in the middle of Ipoh-KL express way. It was just like Singapore in the old days and of course another reason is their foods are worth to stop by too.

Let’s start with Pun Chun's duck noodle wan ton mee – a typical wan ton mee in duck herbal broth. By the way, wan ton mee is a type of thinner noodle usually self-made that give you a crunchy or crispy mouth feel. From their noodle texture, it doesn’t look like self-made noodle; it was way too commercial and rough. The dish is served in a hot herbal broth with duck meat, garnished with leafy vegetable and handful of green onion and scallions. The secret in every wan ton mee is to retain the al dente feel and yet free of plastic smell. In order to do that, the noodle is often blanched in hot water for 10 seconds and immediately rinsed under cold water and placed in serving bowl. Then only the hot broth comes in. The noodle that they are serving still able to retain the crunchy mouth feel but it is not the best I ever tasted. Their broth was ordinary, the same with the duck meat. Overall, okay only.

If you’re looking for yam puff, look for the old man by the small counter inside Pun Chun. Whenever you try to order yam puff from the waitress, they just point toward the old man “Order there, we don’t sell any”. I guess they are having a healthy competition over there, just that next time I would appreciate more if the waitress could lower down her volume. Back to the yam puff, the spider web texture on it does amaze me – a very interesting piece of art. But taste wise is more or less as good as Ipoh Ming Court’s yam puff. Just that I feel the one in Pun Chun is a bit drier. Reflexively, I choked down a few sips of tea to let it go down; no offense though.

After all the good foods, it was time to go home and continue with life aka more work after holidays. That is how my three days road trip (which took more than three months to update) ended. God bless!

A Road Trip Story - Day Two

Few words: Quote of the day ‘if he reply please advice, he got no balls’ by my superintendent.


Let’s carry on with my road trip story and to be frank, my memory is fading away now. I guess that’s the consequence of procrastinating – the longer you delay the fader the memory goes. But luckily I did take photo along the trip and these photos are all that I have to keep me on track. But indeed photo does tell a thousand words; just as long as it is not an overexposed one.

Our next destination was to Sitiawan most famous temple, the Tua Pek Kong Temple. The last thing I remember was we planned to set off early. Rising myself on the bed the next day, I look at my watch; somehow my alarm turned to snoozing mode and by the time it rang again, it was two hour later. DAFUQ! Regardless of that, we still rushed our way there to avoid the sun. Yet, by the time we reached there, the sun was directly ninety degree on top of us. FML! Despite the skin-piercing hot weather, the sweaty feeling under armpit and loads of overexposed shots, the view there is really something to brag of. I’m not comparing to serious contemporary art but in term of temple art, it was amazing enough. The massive statues there were all imported from China nonetheless. Ah, no wonder - enough manpower for sure.

I was told by a lady there that people all around M’sia come here to pray for numbers, lottery numbers to be exact; even Singaporean come all the way just for the numbers. With that being said, we too try our luck with the numbers and buying it for a week consecutively, albeit without success. Why am I doing this? I’ve no idea. I guess luck is not on my side that week, anyhow do tell me if this numbers appears in any lottery first prize; 2466.

After one and half day tour in Sitiawan, it was time to proceed to Teluk Intan. We purposely took a detour via Changkat Jong just for the M. Gulam Rasul famous spiced fried chicken (ayam goreng berempah). By using Changkat Jong route, it is almost impossible to miss this greenish factory sized restaurant just beside the main road.

They started their business with a stall in the 60’s and soon it grows to this friggin big restaurant. Their fame is no joke; their dish appears numerous times in newspaper and it has been the locals’ talk for decades. As I was approaching the counter, they have one big compartment just for their spiced fried chicken. I purposely picked two drumsticks, you know, just to double the taste; after all that is the sole reason I took this detour. They looked well on plate but of course we need to get those into our mouth before I can judge them – on my first bite, the meat won’t chunk off – on my second, it won’t chuck off either. The meat texture was so stiff that my mouth gets tired chewing. The taste and aroma is completely okay just that I was unable to chew anymore. I even spat some half-chewed chunk because my jaws eventually gave up chewing.

Once again feeling betrayed by the bloggers, we continued our journey to Teluk Intan. Upon reaching this still developing town, the mighty leaning tower snatches all the attention. But one thing for sure, don’t expect clean background when you shooting the leaning tower. It was located in the middle of a busy town – just opposite a marketplace and the empty spaces surrounding it were used for car park. Still, the tower remains the lone trademark of Teluk Intan.

Later that day, just right after we checked in our hotel, we headed for Teluk Intan’s CCF – a dish whose reputation dwarfs all other foods in Teluk Intan. CCF is simply an acronym for Chee Cheong Fun or direct translated as pig intestines noodle but not to worry; it is purely organ free foods. In fact, CCF is just a flat layer of skin-like noodle made of flour. Teluk Intan’s CCF is quite unusual from the normal CCF we had which were either served in hot chili sauce, mixed with sesame oil and soy sauce or simply with herbal mushroom stew. Teluk Intan’s CCF is sauce-less and wrapped with dried shrimp and cabbage. Again, not my liking and to be frank, any CCF in Ipoh tasted much better. But anyhow, I had bought three packets. Why am I doing this again? I’ve no idea.

Abandoned the plan to finish all three packets, we decided to venture further for more foods. Just as we were roaming around the small town, we stumbled across the famous Teluk Intan fragrant biscuit or more known as hiong piah by the local. I wasn’t quite sure which one tastes better in Teluk Intan – the Tiger Head Brand or Butterfly Brand; the former is a rival to the latter for many years. Undeterred, I walked into the Butterfly Brand shop and asked which one is more famous. Looking at the shop owner in question, I get the idea I shouldn’t ask it at the first place. Silently, I paid and ran out of the shop.

Living in the city of rumored to be the best hiong piah, Ipoh; the butterfly brand won’t stand a chance. But on the contrary, the butterfly brand does bring a diverse taste – in fact to my personal liking, it is actually better than Ipoh one. I can’t be too sure about this, maybe because I am too used to Ipoh one. But somehow the biscuit is buttery crispier and the maltese is less sticky. In my opinion, the buttery flavor is the final winning blow.

We then arrived at Lana Tea House, a fine dining restaurant in Teluk Intan. Budget and fine dining is never a good match but Lana Tea House makes this possible. When I first opened their menu, I thought I was in some mamak stall. Not that I am complaining but once I learned the price on the menu, I did wonder. Can earn meh? Overall, the dinner was okay, the ambient is superb; fully decorated with 80’s limited edition antique. Great place for friend and family, they not only serve western food but also a wide variety of foods – from Malay, Chinese to Japanese cuisine. It is a good place for stingy, thrifty or tight budget guy who want to treat their girl a dinner. Come to think about it, my friend, Section should go.

The life in Teluk Intan is pretty much unexpected. Before I come to Teluk Intan, I thought the only thing I can do at night is FB to the next morning. But it turned out; Teluk Intan folks really know how to enjoy themselves. As it gets darker at night, the real entertainment is just about to begin. They have this massive Sky Bar with trendy techno songs, high-tech disco lighting and cool DJ. As the eardrum-battering deep bass, thump-thump-thumping of hip-hop music blares from a beat-up boom box stereo, I could have a heart attack if I stayed long enough. There is also a K-box just beside the Sky Bar and the best of all; they are all situated in the same building where my hotel is. But since we weren’t in the mood for booze that night, we opted for K-box instead. We sang our throat out for only below MYR 20 per person; that’s a steal which you can only dream of in Ipoh. Suddenly, Teluk Intan is being hailed as the best cheap high tech entertainment town.

At around 2am, I barely have any voice left. I dragged myself back to the hotel and drop dead to the bed. And that’s how I celebrated my 2012 new year.

Happy New Year Mellymonkeys!!! To be continued...