1) So I'm finally back! It's still such a shock waking up to a different environment, surrounded by my family and familiar sights. As I'm rushing to catch up with my blogs, I'll let the pictures below (and their captions) do the talking. Suffice to say, one of the main attractions in Malaysia (or at least, my home town) is the food, and I've been getting a lot of that lately XD. Enjoy the pics, cheers! :D
What a lovely sign <3
My family orders catering everyday, and this is one of the dinners. Ignore the other two dishes (steamed egg (right) and pork patties (top)), the star of the meal is hands down the "Chai Boey" a.k.a Mustard Green Stew. Besides roast pork belly, the other pertinent ingredients are kiam chai (pickled mustard greens), gai choy (mustard greens), dried chilies, and dried assam gelugor (tamarind slices). I cannot stress how out-of-this-world amazing this dish is, especially when accompanied with a steaming hot bowl of fragrant jasmine rice. It may not look like much in this picture, but trust me when I say this dish is exploding with so much flavour it could power the Saturn V rockets to Flavourtown and back! <3 <3 <3
The new and improved Badminton Courts in the stadium are state-of-the-art impressive!
Just look at how new and shiny everything is ^^
Our fridge magnet collection - with the latest edition (from Belfast - guess which one XD)
Day 2 - Trip to Sushi Mentai - a franchise selling cheap and delicious sushi
(this is their zarusoba - boiled and chilled buckwheat noodles (soba) served on a bamboo basket (zaru), with accompanying mentsuyu sauce (noodle soup base) and garnish.
Again, one of my favourite meals on a hot, summer day (which is EVERY SINGLE DAY in M'sia)
Different types of sushi, all equally delicious - sorry I've forgotten their names XD
Spade's Burger - originally from Penang, it has been serving affordable
daily gourmet-quality burgers since 2013
Presenting the "Dark Knight" burger - pork or beef patty with two fried cheddar crisps and bacon bits, served with their signature cocktail sauce (sweet-chilli mayo), accompanied with a side of crispy fried bacon strips! Is there anything more delectable? Answer: Yes... XD
With beloved mom :))
What a beauty! ^^
Space Park - recently opened in Angsana Mall (formerly called UO Superstore)
Malaysian flag ^^
Space Park
Fancy an ice-cream at Marrybrown after all that huge meal! Established in 1981, Marrybrown is the first local fast food chain to franchise its business in Malaysia :))
Pasembur (foreground) is a Malaysian salad consisting of shredded cucumber, potatoes, beancurd, turnip, bean sprouts, prawn fritters, spicy fried crab, fried octopus or other seafoods and served with a spicy nutty sauce. On a hot day, you'll want to wash your new erythematous tongue with our famous "cendol" (background) - an iced sweet dessert containing droplets of worm-like green rice flour jelly, sweetened red azuki beans, coconut milk and palm sugar syrup. I usually like mine with an extra serving of pulut (sticky glutinous rice) because it pairs really well with the rich, creamy coconut milk. Literally to die for! ^^
Again, everything is delicious but I'd like to point you to my mom's special ABC soup - a nourishing soup cooked with copious servings of potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, onions and pork ribs/bones. Cooked properly (i.e. with a mother's love for her son who just came back from overseas), the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender, while the soup is as flavoursome as the "chai boey" I described earlier hehe
My parents and myself in our kitchen :)
Beautiful view of the evening sky, with Bukit Keledang (Keledang Hill) in the background (my dad and I used to hike up there during the weekends - at the peak is the RTM station used for broadcasting)
Those are papaya trees - and the sharp eyed among you will spot the mischievous monkey climbing the tree on the furthermost right of the picture
This is the neighbourhood I grew up with - with Keledang Hill framed by the thick evergreen trees
Day 3 of my return to Ipoh - and we're in Gourmet Square (what a name!) for lunch. My dad is having something called "economy rice" - which refers not to any specific dish in the Malaysian pantheon of cuisine, but rather to a type of food or food stall commonly found in hawker centres, street vendors or food courts. Economy rice stalls typically consist of a glass case containing anywhere from 10-15 troughs of cooked food, including meat, vegetables, eggs, and tofu. Customers select any combination of these dishes, which are served accompanied by a portion of steamed white rice. My dad has gotten steamed minced pork, curried potatoes, a huge dollop of thick curry sauce, and a portion of steamed white rice, served with their complimentary soup of the day. Very cheap (even by our standards) and very satisfying ^^
This dish is called chee cheong fun (rice noodle roll) - a Cantonese dish from southern China and Hong Kong. I'll let this excerpt from Wikipedia explain the contents of this dish... "Ipoh, being another food capital of Malaysia, Chee cheong fun is mainly served in two ways, the dry or wet versions. In the "dry version", it is served with bright red sweet sauce and in most cases, chilli sauce as well as pickled green chilli. In the "wet version", it is served with (a) curry with pork rind and long bean (which is what I got here), or (b) minced meat and shiitake mushroom gravy. Both dry or wet versions are topped with sesame seeds and fried shallots."
The bottom pastry is called a "kaya puff" - which is a puff containing kaya - sweet creamy coconut spread made from coconut milk (a.k.a. santan) and chicken eggs (which are flavoured with pandan leaf and sweetened with sugar). The top two pastries are called "curry puffs" - which are small pies consisting of curry with chicken and potatoes in a deep-fried or baked pastry shell. The curry is quite thick to prevent it from oozing out of the snack. If none of this makes any sense, all you need to know is that they are both supremely delicious. Period.
The inside of a curry puff - thick creamy chicken and potato curry!
KFC - nothing to elaborate here as it can be found pretty much everywhere XD
One thing to note is that I've never seen coleslaw as any of the side options in KFC in Dublin...
Secret Recipe - described by Wikipedia as a Malaysian halal-certified cafe chain company established since 1997, but known to me (and other Malaysians) as a purveyor of all cakes worth our selective tastebuds.
Their carrot cake comes filled with grated carrots, walnuts and raisins, topped with the most delectable (but surprisingly light) layer of cheese.
Something I haven't tried before - their newly introduced salted caramel macadamia cheesecake - the perfect fusion of salted caramel and cream cheese, all finished with a layer of salted caramel glaze... and you wonder why I miss food at home...
Day 4 - in Gourmet Square again, this time for their Japanese Bento (lunch box) sets. This particular set is called an "Oyakodonburi" - literally meaning "parent-and-child donburi" - where donburi means Japanese riche bowl dish in which chicken, egg, sliced scallion, and other ingredients are simmered together in a kind of soup made with soy sauce and stock, and then served on top of a large bowl of rice (in this case, covered with a perfectly cooked sunny-side up egg). The name of the dish is a poetic reflection of the fact that both chicken and egg (i.e. parent and child) are used in the dish. The set includes three different kinds of "gunkan" sushi, a side of salad, and a bowl of miso soup. Price of all this? RM 12 - or €2.50!
My mom brought me to a "pasar malam" or night market near her laundromat shop. Due to the hot Malaysian weather during the daytime, the Pasar Malam has become a nightlife activity that attracts local community after working time and tourists looking for cheap hot foods, clothing, groceries etc.
Lok-lok is a dish consisting of various deep-fried foods such as meats and vegetables that are served on a skewer. You choose as many (or as little) as you like, dip them into the boiling pot to cook, and then drench your food in the wide selection of (usually) spicy sauces and chomp away. There are priced affordably too, at around RM1.00 (€0.20) a skewer.
Waiting for the food to cook...
With my mom ^^
Fruit stalls selling a wide selection of tropical fruits
You can find all kinds of food at night markets
I found a food stall selling "Fa Sang Woo" - or groundnut soup (creamy rich peanut soup made from ground peanuts). Maybe it sounds odd to make a soup out of something that is usually savoury, but do I care? Not one bit - I'm too busy enjoying my soup :)
