Mek T is a restaurant specializing in Terengganu cuisine opened by Cindy‘s parents. She was kind enough to invite me over for some food so I went with Lainey and Fresh. The place is located in Puchong and you can’t miss the signage.
I like how the colors in Mek T are bright and colorful. Did you know that Cindy came out with most of the copy for the menu descriptions on the walls too? 😉
Mek T is based on a quick service restaurant concept – you order reasonably priced a la carte or set dishes at the counter and you wait for the food to come.
This is Cindy’s mom, who kindly prepared the dishes for us that night. She’s from Terengganu so you can bet that all the dishes are authentic. 😀
Nasi Ulam Mek
This is an explosion of colors and flavors. It’s my favorite dish at Mek T, which is surprising when you find out what’s inside it. It’s a traditional rice dish that’s blue – the coloring comes from a flower called bunga telang. There’s a bunch of raw vegetables and a tiny mountain of brown shredded coconut that you’re supposed to mix into the rice.
The explosive texture from the raw vegetables, followed by the spiciness of the sambal, with the coconut tickling your palate…it’s a veritable gastronomic orchestra! I like the fried chicken drumstick that goes with it too – gotta have some meat with such a vegetable heavy dish. I’m not a huge fan of veggies so this dish really surprised me – it was so good I finished it all! There’s a lot of raw bird eye chilli inside too. I love it!
Keropok Lekor
Naturally, keropok lekor has to be in the menu for a proper Terengganu restaurant. In fact, keropok lekor is in most of the dishes – people in Terengganu eat it with everything, or so it seems. 😉 It’s best described as soft fish sausages made from grounded fish paste and sago. I love Mek T’s version, it’s very fresh.
Kar Pek Hu Sah
Now this is something you don’t see very often outside of Terengganu. Kar Pek Hu Sah is the cousin of keropok lekor. It’s made with 90% fresh fish! Amazing. I’ve never seen the likes of it before going to Mek T. They use the freshest cuts of ikan tengirri and parang and mold it into steamed fish sausages. It’s divine when eaten with the spicy chilli padi dip. It’s like eating steamed fish. 🙂
Nasi Dagang Mek
This is described as the most popular meal in Terengganu. The rice is a mix of long grain and glutenous rice cooked in santan (coconut milk) and it’s served with gulai ikan aiya (curry tuna) and pickled vegetables (acar). It’s a simple but delicious meal.
Nasi Sedappp Sokmo
This is Mek T’s signature dish. It’s made with basmati rice and served with gulai ayam and an egg. I love the sweet notes in the gulai ayam, I ended up eating most of the drumstick and some of the gravy-infused egg too. There’s also a side of pineapple that goes very well with the basmati rice. It’s traditionally served during special occasions. Great stuff!
Laksa
Mek T also does a mean version of laksa too – it tastes really good, with thick noodles. What makes this laksa special is the ulam (raw vegetables) they put into it. It’s a healthy twist and the laksa tastes different from other variants of laksa too.
Laksam
However, my palate votes for the laksam. I’ve craved for laksam for a long time and I just can’t seem to find this elusive dish anywhere. The laksam in Mek T is handmade – rolls of tender wheat and rice flour cut into bite sized pieces and topped with a rich gravy of pureed fish meat. I wouldn’t call it gravy actually, it’s more like fish pieces on top of the laksam. Perfect.
Lompat Tikam
This is a traditional Terengganu kueh served with pure gula melaka syrup. The kueh itself is not sweetened – you get to adjust the level of sugar you want by pouring in the gula melaka. I like mine practically swimming it it. Heh. Cindy also gave us some of these to bring back and I wolfed it down right after that heavy dinner – it was that good.
Binka Ubi
This kueh is made of grated tapioca cooked in gula melaka and topped with coconut cream. You have to eat them together. The tapioca with palm sugar is saccharine sweet, with the coconut cream to balance the flavors. I also finished the ones I brought back home – it’s just so soft and easy to eat!
Mek Pau Goreng
This is one of the undiscovered culinary delights in Mek T. The premise sounds simple – it’s just a fried pau, but the execution is done so well that it has reportedly left people in tears. I wouldn’t be surprised, it’s crispy on the outside and warm and fluffy on the inside – a hot bun that comes in coconut or red bean filling. I personally prefer the red bean but either way, you’ve got to try this when you’re in Mek T. It’s amazing how such a simple dish can taste so good. Think of the best fried bread you’ve ever had…except better!
Mek T also has WiFi and you can checkin to their official Foursquare entry to get specials!
Surf over to Mek T’s website for the address, GPS coordinates and Google Maps directions. Thanks for all the food Cindy! We spent several hours there just eating and talking until the place was about to close. Good food, great company. 🙂
Nice. Frankly I first started reading your blog because of your dog eating escapade and then the huge casino bet lost I heard. Didn’t know I can get so much foodies (which happens to be my fav indulgence..haha) info here as well.
Think I might drop by Mek T to try out the meal. =)
Heh! Thanks for reading mate! 🙂
Yeah, Mek T has a lot of awesome food, check out the nasi ulam, totally loved that.
np, bro. jz keep em outrageously interesting blogs coming. (” ,)
p/s – plan to have “toilet shots” anytime soon? =P
Heh! Thanks bro!
I’ll see what I can come up with.
Cheers for reading! 🙂
interesting name.. nice looking food.. now i know what cindy’s parents are doing, or just one of the things they do.. 🙂
Yup, the name Mek T means “Miss T” or “Miss Terengganu”. 🙂
The food tastes good too, got totally stuffed that night. 😀
…and the food is served on some pretty interesting looking containers.
Yup, it’s disposable, they have a quick service restaurant concept going on. 🙂
wow the food looks good here. congrats to Cindy & her parents on the shop.
Yeah, it’s a nice place to hang out and eat, Eiling.
Lots of delicious things on offer here. 🙂
u should be the copywriter for Mek T’s wall! thanks for coming by & it was fun hosting ya’ll <3 let's all hang out some time sooooonnnn~!
Cin,
I’ll call Oli and Ruby and you can host us~hahaha~
Haha! I actually found your writing very upbeat and fun. 🙂
Thanks again for having us!
Yup, let’s have dinner again soon Cindy! 😀
My boyfriend is from Terengganu. I’ve tasted authentic Terengganu nasi dagang, nasi minyak and stuff like that in Kuala Terengganu.
Hmmm… I think we should try out Mek T and see how authentic the food is. 😛
How to contact Cindy eh?
Heh! Yeah, you can find the directions to the place at the Mek T website.
Cindy? You can probably reach her from her blog, linked above, or just surf over to teycindy.com – hope that helps! 🙂
Sure, thanks!
No worries! 🙂
i miss the coconut mek pau gorengggg T______T
Yeah me too!
It’s pretty awesome fried pau eh?
Let’s go for dinner again sometime! 😀
Oooooo….my kind of food! I love to eat such stuff – not all that western, Japanese, Korean and so on. Drool…droll…. Btw, Trengganu/Terengganu is spelt wrongly in your blogpost title. LOL!!!
Thanks mate! 🙂
I fixed the spelling in the title. Heh! Must have failed my geography to spell Terengganu wrong.
Yeah, it’s good to have food for the soul. I have cravings for the nasi ulam now. 😀
I have not heard of all the dishes here except Keropok Lekor. I love Keropok Lekor!
Yeah, Mek T is one of the places that serves Terengganu cuisine, I haven’t seen any others around too. 🙂
The alternative version of keropok lekor – Kar Pek Hu Sah – is a very interesting dish too. I love it.
It’s supposedly found in the alleys of Chinatown in Terengganu. 😀
Tried. Advertisement looks good. Food so so only.
Which dish did you have?
Maybe you should try the other dishes, I surprisingly prefered nasi ulam over all the others at Mek T. It’s spicy and I love the different textures in the rice. 🙂
Nasi sedap somok , nasi dagang and keropok lekor. Only nasi dagang I feel is ok. Other 2 still need to improve
Thanks for the feedback!
Well, I personally loved the nasi ulam, it has incredibly complex textures. 🙂
HB, this place seem great for tourists for it indoor and a/c. Now days tourists have to look for food in cool and a/c place to eat or made fresh to order. Even in Taiwan I try to be careful of outdoor food stalls food that might be sitting around too long during warm weather. I love to travel and staying heathly to enjoy my time in that country.
In Penang , if there is rats around the stalls . The food must be great =P
Haha! Well, I’ve only seen them in nasi kandar line clear, not any other places in Penang.
I didn’t even see any in Ayer Itam asam laksa. 😀
Well, yeah, I guess it’s more comfortable with A/C but I tend to sit at the al fresco areas when I eat. It’s just personal preference I guess. 🙂
I absolutely love the Nasi Sedappp Sokmo and the red bean pau – superb food at Mek T!
Yeah the fried pau is delicious eh?
I loved the fried pau too, but as for the main dish, my vote goes to nasi ulam.
Which is pretty surprising considering I don’t like veggies, but the mix of that and the grated coconut with the bird eye chillis made it great! 🙂
mek and sokmo is kelantan dialect wor… terengganu also? lol XD