Stalls

Melaka Chicken Rice Balls

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chop chung wah

Melaka is famous for chicken rice balls. It’s practically an institution over there, with shops dedicated to the golf sized morsels of delight every few meters (or so it seems). There are a lot of established chicken rice ball shops in Melaka, with each person having their favorite. Jennifer brought us to Chop Chung Wah at Jalan Hang Jebat, off Jonker Street.

melaka chicken rice ball

This place is arguably one of the best chicken rice ball shops in Melaka. The line snaking out of the shop is a testament to the popularity of the chicken rice balls. People actually wait under the hot Melaka sun just to eat the chicken rice balls here. Don’t play play, got queue one this place.

chopping chicken

The interior of Chop Chung Wah is basic, with seating arrangements that harks back to the 60’s. Think marble tables and stools. It only registered to me while writing this that I could very well have fallen off the stool coz I usually sit on chairs. There are articles from newspapers adorning the walls and an interesting anecdote here is that the place got on The Star in 2006…and Jenn was part of the entourage who went for that food review.

rolling rice balls

The chicken rice balls is hand rolled by an old lady, conveniently stacked five (5) to a plate in an endless stream to cater to the never-ending march of customers filing into the coffee shop. I’m amazed that they can cope with such demand at all – every single table is full, with people queuing up outside waiting to get in. It’s an exercise in efficiency, I tell you.

chilli sauce

The chicken chopping is done by the son of the owner (who can be rather grumpy sometimes ;)). The family operating this place is Hainanese, and word is, the son is so busy with this chicken rice ball shop that his wife was literally shipped in from Hainan, China to help with the business. It’s a true Hainanese place, they take the phrase “keeping it within the family” to new heights.

chicken rice ball

The chicken in Chop Chung Wah only comes in one variant – steamed chicken. It’s very authentic Hainanese chicken indeed. I found the meat juicy and tender, and you can even see the essence of chicken forming a bed for the steamed chicken. The key ingredient in chicken rice is the chilli, as most would tell you, and this place dishes up really good chilli sauce.

chicken

The chicken rice balls are actually flavored with chicken stock and have a slight glutinous texture to it. It goes down really well, and we ordered another plate coz five rice balls each is just not enough. Apparently, five rice balls is equivalent with a regular plate of chicken rice. It tastes delectable dipped in chilli sauce!

It’s definitely a must try if you haven’t eaten chicken rice balls in Melaka before. Just look for the awe-inspiring queue to find the place. 🙂

Awesome pork chap fan @ SS 6

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chinese stall ss6

Allow me to wax lyrical about my favorite pork lunch. Restaurant New Yew Sang Seafood is a dai chow place that magically transforms itself into a chap fun (mixed rice) place in the day. It has a rather unassuming façade, but dishes up hearty meals for the office workers around these parts.

chinese snake

The crowd here during lunch is formidable – the tables and chairs snakes lazily out the front of the restaurant and runs along the side and all the way down, illegally infringing on the sidewalk of the other business establishments as a testament to their popularity.

chinese crowd

The place isn’t really optimal for eating though – the corrugated tin roof causes major heat retention in the afternoon sun and the place is always so packed it’s hard to even find a seat. There are two mixed rice places here – one is Malay and the other Chinese. Needless to say the Malay one doesn’t serve pork.

chinese stall

I usually come here if I want to take away. The pork has been calling me the entire week – this is the fourth consecutive day I’ve eaten here. I would eat here at night too, except they don’t open at night.

chinese owner

The owner with ready packed rice in Styrofoam boxes for easier distribution.

What’s so special about the chap fan over here? It’s just chap fan right? Yeah, when it boils (haha) down to that, I can’t exactly put my finger on why I like this place. It has an impressive repertoire of dishes with enough variety that you can go for a fortnight without having to eat the same dish twice. That’s not the reason though – I always get the same stuff every day. If I was forced to cough up a reason, I’ll say it’s the pork.

chinese left

The left flank of food.

I’m particularly fond of the stewed pork over here. It’s unashamedly swine: loud, brash and full of fat. It’s like there’s a neon sign saying PIG over it.This is not a place which believes in taking off the skin and fat before serving pork – the huge chunks of lard and chewy skin is not discarded, but celebrated. Totally unapologetic. I like.

chinese front

Center.

I always take one huge steamed chicken drumstick in soy sauce – it tastes like the “Asian marinated chicken” I used to get in Countdown (a chain of grocery stores in NZ) to microwave before eating. I think you’re supposed to take one piece (each drumstick is conveniently chopped into three bite sized pieces) so perhaps this is why my rice tends to rack up a bill on the high side.

chinese right

The right flank – the pork is here.

I also like the tomato cooked with eggs and starch, producing that distinctive look. I’ve never been a big fan of this when I was a kid, but it was the best (as in palatable) dish that the cook in rehab could come out with. You can’t exactly go wrong with a couple of tomatoes, an egg and starch.

chinese tapau

It usually costs RM 7 for my pork extravaganza…and it’s worth every penny (or sen).


View SS 6 Pork chap fun in a larger map

Guaranteed to send you into a post-lunch coma. 😉

Seafood Noodles @ SS4, Petaling Jaya

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seafood noodle ss4

I am told there’s an undiscovered gem serving awesome Hoi Seen Meen (Seafood Noodles) in SS4, Petaling Jaya. A couple of us went there for lunch. The unassuming place is either called B & Best Restaurant or Restauran Rasa Sayang. I don’t really know which really, since there are two signboards.

seafood noodle stall

The trick is to peek in and find this stall. It’s conveniently labeled Seafood Porridge & Noodle for those of us who have problems with Chinese comprehension. I’m told it serves both clear and spicy broth. There are reports that you can opt to add in abalone as well, but be prepared to fork over the cash for that. I think its RM 68 for abalone. Not that hoi seen noodles are cheap, it’ll set you back at least RM 12 (not RM 11 as the sign says).

seafood noodles fishcake

You can order a side of fish cake (RM 7) to go with your seafood extravaganza. Might as well do the full Monty right?

There are two variants of Seafood Noodle that you can order:

seafood noodles spicy

Spicy Soup Seafood Noodle

seafood noodles dry

Dry Seafood Noodle (the Soup Seafood Noodle looks like this too – just imagine the noodles dumped inside the broth)

seafood noodle end

I had the dry seafood noodle since I’m not a big fan of hot, soupy things…especially in the midday sun, where you’re apt to sweat 2 liters just from attacking the broth.


View SS4 Seafood Noodles in a larger map

It should be noted that all dishes are RM 12 and not RM 11 as the sign states. You can micromanage the type of fish you want too: Choose from garoupa, pomfret, or whatever the catch of the day is. It’s pretty good seafood noodles, filled with aquatic goodness!

Penang Asam Laksa @ Pasar Air Itam

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pasar air itam laksa

I’ve always been a big fan of Penang Asam Laksa. I prefer asam laksa over the santan (coconut milk) saturated variants out there. Cheryl brought us to the best Penang Asam Laksa in Penang when I was there for the long Labor weekend.

air hitam laksa

In true Penang tradition, the best Penang Asam Laksa lies not in an air-conditioned food court but at Jalan Pasar in Air Itam. The stall is a bit dingy and the seating arrangements nothing more than plastic stools and slightly shabby tables beside a drain.

air itam montage

Appetite stimulated by the authentic smells and ambience, we ordered ice cold five fruits soup (it’s a shaved ice dessert popular in Sibu too, except we call it five tastes soup) and fried popiah with century eggs.

penang asam laksa

The Penang Asam Laksa (RM 2.70 and worth every cent) at Pasar Air Itam did not disappoint – it came in a broth that had the signature medley of tastes distinctive of asam laksa. Tamarind? Check. Lemongrass? Check. Onions? Check. The hearty soup went down really well with its minced fish pieces. It’s awesome-ness!

air itam laksa

I also learned a trick from Cheryl – dipping popiah into the rich Penang Asam Laksa broth is addictive! I’m lovin’ it.

“Over here in Penang, we just call it laksa”. 😉

Sup Torpedo (Bull’s Penis Soup)

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long dong

Sup Torpedo has an almost mythical aura around these parts. Sup Torpedo (or Torpedo Soup) is a euphemism for bull’s penis.

torpedo soup photo

You’re not actually eating a torpedo any more than you’re eating the Friar’s olfactory senses when you order Bishop’s Nose.

torpedo penis

Do you know how long a bull’s penis is? I didn’t realize the magnitude of the size until the good people at Sup Hameed showed me.

bestiality

It threatened my masculinity and I felt a peculiar urge to chomp on the appendage. It’s HUGE!

testicles

The bull’s penis is not so much about girth as it is about pure, unadulterated (hmm…interesting word to use when writing about genitalia) length.

bulls penis

It can reach a span of several meters. It’s impressive, and is likely to cause unexplained feelings of inadequacy for men if not kept in check.

sup hameed

Sup Hameed is recommended by Going Places, the in-flight magazine for MAS. It’s located conveniently beside Cititel Hotel in Penang so it’s just a hop, skip and jump to savor the delicacy known as Sup Torpedo.

torpedo

Sup Hameed specialized in all things soup and it’s open from 6 pm – 3 am to cater to the clubbing district and if you ask nicely, they’ll let you choose the penile portion you want. You can even get a side order of bull’s testicles (yes, the balls).

sup torpedo

Sup Torpedo is surprisingly tasty. You just gotta love the tender bull’s penis and the burst of flavor and juices (I don’t want to dwell too much on this topic lest you get put off your food :p) is incredible!

sup torpedo photos

This is the making of Sup Torpedo. They usually slice the bull’s penis up so you’ll have to tell them you want it whole. It’s served with bread that goes very well with the rich broth.

bull penis

Check out the remarkable similarities to human anatomy. :p

torpedo soup

It costs RM 15 for a nice length of the bull’s family jewels (sans testicles).

hameed sup torpedo

Now, that’s what I call a long dong.

The 60’s Teow Chew Fishball

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60s teochew fishball

I was driving my coworker back after a late night working in the office when she told me about this homemade fishball eating establishment (just love the contrast in the words) near her place. Windy lives in Sea Park and is familiar with the eateries around the area. We decided to grab a late dinner since we’ve both not eaten.

60s house of fishball

The 60’s Teow Chew Fishball is a quaintly named place which specializes in (no prizes for guessing) homemade fishballs. They serve Teochew style food and I was surprised to find the place packed this late at night. It was about 10:30 pm or so when we got there. Windy told me the reason – the eatery has an ingenious marketing strategy. The food and drinks are 50% off after 9:30 pm!

60s mee pok

I had the Tien Pin Mee Pok (Dry). This self-dubbed House of Fishball serves the noodles with slices of fish cake and a separate bowl containing two of their famous fishballs for RM 5. I like the springiness of the noodles. The noodles are the flat variety, which I’ve always found puzzling. In Sarawak, mee pok is synonymous with curly noodles.

60s celery noodles
 
Windy opted for the healthy sounding Celery Noodles (RM 6.50). It’s a soup based dish with plenty of their renowned fishballs floating in the broth. I’m not a big fan of soup and the only dry noodles they have is the dish I had, so you might want to consider that if you share a similar antipathy to soup dishes.

60s fishball

I reckon that since we’re in a fishball specialty shop, I might as well go the full Monty and ordered a large bowl of homemade fishballs (RM 10). The fishballs are surprisingly good. I’ve been increasingly adverse to highly processed foods (possibly due to my failing liver) but I liked the fishballs in The 60’s Teow Chew Fishball restaurant. The texture is supple and yielding and although it doesn’t have any detectable taste on its own, it goes very well with their sauce.

60s chee cheong fun

We also ordered a side dish of chee cheong fun (RM 1.50) which Windy got the proprietor to fry up. I’m pleased to report that fried chee cheong fun tastes better than the regular steamed version, at least over here. They added a lot of spring onions and bean sprouts, as well as an (un)healthy but generous shake of the soy sauce bottle.

60s discount

The 60’s Teow Chew Fishball restaurant USP (Unique Selling Point) is the 50% discount after 9:30 pm. I’m sure most of the diners are residents of the area, but it’s still a great gimmick to get the crowds in. The bill came up to a grand total of just RM 12 (!) for all that food and drinks for both of us.

It’s a bargain! 🙂


View Larger Map

Here’s a map for the directionally challenged. The 60’s Teow Chew Fishball is located at the same row as KFC in front of the old Ruby cinema.

Nam Heong: The Original Ipoh White Coffee

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nam heong

Ipoh is well known for their puzzlingly named caffeine export – Ipoh White Coffee. It’s not white, but it certainly is coffee. It has also spawned franchises of Ipoh White Coffee outlets at the speed rabbits breed but the original birthplace of Adam is none other than Nam Heong in Ipoh. It’s like the Bethlehem of Ipoh White Coffee, except I went with three queens instead of three kings.

nam heong ipoh

You have to queue beside tables for an absurd amount of time before seats are available. I’m sure this problem is compounded by the fact that it’s CNY and everyone from Ipoh was back for the holidays. I bumped into Jen there. Nam Heong is also famous for their dim sum which was probably why it was so packed.

nh coffee

We ordered Ipoh White Coffee (someone ordered the unorthodox herbal tea though). I forbid the EZY sisters from saying who drank what under the threat of cruel and unusual punishment. 😉 I’m sure someone would tell anyway, Ziling and Yiling has threatened me as much. :p

nh ytf

Yong Tau Fu is also a great dish there – the fish is fresh and good. I think it cost somewhere around RM 13 for the bowl though, not cheap for Ipoh standards, but it was good.

nh kueh tiaw

This is Ipoh style char kueh tiaw, pretty good. I like the taste.

nh dim sum

It would be akin to heresy if we didn’t at least order a dim sum dish in Nam Heong so we went for the egg tarts. We had a quarter each since we were very full from all the eating that we did.

nam heong ipoh white coffee

Wanted: Alibi for the morning of 28th January from 9 AM to 10:30 AM certifying I was in Ipoh consuming genuine Ipoh White Coffee from the original birthplace of said beverage.

nh group

Thanks for the hospitality! More food posts coming up soon! 🙂

Famous Ngau Kee Beef Noodles

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ngau kee famous beef noodles

Famous Ngau Kee Beef Noodles is a simple stall setup in front of a dilapidated row of what looks like pre-war shop houses in the middle of KL. It’s supposed to have really good beef noodles and I like eating things that go moo. The roadside stall was packed with people and double parked cars, which is always a good sign.

ngau kee sign

I know it’s famous because the signboard says so. 😉

ngau kee montage

Famous Ngau Kee Beef Noodles invented the concept of “open kitchen” before it became the in thing for trendy restaurants. They probably coined the freaking word. Pioneers, they are. The stall also has the time-honored tradition of only offering five (5) different types of drinks. You’ll be spoilt for choice! 😉

ngau kee beef noodles

Ngau Kee Beef Noodles is famous for it’s beef noodles – some of us went for the Mixed Beef with Dry Noodles (RM 6) while the others went for the Mixed Beef Soup Noodles (RM 6). It’s basically the same thing, except the beef balls and tripe is served on the side with clear soup for the dry version while the soup edition has everything in a bowl with a heartier broth. This is the flagship dish of the stall. You can add 10 beef balls for RM 6 or 10 pork balls for RM 10. Okay, that didn’t sound quite right, but I meant the side dishes.

ngau kee pj

It’s so good PJ people have been known to drive down to eat the beef noodles!

ngau kee chilli

The best thing about the stall is their patented (well, not really, but it must be the recipe of the grandma or something like that) chilli sauce. Best ever.

ngau-kee-map

Famous Ngau Kee Beef Noodles is located along Tingkat Tong Shin. It’s close to Jalan Alor, and you can’t miss the huge neon cow (bull?) on the stall. While the stall would not be winning awards for hygiene standards or interior design anytime soon, you just can’t beat the fabulous beef noodles there.

The KL breakfast

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kl nasi lemak

You know, back where I come from, very few people could claim they had nasi lemak for breakfast. Sibu is a cultural abnormality – it looks predominantly Chinese (although the population census will tell you it’s predominantly Iban) so the usual breakfast is noodles or something to that effect.

kl nasi lemak van

Well, over here in KL, I’ve been eating a lot of nasi lemak. I’ve actually grown quite fond of this stuff, craving it even. I look anxiously out my condo window at 7 am sharp every morning to spot the nasi lemak vendor pulling up in his trusty old van and rush down to buy some while it’s still warm.

I still remember a snippet of conversation that occurred the first time I went:
Nasi lemak man: Ada apa lagi?
HB: Ketam. (Crabs)
Nasi lemak man’s wife: Ketam tak ada, tapi kerang ada. Si ham. (We don’t have crabs but we have clams)
HB: Oh ya, kerang. Brain not functioning today.

I love the couple, they’re very friendly people with a great sense of humor. I’ve seen a lot of people from the neighborhood offices purchasing his warez too. Nasi lemak for breakfast is pretty common over here in KL. I’ve grown to love the stuff – I like it with clams (kerang, not ketam), lots of sambal, a fried egg and a piece of chicken drumstick.

kl nasi lemak macro

It’s pure artery clogging goodness! 😉

(which I’m sure I’ll regret when I’m 50 and my cholesterol level starts to soar)

Penang BBQ Pork Noodles @ Sing Long

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sl bbq stall

I have been told that there’s a really good BBQ pork noodle stall at a coffee shop called Sing Long (Tian Long in Chinese) and the three of us headed down for breakfast to check it out. The stall has an impressive repertoire of BBQ pork products displayed at the see-through stall casement.

sl chef

The chef hails from Penang and serves authentic Penang BBQ pork noodles. The noodles are hand made and not the regular ones we get over here, but the ones from Penang/KL. The texture and diameter of the noodle is much thicker – it’s akin to Hokkien noodles.

sl breakfast

The stall doesn’t just serve BBQ pork noodles but also BBQ rice. However, their forte is definitely the pork noodles. It’s their signature dish and it would be heresy to order BBQ rice instead of noodles, which one of my coworkers did. A lot of people throng the coffee shop before office hours to eat breakfast so you have to go quite early to avoid the crowds.

sl bbq pork noodles

This is their famous Penang BBQ pork noodles (RM 4.50). I have seldom sung praises about coffee shop stalls, but I am yodeling now. It just has to be experienced – the sinful crunch of the crispy pork, the tender juiciness of the meat and the sprinkling of spring onions on top creates a dish that is greater than the sum of it’s parts.

Best place for BBQ pork noodles in Sibu. Hands down.

sl bbq pork noodle

Got pork?

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