Local food

Susu Kambing (Goat’s Milk) quaint cottage industry

by

susu kambing here

Susu kambing or fresh goat’s milk is available at a
cottage industry located about 100 meters away from the Petra Jaya toll
station. I’ve seen the small “Susu Kambing” sign with a goat image and
an arrow asking customers to drive down the gravel driveway at the
stall, but never did drop in until this morning.

susu kambing farm

I’m glad I did – the place has the charm of a small cottage
industry…there’s an enclosure where the goats are kept, I would
estimate that there’s a total of 20 or so goats in total. Look at the
second goat burying its head into the feed container. 🙂

susu kambing owner

I went early in the morning so I had to call into the open house
that’s in front of the enclosure where the goats are kept. One woman
peeked out and I asked her if goat milk is available. She replied in
the affirmative and asked me how many bottles I want.

susu kambing bottle

I went for one bottle – it’s a 300 ml bottle with indicator lines
running along the side, like it was some kind of medicine bottle. She
poured it into this bottle from a huge jug of fresh goat milk. It’s RM
13 per bottle (!). That’s very expensive milk…

susu kambing good

It’s good though, the goat milk tastes nice and fresh, though I felt
like a cough medicine addict chugging down my codeine from that
unfortunately designed bottle. 😉 Nevertheless, I like the quaint feel
of the operation and the goat milk really tastes different from the
bovine equivalent – it’s good.

susu kambing alpha

Drink my milk, puny humans! 😉

Mee Jawa Kuah Unta (Mee Jawa with Camel Gravy)

by

mee jawa unta stall

This is Bahgia 9 Cafe, one of the food stalls at the Civic Center which offers a rather unique dish…

mee jawa unta sign

…Mee Jawa with Camel Gravy. Camel meat and ostrich meat for that
matter, is not rare over here – there are a couple of industries
offering meat products from these animals as an alternative to…well,
chicken.

mee jawa unta pot

The nice ladies at the stall were kind enough to show me the camel
gravy (kuah unta) from which they make their Mee Jawa Kuah Unta with.
It comes in a steaming pot with camel meat. The gravy is made by
simmering the camel meat with various spices (they didn’t reveal which
ones exactly) overnight.

mee jawa unta served

We all ordered a dish of the Mee Jawa (noodles cooked Indonesian
style with a distinctive spicy gravy) – this is what it looks like.

mee jawa unta egg

The Mee Jawa with Camel is good…I can’t say that my palate is
sophisticated enough to detect camel meat in the gravy, but I can tell
you that it’s good Mee Jawa. The place has some righteous satay too.

Maggie Mee Assam Laksa

by

maggie mee assam laksa

There is nothing much that can comparable to the homely feeling of
eating a bowl of steaming hot instant noodles, home cooked naturally. I
have been deprived of this simple pleasure for so long (it comes with
not having cooking facilities at my place ;)) that I’ve almost
forgotten how good it is.

I don’t even like Maggie Mee Assam Laksa (I’ll go for Curry flavor
any day)…but it kinda grows on you…and there’s just something about
two packets of Maggie Mee noodles, cooked slightly soggy, with just the
right amount of soup and two eggs that’s really heartening. It’s like
coming home. 🙂

Guide to eating a Top Off coconut

by

top off coconut array

The Top Off coconut experience is commonly available in food
courts…it’s the shrink wrapped coconuts at the drinks counter with
the top partially serrated for easy opening. It’s a very user friendly
coconut.

top off coconut

It comes in several varieties – a fully green one (skin on) which
tastes a little tart, a mostly skinned white one which has a sweeter
content, and the Thailand variety which is a small, fully skinned
coconut. I have had all of them, and my personal preference is the
partially skinned one.

top off coconut unwrapped

The whole coconut is covered with shrink wrap – including the top of
the coconut. You need to remove the shrink wrap before the coconut can
be consumed. The removal of shrink wrap goes according to user
preference – I tend to just tear off the top of the shrink wrap.

top off coconut open

Next, you use the side of the provided standard spoon to remove the
“cover” of the coconut. The easy way to do this is to analyze the
partial factory cut top for the largest point of possible entry and
wedge the side of the spoon (the thin side) down, before using leverage
to “scoop” the whole top back up.

top off coconut opened

It should look like this after that step is completed. Do not, under
any circumstances, allow the top of the coconut to fall back into the
coconut. It should also be noted that this is the most difficult part
of the process, as there is a distinct possibility of causing a faux
pax by twisting too hard and spilling coconut juice all over the place.

top off coconut top

The user may proceed to use the spoon to separate the coconut flesh
from the now separated top for consumption. The flesh of the coconut is
edible, and the top of the coconut contains a significant amount of
coconut flesh…this should be appreciated by eating said coconut flesh
from the top.

top off coconut drink

The next step is to insert the (provided) plastic straw into the
open coconut receptacle. The coconut juice can be sipped straight from
the coconut. Optionally, the spoon can be used to harvest more coconut
flesh from the inside of the coconut. It is important to remember that
the entire internal circumference of the coconut is coated with coconut
flesh…which is edible.

top off coconut scoop

The coconut juice should appear as a clear liquid, unless the
coconut has been disturbed in any way (e.g. internal flesh scooped for
consumption, vigorous stirring etc). Do not be alarmed if the coconut
juice turns murky. This is perfectly normal and the coconut remains safe for consumption.
The color change is caused by cross contamination from the coconut
flesh, but this is not as bad as it sounds…since the flesh is edible.
Certain connoisseurs also appreciate murky coconut juice. I reiterate –
murky coconut water is perfectly fine.

top off coconut ice

There is an option of adding ice to the coconut for a chilled
coconut drink. The user does this at the risk of diluting the coconut
juice. Coconut connoisseurs frown at this practice, but it is
widely…er, practiced for a colder drinking experience.

Enjoy your coconut.

Soon Fatt Beijing Roasted Duck

by

soon fatt beijing duck stall

Soon Fatt Beijing Roasted Duck is a popular roadside stall in Jalan
Pasar (Market Road) in Pudu, KL. I went there for a late lunch with a
couple of people. The ad hoc seating arrangements of plastic chairs and
tables were packed full of people, from, dare I say it…all walks of
life.

soon fatt beijing duck close

The stall front has displays of whole duck and other meats and the
front is adorned with a newspaper clipping which shows the stall in a
paper write-up. Adhering to the all-in-one stall design, steamed rice
containers, soup cauldrons, tea kettles are all within easy reach and
the wash basin is in close proximity with the back. Nifty,
self-contained roadside stall design…

soon fatt beijing duck

This is the main platter that we ordered – there’s a thigh of their
renowned Beijing Roasted Duck, as well as a cut of breast meat,
together with sweet meat and deep fried pork under a bed of nice gravy
and sprinkled with stalks of spring onions. It comes with a serving of
rice and soup…and the duck tasted good.

RM 15 bowl of prawn noodles

by

min kong cafe

Min Kong Cafe reputedly has the best prawn noodles in town, the
standard against which all prawn noodles are benchmarked against in
Sibu.

min kong inside

I went there for breakfast just now – it’s a popular place for
breakfast and people go there for the RM 15 prawn noodles. It’s the
flagship dish of this place.

rm15 prawn noodles

The prawn noodles is cooked Foochow style, with the noodles fried
before cooking and served in a large soup bowl with three large king
prawns, partially peeled.

rm15 prawn noodles close

It’s a hearty and warming breakfast, and no, the soup isn’t as
radioactive orange as the photo seems to indicate – it’s dark brown,
but the lighting conditions made it come out like that. It’s a good
place for breakfast if you like prawn noodles. The place also serves
fish noodles for RM 15.

I’ll be flying back to Kuching later tonight…going back to work tomorrow.

Sin Chua Huat bakery

by

sin chua huat

Sin Chua Huat bakery is about as old skool as they come…this
establishment has been around for over three decades! It’s a permanent
fixture in the old Jalan Padungan section…this Chinese bakery dates
way back. The bakery has bags of flour lining the entrance and all the
preparation is all done in full view of the public…and this was way
before it was chic to have the visible chef concept. 😉 Old school, all
the way.

sch interior

The bread that this place offers are all oven baked…as in hot coal
brick oven. It’s the traditional method of baking and this place has
retained the method over the years. The picture below shows the first
section selling full loaves and half loaves of bread.

sch loaf bread

The half-loaf is meant for families who do not have the gastronomic
fortitude to eat through a full loaf and this practice of selling half
loaves has been marginalized to the point of extinction…except in old
Chinese bakeries.

sch generations

Sin Chua Huat bakery has been passed down from generation to
generation and you can see the wide age gap here – everyone chips in to
help in the bakery. It’s family owned and it’s said that the original
proprietor still comes out to help from time to time. Notice the butter
filling to the left and the coconut filling to the right?

sch empty buns

Sin Chua Huat sells four things and four things only – loaves of
freshly baked bread, empty buns and two types of filled buns. The
picture above shows the empty buns…it’s just bread made into buns.
The place sells home made kaya too, for complimenting their products.

sch filled buns

This is what this place is famous for – filled buns. They only have
two varieties – butter and coconut. The long ones are the butter buns
and the round ones are the coconut buns. We bought five of each for the
office. It costs 40 cents each.

sch tapau

The buns are baked twice a day…it’s best to go either very early
in the morning or mid afternoon. That’s when the buns come out warm and
fluffy.

sch coconut bun

This is the coconut bun. It round and the filling is made of shredded coconut and brown sugar.

sch butter bun

Here’s the butter bun. It’s the longer one and the filling is made of butter.

Sin Chua Huat is a must try if you’ve got a hankering for old skool Chinese pastries, done the traditional way.

Bubur cha-cha

by

bubur cha cha

Here’s a takeaway container of bubur cha-cha I got off a small stall
off the roadside for lunch today. Bubur cha-cha literally means mixed
porridge. It retails for RM 2.

bubur cha cha macro

It’s a sweet concoction of ingredients, usually served warm. The
primary contents are tapioca, yam, sago, carrots, jelly and other
stuff, swimming in coconut milk. It’s old skool liquid lunch. 😉

Hui Sing Hawker Center

by

hui sing

Hui Sing Hawker Center in Hui Sing Garden is one of the most popular
hawker centers in Kuching. I used to frequent this place when I was
studying in Inti College last time, and it’s been a long while since I
revisited this nostalgic food center, so I went back with a couple of
friends last night.

hui sing my home

This is My Home Fast Food which serves chap fun or mixed
rice, which is also called economy rice, fast food, amongst other
things. Basically, you get a plate of white rice and you choose from
the variety of dishes available.

hui sing fast food

This is the very same place which I used to frequent and it has been
in business for a long time. They have a wide variety of choices and
IMHO, it’s the best one in Hui Sing Hawker Center.

hui sing cutlery

The cutlery from this stall is available from a hot water soaker,
pictured above. It contains fairly hot water, so it’s a good idea to
fish out the spoons and forks instead of reaching in with your fingers.

hui sing white lady

Hui Sing Garden also has very novel drinks, the most popular one
being a concoction called “White Lady”. It’s a mixture of lemon,
pineapple, laici, sago pearls and lime, with milk holding the whole
concoction together. It’s divine, and very deserving of it’s moniker.

hui sing cuttle

This is cuttlefish with vegetables, a popular side dish that one of
my friends ordered. This implementation is good – they slather the
cuttlefish and veggies with the sauce and grounded peanuts instead of
putting the sauce on the side.

hui sing cuttle mix

This is what it looks like after it’s been mixed. You have to mix it around to cover everything.

hui sing satay

The satay over at Hui Sing is also pretty good. It comes with the standard cucumbers, raw onion slices and ketupat.

hui sing food

This is what my dish looks like – I had pork leg, sweet and sour pork and stuffed bitter gourd.

Sugarcane drink at Central Market Sibu

by

pasar sentral sibu

I arrived in Sibu late yesterday night, the flight was delayed
(again) due to an engine problem. I woke up early this morning and was
on site at 7:30 am. I’m on a break now and I went to Central Market to
get a sugarcane drink. It’s a hot day, and I reckon one of these would
go down well.

pasar sentral sugarcane skin

It seems that the coconut + sugarcane or cham cham as they
call it in Hokkien has hit Sibu. IIANM, the pioneer of this 1/2
sugarcane, 1/2 coconut juice with coconut flesh is the SKH food centre
in Kuching. It seem to have propagated to Sibu now, with even the
central market doing it.

pasar sentral sugarcane togo

I got one to go. I like this stall coz they actually skin the
sugarcane plant before grinding it in that grinder you see on the
bottom left. The majority of stalls just shove the whole sugarcane in,
but this one manually and painstakingly removes the outer skin from the
sugarcane before processing it, ensuring a smoother drink.

pasar sentral sugarcane

This is the reserve sugarcane bunches they have on the side.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...