Perak-selangor-kuantan -where to stop for food and local produce

Heading back from pangkor, we decided to have relaxing road trip back to kuantan.

First stop-Sitiawan.

Of course we have to stop at the famous mee suahfactory. Freshly made noodles at wholesale price!

Konpian Hook Chew Mee Suah 

Read about the dying art of making mee suah.

After buying mee suah, time to have some authentic red wine chicken mee suah! The best we have ever tried! Fragrant chicken braised in red wine sediment that's so rich in flavor and full of punch. The chicken was also well marinated in wine. The hard boiled egg was a perfect combination with the wine as well. If you like it good enough, you can bring home their home made red wine sediment at RM15 each.

生记栈红糟屋

They also sell home made tapai/ 酒饼

Besides chicken mee suah, they also have pork or rib mee suah!

Yummy pumpkin soup that Bing finished for his lunch.

Pretty difficult to find this shop.

How can one ever miss savouring a plate of kam pua noodles at sitiawan? Underneath the big tree, as the locals call it, nestle the most delicious noodles. The generous portion of caramel sauce with lean char siew goes really well with their signature sambal. All these goodness for RM3.60 only.

Lee Chuo restaurant 

Heading south, we then stopped at teluk intan.

The famous clock tower. Needs repainting though. A bit of history about the leaning tower.

We soon realise that most good things in Perak are located in the remote areas. Following the crowd, we managed to locate

新裕香糕饼厂 Sin Joo Heong Confectionery
It's famous for its Harimau brand Heong Peah and lotus seed paste cookies.

Extremely cripsy with fragrant taste of sesame.

Look at the crowd! 

They have the classic Heong peah, durian Heong peah and tau sar peah.

We then bought pao from
Yik Mun at Tanjung Malim.. Interesting flavors include kaya, curry chicken, red bean and curry minced beef. Personally still prefer Sri Jaya Pao. 

Last stop of the day was Ken Kee at Batang Kali. It's famous for its claypot yam pork rib braised noodles. Unique taste but not my cup of tea. Kind of pricey at RM13 per pax.

Their signature dishes all summarised on their wall.

Got home just in time to prepare for work on Monday. Looking forward to next holiday!

Pangkor- a planned weekend getaway

Baby Bing is indeed quite lucky to travel to so many places at such a young age. My first time to pangkor island as well to attend a close friend's wedding.

We drove from kl to lumut jetty. Ferries there leave every 30 minutes. The journey took about 30 to 40 minutes.

So lucky to have my friend arrange a huge and awesome homestay within walking distance to the beach adjacent to SMK Pangkor overlooking Pangkor Laut resort. Houses here have a shower head and tap outside the house just to show how much they love the beach.

We had a great time hanging out at Pasir Bogak beach. Swimming and building sand castles were Bing's favorite. He's not even scared when his feet were buried underneath the sand.

Great afternoon playing with water sports. It's actually my first time! Rm60 for 4 rides per pax by Mr Beh in front of sea view Resort. He also organised snorkeling trips to nearby islands for RM30 per pax. Started off with banana boat. Jumped off the boat when Angie lost balance and fell off. But couldn't use my strength to get back on because I was too weak from laughing too hard. Hubby's turn to get into the bumpy sofa ride in a srmi squatting position. And the last leg we got to get on the Superman in a prone position. Got an abrasion on my left elbow as a memory of how thrilling these games were. Not for the faint hearted.

Mr Beh asked us to advertise his water sports

Intoxicated by their romance

The evening ended with a romantic wedding ceremony and buffet dinner at Sea view Resort. The best sunset one can ever bargain for on their big day. Funny how everyone turned out to be extremely drunk but safely back home at last. The only sober person was the breastfeeding mother :p

Sekinchan half day trip

En route to Pangkor, we decided to stop by Sekinchan. This is Bing and my first time to Sekinchan.

I must say it's not easy to find the entrance as there's lots of roadworks and there's a lack of signage. 

After a hearty breakfast at Ri Ri Fatt restaurant, we headed to this antique shop called Granny's house which sold various local delicacies including homemade kuih kapit.

There was also an automated machine churning out fresh rice crackers.

The shop was decorated just like a simple wooden village house.

We were also lucky to witness golden ripe paddy field being harvested. The left hay were stacked up in the field.

 We also visited Sekinchan rice factory. We were briefed about details from planting to processing rice.

RM5 per adult entrance ticket with a small packet of rice as door gift.

Ended our journey at Redang Beach lunching at a temporary seafood stall savouring stir fry prawns and deep fry squid.



Half day well spent! With baby Bing totally exhausted after the visit ending with a 2 and half hours nap. 

Cream cheese bread- home made in bread maker

Since acquiring my Kenwood BM250 bread maker, we don't buy bread anymore.

This is one of our favorite recipes

Place these ingredients into the bread pan in sequence

320ml water
475g bread flour (we use a combination of high protein four and wholemeal flour from the Bake hut)
125g cream cheese (we use Tatura oz brand)
20g milk powder (we use Fernleaf)
40g butter (we don't believe in margarine or butter spread)
30g sugar
2tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp yeast (we use mauripan instant yeast)

Be careful to separate yeast with sugar to allow the dough to rise perfectly.

Set the machine to 4 sweet bread, 1kg loaf and medium crust.



Tada. Wonderful fresh loaf

Little sidewalk cafe

Rarely do we get to have breakfast out during the weekend due to our busy on call schedules. Hubby scrolled through his offpeak app and decided we should give this cafe a try.

Here's their Facebook page
Little sidewalk cafe. It started off as a pub.

It's a bit tricky to get to the place because of the constructions happening around East coast mall but we managed to arrive at the stipulated time. Spacious cafe and suitable for children with clean baby chair. But customers are allowed to smoke as it's outdoor.

As advertised, the curry noodle here is a must try. Thick gravy with sinful coconut milk and fragrant lemongrass, it awakens your senses and appetite. Great combination with stuffed tofu and vege made on the spot.

The dried noodles tasted kind of bland. But it tasted superb once mixed with the curry gravy! Maybe the cafe chef can consider this new combination.

Top all this up with a cup of thick aromatic cam (coffee mixed with black tea sweetened by condensed milk)

By the time we finished savouring our breakfast, the place was already packed with hungry visitors.

And we got 10% off the bill using offpeak. Will definitely come for the curry again.

The extraordinary pan mee@Jin's cafe 香醋面粉糕

I have always been fascinated by the wonderful flavor of pan mee. Mommy used to cook it every week. The huge bowl of chewy pasta mixed with the fragrance of egg. Anchovies based soup completed with smooth meatballs and fresh tiger prawns, not forgetting the wonderful fried shallots and more anchovies!

I'm quite lucky that a lot of restaurants in kuantan do sell pan mee. However, most of them are too salty and too heavy on ajinomoto.

I have just realised this hidden gem very recently.

香醋面粉糕面子书

It's so popular that one actually has to call for the chef to reserve some pasta because it sells like hot cakes.

The soup based pan mee has to be taken with vinegar. According to the owner, half a tablespoon. But to me it has to be a big spoonful. It really brings out the flavor. The special chili paste is a must try.

The dried version is heavy in flavor with the taste of pork lard.

One can also order clam cooked in Chinese shaoxing wine and ginger soup. The clams or lalas are cooked to perfection and fresh.

Heavenly taste, nice ambience, good service and affordable price. Will definitely be one of my favorite hang out place in kuantan.

Korean food bonanza

First time trying out Seoul Garden at East coast mall. Wanted to buy in laws a meal to thank them for taking care of baby Bing when we were away. Was surveying between Manhattan fish market and black canyon as well but decided to have Korean lunch instead.

                       

Seafood kimchi soup hot pot
Kimchi not too overpowering. Generous portion of seafood consisting of prawns, scallops,  tofu, enoki mushroom and glass noodles.



Chicken miso soup hotpot
Soup slightly on the salty side. Soothing combination with tofu, enoki mushroom and glass noodles


Each set comes with 2 rice and 2 beverages. We ordered lemonade.

And who would have thought that Korean food in India would taste so scrumptious? Hae Kum Gang can be hard to find, lost in the hustle bustle of Bangalore.And this restaurant is recommended by our cousin in law.

This was our first meal after my exam. We ordered a sushi platter. Sushi there was slightly heavier for the amount of rice. And Indians don't really eat wasabi because we had to ask the waiter to top up again and again. The fried chicken was marinated thoroughly and tasty to the bones. Of course there's my favorite soondubu jjigae. The kimchi soup tasted heavenly with the tofu.

I'll probably gain kilos if given the chance to visit Korea.