The previous time there's a wedding here, my relatives reside at Sunway Putra Hotel (I didn't go). Since we prefer to travel on Orange Coach, it's either that or Frenz Hotel. Sunway Putra is a 4-star hotel and has a shopping mall below but we much prefer staying at Frenz Hotel, which is located right smack in the heart of Masjid India district.
Frenz Hotel is a 3-star hotel and is very small. However considering that it's still new, the facilities are still in great condition. Breakfast spread at the ZamZam restaurant below was a tad mediocre, though. But my aunt claim that food still fare better that the much luxurious hotel they stayed at previously.
Of course, when we are at the heart of the shopping district, we just go to do some shopping, right? Went around checking out the various shawls and hijabs. We went to the nearby SOGO Mall almost everyday. And the stretch of road at Jalan TAR is closed on every Saturday for a bazaar, where stalls flanked 2 sides of the streets, selling things from clothes to accessories to drinks and of course… FOOD!
That evening, I was apprehensive about bringing my kiddo out with me but my parents were heading over to the wedding venue to mingle with our relatives so I didn't have a choice. Thankfully, I brought the stroller. Kiddo did some running around, then kicked a bit of fuss. He later asked to be 'buckled up'.
Next thing I knew, he was fast asleep. Weehooo…! Freedom! To shop!
I had a blast at the Saturday bazaar along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman (TAR), Masjid India area. Never mind that I had to navigate the stroller at the crowded street. I also had great, understanding company in the form of my cousin Tim and aunt, who are a bit of a shopping and food fanatic themselves.
The 3 of us were actually quite hungry, as we have not had our dinner yet and it was past 8pm. So our hungry selves were much tortured to see sooo much food on display. And the aromas of food being freshly cooked right there…
Guess it's true when they say that we shouldn't shop on a hungry stomach… We end up making many impulsive buys that led to some regrets… Boohoo!
Fried goodies
Fried chicken… fried quails. Various fried, skewered stuff- from fishballs, nuggets, seafood… to beef and chicken offals. Fried everything, lah!
Fried chicken cutlet & fried sausage
Fried chicken cutlet
It's like when we're at those temporary neighbourhood bazar in SG, there were stalls manned by Chinese folks selling these 'XXL Taiwanese Chicken Cutlet'? Yeah, something similar.
Ahh… those are the fried chicken cutlets before they're cut-up, sprinkled with pepper and paprika and packed into paper bags, upon order. just like those Taiwanese styled street snacks. Those sausages are the foot-long, large cheesy chicken sausages.
My cousin Tim was the one who bought this.
Laksa Penang
I think we bought from the wrong stall. I remembered the previous time I was here, there's this particular stall that has a lot of seating area and people were savouring their bowls of these. This one doesn't seem to have that but we bought anyway.
Later on, as we reached the end of the bazaar, we spotted another Penang laksa stall with the said seating area. But we already bought 2 packs from the other stall… Huhu. And when we had a taste later on, it turns out that the laksa wasn't even nice…!! Huuhuu.
The gravy was too diluted, the taste of mackarel/sardines was lacking. And there was nary a hint of 'hae ko'. Did we even get the right type of Penang Laksa??! Pfft.
Popiah basah
My aunt was enticed by these freshly-made 'popiah' (chinese spring rolls). However, as we made our way down the various stalls, we discovered another stall selling much more tentalising popiah! The ones where they have fried shallots sprinkled on top of that sauce.
I suddenly recalled buying from that stall before. And theirs was indeed delish!
True enough, when we had this popiah later on, it wasn't too good. The stewed veggies inside was tasteless and the chilli sauce seemed to lack a key ingredient, which I can't figure out what.
Another bad buy. :(
Lok Lok or celup-celup
While 'Lok lok' is how the Chinese refer to it, 'celup-celup' is the Malay way. Both literally translates to: Dip Dip. You know, like dipping something in sauce…?
Skewers of bite-sized food chosen by customers which are then cooked (most commonly it just by boiling them in some stock?). Some stalls had options like, boiling, grilling or deep-frying in batter). This one had only 1 type of sauce- the spicy peanut one. Some stalls offer many varieties of sauces.
It's akin to Yong Tau Foo- on skewers.
All 3 of us were big fans of these so we looked forward to encountering a stall selling this. When we found it, it appeared to be so popular and crowded that I had no choice but head somewhere that's convenient for me and my sleeping kiddo in the stroller.
Left it to my cousin to choose for me, with parting word that goes something like, "…Choose anything but make sure there's quail eggs and cockles for me!"
My aunt, she chose only for herself and had the sauce poured in together with the skewers of food. She chose enough to feed another person. My cousin asked for the sauce to be packed separately. She meanwhile, chose enough to feed another pair.
The peanut sauce was super spicy!!!! Needless to say, some skewers went to waste.
This is what I meant by, "not buying food when you're VERY hungry".
Kebab
Unlike our authentic 'doner' kebabs prepared by actual middle-eastern guys, the 'kebab' here is merely spiced minced meat cooked on the grill and shoved into hotdog buns before being slathered with chilli sauce and mayonnaise.
Also a messy eat, no less.
My cousin Tim went crazy over these 'Apam Balik'. Similar to crepes- with sprinkles of sugar, ground peanuts and sometimes, cream corn, before being folded over.
Unlike the usualy thick, fluffy ones; those sold here are very thn and definitely crispy. Almost like love letters!
My aunt was searching high and low for this. She even had to ask around. Apparently her mum love this so much and requested it when she know of my aunt's KL trip.
'Kuih Akok' is a traditional Kelantan-ese dessert made of mainly eggs, coconut cream and palm sugar.
Crème caramel
The stall selling the Kuih Akok also sells Crème caramel. Kinda' impressive, huh? My aunt can't resist buying a couple of these to bring back for her family.
Red velvet cake
When my aunt and cousin were at the Lok Lok stall, I hung around near the neighbouring drinks stall. Thirsty me was choosing something to drink and I spotted something strange nestled amongst the canned drinks in the ice box (seen above).
It was something in a jam jar. 2 of them, actually. Looked very, very familiar. Looked a lot like… Red Velvet cake!!
I can't grab it because my sleeping son was at a stall on the other side and I dare not leave him behind. I actually had to toke 2 large strides out just to choose my drink. So when I saw that my aunt was done buying her Lok Lok, I excitedly gestured for her to take those jam jars out and buy them. Pronto!
She was like, "Why? What's that?" I frantically replied with, "Red velvet! Red velvet cake!!"
She went wide-eyed like, "Whaaa...?" And proceed to take the jars out to pay.
Later I saw her putting the jars back into the ice-box. Turns out, those jars belong to someone who left them there to be chilled. The guys at the drinks stall allowed it out of goodwill.
Sigh…That red velvet cake had looked sooo good!
Red velvet cake
A luck would have it, we encountered the person who chilled the cakes there on our return leg from the other end. My gutsy aunt actually approached her to ask that she sell at least one of those to her.
And she conceded!
As it turn out, her stall selling clothes was right next to the drinks stall. She actually bought like 5 or 6 of those Red Velvet jars from someone who baked from home, somewhere in Sentul, KL. Those are the 2 left as she had eaten the rest. That petite lady actually ate soo much?! That cake must have been awesome, right?
Oh, she sold it to my aunt for RM10. Expensive…? We don't mind!!
And it sure is good. The red velvet cake was fuffy and soft and the cream cheese was sweet enough to complement the cake's flavour. It's all just nice. Worth all that hooha.
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After we hauled everything back to the hotel, do we realise that we somehow manage to resist buying the very thing that tempt us the most.
Those skewers of beef steak that's almost like the mid-eastern beef kebabs. The heady aroma of those freshly grilled cubes of black-pepper steaks were so tentalising and we were always drawn to all the stalls selling them. Yet, we never buy any. I wonder why??
Hmm… Does this warrant another visit there?
Auntie Anne's pretzel sticks
Saw this in SOGO and can't resist buying them. I know my mum loves this too. Oh, the eclairs were superb!
Dunkin donuts
Quite an impressive display. Didn't buy any though. We were more enticed by the confectioneries from Four Leaves Bakery located on the same floor.
As we know, the Four Leaves in SG are non Halal-certified. So we were drawn to the many varieties of bread sold there, especially their hot favourite. It was this triple layer triangular chicken ham & cheese sandwich that's coated in egg and breadcrumbs. Yes, fried. Sound good, uhh?
I was looking forward to their chocolate croissants but we came too early and those were't baked yet. Too bad we're departing at 2pm that day itself… Huhu...
Mee Kari
I had this at the mid-point rest stop in Pagoh. I was curious on what this is like. The one in SG has this thick chicken curry gravy.Here, the gravy was a tad diluted. Almost similar to the instant noodles kind.
This bowl had one of the most delish tofu that I ever tasted. Don't know why, maybe they were freshly-made or something? And some fishcakes. I was taken aback to see those yellow egg noodles. Never too fond of those. Never figured out why but after this bowl I think I got my answer…
Those noodles later create havoc in my belly. Big-time flatulence throughout the journey back to SG. Such discomfort is most unwelcome on a long bus ride, thankyouverymuch. Eugh!
And no, this aren't all. There are other foods as well. Food during the wedding and we paid a visit to a much-missed fast food outlet. To be told in another post, yea?
3 comments:
makes me wanna go kl..
@sue … Who doesn't..? I also wanna go back. Maybe take JetStar... Maybe this time gona hit up Pavilion.
yeah yeah agree.. pavilion is food heaven.. hint hint.. book a date? hehehe
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