” Uncle Soon Guan (SG) became a Chartered Accountant to avoid inheriting his father’s business as a noodle vendor which gives only a tough life.

He grew up with operators of all kind of street food (his father’s friends), which has given him an extensive knowledge and love for the subject. ”

From a Cameron Highland website I came to know about this world famous café, the T café. Its along Main Road, Tanah Rata above Marrybrown the fast food restaurant through a side entrance.

On the Saturday we arrived at lunch time, quite a number of tables were full, its business better than the fast food place downstairs. Service was fast. Owner, Terese came to wait on us. Came prepared we wasted no time placing our order. The four of us had chicken chop western style, lamb chop and veg burger, strawberry fruity scone and the original plain scone and slices of chocolate cake and apple pie. Besides a strawberry flavored tea we tried a highly recommended mango Lassi. We did not order soups and many other local fried noodles, available in the menu.

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” Uncle Soon Guan (SG) became a Chartered Accountant to avoid inheriting his father’s business as a noodle vendor which gives only a tough life.

He grew up with operators of all kind of street food (his father’s friends), which has given him an extensive knowledge and love for the subject. ”

There are two traditional Balinese dishes one should not miss when in Bali – one is Babi Guling, roast pork and the other Bebek Betutu, smoked duck. The word Guling comes from the way the pig is being barbecued, by rotating it “ guling” over the fire. Many types of Balinese spices are stuffed inside of the pig to roast. They include chopped garlic, ginger, candlenut, turmeric, coriander seeds, chilli padi and shallots. (more…)

I know what is a good wan tan mee as I have eaten it from the stall as the son of a wan tan mee vendor for close to half a century and have been an assistant to my father from young till late teens.

Wan tan mee can be rated by its components making up of the soup, the noodle, char siew and wantan. In the early days wan tan mee does not have curry soup, it was either the dry or soup version. Also, the prawn dumpling or sui kow, roasted meats, mushroom and stewed chicken feet, stew beef, stewed pork ribs, dried curry chicken, prawn wantan and many other add-ons found these days are later years’ additions.

These days a good wan tan mee could only be found at street stalls, usually manned by an old couple who have plied the trade for 40-50 years or the second generation of the family. The ones at food courts run by foreign workers I will avoid.

A good soup should be clear and smell strongly of ikan bilis and dried flounder fish meat. The soup will be deliciously sweet. Ikan bilis are of several grades and stalls usually use a cheaper quality which is big and have a flaky silvery skin. To avoid the flaking ikan bilis skin and have a clear soup, the ikan bilis has to be put into a cloth bag and tied at one end. So, if you see a blackish bloated bag floating in the soup, be assured that it is ikan bilis soup you are getting. Some stalls use pork bones and the soup can be easily recognized as it is milky white in colour. I prefer the clear soup. If neither of this is used then beware – it is monosodium glutamate that they are using. This you can observe when they spoon into the soup soya sauce laden with the msg. For ikan bilis soup no further flavoring is needed.

Wan tan noodle in Kuala Lumpur these days are not made by the noodle seller but at some small supplier factories. In smaller towns where demand cannot sustain a noodle supplier, the wan tan noodle seller makes his own. The noodles are available in various grades dependent on the quantity of eggs used. The more eggs are in the noodle, hence more expensive, the springier it will be. This grade, in Cantonese, “chin tan meen” meaning only eggs ( used in the ) noodle. Springy noodles with thinner strands are the better noodles. Generally, the thinner noodles you see are the noodles that are springy. Only established stalls have this grade of noodles.

Char siew or barbecue pork is usually dyed red but there are those marinated with thick black soya sauce. I much prefer the latter as it is probably healthier without the chemical dye. Good char siew should not be made with lean meat but instead has substantial fat. Its called half fat and thin, literally translating from Cantonese “poon fei sau”. Besides being moist, the oiliness from the fat gives the meat its juicy texture. If you are afraid of the fatty meat you are not eating a good char siew. The meat is usually marinated with salt, sugar and five spice powder besides the colorant which will come from either the thick black sauce or the red dye.

In Malaysia the Muslim market is a big one and food court uses chicken meat for the halal version of char siew. The lean chicken meat is not so tasty. The seasonings used I suspect is different.

Nowadays many stalls fry cook their char siew in a wok. This is a short cut and the end product is not roasted meat which the char siew is. Such char siew is usually not moist and taste more like woody fibre. The best char siew is roasted in an oil drum with both ends removed and over a strong kerosene fire. This char siew comes in the long strips when roasted. Parts of the strips will have burnt ends called in Cantonese, char siew tow meaning char siew head. Some connoisseurs asked for a separate plate of these burnt char siew as the bitter burnt taste can be delicious, ignoring health advice that burnt meat can be carcinogenic.

The wantan skin does not require any special ingredient except flour. A thick skin will slow cooking and taste of too much of flour. The minced pork used should have some fatty bits as just lean meat does not taste good. Machine mincing the meat is not as good as chopping it manually. The former method gives you a paste whilst the other method let you taste the pork better with its unevenness and fatty bits. Many good stalls use the dried flounder fish meat as an ingredient in the wan tan. The fish meat which comes dried is roasted over a low fire and than grounded roughly. However, these days they can buy them ground and in a tin.

Boiling wantan requires hot boiling water so that it is quickly cooked. Slow cooking melts and soften the skin and the wantan does not look and taste freshly made. Some operators when they are busy ignore changing the boiling water and accumulated flour from cooking much noodles and wantan make the water slimy and thick. This will also form a film and mask the wantan’s taste. Those who pre-cook their wantan makes them soggy and unattractive to eat.

Sometimes you get deep fried wantan. I believe they originated from excess wantan from a previous day that could still be sold by deep frying them. Only the freshly fried ones taste nice. This item has found its way in hotels as items in tim sum, starters in a banquet and buffet line.

The sui kow, a bigger version of the wantan with more ingredients and considered a family member of wantan noodle. I love the delicious prawn in big chunks found in it. Other ingredients include bits of water chest nut for its crunchiness and thinly sliced black fungus for its crunchiness and rubbery texture. Chopped spring onion and chopped carrot are also included. There is a version of sui kow without prawns for those who do not eat prawns because of cholesterol fear.

The oil used to mix the noodles should preferably be pork lard as it is more fragrant than other oils. Using pork lard only requires some soya and thick black sauce. There is no need for oyster sauce. Some use a mixture of oyster sauce, soya sauce, sometimes gravy from char siew and msg in the gravy spooned in after mixing with the black sauce. I do not like the latter mixture.

Sawi or mustard leaf vegetable in its full length not cut into shorter pieces is the traditional greens added to the noodle. Some use baby kai lan but this is at the more pricy places. A very important accompaniment is green pickled chillies. Freshly made chillies is revealed by its crunchiness and the clear vinegar water in which it is kept in. Popular stalls where the turnover is high prepares their pickled chillies daily.

Chuah Soon Guan

Pakcik Zul has been selling satay for 30 years. His satay is reputed to be the best in Kuantan. There is a huge crowd every night from 6 pm. Takeaway is very popular. Because of this certain items can be sold out very early. It is a popular outlet and waiting is expected. Starting from a stall on the five foot way he has now expanded into a shoplot with dining areas on ground level and first floors of two shoplots, fully airconditioned on the top floors.

In addition to the usual meats of chicken, beef, mutton, beef liver and beef stomach it also has venison. The meats are at 60 sen whilst the organ meats are at 50 sen a stick. One portion of the coconut leaf jacketed rice, called nasi impit here is RM2.00. It does not come in the usual coconut leaf jacket but just a square chunk with no wrapping, which is convenient. A portion of cucumber and onion slices is RM 1.00. This inexpensive meal can be a good substitute for a Western grill in such bad times where savings is so much. Eating satay with cold beer and wine will be so good but for this you need to takeaway as no alcohol can be found in any satay eatery.

The amount of meat is much more than the average street satay in Kuala Lumpur but not too much like in some fast food satay franchises. The satay are freshly made in four long grills outside the shop by the five foot way. At night you could see the bright lights of the burning charcoals and the takeaway crowd near it as you approach the shop. For any satay the sauce is very important. Unlike most other places, the sauce has little peanut chunky bits as most of the nut has been grounded. The sweet spicy sauce has a subtle taste and is very good on its own. You will need a refill.

We saw many tables ordering the kampong fried rice. I was right in ordering one too. The rice which has just the right amount of oil has generous bits of chicken meat and squid. Shallots, chopped coriander and egg are the other ingredients. Seldom seen in fried rice are several strands of kang kong which gives the dish an interesting design, texture and taste. Thinly sliced cucumber is left on one side. I thoroughly enjoyed this dish.

Satay Zul is at A2600 Jalan Alor Akar 25250 Kuantan. This road branches from the main Jalan Teluk Sisek that starts from Teluk Chempadak where the very popular Kuantan beach is. If you come from the beach the road is at the second traffic light. The burning charcoal grills and crowd outside the shop cannot be missed.

Chuah Soon Guan

Uncle Soon Guan (SG) became a Chartered Accountant to avoid inheriting his father’s business as a noodle vendor which gives only a tough life.

He grew up with operators of all kind of street food (his father’s friends), which has given him an extensive knowledge and love for the subject.

During Chinese New Year 2009 we spent a few days at Hyatt Kuantan and ate Malay food as Chinese food places were closed. Using The Star Food guide we went to Restoran R&R at 54 Jalan Besar and Satay Zul at the Jalan Teluk Sisek and Jalan Alor Akar intersection.

Jalan Sisek starts from Hyatt Kuantan at Teluk Chempadak, the most popular beach in Pahang. It meets with Jalan Besar in town. Shophouses along Jalan Besar are pre-war two storey shophouses of more than 80 years old, all of which still have thriving businesses.

This Malay restoran is more than 11 years old. It was opened by a couple who previously worked in Kuala Lumpur in totally unrelated trades. Rahman was in hospitality whilst Rabina, in language. The restaurant’s name takes after their names. Voted as the only Malay eatery in Kuantan with the highest 3 star by The Star Food Guide they must have employed the best Malay tukang masak ( cook in Bahasa Malay ) in Pahang.

On our first day we lunched on Malay authentic food and their daily spread features more than 30 dishes. We tried curry tenggiri, cow tripe with bamboo shoots in curry, beef liver, daun manis ( used in pan mee ), curried eggs and ox bony meat in clear soup. The soup was hot and the longer it stewed it tasted better. The eggs were not hard boiled but were cracked into the boiling curry to cook. That way it absorbed more of the curry flavor.

As it was the breakfast that we wanted to target, we return the next morning but not early enough at 8.30 am. They open at 7.45 pm but because of the locals’ preferred takeaways, one of their specialty Laksa Pahang was sold out. We tried Lemping Nyiur, Nasi Kerabu and Pulut Uban.

Lemping Nyiur

This is a fluffy savory coconut pancake shaped like roti canai and pan fried in the same manner. It cost a RM1 apiece. Other ingredients are egg and flour. A traditional breakfast fare in the East Coast kampong, it is eaten with sardine sambal like many other dishes due to the abundance of fresh fish from the sea.

Nasi Kerabu

In R&R Restoran, apart from the wok fried grated coconut, there is raw beansprouts garnished with chopped coriander which give the dish a crunchy texture and healthy freshness.

Pulut Uban

Another traditional breakfast fare available at Restoran R&R is Pulut Uban. It is steamed glutinous rice covered with grated coconut in a small pyramid shape, eaten with a few types of fried and salted fishes. This is another inexpensive savory breakfast item not found in Kuala Lumpur.

With another dish of beef rending which we saw hot in a wok, a piece of kueh and two coffee the total bill for a breakfast for two came to RM9 only. At the hotel the buffet breakfast would easily be ten times this amount. So, in such bad economy, do seek out good street food as not only are we contributing to our fellow Malaysians’ businesses, it ease pockets too

-SG