Street hawkers are uncommon in Singapore yet in Malaysia, they are a dime too many. Infact, I had a field day checking them out and was glad to give up cafe hopping for this.
Fancy rojak at a makeshift cart under the scorching sun anyone?
Also spotted was a soya bean truck that has a number of trucks in other locations.
How about some love from Penang? I'm not sure how chendol and indian rojak would work out together.
This was the elusive stall that had us waiting until 330pm for its grand appearance. Word has it that the kuihs from this uncle's motorcycle is Bangsar's best and it's exact location is infront of Nam Chuan Coffee Shop. How apt.
The uncle wearing a helmet appears out of nowhere (probably somewhere but I did not take notice) and starts putting his stall together.
His wife, presumably, also proceeds to appear out of nowhere - man, I am making them out to be magicians. So then, this white haired sour faced lady is definitely not one to be trifled with, she snaps at me for not having small change, having just opened the stall I was putting them in a difficult position and best of all, not buying enough.
She nagged for a good minute before grugingly giving me my change. PHEW.
What a tyrant, I mused. The man was definitely alot better to deal with, he was quick, a man of few words but had a superb memory. Amongst the growing crowds that gathered around his motorcycle, he bothered to notice who actually came first - and in a system without queues, I marvel at the way his mind works. He even had the patience to explain the types of kuihs to me.
My precious packet costing all of RM 4 plus.
The tip of their iceberg range of kuihs, I never knew so many other types existed and sigh, with just one extra stomach for dessert, I could only spare that much.
These ondehs ondehs were works of mastery, the ratio of skin to gula melaka syrup was near perfect. Any form of unevenness were accepted as part of their handiwork.
Wrapped in banana leaves, I was just told there was coconut stuffing. The texture of the kuih was just the right level of stickiness and not cloying one bit.
Coconut filling without any of that jelardness going on, infact, it was so light and complementary with the kuih, I wish I had space for more!
The tapioca cake was pure bliss, flavours were so natural and barely sweet, the store bought kuihs now taste so synthetic to me.
Hands down, the best kuih eaten and worthy of the household name it has. No signboard, no fuss, no service even, just really good kuih.
Kuih
Outside Restoran Nam Chuan, 2 Lorong Ara Kiri 2, Lucky Garden. RM1 per piece.
Nam Chuan Coffee Shop is possibly the most popular in the whole stretch with customers streaming in at odd hours of the day - including us at 230pm. There are a handful of stalls offering various types of food from pick your own cai png, wan ton mee and even chicken rice. Most of them were already closing for afternoon siesta by the time we decided what to eat.
Nam Chuan Coffee Shop is a gourmet haven and if you only have time and space for one dish, I would strongly recommend Sarawak Laksa.
We were given a coloured mug as an indication that we ordered.
After what seemed like a good wait, this gorgeous plated laksa appeared. By means of gorgeous, I have never had a laksa so beautiful before - they either turn up with a generous scattering of parsley or at best with prawns and the last impressionable one had crayfish.
Aunt Christina's effort is laudable, with the spoon of ingredients and precisely placed chilled prawns on top of the noodle was by no means a simple feat. I feel almost bad dismantleing the hard work.
For a hawker stall, I was astounded by the presentation and definitely flavours displayed in a single dish. Unlike the Penang laksa that packs both savoury and sour notes, the Sarawak version has all of that and a ton of ingredients. The chilld prawns were deliberate for the contrast of hot and cold and boy, that broth was so good, I could get drunk on that alone.
I wonder if authentic Sarawak Laksa tastes this good, or this is the result of close to 50 years of tweaking.
This kopi kosong was possibly the best the caffeine addict had to date in our Malaysian travels. When in Malaysia, head to the kopitiam instead of cafe for good kicks.
Aunt Christina's Sarawak Laka
Nam Chun Coffee Shop
No. 2-4 Lorong Ara Kiri 2
Further down the same stretch is Restoran Sun Huat Kee, another popular smaller scale coffeeshop.
Word has it the pork ball noodles are quite the bomb.
It seems the large version is more worthwhile then!
Going on a food trail meant we had to learn to keep stomach space for the rest of the dishes to come and RM 6 it was. This came with preserved sausages, pork balls and kuay teow soaking in a dark sauced broth.
And that portion of minced meat.
A tad sweet and the noodles thankfully not clumping together, this was a decent dish but not quite worth the hype. That being said, kudos to the younger generation keeping traditions alive.
The other temptations in the coffeeshop include wanton mee and laksa for the game!
Sun Huat Kee
26, Lorong Ara Kiri 2
Now, this was the reason for all the food hunting, the equally elusive sup kambing dude that was well hidden in a corner of Lucky Garden. In fact, we hunted the cart down by sniffing and at 230pm, he shot us a wry smile and told us to return an hour later - the bewitching hour for sup kambing.
Mad about Mutton? You got me.
Next to their famous mutton soup is chicken soup and even nasi briyani.
At 330pm, we gamely made our way to his new position next to the tau huay lorry. The man muses he has been in business for the last 47 years and I quote him - the same stall, the same location.
RM 10 got us a bowl of liquid gold. Nothing fancy, just lamb cutlets in a broth and the amazing part of this was, the lamb bites were peppery and piping hot.
The broth laden with lemon grass and a heap of herbs made this so hearty and that grainy consistency only made this more than just gruel that I have eaten all my life. Joy is wrangling the meat from its scorching bone and slurping a mouth ful of flavourful broth and breaking out into sweat.
Such is bliss, thank you encik for the memorable and possibly the best sup kambing.
Sup Kambing Gerai Maidin
30, Persiaran Ara Kiri
We got lucky at Lucky Garden, hitting a number of food gems and discovering a whole new world beyond nasi lemak and ice kachang that seem so pedestian in comparison.
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