Ipoh, Malaysia: Tortoises, rojak and yong tau fu

You can take the boy out of Ipoh...

There's a palpable sense of excitement as we descend the winding roads of the Cameron Highlands and head towards the town of Ipoh. This is Billy's hometown and since the start of the trip, Billy has not stopped raving about the food of his childhood.

The increase in temperature is apparent as soon as we leave the mountains. Less than ninety minutes later, we reach Sam Poh Tong Chinese Temple, about five kilometres south of the quiet town of Ipoh. We pull open the doors of our air-conditioned van to be hit with a wall of humidity, the backs of our necks immediately prickling in the steaming heat.

Carved deities

Sam Poh Tong was first discovered in 1912, a Chinese Buddhist temple set within a natural limestone hill. Since then, a collection of Buddha statues and religious deities have been placed in and around the caves. The caves are also known by their Malay name, Perak Tong.

A wizened old woman hovers at the entrance with large wilted bundles of kang kong water spinach. Billy immediately buys a bunch and I'm confused about its purpose until we walk through the caves and enter the rear gardens. There we find an enclosure holding a hundred or so tortoises, swimming lazily in the concrete pond or seeking refuge in the shade.

Tortoises like kang kong

We fling stalks of kang kong over the metal fence that separates us from the tortoises -- they immediately stir into action once they realise food is on offer. Their wrinkly necks crane this way and that as they shuffle in our direction, their leathery wrinkly limbs moving slowly but with resolute determination.

The tortoises eat the leaves first, chomping away hungrily until the stalk is stripped bare. As they come closer to where we're standing, it's fascinating to hear them eating, the sound of mechanical crunching that continues unabated.

Tortoise party

The tortoises make short work of the green vegetables, and with only the debris of massacred stalks left behind, they shuffle back to the pond and slip into the water to cool off.

Tortoise says hi

Statue

An award-winning landscaped garden at the front of temple holds tranquil fish ponds, miniature bonsai scenes with tiny figures and and an ornate red pavilion.

Pebble path for barefoot reflexology therapy

Next door we find more gardens as well as an intriguing path made of pebbles set in concrete. Billy explains that locals use these paths as a form of reflexology, walking on them barefoot to stimulate pressure points in the feet.

Billy sets off barefoot - the trick, his father taught him, is to walk slowly and with even pressure. He's squawking with pain within seconds. Minh and I aren't game to go barefoot, but even with thongs on, we can feel the sharp unforgiving edges of the pebbles through the rubber soles.

We set off for Ipoh proper and soon find ourselves outside Billy's family's hardware shop. Hardware stores look the same the world over - a jumble of brooms and plastic hoses hanging from the ceiling, an army of paint tins along one wall, and an eclectic assortment of buckets, pipes and plastics jumbled out the front.

Billy's parents are gentle and quiet and full of smiles and it's a lovely moment when son is reunited with family on home soil.

But really, neither Billy nor his parents are ones for sentimental dilly-dallying. Once we are all introduced, Billy asks with insistence, "Where can we eat?"

Kedai Kopi Kwong Hong

Help-yourself fixings for noodle soup

We're not particularly hungry in this heat, but Billy's parents suggest we try the fish cake shop a few doors down. It's always busy, they say, and apparently some people drive an hour just to eat there, they add with incredulity.

My eyes immediately light up as we come closer. The tables outside are scattered with shallow tins holding an assortment of fried items. Almost everything has fish paste, and everything has been deliciously baptised in hot oil.

Fried wonton wrappers with fish paste inside

Customers make their own selection, using tongs to transfer items to a plastic bowl.

Snake beans and eggplant stuffed with fish paste

Fish paste in chillis

Fried bean curd skins with fish paste

Inside are all the raw items, fresh vegetables and tofu all stuffed, smothered or sandwiched with, yes, fish paste. The range is impressive - you can stick fish paste on anything. This style of dish is known as yong tao fu which translates as tofu stuffed with fish paste. These days, however, the term yong tao fu refers to any vegetable or derivative of bean curd stuffed with fish paste.

Bitter melon slices stuffed with fish paste

Oyster mushrooms with fish paste

Watercress bundles daubed with fish paste

Baby Chinese vegetables with fish paste

Billy takes charge and gathers an assortment for us to eat. There's a queue at the register and whilst our personalised orders of noodles are dispensed into bowls, and our raw vegetables plunged into soup, Billy and I head back out to the street for an entree snack.

Rojak stall

Our first encounter with rojak in Malaysia had been disappointing - a flavourless travesty, Billy had lamented. The rojak in Ipoh is much better, he had reassured us.

The streetside rojak stall is a simple cart decorated with a few hanging hands of bananas. The stallholder sets to work quickly, chopping fat chunks of jicama, cucumber and pineapple mid-air over a pot. He adds raw bean sprouts and thick discs of prawn cracker which he snaps into shards. Everything is smothered with the thickest darkest rojak sauce you could imagine, a sprinkle of crushed peanuts the final garnish.

Large rojak RM5 (about AU$1.80)

Bliss. We return to the table with our takeaway plate and dig into this with gusto. There's the crunch of raw vegetables, the sweet and salty sauce with tamarind and shrimp paste, the juiciness of pineapple, a humming background of chilli and the delight of deep-fried prawn crackers.

Kopi ais iced coffee and

Black and White, soy milk with grass jelly strips

Cold drinks are sucked greedily through straws. Iced coffees in Malaysia are always super strong and accordingly sweet. Black and White is the colloquial name for soy milk served with strips of herbal grass jelly.

Barley drink with gingko nuts

My drink turns out to be a warm soup, barley water and cooked barley grains served with creamy gingko nuts.

Chicken feet

Chicken feet cooked in soy are topped with fresh shallots and a heavy dusting of white pepper. The chicken feet are enormous, and we take our time to prise the puffed up skin and crunchy tendons from the knobbly network of bones.

Fish balls and stuffed vegetables

And lunch is served! A parade of plastic bowls is delivered to our table, one holds all our deep-fried goodies, the other has a clear soup with fish balls bobbing alongside vegetables engorged with fish paste.

Rice noodles

Ipoh, Billy intones with seriousness, is famous for its hor fun rice noodles. It really is. The hardness of the water here is said to create rice noodles that are unparalleled in softness.

The slippery noodles are extraordinarily smooth, gliding effortlessly down the throat and into our appreciative bellies. The fish paste is also a pleasure, sweet and light in texture without any rubbery bounciness you associate with commercial products. We alternate between crunching on fried bits of wonton, slurping on noodles and drinking the clear chicken and prawn soup.

There's also plenty of distraction with the rojak. It's the best we will find in Malaysia.

By the meal's end, we survey the litter of empty bowls and plates, and the mounds of chicken bones formed into little piles on the table. If this is Ipoh food, we can't wait for more.

Mix of rice noodles, vermicelli and egg noodles

Locals enjoying lunch

(and wondering about the five obvious tourists who are freakily photographing their meal)

And yes, photo size has increased for this post. Your eyes are not playing tricks on you!

> Read the next Malaysia 2010 post  (Ipoh night markets)

< Read the first Malaysia 2010 post (Kuala Lumpur)

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Sam Poh Tong Temple

Gunung Rapat, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

Kedai Kopi Kwong Hong

684 Main Road

Gunung Rapat 31350, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

Tel: +60 (12) 506 3296

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 12noon-5pm (closed Mondays)

> Read the next Malaysia 2010 post  (Ipoh night markets)

< Read the first Malaysia 2010 post (Kuala Lumpur)

Abhi's Indian Restaurant, North Strathfield

Pappadums $2.80 per serve

with side dish platter of mango chutney, raita and kachumber $6.80

The joy of the pappadum.

There's a happy sense of joy about snapping the thin crisp disc of pappadum into jagged shards, surveying the little pots of cucumber and yoghurt raita,mango chutney and tomato and onion kachumber set in front of you. The biggest decision is which one to eat first, and next, and more of, and more.

After eating at Aki's in Woolloomooloo, I'm curious to check out its older and less more traditional sibling Abhi's in North Strathfield. The stretch of shops is short here. We walk past two big-name pizza outlets operating side-by-side before we push open the door to the ambient surrounds of Abhi's.

There's no spectacular view, no gentle lapping of water and no squawking seagulls overhead. Instead we find a dining that's surprisingly busy, mostly families or groups of friends, a few couples seated by the wall, their attention solely on the food and the company.

Bhindi jaipuri $18.80

I'm tempted to order the palak patta chaat I'd adored at Aki's, but in the interests of further research we order the bhindi jaipuri from the Specials menu instead. Described as "crispy okra fingers", I expect to whole okra but am surprised to find them sliced into lengths and deep-fried. The batter, made with rice flour and chickpea flour, is crunchy and spiced and the dish is initially addictive but a little too oily by the time we've snacked on half the plate. I do find myself wishing I could have bitten into a whole okra so I could relish the slight stickiness of the seeds inside.

Mixed tandoori platter $24.80

The mixed tandoori platter is a popular option this evening, appearing on several tables around us. Seekh kebabs are a mixture of lamb mince with black cumin seeds, mace, ginger, black pepper, coriander and fresh green chillies.

I prefer the hariyali chops, lamb cutlets marinated in pureed spinach, coriander, chickpea flour and green chillies. The meat is tender and coaxing it from the bone is a satisfying task.

Chicken tikka is a little drier off the bone, but there's plenty of flavour in the free range fillets, marinated in yoghurt with mace and ginger and cooked in the tandoor until the edges have caramelised.

Goa fish curry $24.80

A gentle prod with a fork proves that the barramundi fillets in the Goa fish curry are perfectly cooked. The sauce, thick and creamy with coconut, is fragrant with coriander, cumin and turmeric. The fish flakes easily and we mop up the sauce with basmati rice and torn bits of garlic naan, fluffy with a crisp edge on the bottom.

Plain basmati rice $2.90 per person

Garlic naan $3.50

Ennai kathrikai $17.80

Our vegetarian dishes are the last to arrive and I enjoy these the most. Ennai kathrikai consists of fat chunks of young eggplant, smoky and unctious, served in a spicy cashew and peanut coconut sauce. Thick slices of banana chile provide crunch.

Paneer pasanda $17.80

Paneer is always a favourite. We find generous wads of this homemade cotttage cheese in the paneer pasanda. The mild cheese takes on all the flavours of the sauce, a combination of cashews, tomatoes, onion and cumin hiding slices of green capsicum.

The layering of spices is impressive in all of our dishes, and we take our time to contrast and appreciate the complexity of each one.

Double-ka-meetha $10.80

The double-ka-meetha, we are told, is a regal dessert that is an essential part of every Hyderabadi wedding, a city and former state known for its obsession with fine food. Two triangles of bread are fried and then soaked in a syrup of rosewater, honey and cardamom.

Essentially a bread pudding, there's a slightly oily aftertaste that's helped by the scoop of rose petal ice cream that is light and refreshing. A small adornment of edible leaf is a decadent touch.

Gulam jamun $10.80

Gulab jamun are quite large in size, but oddly served already sliced in half. It means they're not as swollen or heavy with syrup, but the milk dumplings are still rich and satisfying, spiced with cardamom and sprinkled with pistachio.

Chai tea is the ideal drink to complete our meal and aid digestion, stronger in brew than the we'd had at Aki's, and aromatic with cinnamon, cloves, star anise and ginger. It's a soothing finish to dinner where the only breeze you'll find here is the ease of parking. Always a good thing.

> Don't forget to check out Freebie Friday this week for a dining giveaway at Aki's Indian Restaurant.

Grab Your Fork dined as a guest of Abhi's Indian Restaurant

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Abhi's Indian Restaurant

163 Concord Road

North Strathfield, Sydney

Tel: +61 (02) 9743 3061

Opening hours:

Lunch Sunday to Friday from 12 noon

Dinner Monday to Sunday from 6pm

Related Grab Your Fork posts:

Aki's Indian Restaurant, Woolloomooloo

North Strathfield - Gorkha Palace (Nepalese)

North Strathfield - Outback Steakhouse (American)

Indian - Faheem Fast Food, Enmore (Jul09) and (Oct05)

Indian - Janani, Homebush (Oct05) and (Jul05)

Indian - Viva Goa, Pyrmont

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia: Caterpillar fungus, Brinchang Markets and assam laksa

"They're worms!" we cry out to Billy as we lean in closer to inspect.

Billy laughs. They're actually caterpillar fungus, a parasite that attacks hibernating caterpillar larvae and taps into its circulatory system. The fungus starves the larvae, enveloping the insect and taking on its shape until it is effectively mummified.

The Chinese call it dong chong chao. With a long list of reputed antibacterial and therapeutic properties, it's a highly prized and valuable medicine.

Here at the local fruit and vegetable market in Brinchang, Malaysia, the caterpillar fungus are spread in huge piles on sheets of tarpaulin on the ground. It's day five of our recent Malaysia/Thailand trip and all of us are keen to explore the local markets.

The morning markets are quiet, with only a few locals wandering between stalls, but there's plenty of fresh produce, and the high-altitude backdrop of the Cameron Highlands make for a spectacular setting.

Local fruit and vegetable market in Brinchang, Cameron Highlands

Habanero chillies

Cameron Apple

The Cameron Apple is actually a South American native fruit, also known as a pepino, melon pear or tree melon. We didn't get a chance to try any but apparently it tastes like a cross between a cucumber, rockmelon and honeydew.

Local strawberries 1/2kg for RM10 (about AU$3.60)

The strawberries are plentiful, plastic trays of fruit huddled around old-fashioned scales in hospital green.

Strawberry umbrellas

And where there are strawberries, there are strawberry souvenirs. We found strawberry cushions, ear muffs, hats, gloves and socks throughout our travels in the region. Here at the market, strawberry-patterned umbrellas hang above tables filled with tomatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, sweet potato and mangosteen.

Market stall operators

Sweet potato balls 8 pieces for RM2 (about AU$0.72)

The sweet potato balls were addictive, a small orange cube coated a thick batter that was deep-fried, covered with toffee and sprinkled with crunchy sesame seeds.

Steamed corn RM2.50 (about AU$0.90)

Local market-goers

Having completed our morning exercise -- the calorific benefits of strolling should never be underestimated -- we head back into the van and look for breakfast.

Uncle Chow Kopitiam

"Let's go to Uncle Chow's!" I yell from the backseat, having just spotted a sign on the side of the road. A professionally printed sign in chocolate brown points the way to the kopitiam, or coffee shop.

There are lots of signs to follow, we discover, a game that sees us peering through windows trying to spot the next road marking to caffeinated sustenance.

Uncle Chow Kopitiam

It's still early when we arrive but Uncle and Aunty Chow are bright and chirpy. The laminated menu offers three set specials as well as heartier fare like nasi lemak (RM7.90/AU$2.80), mee hoon soup (RM7.90/AU$2.80), toasted tuna sandwich (RM7/AU$ chicken congee (RM6/AU$2.15) and fried kuey teow (RM6 /AU$2.15).

Value Meal Set A RM5 (about AU$1.80)

Roti bakar with butter and kaya, two soft boiled eggs and kopi

Set A, ordered by Minh, is one of the best value meals - two slices of roti bakar, or toast, served with butter, kaya, two soft boiled eggs and coffee.

Soft boiled eggs are one of those comfort food dishes that most Malaysians adore. The eggs are not so much soft-boiled as barely set. The egg whites are so runny they are more like a milky soup, with two lustrous orbs of golden egg yolk shimmering just below the surface. It's a strange concept to deal with at first, but once you season the eggs with soy sauce, salt and lots of white pepper, the mixture is perfect for dipping in torn shards of toast - a Malaysian version of "dippy eggs" or boiled eggs and soldiers. Bursting the skin of the egg yolk is always the best part.

Roti bakar with butter and kaya RM2 (about AU$0.70)

Kaya toast was a revelation for me on my first visit to Singapore last year. Unlike the ones I'd sampled there, the toast at Uncle Chow's is thick and fluffy. Personally I find this upsets the optimal butter and kaya to toast ratio. My ideal version of kaya toast involves super thin slices of crunchy toast, slices of cold butter and lashings of rich pandan-flavoured kaya coconut jam.

The components here create a more moderate affair, the kaya jam more of a caramel flavour than eggy custard. I eat it all regardless.

Kopi-O RM1.80 (about AU$0.65)

A dark brown pool of coffee is heaven to any caffeine addict. Malaysians tend to drink their coffee extra sweet - in a Kopi-O, a pool of condensed milk at the bottom of the cup is mixed into the drink by a quick stir with the spoon. The intense sweetness of condensed milk is an addictive counterbalance to the bitterness of coffee.

Har mee RM7.90 (about AU$2.90)

Forget about cereals or fat-free grapefruit for breakfast. Is there anything better than a hearty bowl of noodles for your first meal of the day?

Billy's har mee is a prawn noodle soup with a rich stock made from prawn heads. Shreds of chicken, strips of tofu and silky tubes of kangkong water spinach intermingle with prawns and noodles in a fragrant seafood soup.

Curry laksa RM7.90 (about AU$2.90)

Curry laksa is not for the faint-hearted, particularly first thing in the morning. Specks of chilli oil dot the surface of the spicy coconut soup. Sprigs of mint rest on top of deep-fried tofu puffs, fish balls and rice noodles. There are plenty of things going on here, although Simon wishes it were spicier.

Assam laksa RM7.90 (about AU$2.90)

I've saved the best for last - assam laksa. Unlike traditional laksas, assam laksa does not contain any coconut milk or coconut cream. Instead the soup is made using mackerel, tamarind and lemongrass, giving it a distinctive hot and sour flavour.

It's one of my favourite dishes, and I hadn't expected much from this tiny life cafe far from the original home of this dish, Penang.

Rice noodles and assam laksa

It's amazing.

The soup is so thick with chunks of mackerel, it's a murky slurry of deliciousness. Fresh mint, raw onion rings and sweet pineapple chunks lift the dish, which carries undertones of lemongrass, chilli, galangal and tamarind.

This is a dish that's spicy and sour, fishy and sweet. It's the best assam laksa we find in all our Malaysia travels, including several assam laksas in Penang.

Only later I discover that Uncle and Aunty Chow are originally from Damansara, Petaling Jaya, just outside of Kuala Lumpur. The couple decided to retire in the Cameron Highlands, setting up the kopitiam coffee shop. Today they feed locals and tourists kopi, kaya and crazy-good assam laksa, and even now that laksa is one of my favourite Malaysia memories.

> Read the next Malaysia post (Ipoh tortoises, rojak and yong tau fu)

< Read the first Malaysia 2010 post (Kuala Lumpur)

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Uncle Chow Kopitiam
Unit C2-G-01, Block C2,
Taman Royal Lily,
39000 Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands
Tel: +60 (12) 205 2778

> Read the next Malaysia post (Ipoh tortoises, rojak and yong tau fu)

< Read the first Malaysia 2010 post (Kuala Lumpur)