Be warned. This is a long post with lots of pictures of delicious food.
That said, we begin with my dinner on the Air Asia flight to Malaysia from the Gold Coast.
As a kid, I loved plane food. All the different compartments were like bento boxes, super fun.
This… less fun. I’d ordered the vegetarian meal, and thus got vegetarian lasagna. The quality was akin to a frozen meal – oily tomato sauce packed with dried herbs, more cheese than pasta, overcooked spinach and what I presume were two thin slices of mushroom. The meal also came with a bottle of water, handy given my sore throat.
Obligatory cross section shot. The seats are super tiny on Air Asia flights.
I had pancakes with butter, maple syrup and a cup of tea for breakfast but I was way too sleepy to take any shots. The 3 pancakes were tiny, and McDonald’s-esque in taste. So… not that great.
When I landed, I was greeted by my mum, my cousin Winky and my aunty, whose house we’re staying at. Before we headed home, we stopped off at an Old Town Kopitiam, a Malaysian franchise that features popular ‘Malaysian cafe’ foods such as kaya toast, nasi lemak and various forms of coffee and tea (Old Town also boasts of being the creator of white coffee).
Meet Mama Mak.
She’s pretty funny.
She didn’t order anything, but I got a cup of hot teh tarik. ‘Teh’ means tea and ‘tarik’ means pulled. The tea is made from black tea, condensed milk and evaporated milk, with the mixture heated and poured from cup to cup at a tall height to create froth, mix the tea and milk, as well as cool down the drink.
I LOVE teh tarik.
Winky had ipoh hor fun.
My mum and aunty also shared a bowl of ipoh hor fun.
Communal kaya toast. Kaya is a coconut jam, made by caramelizing coconut milk, egg and sugar. It is the BOMB. Back on the Coast I usually keep 3 jars of the stuff in my fridge. Yeah, I eat a lot of sugar.
^Those are sticks of butter, not fries.
Later that day, we went out for lunch at Her Wei Restaurant. There were no vegetarian menu options, so my mum called a loh shi fun (rat noodles, named for their resemblance to rat tails) without meat for me. Loh shi fun is traditionally served in a soy based sauce, with minced meat and sometimes shreds of omelette. Mine was served with wilted choi sum (the green leafy vegetable). I also ordered hot aloe vera with long an (a sweet fruit, similar in taste and texture to lychee).
I then decided I needed extra protein, so enter two fried eggs! The yolks were bright and runny. I slurped them up.
Winky and Aunty Maan ordered fishhead mai fun to share.
Winky’s bowl.
The titular fish head. My aunty ate it.
I ate my noodles with a side of freshly chopped garlic, doused in soy sauce. It’s amazing the different condiments you can call for here. Garlic is my homeboy.
Otak otak (spiced, steamed fish paste with coconut milk). This one had pork.
Aunty Mary nomming on Hakka fried pork noodles. She used to be an English teacher, and she once taught the restaurant owner’s wife as a student.
Fish cake that they sent to our table by mistake. On the house!
I’m thoroughly enjoying not having to cook and clean. Woo holidays!
For dinner, we went to Viva, a housing goods shopping centre that was formerly known as Ue3 (which was pretty run down the last time I visited Kuala Lumpur.
Three sisters and Winky. Strut that stuff Aunty Maan.
Dinner at Gurney Drive Food Village on level 3 of Viva.
Yay random arcade!
Lady making popiahs, otherwise known as fresh spring rolls.
Step 1: lay out the [flour] crepes and fill with veges.
I should mention at this point that lettuce is not a traditional ingredient of popiah, and that these were like Japanese salad popiahs. Bastard version.
Step 2: top with grated carrot and steamed turnip. Apply mayonnaise and ensure popiah tastes weird because of it [non-traditional ingredient].
Step 3: sprinkle with crispy fried pastry bits.
Step 4: wrap with a nori sheet and call it ‘popiah sushi’. voila. different menu item. both of which do not taste that great. WHERE’S THE CHILLI/PEANUTS?! cut into bite-sized pieces.
I had vegetarian wat tan hor, which is fried hor fun/kuay teow with a thick egg sauce. I also had watermelon juice – there’s no end to the types of fresh drinks you can get over here!
Curry laksa.
Pan Mee [flour noodles].
Winky gets a new screen protector.
Aunty Maan and Uncle Cliff.
I got a new memory card! 😀
We were killing time until we had to pick up my cousin Eve from her dance class. So what do we do? EAT AGAIN.
Here is a plate of wu tao go, chinese steamed yam cake topped with fried shallots, salted dried turnip and chopped spring onions. Identical to lo bak go, steamed turnip cake, except it uses mashed yams instead of grated turnips.
That’s all for now folks! Stay tuned for Day 2. 🙂