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Motormouth From Ipoh

Monday, April 7, 2008

A Hard Day's Work @ Batu Gajah & Pusing

Today's agenda? Field work. The team? Me, KYT, TallGal, & FCOE (Friendliest Creature On Earth) hahaha .... Where? Batu Gajah. Yeah, THAT 'Chili Padi' MP's Batu Gajah. =P
It was pretty tough finding a paper factory thats 3 miles off Batu Gajah main road. (P/S : We had NO idea how far were 3 miles off, a good thing we managed to find the well hidden wreck of a factory. It was so run down, amidst the corn plantation (?), lotus pond, bushes, dusty roads, that we felt lucky we were not on foot/bike. Else we would have looked like claymen in the end)

In the process of finding the forsaken destination, we managed to round town, and we were laughing at the vehicles following this mode of transportation ;


........ Right until one full circle later, we were the one behind this extra patient guy. Hmm. He looked to be enjoying the view, basking in the freaking hot sun, whipping at his 'slaves' who were carrying erm... grasses at that point. Wow, cool? But TallGal, who was driving, overtook the speed demons, and sped off to oblivion. Or rather, this next tourist spot ;

Aahhh... Many years haven't visited Kellie's Castle. Perak's proudly acclaimed heritage site. We felt a sense of pride in helping conservation of this place. No, we did not enter, which btw is RM4/entry for adults. Instead we contributed 20 cents each in order to visit their loo. ;)

Hunger pangs strike! Where to eat in Batu Gajah? There's KFC and Pizza Hut, but Ipoh also got la. No clues at all. Ended up diverting to Pusing, a small town around 15-20 km off Ipoh. TallGal used to eat at this restaurant called Ming Feong,on the main road. Either Jalan Pusing, or Jalan Besar. Yeah, ancestors were pretty creative in naming roads I guess ....

Duck Noodle Soup (RM5.50)

Prawn Noodle Soup (RM7.50)

Fried Sang Har Meen (Prawns with Sang Mee) RM10

All of us ordered the same herbal tea, Loh Han Kuo with Har Gu Chou. (go figure). Tasteless! Probably the ice. Consoled self. We were browsing through the menu so long the waitresses got impatient instead. Hahaha. In fact only TallGal know Mandarin, therefore she was too busy translating the whole menu, consisting of at least 50 items to us. In the end, Mr KYT and Ms FCOE chose the same Duck Soup Noodle. KYT asked for drumstick, but the girl had absolutely no idea what he requested. She mentioned something bout see your luck, or something like that. Turned out the noodle was not so tasty, compared to Bidor Pun Chun's Famous Duck Drumstick Noodle. The soup was not very aromatic from the herbs, and the duck's skin was chewy and tasteless. (I had the 'privilege' of ingesting Mr KYT's duck skin remains.)

TallGal had her usual Prawn Mee. At RM7.50 a bowl, we were prepared to be amazed by the hopefully LARGE prawns, but ended up they gave only 2 mediocre prawns. Hmm ... Let's pray for my Sang Har Meen. Whoops, bad omen led to reality. 2 mediocre prawns fried with sang mee (sorry dunno translation). Only consolation is the gravy was pretty tasty, with generous amount of black beans. The noodle was slightly charred at some ends. At RM10.00, no less.

They do serve various rice dishes, and a whole lot of noodle choices. Just try not to take your own sweet time in ordering. Hehe ....

Location : Jalan Besar, Pusing. Coming from Ipoh, it is on the left side of the road. Passed the police station, and you'll reach the shop soon. BUT, that was not the end of our mini food trip, as opposite the road, on the way back to Ipoh, on a small lane, were a few stalls selling Nyonya kuih.

TallGal frequented this stall before, and she straight without hesitation walked to the furthest stall from the road. Open from 1-6pm daily, this friendly uncle sells an astonishing variety of nyonya kuih.

All these for RM3.30 !! Pusing no inflation?

I was attracted to the deep fried sweet potato balls, 6 pieces for RM1. Very yummy, with sprinkling of sesame seeds, albeit slightly oily. Not too small portion too. The kuih is priced at 30 cents. YES, 30 cents per piece. The black and pink larger pieces cost 40 cents each. Wow, compared to Nyonya Colors in KL, these are a STEAL!! The black splat on the top left is named "chicken sh*t etc etc". Sounds gross but taste yummy! Not too sticky and not too sweet. The pink glob (sorry, no idea what they're called) is my grandma's favourite. Mum commented that the kuih were so-so, as she claimed the taste of flour was excessive. Huh?? Whatever.

There were 2 stalls beside this uncle that more or less were selling the same items, but the 1st stall was also selling curry puffs and cucur udang. Looks delicious. Probably next visit?

6 comments:

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

wah very expensive..pricing almost can compare to kl pricing liao..too bad its crap ar..

J2Kfm said...

yeahlo ... the shop looked pretty old and classic though. The owner seemed to have various Anugerah and Pingat though. Celebrity adorned outlet. Probably explains the price.But the kuih is nice. :)

Unknown said...

I was bored and tried to search if anyone blogs about Batu Gajah and Pusing because my parents live there... and came cross your post :D

That restaurant used to be very famouse, but then that was like ages ago, so don't walk in unless there's really nothing around. IF you happen to be in town, try the food in the wet market area just a bit further down from Ming Fung, food there's much better :)

p/s : If you're there early, you MUST try the roasted pork sold in a mini lorry parked just beside the main street, people line up for that!

J2Kfm said...

thanks Dao Chuan for the recommendation. in fact we go to Pusing rather often.

theuptownlife said...

i'm from batu gajah. good coverage on the food, ming feong is alright, the price can be extravagant, did you guys tried the duck stew, that's one their best, yo.

pusing nyonya kuih, heavenly- although i wouldn't comment on the level of hygiene. but that's the beauty of small town.

if you guys could've covered more on bg town, the old railway station- next to the shell petrol station, we have some pretty good rojak, and ice limau (yellow colour, so it's quite original)

menglembu, wai sek kai? haha.

alright, enough, i miss the serenity of home already.

take a drive to clearwater, it's beautiful. and do you know we have a "secret" bird sanctuary in kampung pisang? here's some pictures i took: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theuptownlife/sets/72157611869590260/

:)

J2Kfm said...

wow, there IS a secret sanctuary? i never heard bout that. thanks for informing. the Wai Sek Kai in menglembu I've been, but the area very dimly lit, back then my camphone couldnt cope. :)

someday i'll go again.

rojak next to Shell station, and ais limau? got that! in the noon only?