Malay Pit Stop - Day 1

The boy and I made a quick pit stop to Kuala Lumpur to attend the wedding of two wonderful people.

Armed with a map and a list from the boy's colleague, we were hungry and ready to eat.

First thing the boy ate? The first thing he saw, which made his heart sing and his stomach growl... Durian milkshake. Absolutely sure that he'd get a stomach ache after having traveled 3 countries in as many days and drinking the incredibly pungent fruit mixed with milk and ice drink on an empty stomach, I scanned the road for a bathroom. Amazingly, the boy just smiled after having downed the drink in what seemed like a split second and asked what we were eating next.

Lucky for us, there was a sidewalk vendor doing brisk business just down the road with a mouthwatering array of foodstuffs to be sold in a cone of rice. Of course we couldn't resist and over loaded our cone of nasi lemak (coconut rice) with lovely tangles of vegetables, smattering of spicy, perfectly cooked beans, beef rendang, crunchy ikan bilis (the little fried fishes), topped with a fried egg (the boy's oddly Cantonese inclination). This was surprisingly filling and we wandered around the city, slightly confused and suffering from a bit of food coma combined with the humid heat. In a moment of weakness, I am ashamed that we succumbed to the lure of an evil American coffee chain's lure of cold drinks and air conditioning for a bit of a rest.

Of course, we couldn't stay put for long. We had things to eat, after all! We went in pursuit of what the boy's colleague termed "a legend". Soong Kee, apparently famed for their beef balls, which we found deliciously springy yet tender with a good bite, accompanied with lovely slightly meaty and mushroomy lard slicked noodles.

We slurped them down happily, accompanied by a bowl of their beef stomach in soup. AHHHH....

Then, after pursuing some of the tat at the market in Chinatown, we went to the "food court" on one of the side streets where we were able to consume delicious char kway teow with lots of wok's breath, slightly charred, chewy and deliciously moreish. Sadly we were both too full to eat anything else and shamefully only ordered one plate to share between us. We just could not seem to consume anything else.

Of course that was before we came across the little stand selling all manners of cakes. We picked three to take home with us to accompany our tea. After all, couldn't very well not have dessert now could we?

The top piece looked a little like a thick hotcake with a browned top. Only slightly sweet and not too soft, it was perfect with tea. The lower 'brick' on the lower left made of dark brown sugar, was all texture, with what looked like a dense sponge and was wonderfully chewy and flavorful with a warm sugar taste. The coconut with tapioca on the right was warm when be bought it and soft and melting but a little too sweet and gooey for me. I tend to like my desserts to be either liquid or solids but not mushy goo. However, lucky for me, the boy will eat anything with coconut.

Shockingly all this food was just on day 1!!