Malaysia - Food Heaven

By Rough Guy'd

12th July 2009 - With the wedding over and done with, it was time for the most important part of my trip to Malaysia.  The food.  Since I had been to Singapore, all that I had heard (and experienced so far) is that the food at the current place is good, but the food at the next place is better.  And so it was that when I went to Singapore, they were raving about the food in Kuala Lumpur.


The people in KL were raving about the food in Ipoh, Ipoh about Penang and then finally Penang back to Kampar.  Kampar is in fact is a lovely little town where the wedding was held and my family grew up there.  While I still think that of all my travels, some of the best and cheapest food is to be found here, for the average tourist or traveller, there is absolutely nothing here. 


There is a local swimming hole, a small creek through the town, cheap tailored suits and that’s about it.
In saying that, it was a good time to catch up with family and eat durian.  Durian is a bit of an acquired taste and most people will either love it or hate it.  The easiest way to tell is to get within a hundred metres of some.  Probably the only fruit that is universally banned from most hotels and public transport, the only way to describe it is as a creamy rich fruit, not too sweet with a surprisingly mild taste considering the smell.  I recommend to everyone that reads this to get past the smell and try it at least once if you ever head this way and see if you can tell why this is called the king of fruits.

As well as fruits, Kampar has some of the best cooked food ever ranging from icy desserts such as cendol to char kway tau.  Cendol is made from the pandan plant (like a Chinese vanilla) and made into small jelly like pieces and swimming in a sweet broth made with cane sugar and coconut cream and lots of ice.  At one ringett (about 40 US cents), it was a bargain.  Char kway tau is a Chinese-malay delicacy with working man roots.  Back in the day when mining was a big industry, most people couldn’t afford to eat meat but still required the nutrients to work properly. 


Some bright spark came up with the idea of stir frying flat rice noodles and using eggs and fatty pork bones to improve the flavour and nutrients.  Nowadays they use regular pork meat and prawns but most of the flavour has been kept the same, resulting in a tasty, filling dish but a bit healthier than in the past and at about 4 ringett, still pretty cheap for a freshly cooked meal.

While the food mentioned is only the tip of the iceberg, there are many other fine delicacies to try such as chee chong fun and the ever popular roti and all of these and more can be found all over Malaysia, not just Kampar.  Half the fun of travelling is going around to different places and trying new foods.  While some people may be more adventurous than others, there are different levels of daredevilry involved.  


For those with a more delicate stomach, trying the local fruit is always a good option and the fruit in this tropical region is some of the best, even something as ordinary as a banana is full of surprises over here with many varieties, different tastes and ways to cook them.