Last weekend, me and my sister made a balik kampung trip to Batu Pahat. Orang lain yang nak raya Cina, kitaorang pun sibuk2 jugak nak men'jam'kan jalan. So, as to keep up with the tradition of Makan Besar or Reunion Dinner during the eve of the Chinese New Year, we planned a 'Makan Besar' of our own. But this one lasted the whole day. We thought we could do it from morning of Saturday till the next morning Sunday. The idea was to eat as much as we can, all of our favorite food. All I can say is that, both of us gave up at around 6pm on Saturday. Thank God no one ended in the hospital!
So, here's what we had. It's all rated 'Turun Dari Langit'
9 am - Reached BP. First order of business, breakfast. Where at and what to eat? Lontong Kering at Pesta.
What in the world is Lontong Kering? It's the sister version of the normal Lontong la..except that it doesn't have the gravy. Sometimes people call it Lontong Jawa. So what does Lontong Kering consist of? The standard fare would be : a few chunks of Nasi Impit, Kuah Kacang, Sayur Jawa and Sambal, and you can add either ayam kari, daging rendang or sotong or whatever else to make it interesting. So I chose ayam kari while my sister chose the rendang daging. At Rm3.50 each, this is heaven. Anugerah Turun dari Langit I must say.
The stall also sell Rojak Tahu. Which is basically fried tofu (but it's very soft), kuah rojak or was it sambal kicap pedas, chopped cucumber and topped with peanut. Sedap gila.
11.30 am - After visiting Mum's and Dad's grave and make a pit stop at our house, we went out again. The roads were jammed packed with slow moving cars, but hey this is Batu Pahat. Everyone drives at 30km per hour. It's like watching a slow mo playback in the movie. We were raring to go... but go where? Asam Pedas jom? Jommzzz.
There's place call Belakang Cathay (an old cinema building). Also known as Belakang Pejabat Pos or Belakang Klinik Gigi. There's this row of stalls selling asam pedas. Some will be open from morning (as early as 7 am... so if nak breakfast pun boleh) while some opt to open at night. I have never been there at night as the best secret to eat asam pedas is to eat it during a hot afternoon. During which, you will sweat like hell.. and you don't know if you're licking the asam pedas or is it your own sweat. Hahahah.
So, you may choose to have Kembung, Pari, Ikan Merah (isi or kepala). Price ranging from RM4 (isi yang poyo2 kecil) - RM 30(kepala). Of course you can't just eat asam pedas alone. If asam pedas were a hantaran during a wedding, it will be the sirirh junjung. So sirih junjung must be accompanied but other things. In this case, telur dadar, some sort of sayur, sambal belacan or cencalok (yumyyyyy) and my personal favorite, rojak tempe. Tadi rojak tahu, now just replace the tahu with tempe. Bravo! Bellisimo! as the Italian would've said.
Generally, the kuah asam pedas will make or break the dish. If it's too hot, tak termakan pulak. If it's too sweet, apakah? Perhaps the ultimate test would be, would you dare to be put the asam pedas via IV thru your vein? If the answer if yes, maka sedap la asam pedas tu. Hmm, sometimes I wonder what if the we bottled the kuah asam pedas like a can of frizzy drink... sedap kan? Hmmm.....
1 pm - Back at home. Lying down for a moment to rest. What?? It's just 1 pm. Are we in zombieland or what. Time stood still ke apa? Jom tengok Valentime's Day. Jom la. But if there's a mob out there to watch movie, I'm so gonna kill you I told my sister.
Arrived at the cinema. There's just a short line.... moving at 5km per hour. Everyone's taking a painfully long time to choose their seats. We just choose to seat as far as possible from everyone else.
3.45 pm - out from the movie. The plot semua biasa je. Except for one. Aku gelak gila! Tetiba hujan pulak. Aiyooo... camner ni? Bila hari hujan, mesti beli goreng pisang. Goreng pisangnya sungguh sedap sekali. I shall blog exclusively about the goreng pisang one of these days. It deserves an entry of it's own.
4.15 pm - It's still drizzling. So we decided to go to this warung that Bro found a few months back. It's behind Telekom pulak. This place serves Lontong, Nasi Lemak, Mee Rebus and a kick as Nasi Goreng variety.
So, i decided to have Mee Rebus. OMG! Anugerah Turun Dari Langit. It's not too sweet, but just nice. Kuahnya jugak patut dibotolkan utk di minum begitu sahaja.
My sister decided to have Nasi Goreng Kampung. At first, I didn't exactly want to sample her Nasi Goreng. But she said the magic word, "Eh rasa macam nasi goreng kat Bandung". Say What??? Oh! memang sedap pun. I could taste the pounded-with-love udang kering in it. Sighhhhh.
5.30 pm - Right, let's go to Pasar Malam Pesta. Well, I suppose this would require a different entry all together. Although we did come back with plastic bags full in hand, I simply don't have the energy to snap any more photos. Perut macam nak meletup dah.
8.00 pm - Let's go Sup Sitam. Aiyak... (thank god) Sup Sitam tutup. If not mau pengsan blasah sup kambing pulak. So we went back and finish off the tid bits that we got from the Pasar Malam while watching Glee marathon.
12.00pm - Slept thru the sound of expensive fire works all over the neigborhood. Too stuffed to even go outside to check it out.
Sunday - 8.30 am : Considered late for breakfast in Batu Pahat (given that if you want to eat Nasi Beryani at 10am later..heheh). So, what shall we have today? I vote for Nasi Lemak @ Low Piak. What's Low Piak exactly? I think it's a name of a road. Entah la. There's two shops selling this special nasi lemak. Both looked run down and not sure if they even have permit to operate. But never judge food by it's stall. Judge the customers instead. Ramai la manusia. Never fear admist the choas, the kakak-kakak will never mixed up your order.
So what's so special about it? Err.. everything? Hahahah. Well, for one, the nasi lemak is not really lemak. Assume beras satu kawah, santan maybe satu baldi kecik. So tak la muak. You can eat as much as you want. The 'complete' set would consist of telur dadar, ayam goreng and sambal sotong as well as... my favorite part: tahu or also known as sayur
Tahu or sayur is actually tahu that comes in kuah lemak for lontong. Take note that the kuah lemak/lontong is white in color. Very rare to find it in KL. In KL, all lontong comes in yellow colored gravy... kureng. The white color kuah lemak/kuah lontong, in my opinion can also be bottled like a soft can drink. Kesedapannya sunggguh memukau. 2 complete set of nasi lemak complete + drinks + bee hoon goreng is Rm14.50. Best ke tidak?
We would have stayed longer in Batu Pahat, but there's a wedding to attend to in Gemencheh. So off we go around 10am. We reached the wedding around 1pm ke, of course without first going on round in circles. Me and my sister used to be housemates with the bride. What a pleasant and simple affair. Yang paling penting sekali, makanannya sedap sekali sampai aku tambah 2 kali. It's all kampung dish, tapi dimasak dengan penuh kasih sayang sebab tu sedap gila. Ulam apa tah yang agaknya petik belakang rumah, aku rasa macam nak curi masuk dalam beg. Kakak aku pulak asyik membelasah tapai (yang patut dibotolkan kalau boleh... eh ke memang dah dibuat dek orang and it's called Tuak?). Juga ada perasaan nak curi tapai masuk dalam beg. Tapi sudah-sudah la tu. Nak ambik gambar pun malas sebab sibuk makan.
With that, we conclude our Makan Besar-Weekend Escape.
Bravo! Bellisimo!
p/s: in case ada yang wondering - here the
Part 1
