Food For Thoughts - Part Two
In this series, I am mostly talking about where you can get ready cooked food.. But you can also get many places where they serve food cooked on the spot, especially those like ‘nasi goring’, ‘mee goring’, ‘tom-yam’ soup, local burgers etc. And if you drive at night (I am referring only to the East Coast) you may find that some of the eating places I described above/and previously may be closed but instead you may find road side cafes. You can easily identify them by their bright multicoloured lights, especially those using coloured fluorescent lamps. And of course at night you will not be able to really see the surroundings, whether they are environmentally friendly and whether they maintain good hygiene.
Leaving Kuantan, lets travel up north to Kuala Trengganu and further. And while traveling you have to eat some time.
On the way up there, there are many hotels on the beach front. They all serve good food, highly priced, good atmosphere, reasonable service and in most cases good hygiene. Now we do not want to eat in these hotels. We would like to eat in places where locals can eat good food in comfortable/hygenic surroundings.
When you enter Cukai/Kemaman Town, you will see the difference from those towns in Pahang. Here the hedges are well trimmed and meticulous maintained. But the drainage system are poorly maintained, resulting in some places where you stop to eat and which serve good food, smells of the dirty drain. A very unpleasant odour.
There are a few restaurants here which I specially like.
1. As you drive towards the Kemaman Hospital, at the Kemaman New Town there is a restaurant on the right called 'Briani'. Yes, they serve ‘briani’ rice, reasonably priced but not the ‘briani’ I call authentic. It looks like ‘briani’, taste quite like ‘briani’ but somehow has a long way to be called ‘briani’. You may stop there to have ‘briani’ though.
2. Just after the Kemaman Sultan Ahmad mosque, about 100 meter, on your right (on the other side of the road) there is the Restoran Siti Meryam. But they do not open until 12.30 pm, just in time for lunch. They serve the best fish curry that I have ever tasted anywhere. And the food are all good, the 'lauk' all excellent. And their 'sotong' sauce is also better than that I have tasted anywhere. Looks like a favourite place for PETRONAS staff, they come all the way from Kerteh (or are they on the way back to Kerteh and just stopping there for lunch?) To Trengganu people PETRONAS = wealth. But I heard someone from the Trengganu interior said a couple of years back, "Negeri kaya, rakyat miskin" (The State is rich, the people are poor). Maybe he was right. Back to the restaurant, the restaurant is simply furnished and very clean. You can either be self serviced or wait for the staff to serve you (which I observe are rarely done as most customers prefer to be self serviced.) The order for the drinks are taken separately and the drinks arrive quite quickly as well. The servers are all girls, well mannered and attend to their work very consciously. A family business I presume. With an open arranged atmosphere, in a coastal town like Kemaman where the wind blows 'bersepoi-sepoi' (as the Malay saying goes - it means cool intermitent gust of wind), eating there is heavenly (except when the smell of the Town clogged drains become overbearing). The price of food is very reasonable.
3. If you go further up, on you left (about 100 meters on), there is another restaurant that serve good ‘nasi minyak’ (translated as oiled rice, rice cook in oil added with aromatic ingredients). Now this is what I call good food,close to ‘briani’ rice but here it is better (once upon a time they served better 'nasi minyak', and since the cook died - so I am told, they turned to rice close to ‘briani’ rice). They open early and you can have breakfast there of ‘roti canai’ and ready packed 'nasi lemak'. At lunch time its quite full, people taking ‘briani’/’nasi minyak’ with 'kari daging' (curried beef) or 'kari kambing' (curried lamb) or fried chicken or 'ayam dalam'. What is 'ayam dalam'? Its the chicken cooked in the ‘briani’ rice. And they have the ‘dalca’, the ‘timun acar’ and the ‘papadam’ all ready. I like best their 'kari kambing'. Acceptably clean (though may need some improvement in their kitchen) and the service is excellent. The servers are mostly local boys, who are quite jovial among themselves. The price? More reasonable than Restoran Siti Meryam.
4. Now in Cukai/Kemaman Town I must mention about two other good eating places. One is the 'stuff crab' restaurant on the main road, further in (proximity to) the Town Market, in front of the old Rest House which has since been demolished. But if you do not have more than RM50.00 in your pocket, do not eat there. The place is quite pricey. But the service is excellent and the surrounding is quite hygienic. And another place is the Hai Peng Coffee House (an old ‘kopi tiam’ place which has now grown into a very modern standard, serving almost the best coffee anywhere in the East Coast). Its on the turning right of the traffic light, Ayer Putih junction just after the Kemaman Hospital. You won’t miss it, its a white brick building clearly marked Hai Peng Coffee House. Don't worry, its a halal place, serving the old style 'roti bakar' with butter or ‘kaya’ (sugar added egg beaten and cooked with coconut). You can order other snack and sandwiches as well if you like. Very clean (though the toilet is very close to the eating place but you need not sit near the toilet), excellent service and reasonably priced food and drinks.
As you move further north from Cukai/Kemaman you come to Kerteh, the oil town of Trengganu. You know what oil-town means..........wealth!. When you are in Kerteh, and most of us have experienced the place, you will find some reasonably good resturants, which I shall mention a few here. But most of these restaurants are quite small establishment, probably family run.
1. The restaurant I like most for lunch is the nasi minyak stall close to the main (I call it PETRONAS) mosque and Post Office. Good service, well priced and reasonably clean and comfortable surrounding. You can even take visitors there for a good stall food lunch.
2. But don't forget, just next to it is a Malay stall that serve 'nasi campor' (mixed rice translated literally). Its not the 'nasi campor' that I go for, its the 'rojak ayam' (vege with pieces of grilled chicken served in hot - as in chilli- peanut source/gravy). Its cheap, very tasty, enough and served in warm gravy. That is good and as compared to many places that I go to for 'rojak' where the gravy is not even warm. Try it when you are there.
3. There are two other restaurants in Kerteh Town that I frequent, but I do not really favour them. One is in town, close to the BSN (Bank Simpanan Nasional - I call it the local folks Bank). The food is good, service prompt but I find it very dirty with flies flying around inside and outside the building most of the time. I visited its kitchen to see how they prepare the food, and I will not do it again. Its dirty. But sometimes I eat there when some friends ask me to do so, just being polite. Another restaurant is at the back, within sight of the PETRONAS petrol station, near the old wet market (quite close to the new wet market). The food is good, quite cheap and they serve very good and tasty 'soup tulang' (literally translated as bone soup, but with pieces of craggy meat attached). But the surrounding is too 'natural' - you can see a few patches of cow dungs just outside the open walled restaurant. I find it uneasy to eat there.
4. I must also mention of two other places which are worth mentioning. One is the 'roti canai' place after the traffic light at the PETRONAS/ Airport junction, on the right side of the Kerteh/KT road. This used to be very popular in the morning. Good 'roti canai (is the place still there?). And the other place is the 'roti tempayan' place, before the Kerteh Town junction, on the left of the road (about half a km before the ‘roti canai’place). Its still there. But they only open after 4.00 pm, so you can only go there after the office hours,. They have very crispy 'roti nan' and very tasty 'kari ayam' and 'kari kambing'. Either choice is excellent to go with the 'roti nan'.
5. If you go further on towards Paka, into Labohan village, there is an excellent 'nasi ayam' (chicken rice) place. Its on the right as you enter the Labohan village.You must try this 'nasi ayam', its worth the wait at lunch time when it is pretty crowded. Cheap, kampong surrounding, real natural and good service. (Labohan is the Malay village just before the big PETRONAS PetroChemical Comples).
Leaving Kerteh and Paka, you move on north until you reach Dungun town. The only place to eat that I like in Dungun is at the UiTM hotel. Its a hotel training place for UiTM students, a bit way off the main road but excellently placed very close to a golf course and by the beach. Here the food is reasonably good, tasty, varied and not pricey. The hygiene is not to be argued and the surrounding most becoming. You cannot find a better place to have lunch in Dungun.
After reading the two parts of my write up, maybe some of us would like to mention of some good eating places in the East Coast that I have missed, until now and till Dungun. Or if anyone would like to share their experience on good eating places in the North or South or even in Selangor/KL area, I am sure most of us would like to hear about them.
.
To shout back, e-mail: mylias@tm.net.my
Leaving Kuantan, lets travel up north to Kuala Trengganu and further. And while traveling you have to eat some time.
On the way up there, there are many hotels on the beach front. They all serve good food, highly priced, good atmosphere, reasonable service and in most cases good hygiene. Now we do not want to eat in these hotels. We would like to eat in places where locals can eat good food in comfortable/hygenic surroundings.
When you enter Cukai/Kemaman Town, you will see the difference from those towns in Pahang. Here the hedges are well trimmed and meticulous maintained. But the drainage system are poorly maintained, resulting in some places where you stop to eat and which serve good food, smells of the dirty drain. A very unpleasant odour.
There are a few restaurants here which I specially like.
1. As you drive towards the Kemaman Hospital, at the Kemaman New Town there is a restaurant on the right called 'Briani'. Yes, they serve ‘briani’ rice, reasonably priced but not the ‘briani’ I call authentic. It looks like ‘briani’, taste quite like ‘briani’ but somehow has a long way to be called ‘briani’. You may stop there to have ‘briani’ though.
2. Just after the Kemaman Sultan Ahmad mosque, about 100 meter, on your right (on the other side of the road) there is the Restoran Siti Meryam. But they do not open until 12.30 pm, just in time for lunch. They serve the best fish curry that I have ever tasted anywhere. And the food are all good, the 'lauk' all excellent. And their 'sotong' sauce is also better than that I have tasted anywhere. Looks like a favourite place for PETRONAS staff, they come all the way from Kerteh (or are they on the way back to Kerteh and just stopping there for lunch?) To Trengganu people PETRONAS = wealth. But I heard someone from the Trengganu interior said a couple of years back, "Negeri kaya, rakyat miskin" (The State is rich, the people are poor). Maybe he was right. Back to the restaurant, the restaurant is simply furnished and very clean. You can either be self serviced or wait for the staff to serve you (which I observe are rarely done as most customers prefer to be self serviced.) The order for the drinks are taken separately and the drinks arrive quite quickly as well. The servers are all girls, well mannered and attend to their work very consciously. A family business I presume. With an open arranged atmosphere, in a coastal town like Kemaman where the wind blows 'bersepoi-sepoi' (as the Malay saying goes - it means cool intermitent gust of wind), eating there is heavenly (except when the smell of the Town clogged drains become overbearing). The price of food is very reasonable.
3. If you go further up, on you left (about 100 meters on), there is another restaurant that serve good ‘nasi minyak’ (translated as oiled rice, rice cook in oil added with aromatic ingredients). Now this is what I call good food,close to ‘briani’ rice but here it is better (once upon a time they served better 'nasi minyak', and since the cook died - so I am told, they turned to rice close to ‘briani’ rice). They open early and you can have breakfast there of ‘roti canai’ and ready packed 'nasi lemak'. At lunch time its quite full, people taking ‘briani’/’nasi minyak’ with 'kari daging' (curried beef) or 'kari kambing' (curried lamb) or fried chicken or 'ayam dalam'. What is 'ayam dalam'? Its the chicken cooked in the ‘briani’ rice. And they have the ‘dalca’, the ‘timun acar’ and the ‘papadam’ all ready. I like best their 'kari kambing'. Acceptably clean (though may need some improvement in their kitchen) and the service is excellent. The servers are mostly local boys, who are quite jovial among themselves. The price? More reasonable than Restoran Siti Meryam.
4. Now in Cukai/Kemaman Town I must mention about two other good eating places. One is the 'stuff crab' restaurant on the main road, further in (proximity to) the Town Market, in front of the old Rest House which has since been demolished. But if you do not have more than RM50.00 in your pocket, do not eat there. The place is quite pricey. But the service is excellent and the surrounding is quite hygienic. And another place is the Hai Peng Coffee House (an old ‘kopi tiam’ place which has now grown into a very modern standard, serving almost the best coffee anywhere in the East Coast). Its on the turning right of the traffic light, Ayer Putih junction just after the Kemaman Hospital. You won’t miss it, its a white brick building clearly marked Hai Peng Coffee House. Don't worry, its a halal place, serving the old style 'roti bakar' with butter or ‘kaya’ (sugar added egg beaten and cooked with coconut). You can order other snack and sandwiches as well if you like. Very clean (though the toilet is very close to the eating place but you need not sit near the toilet), excellent service and reasonably priced food and drinks.
As you move further north from Cukai/Kemaman you come to Kerteh, the oil town of Trengganu. You know what oil-town means..........wealth!. When you are in Kerteh, and most of us have experienced the place, you will find some reasonably good resturants, which I shall mention a few here. But most of these restaurants are quite small establishment, probably family run.
1. The restaurant I like most for lunch is the nasi minyak stall close to the main (I call it PETRONAS) mosque and Post Office. Good service, well priced and reasonably clean and comfortable surrounding. You can even take visitors there for a good stall food lunch.
2. But don't forget, just next to it is a Malay stall that serve 'nasi campor' (mixed rice translated literally). Its not the 'nasi campor' that I go for, its the 'rojak ayam' (vege with pieces of grilled chicken served in hot - as in chilli- peanut source/gravy). Its cheap, very tasty, enough and served in warm gravy. That is good and as compared to many places that I go to for 'rojak' where the gravy is not even warm. Try it when you are there.
3. There are two other restaurants in Kerteh Town that I frequent, but I do not really favour them. One is in town, close to the BSN (Bank Simpanan Nasional - I call it the local folks Bank). The food is good, service prompt but I find it very dirty with flies flying around inside and outside the building most of the time. I visited its kitchen to see how they prepare the food, and I will not do it again. Its dirty. But sometimes I eat there when some friends ask me to do so, just being polite. Another restaurant is at the back, within sight of the PETRONAS petrol station, near the old wet market (quite close to the new wet market). The food is good, quite cheap and they serve very good and tasty 'soup tulang' (literally translated as bone soup, but with pieces of craggy meat attached). But the surrounding is too 'natural' - you can see a few patches of cow dungs just outside the open walled restaurant. I find it uneasy to eat there.
4. I must also mention of two other places which are worth mentioning. One is the 'roti canai' place after the traffic light at the PETRONAS/ Airport junction, on the right side of the Kerteh/KT road. This used to be very popular in the morning. Good 'roti canai (is the place still there?). And the other place is the 'roti tempayan' place, before the Kerteh Town junction, on the left of the road (about half a km before the ‘roti canai’place). Its still there. But they only open after 4.00 pm, so you can only go there after the office hours,. They have very crispy 'roti nan' and very tasty 'kari ayam' and 'kari kambing'. Either choice is excellent to go with the 'roti nan'.
5. If you go further on towards Paka, into Labohan village, there is an excellent 'nasi ayam' (chicken rice) place. Its on the right as you enter the Labohan village.You must try this 'nasi ayam', its worth the wait at lunch time when it is pretty crowded. Cheap, kampong surrounding, real natural and good service. (Labohan is the Malay village just before the big PETRONAS PetroChemical Comples).
Leaving Kerteh and Paka, you move on north until you reach Dungun town. The only place to eat that I like in Dungun is at the UiTM hotel. Its a hotel training place for UiTM students, a bit way off the main road but excellently placed very close to a golf course and by the beach. Here the food is reasonably good, tasty, varied and not pricey. The hygiene is not to be argued and the surrounding most becoming. You cannot find a better place to have lunch in Dungun.
After reading the two parts of my write up, maybe some of us would like to mention of some good eating places in the East Coast that I have missed, until now and till Dungun. Or if anyone would like to share their experience on good eating places in the North or South or even in Selangor/KL area, I am sure most of us would like to hear about them.
.
To shout back, e-mail: mylias@tm.net.my
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