Ikan Bakar, Kuala Lumpur & Langkawi

Sorry for the massive delay with posting. We’ve recently just bought our first home- in fact it happened a few days after getting back home from Malaysia and ever since things have been a bit hectic!
Here’s the final Malaysia post; the promised Ikan Bakar. I did actually try to do this post about a week ago but Tumblr decided it wasn’t happening and killed the page just before I tried to post.
Our experience of ikan bakar actually happened in two halves. Regrettably as we were shortly to catch a flight back to KL we didn’t have time to eat at the roadside restaurant just next to Langkawi airport where these photos are taken. A few days later, back in Kuala Lumpur, after a bit of research we headed a few stops down the Kelana-Jaya line of the LRT to Dato Keromat station where we found a small local wet market. The Ikan bakar spot we were looking for was Mat Teh Ikan Bakar. We managed to find it fairly easily despite the torrential downpour that was going on as there were huge crowds of people huddled around a smoking grill of banana leaf wrapped fish. After a bit of smiling, gesturing and pointing we had a spot at the shared tables, were slurping on fresh mango juices and watching our fish being grilled (all while trying to keep feet dry!)
We were served a  bowl of rice, a lovely plate of mixed herbs and vegetables and bowls of a fiery tomato dip- very similar to salsa before our fish arrived. We had ordered the ikan pari (stingray) and another fish (a mackeral type) peeled back the smoky banana leaf wrapper and got stuck in.
The fish was incredibly fresh, flaky and very delicate. Both fish had a light marinade that included a lot of turmeric and spices which was still very subtle in taste. The stingray was particularly good- meaty and bone free and it went beautifully with the herbs and spicy dip.
It was a fantastic way to end our food adventures in Malaysia.

 

Night Market (Pasar Malam) Food Stalls, Padang Matsirat, Langkawi
We spent 3 days on the island of Langkawi. The night markets take place every night at a different spot round the island. For the princely sum of £3 we came away with carrier bags stuffed full of hot snacks, stir fried noodles, sweet pastries, spicy salads and fruit. Heaven!

Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur

Okay, so I’ve finally had chance to sit down and put something together; in our first 2 days we’ve had so much food I think I already have enough to cover a month of posts; we’ve eaten Indian, Nyonya, Malay, Chinese and even Japanese (with Vietnamese to come tomorrow too).
Our first evening’s introduction to KL, as indeed every travellers should be was the street food of Jalan Alor. The air in the street was hanging heavy with the smoke of grilling skewers of meat and fish and mingled with frying garlic, chilli oils caught in your lungs, making us splutter and at one end of the street; the pungent hum from the durian stalls was potent (more to come of that in a later post)
We ate at Charn Kee Tasty Corner run by Elang and her team which is a regular favourite of my Uncles who we’re staying here with. We ordered up a range of chilli laden dishes which arrived quickly and in quick succession:
Chickenfish (middle photo) deep fried, crispy skinned and meaty and came with a delicious tangy spicy dipping sauce
Stir fried chilli frog- whole frogs pan fried in a light chilli broth, slurp on the soft meat and removing the tiny bones as we went.
Gai Lan (Chinese kale) leaves stir fried in a soy/oyster sauce mix, smoky with wok breath and a ton of sliced garlic.
Chilli chicken- deep fried chicken stir fried in a rich red chilli paste with spring onions
Fried rice- this was a meal in itself- full of shrimp, omelette and vegetables with a soy/chilli dip
we eventually left, very full, very happy and headed off for our first experience of durian… (to come in part 2)