Food bloggers’ gathering – Part 2 of 3

You know how when you’re on a blind date and you discover new things about the other person and you don’t want it to end so you look for reasons to make sure the evening never ends? That must be how it was with us as we proceeded to our next stop just a few restaurants away from Wong Ah Wah. That, and the fact that we were still ravenous (translated: greedy). Sucking and licking the sauce off balitongs (whelk?) just don’t cut it.

Grilled fish was next on the menu, and Meng Kee grills a mean fish! Nestled among several stalls, it is easy enough to spot (and smell) this place. Be prepared for a barrage of sales talk as several waiters try to persuade you to sit at their stall, thereby securing your business. Once we sat down, several dishes were promptly ordered. I did say, after all, that we were famished.

A plate of hor chien (fried oyster omelette) and two plates of char koay teow (fried flat rice noodles) were placed in front of us. Although the char koay teow had the vital ingredient, cockles, it still lacked oomph. But when you’re hungry, everything is edible and delicious!

Shortly after that, two plates of grilled ikan pari (stingray) and a plate of chilli fried sotong (squid) arrived. The grilled fish tasted lovely, with a nice thin crisp skin and moist (!) flesh without being overdone (which can be a problem if you don’t grill the fish correctly). Unfortunately, the first piece that I picked up had some slime at the bottom, which brought to mind a tale of lonely fishermen in the deep seas related by WMW just minutes before, and I held my breath for a moment before savouring the fish. Who says I don’t have balls? Seriously though, the grilled fish was very tasty. Honest!

Everyone agreed that the chilli fried squid was the best dish at this stall. The spicy dish was fried with lots of thick cut onions and curry leaves and the squid was not at all rubbery.

All the above were achieved together with enigmatic discussions about personal lives and food interests under open skies dotted by fairy lights and chinese lanterns. Very much like a first date.

Food bloggers’ gathering – Part 1 of 3

It felt like a blind date.

I was invited to join a bunch of food bloggers (“floggers”) on a hawker food spree and despite being somewhat extrovertish, I was still nervous. It’s difficult revealing your real life persona when you’ve been assuming a different name all this time. And what a name too – Lyrical Lemongrass is hardly a good description of a person, is it! But I have been sharing a little bit about myself in every post because my life is quite an open book. I’m not very different in real life; what you see is what you get.

I’m glad I did it. I got to meet boo_licious, fatboybakes, rasa malaysia and wmw (and their respective friends). So what happens when a bunch of floggers get together? You get cold food! Imagine this scenario – one plate of chicken wings arrives at the table. Immediately, 5 cameras come out. Politely, the bloggers take turns shooting the picture at the angle of their choice. Plates get turned around until the best angle is achieved. Several pictures are then taken by each blogger. By the fifth person, isn’t it a wonder that the food is still hot?

We decided to meet at Wong Ah Wah at Jalan Alor first. Wong Ah Wah is famous for its grilled chicken wings and I’m not surprised. The chicken wings were nicely charred with a slightly sweet and salty taste that was just wonderful. Apparently, it used to taste better in the old days, but since I have no basis for comparison, I’ll take what I can get.

Along with the chicken wings, we also ordered steamed lala (a type of shellfish) in chinese cooking wine, spicy balitong and a plate of stir fried vegetables. The balitong was quite a chore to eat, despite rasa malaysia’s instructions of sucking the back first then sucking the flesh out through the front. I really tried, but I only succeeded in sucking all the extremely spicy sauce off the shell, and out of 6 balitongs, I only succeeded in tasting the flesh of 3. Certainly a dieter’s boon.

Wong Ah Wah
No. 1, Jalan Alor, KL.
Tel: 603-2144 2463