Ewe Paik Leong recommends some must-eats sold in this Selangor township’s night market
SPICY HONEY GRILLED CHICKEN
THIS stall has a sign that says ayam bakar berempah madu. There is a choice of one bird, halfbird, or one piece and chicken rice. I order the one piece chicken and rice. The chicken comes on a bed of perfectly cooked rice and slices of tomato and cucumber. It has a crisp, glazed honey skin bursting with the flavours of spices, that gives way to a dense moist interior.
Rating: 4/5
COCONUT SHAKE
GHV Coconut Shake sells this popular thirst-quencher in plastic cups, available in three sizes: small, medium and big. A sip of the coconut shake offers a delicate vanilla flavour, and what follows is heavenly coconut juice. The blend hasthe right fluffy, light consistency. Rating: 5/5
AYAM PERCHIK
A TASTE of Kelate, each generous piece of chicken delivers a citrusy twang from lemongrass and aromatic spices. The rice is perfectly cooked.
Rating: 3/5
APAM BALIK
LISNAWATI Enterprise offers a variety of apam balik—regular, corn, groundnut, chocolate, blackpulut (glutinous rice)—coconut, pandan, pandan-chocolate andpandan-blackpulut. There are also extra crunchy versions of the corn and chocolate flavours. The thin crusted corn apam balik is creamy and vanilla-like.
Rating: 3.5/5
MUTTON BALLS
FROM afar,I can smell the aroma of lamb cooked on a griddle. Apart from slices of lamb slices priced from RM12 to RM20, lamb balls are on offer. A bag of mutton ball-and-mutton slices goes for RM17. Themutton balls have the blast of bright spices and chillie heat only springs up at the end. And the texture of the lamb slices is the stuff of dreams.
Rating: 4.5/5
BLACK TOFU
A PLASTIC bowl of black tofu comes in broth garnished with scallions, sautéed garlic and fresh parsley. I recall reading from the Internet that bamboo charcoal makes the tofu black. Far from being poisonous, bamboo charcoal has a detoxifying effect.
Rating: 3.5/5
STINKY TOFU
NO need to go to Taipei’s Shilin Market or Hong Kong’s Mongkok to eat this notorious snack as Master Leong has brought it to Shah Alam. I pop a piece without chilli sauce into my mouth. After the brittle crunch, a yucky gust scrambles up my nostrils, almost making me puke. But there is a gentle soya-like lift at the end. Surprisingly, the tofu has a texture similar to honeycomb which gives a pleasant mouth-feel. Rating: 3/5
KOREAN OYSTERS
A SIGN at this stall says “Three for RM12”. Are these oysters really from Korea? Maybe they’re from Pulau Ketam? Three flavours are available: spicy, garlic and cheese. The spicy oyster is a jolt of chilli heat, a squishy chew and a juicy slurp — all at once. The garlicky oyster has a mild sweetish-spicy zing that acts a counter point to the marine sweetness of its innards. The cheesey oyster has a milky-like coating.
Rating:5/5
TELUK INTAN CHEE CHEONG FUN
REGULAR chee cheong fun (steamed rice noodle roll) is usually filled with prawns or barbecued meat. However, the Teluk Intan version contains dried shrimps, diced jicama and other secret ingredients, and comes with green chillies. This stall’s fare has flavourful dried shrimps, crunchy diced jicama amidst silky rice noodle rolls. The sweetish-sour green chillies are invigorating.
Rating: 3.5/5
FRIED DURIAN
DURIANS can be eaten in more than one way. Durian flesh minus the seed is coated with batter to form balls. It is deep-fried in boiling oil until golden brown. I buy two for RM10 and eat them piping hot. The crunchy crust breaks to release molten-like durian, with steamswirling around my face. At the end of my snack, my chin is covered with dribbles of durian!, This stall also sells fried chempedak. The fresh chempedak plays an interesting textural game with the crusty batter.
Rating: 3/5
