When The Acolyte Meets The Masters

It was with much trepidation that I made my way to Jalan Alor on Friday night. Firstly, I would have to reveal my total ignorance, as I've not been to eat there at nights since 1988, then, I would have to reveal mySELF.....in the presence of the food blogging luminaries. I was latest, ...the rest of the food bloggers (floggers) were surprisingly punctual. Apart from Mr Rasa Malaysia, the rest were all roses, and I was the only male flogger.

The domain of photography is no longer that of the male species, as was made obvious during the hawker food crawl. Oh, briefly, a floggers get together and hawker food crawl was organised by the legendary Masak Masak in honor of Rasa Malaysia, from Irvine, OC, who was in town for CNY. Yeah, back to the lovely ladies who carry canggih manggih cameras that can double up as a weapon in case they get accosted in the alley lanes of Jalan Alor.

Now, if the food dishes had been a celebrity, the first name that comes to mind would be Princess Diana. The moment the dish arrived, out came the cameras, snap snap snap....but all without flash, testimony to the seriousness of these people's photography skills. The paparazzi of the food world. So much so, I am disinclined to put up any pics of my own. It's like putting up our SRP (PMR for you younger folks) art paper on display next to Michaelangelo's work.

Our first stop, in the debacherous eating orgy, was Wong Ah Wah, famed for its chicken wings. To complement the wings, we had a plate of very well fried chinese brussel sprouts, (choy tham?), lala steamed in rice wine, I think, and balitong, that very intriguing snail-cum shell like thing that requires lots of suction power.

The famed chicken wings. For pictures (and reviews) of the other foods, do check out my venerable gurus sites, namely, WMW, Lyrical Lemongrass, Rasa Malaysia. Legendary Masak Masak decided to be on "holiday" and watch the minions do the photography instead.....;)

We then, after much discussion, adjourned further up the road, (assuming Jalan Alor is a river flowing downstream, we went upstream), to eat ikan bakar. Now, this photo is put up for its brilliance, but more to show you the food bloggers that were present. Yup, those people walking in the middle of the road comprised of our gang.



While the ikan bakar, char kueh teow and hor chien were good, this dish of sotong was truly outstanding. Yummy to the last bit of onion.



What we have above is a slice of the ikan pari, with some kinda lendir (slime) dripping from it, much like snot from a runny nose. Maybe that was the nose of the fish, and it hadnt finished it's course of antibiotics before it ended up wrapped in a banana leaf.

After that, believe it or not, ( I, who usually loath driving, nearly gagged at the idea at first), we adjourned to eat charcol charred hokkien mee in most insalubrious surroundings, in an alley next to Lai Foong. It was damn good!!!!! The pork soup, deeeevine, and the dark sinful oil slick that we Malaysians call FOOKIN CHAO, was most delectable. Nothing like biting into a crispy piece of pork lard. Twas with a heavy heart, (clogged by cholestrol), and heavy tummy, that we bade farewell and went our separate ways. Mr & Mrs Rasa Malaysia were staying at the Heritage Hotel, at the old Stesen Keretapi. I'll leave it to them to pan the place, with first hand knowledge. Thanks Masak Masak for organising this.

For half of those there, it was but the beginning of a weekend of eating with fellow floggers, for on Saturday night, they congregated at MAKANSUTRA, (the eating equivalent of the Kamasutra, no doubt), a thai place in Plaza Damas. I dropped by for awhile, and managed to meet the mysterious Tonixe of Team BSC, Audrey of Audrey Cooks, (who spearheaded the whole thing), .... err who else did I meet? Teckie, I think. Missed out on meeting Unkaleong, and Babe_KL. Drat, and double drat.


Footnote: I think it's much easier for a lady to take photos at an eating place, as they are perceived to be less of a threat. Also, Male Chefs probably get some kick out of it.....can imagine, if guys were to be snapping away, probably get lambasted with, "weiiii, yeng mutt yer ah?!!!, niaaaama"....