Decided to make my foray back into travel blogging- a pursuit which I abandoned due to lack of time and lack of a computer good enough that would make me motivated to type. Well, now with my new mac and the onset of the holidays coming up, it seems like a good time to start over :-) There's also the slightly encouraging aspect of coming back to an almost dead blog with almost 10,000 page views which means that people!!! are!!! actually!!! reading this shizz wow.
a church friend of my parents organised a trip to Batu Pahat, which I have been before a stunning 2 years ago ( evidence of how time really flies) this weekend. having been there once, and leaving with barely an impression of it save for the dreary weather and unimpressive chendol, I did not think much of this trip, and the little town itself, but I'm glad to report that all that has changed over the course of this trip :-)
woke up bright and early on saturday morning and trudged to the car for a 1 hour drive into Malaysia.
Thankfully there wasn't much of a hold-up at the causeway and we managed to reach at about 8++am, just in time for breakfast-which was DIM SUM.
There wasn't much of a selection though the store was famous but I suppose that's the way with most Malaysian stalls- they keep their menu small but the standards high ( especially for the price!!!)
Ordered 2 of everything at first but we later called for more
typical breakfast scene
The food arrived promptly- steaming baos, dishes piled atop well-used steel plates neatly laid out for us by pubescent servers
We ordered more of the charsiew bao-of which the bun was really fluffy and light and lor mai kai which was probably freshly made.
After a hearty breakfast, we made our way to the temple- yes the very one that we had gone to two years before!
I distinctly remember taking a photo at this very spot hehe
The weather this time was in our favour- the sky was azure blue and it was VERY hot ( so I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not?)
I'm sure my brother has grown a lot taller in that time period
We wandered around the same stalls near the temple which were probably the same as those 2 years ago- things don't change much around here- and bought random snacks and pastries. The guava sold by an auntie was so fresh and sweet; especially when sprinkled with dried mandarin orange that we couldn't resist buying a few more RM 1.00 bags.
Feeding koi with milk bottles- a whole new experience!
it was barely past breakfast and now the guys were ready for lunch: we decided to try a seafood restaurant place located at the area.
The spread! there was tofu seaweed soup, butter lettuce, baby squid ( this was really really good), omelette, thai chicken dipped in sweet sauce, and STEAMED stingray! ( not pictured)
First time trying stingray without sambal and it is actually really tasty and flavourful eaten fresh! I'm a lazy eater so I usually just crunch up the bones along with the flesh
Following that, we headed back to the hotel and checked in, proceeding to spend the next few hours reading and sleeping. At about 3.30pm, we headed out for tea!
Apparently there was a famous confectionary selling otah bread so we ventured to find it, and luckily we managed to; even with a faulty GPS.
Snapshot of the interior of the bakery-cum-cafe: rows of tall fluffy loaves, refrigerators stocked full of ready-made birthday cakes, buns and other old-school pastries.
It reminded me of the Chin Mee Chin confectionary back in Singapore, albeit with a more authentic old-school feel and with a whole lot wider (and cheaper!!!) selection of goodies.
butter tarts and cupcakes in all colours you can think of
Slices of swiss rolls with varying unique flavours which would not have looked out of place in a high class cafe in Singapore
I am always so captivated by the colour of this tiger roll
To an avid baker and lover of baked goods like me, I must say that it was one of the highlights of the trip :-)
I had such a great time prancing through the shelves, looking at all the various sweets ranging from hokkaido cupcakes to agar agar ang ku kuehs.
Our spread in the end
All of the cakes tasted wonderful, but each with their own distinctive flavour- yet all of them had the same soft, cottony melt-in-your-mouth texture that many a baker aims to achieve :-) and all of that for a fraction of the price of one single slice of cake/ tart/pie back in Singapore!
Cheese swiss roll; Pandan layer cake; Matcha azuki roll
Black sesame roll and egg tarts- the egg tarts were rather meh in my opinion though
they even sold the unwanted ends off the swiss rolls!!! These came in huge bags just waiting to be plucked off the shelves by strange people like me who would rather eat the bits and pieces than the roll itself- especially since I rather dislike the cream fillings that come with those
the star of the show: otah bread!!! Reminded me of roti john, in the sense that it consists of a few slabs of otah sandwiched between a warm loaf with fried egg and tomato sauce- and how can this combination ever go wrong??? nothing too outstanding, just a novel concept. Also had a ham and cheese version and that was tasty as well :-)
After a VERY satisfying tea, it was time to shop!!!
* Below are select pictures taken with the kiddos who came along for the trip*
Happy face
Sad face
Angry face
Balloon (?) face
the kids were really energetic and adorable, a stark contrast to me- i felt like a zombie from the poor sleep that I had the night before!
the mall that we visited before dinner was rather boring; most of the shops were closed :-(
Next stop: steamboat dinner! also another popular restaurant apparently. Funny how when I was younger I dreaded the thought of eating if I didn't feel absolutely hungry but now as a teenager I'm just like GIVE ME ALL THE FOOD I DON'T CARE IF MY STOMACH IS GOING TO EXPLODE SO LONG AS IT TASTES GOOD.
Selfie with momsie
There was a standard steamboat pot set up in the middle of every table; and a waiter would come along with a tray stacked full of every steamboat dish imaginable and allow us to take our pick.
the table by the end- dumplings, corn, beancurd pieces, prawns, quail eggs, freshly made fishballs, yam chunks and spinach are just a few of the dishes i can remember.
Served with chrysanthemum tea and I ordered a coconut :-)
They even served jellies and fruits as dessert at the end of the meal! which was a truly satisfying one, especially since the bill came up to a whopping S$56, which is about ~S$7 per person aka SUPER DUPER WORTH IT???
Headed back to the hotel and I tried french cheese korean ice cream- which tasted like vanilla ice cream and nothing more?
After a short rest it was time for supper!!!
Walked for a while to Glutton's Market; which we had gone to before but that was when it was raining heavily-now that the weather was great, more stalls were open at night and there was a flurry of activity as all the hawkers and customers were abuzz.
we waited so long for this dish: cuttlefish kang kong to come but it was a HUGE plate and the cuttlefish was really fresh and good and i loved the sweet sauce that accompanied it :-)
carrot cake!!!
satay
Also ordered chicken wings and tall cups of sour plum drinks. By the end of it all I was so stuffed and sleepy that I wanted to go back and sleep.
knocked out at about 11.30pm, twas a great first day :-)
Headed down for breakfast on the second day- the hotel spread was quite meagre so i just took fruits and some cornflakes with milk, knowing for sure that we would be heading out to eat sooner or later.
and yes we did- ate some famous wanton meet noodles which were really quite yummy! The noodles were springy and the wanton dumplings were tender and juicy- it was especially flavourful when tossed in a sweet-spicy chilli sauce base :-)
bought some pastries from an adjacent stall- finally tried a kaya puff! Which was meh, the kaya filling was literally just kaya spread stuffed into a flaky pastry. Also had a salted egg yolk pastry which just tasted like a flaky mooncake.
and just across the road was one of our main objectives for this trip- the no-name chendol!!! This time I made sure to order it with red beans :-)
my bowl came with barely any shaved ice and I was ranting about it but mom asked me to ask them for more and they just casually took my bowl and refilled it with ice with a smile so yay for service with a smile :-)
This little girl kept insisting on slipping her little hands into mine at every chance she got which was pretty endearing but also so tiring for me and made me ponder so much about how it would be like to be a mother- having to take responsibility for little tykes at all times oh no the horror.
Headed to one last disappointing mall-the Batu Pahat mall before heading home.
it was a fun trip that passed way too quickly for my liking. Thank God for the good weather!!!! :-)
