They took a left turn and filled with a little trepidation the little piggy looked out the windows and found out that they were in a quaint little village of sorts. Being very much a city child, it was a fresh breath of air to be in the middle of a residential area so unlike those she had been used to. The houses were made of wooden planks and most of the houses there had semi corroded zinc roofs. To add to the ghost town atmosphere, most of the houses were boarded up and seemed abandoned.
Her mummy's warnings of big bad wolves whispered in her ear and she stamped down a shudder. Thinking this was only a detour, she asked The Boy, how long more do we have till we can have food in our stomachs? Much to her surprise he stopped the car right under a big raintree. "Where are we? Why are we stopping?!" she asked, swallowing that first lick of hysteria and filling herself with happy, optimistic thoughts. "Look to your right. This is where they serve the best seafood soup and noodles."
And sure enough, in the most unpretentious, most unlikely of places there was a lone stall, so incongrous in its surrounding of quiet suburban life that it should have been much more conspicuous if the little piggy had been paying more attention. For nestled in this quaint little village, she chanced upon one of the best ever gems to be found in the quiet, unpresumptuous outskirts of Ipoh city.
Courtesy of the little piggy's adventure into the land of unknowns, I present to you, Tom Yam Seafood Noodle. As you can see from the picture the broth looks highly intimidating but fear not, it's colour is louder than it's taste. The tom yam had just the right level of spiciness and that tanginess that makes your eyes glaze in appreciation, not squint in sublime torture.
It was packed to the brim in delights from the sea, delivered fresh every morning it seems since market wholesalers pass by here on their way to the market and drop off a little of their ware in exchange for a hot bowl of slurping goodness. Let me tantalize your tastebuds further and describe in better detail. Swimming around in this bowl of goodness were prawns, clams, squid, fish fillet and some kind of sea urchin? If you're really lucky, you get crabs thrown in too according to The Boy.
They have it in clear soup too for those who prefer to enjoy the sweetness of the seafood without the heavier taste of tom yam spices. Much more recommended since the moment it was plopped onto the table all the little piggy could smell was the sweetest aroma of intoxicating alcohol marinated seafood.
The moment the bowl of noodles were set in front of the little piggy, she puffed and she huffed and she puffed........not to blow down the wooden house (that would be highly ungrateful and silly whilst being still in the establishment wouldn't it?) but she huffed and she puffed to blow away the steam prohibiting her from getting that first mouthful. Alright, so maybe you look at the previous photos and go, wooden houses? So what. Tom Yam Seafood Noodles? So what. But have you seen this? The thick broth is infused with the bittersweet flavour of bittergourds or bitter melons as my mother prefers to call them. The whole concoction guarantees that no tastebud wil be left out.
All in all, an eye opening experience for a city piggy who has ventured very little into the outskirts of her own hometown. Both food wise and environment wise. She realized that while in the main Ipoh town people rarely give two hoots for their neighbour, here's suburban life where everyone knows everybody. For in that short 'visit' there, she witnessed ladies sharing lottery winning numbers to buy, the village gossip-monger coming by on her rounds and friendly camarederie all around.
Leave me a note if you want to know the location of this place. I will try my best to point you there.
Not one...not two...but THREE!!
