Sue's Gastronomic Saturday

Early Saturday morning, J and I took a drive down to Muar, Johor. We left about 6.15 am and arrived in excellent time for breakfast at our favourite "Kuay Chap" stall.

Muar's a little town north of Johor which is fast gaining popularity for its unique food, notably it's "otak-otak". There are, however, lots of other food gems waiting to be discovered. And this is to introduce just one of it! For the uninitiated, Kuay Chap is a dish unique to Muar and may seem rather strange to those who set eyes on it for the first time! It'll probably send your cholestrol levels sky-high but as J always claims, "Life is short" so just close your eyes and savour it...Mmmm....

It basically comprises a bowl of uncut rice noodle sheets in a brown soup, topped with bits of preserved radish ("chye poh"). The highlight of "Kuay Chap" is the condiments which complement the noodle soup perfectly. It's normally made up of a mixture of braised beancurd, egg, small and big intestines, and skin. The more adventurous normally request for add-ons of blood cubes, meat from the head which is really soft and tender, ears and any other innards!

I have to admit that the description and the picture above doesn't sound or look too appealing but it is a real delight to eat! The stall is located next to a huge monsoon drain and has a somewhat rustic charm as you sit on rickety foldaway stools and savour away!

I also had to take a photograph of Muar's "bak pau" or pork pau. This is from the famous pau shop called "Guan Kee". It is somewhat different from KL paus, mainly because the skin is more elastic than the fluffy, Hong Kong style types found in KL and the meat is sliced rather than minced. This gives it a nice bite and texture. True pau aficionados love the little spurt of hot oil and gravy that bursts out when you bite into it. Do try if you're ever in Muar!

The evening ended with some famous Nasi Briyani Gam from Batu Pahat. It is better-known as Nasi Briyani Power amongst the locals and is called Gam because the meats (beef/chicken/mutton) are cooked together with the rice and the lid is glued with starch to prevent the aroma from escaping. The rice was soft, fluffy and well-infused with the flavour of the beef. The beef too was aromatic and delicious. We had a side of mutton too which was flavoursome but a little oily.

I'm afraid the photo doesn't do it much justice but what you see are 2 pieces of beef sitting on a bed of briyani rice. All in all, it was a good lip-smacking Saturday :)