Ramadan Bazaar @ Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur

Bangsar's Ramadan Bazaar has also shifted from last year's location - they're now in front of Jolly Green Giant and just at the road where the car showroom is. It feels pretty small as it's just within the road but it's definitely better than last year as this time it is isolated in one area. Like Tigerjoe mentioned, it's advisable not to park in Jolly Green Giant itself as the entrance into the carpark is where the bazaar is being held. Try and park at Bangsar Village which is much better as you can access the place and leave it before any traffic jams start.

Most of the regular stalls are still here but you can sport quite a few new ones that have imitated the food of several stalls from last year. Last year's Ikan Terubuk Sarawak stall is also missing from this year's line up.

Last year, I blogged about my first time eating Murtabak Roti Jala from the Sarawak Cafe which I tried. They have again opened a stall at the bazaar this year but another man has also opened a similar stall a few steps away from them. I managed to catch him in action making the Murtabak Roti Jala. The Murtabak part is cooked ahead on the hot plate and you can have a choice between chicken and beef fillings. Subsequently, roti jala is then made by swirling this special contraption that looks like a cow's udder (it has small holes at the bottom for the batter to trickle down) with batter on the hot plate. Once the roti jala is cooked, you wrap the murtabak layer inside it.



Here you have a stack of the finished product which we tried some last night. We both thought it wasn't anything fantastic and preferred the original murtabak. Although combining the two items is innovative, we felt the tastes of it was neither here nor there.



I had a fun time looking at this fella getting some wok action while making Char Kuey Teow for people. His version boasts large tiger prawns and looks so simple to make. He will add on items from the side i.e. the noodles, prawns and vegetables to the wok. Not sure why but his wok will also have flames flaring up after he adds some items. I suspect it must be additional oil or liquid that causes up the flames.



At the corner of the parking exit of Jolly Green Giant, there is a huge ayam percik stall. I was recommended by a family friend to try this as these guys are his friends. This friend of ours will sometimes help out at this stall whenever he is free.



Ayam percik is a specialty from Kelantan and is basically spicy and marinated chicken that is grilled over hot charcoals. The chicken is marinated with ground spices such as lemon grass, ginger, lemon grass and chilli paste that is mixed with coconut milk and tamarind juice. It is then grilled and then served with a sauce made from chillies and coconut milk. We tried this ayam percik (one piece for RM4.50) and it was pretty good. At least this ayam percik was not dry and the sauce was creamy from the coconut milk and nicely complemented the chicken.



Hong Leong Bank Berhad was out in full force selling the credit cards again. I think this year they sponsored all the aprons for the Ramadan Bazaars as I kept spying their advertisments on these aprons. Incidentally, I saw another camera happy person who was snapping pictures (I wonder who?) and I was told I must be Japanese since I was busy taking pictures.



I thought this was a great way to break fast - ayam kampung i.e. free range chicken that is deep fried served with rice, ulam (fresh vegetable salad) and sambal belachan dips.



There were a few nasi lemak stalls around and this particular one was deep frying their chicken that came out glistening from the hot oil. You can choose which part you prefer and ask them to chop it up for you.



This year there are two rojak singapura stalls at the bazaar. One seems to be doing better business than the other one i.e. this is the one nearer to the car showroom. You can choose which deep fried items you fancy such as this deep fried sotong (calamari), little fried batter balls filled with different types of vegetables, tempe, tofu and etc. Hand them over the man behind the stall and he will cut it all up and give you the rojak sauce made from peanuts which you can add at home.



Tigerjoe mentioned he tried the Rangoon Briyani which is a new item this year. What's different with this briyani is their rice grain is longer than the ones usually used in the local briyanis. They also colour the grains with turmeric. Similar to the Briyani Gam style, they cook their chicken within the rice. In addition, they sprinkle raisins, dried peas, carrots and cashewnuts on top of the rice. We gave it a try (RM6 for a portion) and we didn't think highly of it as it was slightly oily and not as fragrant. Both of us reckon the nasi briyani we had at TTDI's Ramadan Bazaar is still the best so far as the rice grains were fluffy and fragrant.



This stall was making roti john and cutting it up to place it in individual packets. Lots of shredded vegetables and chilli sauce has been added on top.



I spied these ridiculously bright electric blue kueh dadar! They may look interesting but it looks too scary to try some.



This is what a kueh dadar should look like - green colour pancakes with a grated coconut filling tossed in gula melaka (palm sugar) syrup.



I found one stall which was selling all kinds of kuih and snapped lots of pictures there. Not sure why but the Bangsar stall owners don't seem to arrange their kuih in an appetising manner hence snapping pictures of them was a problem. The only stall which arranged their items systematically was this stall that had the unique kuih lapis with chocolate layers.



They were also selling lompat tikam, creme caramel, yam pudding in small containers. Their version of lompat tikam is just the green (pandan) layer topped with coconut milk layer minus the bright pink glutinous rice.



Something unusual at this bazaar was Kuih Jongkong which is wrapped up in a banana leaf parcel. This kuih is actually plain and made from rice flour and soaked in coconut milk. It's a Minang specialty and the kuih has a soft pudding like texture.



You can even get doughnuts here all stacked up and dusted in sugar. Kuih and sweet items are always popular during Ramadan because you always break fast with kurma dates and something sweet.



Another unusual item was the tiny deep fried popiahs filled with serunding ikan (fish floss flavoured with spices). Sorry for the not too great pictures since it was inside the packet hence there will be slight reflections.



Don't forget to take something sweet home to drink also. You can choose Len Chee Kang near the ayam percik stall. There's lots of items inside the drink - green sago balls, selasih (basil seeds), peanuts, black grass jelly and etc.

Ramadan Bazaar
Jalan Telawi Satu
Bangsar

(Just behind the main road, Jalan Telawi, the bazaar is right in front of Jolly Green Giant which houses the hawker centre)

Tagged with: Malaysian Food + Ramadan