Ramadan Bazaar 2009 @ Taman Melawati, Kuala Lumpur

grilled satar - filled with minced fish and coconut wrapped in banana leaf

Ramadan started on Saturday and this year, people seem to be thronging to the bazaars everywhere. Not sure if it is a sign of times, but Taman Melawati, which we visited was so packed that moving around the place was tough. I had quite a lot of trouble trying to snap a picture of the stall owners and their food - since there was so little space and sometimes the queues in front of the stalls just made it harder to get a good clear picture.

the amazingly good tepung pelita, smoke and chicken wings

Inevitably, the bazaar was peppered with people with masks, trying to prevent the H1N1 infection from spreading. It was not limited to just the people visiting, some stall owners even wore the masks.


chicken wings and bishop noses being grilled

Nevertheless, the atmosphere at the bazaar was still very fun and the regular stalls had the long queues. One stall that attracted so many people was the tepung pelita stall. Since I didn't have time, we didn't queue for that but the tepung pelita looked good encased in the banana leaf packet. Stacks and stacks of wooden trays were placed at the side as people kept buying them by the packets.


Ramadan bazaar faces, 1. laughter makes work so much easier, 2. I'm shy, 3. masks everywhere, 4. I'm bored

Popia Zaitun also had a long long queue and that is where I spotted this cute kid, the stall owner's small son playing at the front seat. The parents were trying to keep him occupied with a big bunch of keys.


one whole lamb, a lot of smoke, one hard rock t-shirt from Paris and one mask

What amazed me, this particular stall owner brought in a whole lamb to roast on the open fire. Not sure what the purpose was since he had a double deck - the whole lamb on the spit and lamb chops at the bottom layer. Nevertheless it made an impressive picture especially with the sunshine filtering through the smoke.

colourful kuih seri ayu, one of my favourites and multi-layered yam cake

Since it was my second time here, I could start to spot the regulars and zoom in on the stalls, like the creme caramel stall in front. These enterprising people come up with various kinds of puddings with different toppings - spotted one with kiwifruit, blueberry and even a rose pink flowery version. We went for the plain creme caramel, which was very good - just the right smooth texture and sweetness without the additional caramel sauce.

making murtabak, a popular choice for breaking fast

Trends I notice this year at the bazaar here - loads of roti bom stalls everywhere. The one that fascinated me most, was the stall near the creme caramel stall - skilled oiled hands shaping out the dough quickly and pan frying the roti bom in loads of Planta margarine to give it that crisp edge.

famous curry puff from Taiping, popiah zaitun with the piles of filling

What else I noticed - there were loads of quails (burung puyuh) being sold - deep fried versions to go with nasi lemak or just rice dishes. Weirdly enough they weren't selling too good though. Two stalls were selling cockles and lalas piled up high on hot plates. Made an impressive picture but somehow people preferred sticking to the Ikan Bakar Nelayan, where the queues patiently waited for their ikan bakar fix.

smooth and rich creme caramel

More familiar faces like the man selling the tempoyak petai cili api - business seems to be very good this year as loads of people were buying his petai laden sambal.

putu bambu, a favourite especially eaten piping hot

Loads of steamed putu around - the flat version or piring and the cylinder shape version made with bamboo.

spice it up with this sambal made from petai and durian

There were also loads of fresh fruit juices stall. Spotted one, which had luxury strawberries even in a big container.

hard business making roti bom

The bazaar is so much easier to get to this year, with the DUKE highway, just a short hop and skip on the highway. Parking though is a nightmare. Best advice is either get there early or park a little further and walk. For more pictures, see the Flickr set. For last year's bazaar pictures and directions on how to get here, click on this link.