Friday, April 28, 2006

Bangsar Pasar Malam

I dug through the folder and found these pictures I took last year of the Bangsar pasar malam (night market in Malay). I reckon I did not put them up earlier on as I had to spend time resizing them for the blog plus there were too many nice ones to choose from.



There's always an assam laksa stall or van in the pasar malam that offers such satisfaction to any rumbling tummy with their hot and sourish soup. Each pasar malam will have different proprietors as this one is called SP Assam Laksa that is located at the corner opposite Devi's Corner. I love how they have prepared the bowls of laksa topped with a large handful of mint leaves. When you order a bowl, they will ladle the hot soup from the pot and pour on top of the noodles with a dollop of ha koh (Chinese for prawn paste).


This is the famous Stadium Popiah which is always difficult to get as there is always a long line of people queuing up for their popiah fix. I guess I should try and emulate what he does so I know how to wrap my popiahs next time we have a party. My popiah is always a bit soggy as I can never get all the juice out from the filling.


The lok lok stall, another always present feature in all pasar malam. Sometimes you can get them outside pubs late at night or during the daytime next to a 4D shop when it's a draw day. I love the way the arrange the sticks of fishballs next to blocks of ice to keep them fresh. To enjoy your lok lok experience, get a plastic container from the vendor - spoon in some sauce from the pots you will find at the side of the van. I usually like to mix the peanut sauce with just a dash of chilli sauce. Pick a stick of whatever you like and chuck it in the pot with the boiling water. Let it cook for a while - depends on what you pick and once it's ready, take it out and dip in the sauce to savour. I sometimes indulge in a few sticks and my favourite is the water spinach they wrap up around the sticks. It tastes great with the peanut sauce.


Although it was not dumpling season, you can get these dumplings or what we know as Bak Chang everywhere. This particular stall was selling the sweet and savoury variety with various fillings. If you wish to know more about these dumplings, click here for my older post which shows step by step pictures on how to make them.


I love these Teochew Crystal Dumplings known as Chai Kuih. You can see the fillings through their transculent skin which is nice and thin versus the ones I featured the last time. The best thing about these are the vegetables i.e. chives and carrots they add with dried prawns to give them flavour.


Here's a close up on this great stuff called serunding that originates from Kelantan. I used to be hooked on these when I was studying overseas as I love to make sandwiches with them. They're like the chicken floss but spicy that offers a kick you need especially when you are shivering during dreary British winters. If you are in Kelantan, make sure you pop by the home factories to grab a packet of them as it's delicious.


You can get lots of fruits at the Bangsar stalls like these pink pitaya or dragonfruit especially when it's in season. Nowadays most of the dragonfruits are locally farmed as it's a booming industry. It must be easy to get a dragonfruit plant as my uncle used the seeds he got from one of the dragonfruits which he planted and they are now growing! Hope he is successful as it'll be great to have your own dragonfruit tree at your backyard.


These are starfruits or carambola which are great for you. I love their crunchy and sweet taste. Take them when you have sore throat as they help a lot.


My all time favourite stall - the appam one at the end of the street. This variety is the thin ones whereby a thin coconut batter is poured into tiny little woks over gas fire.


Once it's cooked, they will take it out, quickly place them on a table and fold them. Dunno why but I have always loved these since I was a kid as it was a treat for me when I was young. I love this stall which is helmed by a family - sometimes even the young kids make the appam when their parents are busy. They're directly opposite Devi's Corner and they also sell deep fried items.


What is unique about the Bangsar pasar malam is they sell flowers there. Wonderful flowers at reasonable prices that will perk up any dreary home. My favourite are the orchids - reminds me of the numerous orchids we used to have in our garden. When I was a kid, I kinda hated them as I had to spend so much time watering them carefully as per my mother's instructions.


My absolute favourite - the dancing ladies that are so bright yellow and dainty.


You can also get roses of different hues and nowadays they also inject artificial dyes in them to produce strange colours like the bright blue ones. My favourites are still the pure white roses and the deep pink ones. Besides these flowers, you can also get lilies, bird of paradise, daisies, sunflowers and etc at the stalls.

Hope you enjoyed the pasar malam and hop over there this Sunday as it's at the street in front of the Public Bank. Just a word of warning, make sure you don't park at that street during the afternoon or else you will find your car stuck when they start opening their stalls. I've seen some cars stuck there and it ain't a pretty sight.

Bangsar Night Market
Along Jalan Telawi
Starts from 4pm onwards
Every Sunday
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15 comments:

Flower said...

Masa I masih kat Malaysia lagi, I suka pergi ke Bangsar nite market. I loves buying roses there because it is cheap. The serunding looks yummy and delicious. Too bad living here in Perth, it is very hard to bring in food product. Kena declare lah and so many procedure. Sometimes if you are lucky,they will allowed it in, and sometimes when you are not, even the food that is allowable also cannot masuk to Aussieland.

boo_licious said...

Poor flower! Yeah, I have declared stuff at Australia before and they scrutinise it carefully. Luckily British customs not so strict as I used to bring them last time.

FooDcrazEE said...

great picture Boo - i miss the serunding...oh btw, the best dragon fruit grown locally can be found in Kluang.

c a r c a r said...

oh my oh my! beautiful photo you have here! hey i'd been to this pasar malam few times b4, is really packed and crowded! i like it, but is pretty hard to find parking there :(

thanks for bringing back the memories, and remind me is time to pay another visit there :P

Unknown said...

flower: In my younger days, I had a particular method for smuggling foodstuff and extra cigarettes past Australian customs.

What you need to do is keep all the "contraband" in a locked piece of luggage. Carry a packet of Kopi Cap Hang Tuah or a packet of biscuits; something cheap that you can sacrifice. Go to the red lane and declare the coffee or biscuits.

That ploy worked like a charm back then. Aussie Customs lurve people who co-operate; they never checked my bags when they were engrossed with trying to figure out the ingredients list on the Kopi Cap Hang Tuah.

Good luck. :P

Unknown said...

Whoa..very comprehensive writting on pasar mlm..I wonder how u take the picture of those hawker food? I went to connougt pasar mlm attempting to take some pic, they stared at me madly, even though i asked for permission most of them will say NO..Gota master the skill to approach people..:(

Unknown said...

Whoa..very comprehensive writting on pasar mlm..I wonder how u take the picture of those hawker food? I went to connougt pasar mlm attempting to take some pic, they stared at me madly, even though i asked for permission most of them will say NO..Gota master the skill to approach people..:(

Collecting Moments said...

Yea boo, how you do it? I was looking at the pics and wondering the same thing (kampungboycitygirl, ask how you charm this ppl into letting you take the pic) You give them yur name card or something? :P Or just buy alot of food from them. hehe

Babe_KL said...

oooo what lovely pics! I also buy flowers from this guy pretty often esp during festive season kekeke His name is Sunny and his dotter have a stall at Petaling St... the first stall nearest to Malaya Hotel side.

Flower said...

Tigerjoe, I dare not smuggle anything. Even after you have declared and showed your stuff, they will still xray your bag.

Ramona said...

What stunning pictures! I want to go there now!!!

boo_licious said...

foodcrazee - really? There's so many farms that one really cannot determine where is nice. Thxs for the tip.

carcar - go early and park around the hses. I usually like to go well before the crowd as it's so packed at night time.

tigerjoe - sounds like a trick my nephews also play when they smuggle in their pirated DVDs back to Australia.

kampungboycitygal - oops, maybe people in cheras don't like? I hope not as I would love to visit them one day just that everytime I try it's raining. The bsar people are used to lots of tourists so I guess more receptive to pix taking.

boo_licious said...

honey star - no charm, I just take the pixs quietly and quickly.

babe - yeah I love the P St florists too. Very nice esp the wholesalers.

flower - I have heard of Tigerjoe's method - it seems it works per my nephews.

kross eyed kitty - do visit us in Msia. Lots of colourful markets like these.

Fulltime Mom said...

hi!

i love the SP assam laksa at the bangsar pasar malam, unfortunately, they have stopped selling there. if anyone knows where they have gone, pls, pls let me know.

Unknown said...

Ahhh... Pasar Malam......... Itz a nostalgia.

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