Page 45 - Explore Magazine Winter 2016

“Very tasty, but a bit pricey because they are seasonal,” look at another aspect of market life. By night, the
she said, offering another of the endless stream of facts bars, restaurants and discount shopping outlets in the 43
and observations she delivered throughout our tour. “We Chinatown district do a roaring trade. By day, its streets
are now in the season of little fruits.” are the realm of street food vendors, although at 10.30am
things were only just starting for some of the locals who
All around us, Pasar Pudu stretched away in lane after were quietly spooning up bowls of congee, a rice porridge
stall-crammed lane, sprawling out of its central square dish that sets you up for the day. If KL’s wet markets
and into the adjacent streets. It definitely lived up to its illustrate the abundance of the land and the richness of
description as a wet market: the uneven asphalt paving tropical seas, its street stalls reflect the extraordinary mix
(we had been strongly advised to wear comfortable, of influences that makes Malaysian cuisine one of the most
closed footwear) was splashed with the drippings and interesting and diverse in Asia.
rinsings and trimmings of the most astonishing variety of
fresh seafood, meat, fruit and vegetables you could ever A thousand years before 16th-century European voyagers
hope to see. And even on a Monday it was jam-packed, ventured into the region, Malaysia’s ancient kingdoms
with shoppers jostling three to four deep in the narrow were part of a network of trading routes that extended
aisles and porters yelling and pushing trolleys and barrows west to the coasts of Africa and Arabia, east to Indonesia,
in every direction. It was also hot: sun umbrellas covered and north to China. Later, under colonial rule, came
most of the stalls but the temperature in the shade was influences from Portugal, Holland and Britain. A stroll past
still around 30 degrees C, with 90 per cent humidity. the street stalls in Jalan Petaling revealed some of the
We half-joked that we would hate to see the place on a happy results: fragrant curries harking back to India and
busy day. Indochina; soy bean milk and grass jelly drinks brought by
migrants from southern China; popiah (a Southeast Asian-
But Pasar Pudu was a revelation. For all of its devotion to style spring roll) especially popular in Indonesia, and
commerce, the market had an unexpected beauty. There stands selling the brightly-coloured ais kacang (shaved
was counter after counter of gorgeous, subtly-patterned ice) confections of agar-agar, tapioca and glutinous rice
cuttlefish, frilled gurnard, spiky black sea urchins and that Malaysians adore. At a vendor’s cart next to some
slithery eel-like fish completely unfamiliar to Westerners.
roadworks I enjoyed the best curry puff of my life. Sort of

Big blue crabs sat grumpily in shallow polystyrene tubs like a samosa or a Portuguese empanada but something
with air bubbling into the water to keep them alive, their else yet again, this puff-pastry cousin of the meat pie has
ferocious nippers tied securely with green rubber bands. been beloved by everyone since colonial times.
There were tiny sharks, perfect red snapper, garfish,
grouper and octopus. Another short hop took us to a Muslim eatery close to
Central Market where Miss Julie introduced us to teh tarik,
The produce section was equally fetching. Purple- and another colonial-era classic whose name literally means
white-streaked eggplants were arranged in big eye- “pulled tea”. With a dramatic flourish, a café staffer poured
catching piles, as were tomatoes, garlic, coriander, our servings from a jug held high over his head. The tea
galangal, ginger, lotus root and mint. The spices section was frothy from its exertions and tasted like tea made with
smelt like the Arabian Nights, with counters heaped with Nestlé evaporated milk and sweetened liberally with palm
big black peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg and sugar. Which it was. Then it was on to the Central Market
cardamom. In the dried foods section, a couple of us where we roamed the profusion of stalls selling souvenir
recognised ikan bilis, the crunchy dried anchovies that are items, batik and songket fabrics, culinary utensils and even
a key ingredient in Malaysia’s “national” breakfast, Nasi food art. Upstairs, Miss Julie pointed out the market’s
Lemak. Miss Julie stepped in to explain at times.
well-regarded food court whose stalls include Nyonya, the
“This is known as square bean”, she said, holding up a world-renowned fusion of Malay and Peranakan (Straits-
sample in one hand. “And this is snake bean”, she said, born) Chinese cuisine.
shaking the other. ”The kampong (village) chickens are Two of us noticed the exquisite kueh (small cakes and
also very tasty to Malay people,” she observed as we tarts) that are Nyonya specialities and our eyes swivelled
entered the butchery section where hens with distinctive over to Miss Julie. She had officially discharged her duties
red-brown feathers sat in cages awaiting their fate. At the and was readying us to head back to our hotel.
red meat counters, whole beasts were being filleted, with
impressive skill, with meat cleavers. “If we bought a few of these for us all,” we asked, “could
you squeeze some in?” “Of course,” she replied. “You’re in
Back in the cool of the air-conditioned mini-bus and Malaysia. There is always time to eat.”
its supply of wet wipes, we headed across town to

*John Corbett is Subeditor of Explore magazine. HELLOWORLD : EXPLORE : WINTER EDITION