pasar malam happy garden

 

The most authentic and best way to discover the culture of a place is through its street food. I couldn’t agree more to that and what is a better place to explore all street food in one place than our local pasar malam? I haven’t been visiting one of those big and huge pasar malam in a while. Especially after reading Anna’s post on Taman Connaught’s pasar malam, I was so tempted to go take a look at what’s the current happening in the local night markets.

 

Last week, I visited one in the Happy Garden. And I make sure I got there early so the crowd is not as scary as what I would have imagined. Upon arrival, the cake and bakery stall definitely caught my attention. Those beautiful cakes definitely look real good and I couldn’t resist buying a few after the entire photo snapping.

 

 

Also, the kids would absolutely love this. Not only are they colourful, but they are appealing in such each slices comes with a free toy!

 

 

And don’t forget the pearl and bubble tea mania that is always on going. And now in pasar malam too.

 

 

Some stalls are set up tables for customers to ‘dine in’, but most people just pack because the crowd grew as in enters dusk. Then the place becomes a little crowded and stuffy. Here is mobile truck that sells pan mee.

 

Follow by this char kuey tiao and this uncle that sells some fried pork.

 

 

 

I tried this and it was nothing as impressive as what was told by the uncle. Well, he is a good promoter. This fried char siew wasn’t awful, but it was not as amazing or fascinating.

 

 

Then there is this cooling Lin Chee Kang which I honestly don’t quite know what makes that sweet water. But I am guessing it’s sugar and gula Melaka perhaps? But what fascinates me is the quill egg. Cooked quill egg inside this sweet sugar water.

 

 

Then of course, there is endless assortment of snack skewers and dumplings.

 

 

My favourite is this pile of siew bao. Looking at the stack alone intrigues my appetite.

 

 

And as I’ve mentioned, I haven’t been visiting one of these things for a while so I am easily amazed with a lot of things. These baby octopus and some coconut jelly, which I have been really tempted to try.

 

 

A lot of stalls make their food on the spot upon ordering, and some is just making them non-stop. This poh piah stall seemed to be getting quite a lot of order and people were just surrounding it when I went in and were still surrounded by people on my way out. So I couldn’t help myself but to buy two and try it out. It was nothing out of the extraordinary because I’ve had the best in Melaka which has a big chuck of fried lardons, so it was quite hard to make any fair verdict.

 

 

The rest is some common stalls which is available at any other pasar malams.

 

 

At one point, something caught my attention and I must warn you guys to not fall for the Cempedak flavour like I did. It was nothing but some taste of coconut milk with very little cempedak flavour, let alone the fruit chunk. Other flavour is probably better but avoid this if possible.

 

 

Other sweet stuff is those nyonya cakes which are creatively colourful, as well as the ice pudding which this little girl was so keen with.

 

 

She delightfully lets me take her photo and was giving me this lovely smile at my camera.

 

 

And finally there is this Japan Burger food which reminds me a lot of Dorayaki in Taiwan. Instead of sweet fillings, they use local favourites. There is choice of chicken floss, char shao, minced meat, sambal, hot dog, pork BBQ ham, or ham. Priced at RM 2, auntie was real chatterbox. We quickly chat up easily and she demonstrated how it was done. I was impressed.

 

 

Finally, the ultimate reason of my visit – the Asam Laksa with generous flakes of mackerel, onion, and mint leaves. Pineapples add on to the savoury tangy flavour and the portion is just nice for one to still grab some tiny snacks in the pasar malam.

 

 

I got myself some fried yam with minced pork filling. it wasn’t super amazing, but it made me happy to see so much food all at one place.

 

 

Go to Happy Garden Pasar Malam on Saturdays and if you ask me, I would advice early arrival. Say 5 ish…that time is when the crowd is not yet pack and you can freely buy your food with ease and enjoy some of those that are serving on the spot.

 

Follow me on twitter @sycookies for all micro updates and see more photo pin ups of everything else on Sycookies Pinterest boards. Also, click here for more photos and updates on Foodeverywhere’s facebook page.

 

Love