This place is on the outskirts of Ipoh, almost in the middle of nowhere it seemed like - the journey there seemed to take forever, down dark, unlit country roads and lanes. "This better be worth it," I grumbled to myself. It's really the sort of place you need a local to show you cos you sure ain't gonna find it easily!
When we finally arrived at the town, our host said , "That's the town," and, "Did you blink? Cos if you did you probably missed it!" Ha ha!
But the street which interested us most was the one where there are at least ten seafood restaurants all serving the prawns. Apparently some bright spark had the idea of converting the disused tin mines into prawn farms, so these "large headed" prawns are the result. They were all there, one after the other. For some reason our host chose the "Luen Fong", one of those typical old-fashioned Chinese seafood places, bright and clean. Bubbling aquariums lined the entrance, filled with some quite lively prawns swimming about, all probably quite unaware of the fate that awaited them.
When we walked in the place was quite empty, but believe me within the hour it filled up. The dishes came in quick succession, firstly the famous prawns, quite large, steamed so you get the maximum natural taste (a bit negated by the ginger, garlic and chilli sauce you dip it into but still!). They are ENORMOUS, and if I'm a bit honest, slightly off-putting. The head, which most people savour, was quite liquidy so I forwent the pleasure of sucking at the juices like some of the others did. Being fresh-water creatures, the flesh isn't as salty as sea prawns, so I thought a bit of seasoning prior to cooking might have helped.
After that came the rest of the meal: some pork trotters braised in soya sauce until they were falling off the bone, a couple of veg dishes, a steamed whole catfish, fresh and not as muddy as some can be, and yet more prawns, this time fried with salted egg yolk. Smaller this time, so less
"jeelak" for me.
We rather thought the generous host had over-ordered a bit - but as you can see, between the 8 of us we tried really hard not to let him down ... practically every plate was scraped clean! The total bill for two tables came to just over RM600 - and that included a couple of beers too. Very reasonable really, however, rather a long way if you are thinking of heading there just for that; it's something I would recommend only if you are going there for something else or are passing by.
However, now I know why the famous Ipoh Hor Fun is so good - with the essence and red oil from these prawns combined with good old bak jam kai (white chicken) it must make the most delicious stock ever. Yummy! I can't wait to try cooking it for myself.
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