I first came across this new-to-me Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee stall from Lionel’s instagram feed. By the look of the picture as well as the trust I have Lionel as someone who knows his food as well as the link he provides (article on The Malay Mail written by Khang Yi of masak-masak), I knew then I had to visit this place the very next day, which I did.
Penang prawn mee Red Leaf restaurant, Jalan Loke Yew
Restaurant Red Leaf is located at Restoran Red Leaf (also known as Restoran Shoong City?) at the intersection of Jalan Loke Yew and Lorong Loke Yew. While being by the main road, it also manage to stay somewhat hidden from view, so do not miss your turning.
The Hokkien Prawn mee stall is manned by the owner who’s been operating at the same spot for some 30 years and originally hailed from Penang. An easy test is to order a bowl in Penang Hokkien, which I almost always do when ordering Penang hawker food in Klang Valley.
prawn mee with extra prawns
The usual small bowl goes for RM 6, but you can also have it with extra prawns for RM 9 each. Naturally that was what I went for.
The prawn mee came with the usual ingredients of sea-caught prawns, kangkung, bean sprouts, pork slices, fried shallots, and your choice of yellow noodle, meehun, or both.
The broth carries a strong prawn note with a sweet seafood taste to it, with every ingredient jelled quite nicely to make a bowl of proper prawn mee that is my current favorite among the hawker offerings in Klang Valley.
I was certainly a happy customer
Will certainly make this one of my regular pre-work breakfast stops.
Addresss: Restoran Red Leaf No 61 & 63, Ground Floor Jalan Loke Yew, 55200 KL GPS: 3.129614, 101.711412 Hours: 7am – 12pm
I did a short Q&A with Jetstar Magazine talking about some of my favorite places in Kuala Lumpur, it’s published on the April edition. I’m keeping a copy of the PDF here for memory sake. 😀
I found myself at Central Market in KL a couple weeks ago in search of a particular little gift, and as it was quite a while since I last did any street shoots, I bought my trusted little Canon DSLR with.
central market
The last time I went to there must have been over ten years ago. In my memory, I always associated the place with the likes of Ben Thanh Market in Ho Chi Minh City, or a very scaled down version of Chatuchak in Bangkok, full of traders offering all sorts of touristy and artsy merchandise in a crammed, hot, and very sweaty environment.
picking an altar
As it turned out, to my surprise, Central Market is fully air conditioned! While there are still many stores selling anything from religious statues, post cards, photo frames, art works, jewelries, cloths, 101 types of souvenirs, you can also find Old Town and a couple restaurants and food court within the main building.
guardian buddha
Note the giraffe statue right next to the wooden Buddha on the picture above. Cheesie bought them all the way from Bali while we have them right here in the heart of KL. I have a feeling these things are probably made in China anyway.
windless wind chimes
In addition to plastic and rotan sepak takraw balls (which hurts like a bitch if you try to do a header), wind chimes seem to be a popular item around here though there isn’t any wind at all inside the building.
snoozing artist
The annex at the back of the main building houses quite a few local artists, some with very impressive looking masterpieces. For a small fee, you can commission a painting of yourself in pencil, water color, or even oil. Business wasn’t exactly brisk on that Sunday morning though.
catching a breather
The street to the right of Central Market is cordoned off for pedestrian access only. Hawkers and street artists have taken up this space to offer anything from cold drinks to barely bearable music.
grabbing a bite
I took a breather at the side of the building with a can of chilled Coke, looking at the hawker arranging her keropok lekur, and wonder how this place will look like in another 10 years.
**************************************** Celebrate Like A Champion
This portion is to help me hopefully win some MU tickets and a jersey woohoo! (from TGB’s entry)
Name 4 of the Manchester United legendary players.
Bill Foulkes, Bobby Charlton, Eric Cantona, George Best
Name the founder of Smirnoff Vodka, and the country Smirnoff originates.
Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov, Russia
Complete this sentence, stating the partnership between Smirnoff and Manchester United:
Smirnoff is the official Spirits Sponsor and Official Responsible Drinking Partner of Manchester United.
What is the latest Smirnoff’s Limited Edition bottle called?
Smirnoff® 21, Smirnoff® limited edition promotional pack.
Ahhh, after a hard day’s work on the field, ze Champion gets a bit of a rest!
Today is the 9th day of Chinese New Year, traditionally the day Hokkien people worships Jade Emperor of Heaven “Tian Kung” (天公). I did hear quite a bit of fireworks as midnight struck even though the government has imposed a complete ban on such celebration.
The pictures I am posting here are of “Tian Hou Temple”, a place that might not be related at all to today’s occasion. But anyhow…
Pagoda with 8 sided roof
We went to the temple for some photography a week before Chinese New Year hoping to get some shots of the beautifully lit decorative lanterns, but luck was not on our side as it seems that conservation of electricity was the priority of the night. I only managed about a dozen different shots before the temple closed at around 10:30pm.
3-tiered roof with guardian dragons
You can read more about this place at Thean Hou Temple wiki entry.
pillar
You can find a few more pictures in my flickr set.
I took the opportunity of the holiday to go down to KL and snap me some pictures. These shots were taken around Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, near the Maju Junction. The Canon 400D and Tamron SP90 were the gear used in this excursion, I was trying to see the effect of using a basically macro/portrait lens for streets photography.
anticipation
An old man anticipating the arrival of his bus as cars and bikes passes him in the reflection.
rejected
specks of gold
the spiral
In the older part of the city, you can find remnants of architecture from the bygone era. Do we still have dedicated fire escape routes in shop houses these days?
