The next morning, Keat Meng and I met up with Chee Seng for breakfast. We had wan tan mee (RM3.00 - RM3.50) at (not surprisingly) Warung Mi Wan Tan. It was a simple meal but what made it so memorable was that the restaurant owner said that our breakfast was on the house.
Yippie! Free breakfast!
After going around Kampar and neighbouring towns nearby, Keat Meng took me for a lunch at a place called 36 Stalls (literally meant so in Cantonese, as called by the locals but you see, I don't know Cantonese).
The stall that Keat Meng intended to introduce to me was the one selling the famous zhar yun. It's fried minced fish ball also served with fu pi (soy skin) stuffed with the same fish meat (Keat Meng bought RM2.00's worth of zhar yun and fu pi).
Zhar yun was so delicious, I actually scooped up the crumbs, for real.
To complete the lunch, Keat Meng suggested me to try Kampar laksa (RM3.00).
"Try this and you'll know its difference with your favourite Penang assam laksa."
Yeah, it's different.
Not only the absence of pineapple chunks made Kampar laksa stood out, it also had fu pi (without the fish meat stuffings). The fish meat was not blended into the laksa soup like its Penang counterpart, but instead, it was served at the side in chunks.
Yet, the taste is still somewhat familiar, without my favourite add-on of shrimp paste though.
As though as my stomach was able to digest food entirely within seconds, Keat Meng, once again, took me out for ais kacang (RM3.00) for tea time after a brief nap. This local dessert pride was sold in a popular coffee shop in old Kampar town called Kedai Kopi Foong Mun Kee.
One thing that set this ais kacang apart from others elsewhere was that the blended ice was laced with the shop's homemade gula Melaka instead of the typical pink bandung syrup and brown sugar syrup.
After a trip to Kampar's West Lake area, it was time for dinner and as I have anticipated for long time, we went to have Kampar's popular claypot chicken rice in Jalan Idris at the same old town. It was so popular, the walls of that shop were plastered with cutouts from magazines and newspapers promoting this glorious dish. This claypot chicken rice even appeared in many television shows such as 8TV's Ho Chak!, to name one.
They served two types, both of which you MUST try, no matter how much cash you have in your pocket. Borrow, beg, wink etc :p
The first type was with steamed chicken placed on top of the claypot. The chicken was so pink and tender with a wharf of wine and ginger. To eat, you just have to mix the chicken, which was steamed separately, into the rice and stir.
The second one was the version of the familiar claypot rice you always have, but this definitely tasted so much better than those usual ones. Added with lap cheong or pork sausages, this type will turn you away from other claypot chicken rice for long, if not forever.
That night, Keat Meng accidentally ordered both types in large pots, instead of small ones...
(RM10.80 for both types in large claypots plus chrysanthemum tea for two)
*burp!*
Oh ya, this restaurant is actually where the fame of roti ayam began. Too bad I didn't have the chance to eat it. Oh well, an excuse to come back to Kampar then hehe :p
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