Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Restoran Kolam Ikan... Kulim

This was yesterday....
Restoran Kolam Ikan
.. and this is how I'll remember it - We were crazy enough to drive 2 hours to and another 2 hours back to have a one hour lunch.... think the round trip was over 300km. By the time I got back, it was already past 5 p.m.
Restoran Kolam Ikan
The last part of the journey was on a narrow dirt road, and not exactly even if I may add. I must admit that I was a little apprehensive. Ah Ho reminded me to keep my eyes on the road as I was telling my co-driver to take many pics. LOL! And to top it, my suspension was creaky.... and we drove worrying of incoming traffic. Many stretches were only wide enough for one car...
Restoran Kolam Ikan
And our destination was a shack overlooking ponds filled with fish in the middle of a dusun, oil palm plantation and secondary jungle. But it was a really idyllic kampung setting.
toilet
Our two celebrities waving to their fans looking at them... LOL! Being a long journey... yup, you guess right! Most of us had to search for the loo. Been a while since I used one like this, away from the house. But it's clean and quite modern, unlike those days of old in my grandma's house which had this pot of you know what under you when you squat to do your business. The constant smell would remind you of its content. Those were the days when night soil engineers had the unpleasant task of removing the contents of those pots in the wee hours.
cleaning eels
We were early cos we wanted to be the first to be served. So we wandered around. Saw this man cleaning what was to be part of our lunch in the nearby river with clear running water. With such water, who needs tap water? And the innards all get washed away, becoming food for some other water creatures downstream. I must say that I was tempted to jump in as well....8)
Restoran Kolam Ikan
The 'restaurant' is as simple as it can get. The floor is compacted dirt... kinda reminded me of the houses in Pekan Gurney when I was still a wee little kid. The place was empty when we arrived at 11.30 a.m. I am told that sometimes one has to wait for 2 hours to be served if one is late. It can get quite packed on public holidays, I am told.
fish lunch
And this was lunch... fish! All kinds of fresh water fish cooked in different ways. There's the patin fish), the white whisker catfish, tilapia and I forgot the other one. We ordered 4 different types cos the lady proprietor told us not to over order. I like her... she was quite frank and professional. Also we had one dish of fried veg.
Kung po eel
But we did add another dish later, eel cooked kung-pao style.. the one the man was cleaning in the river earlier on. The lady happily obliged, of course and the dish tasted quite nice. 6 of us (5 adults and one kid - my gal) sapu everything clean from the plates.
Restoran Kolam Ikan
This is from the dog's vantage point of the bridge across the clear stream. The shack behind is the restaurant.
Restoran Kolam Ikan
We also had the opportunity to see how our lunch was caught from the holding pond. Fish is as fresh as you can get them here. The lunch experience was a nice adventure. I wouldn't have gone if not for Danny to bring us in. And also like-minded 'siao' enough friends for company.
PLUS
We detoured to the newer Tesco in SP on our way home. Out of curiousity I used the new Plus ticket... it's recyclable but I wonder whether they disinfect them at the end of each use...

Plus after I came back, I took a quick 40 winks and then I was off to Darulaman Golf Club for a badminton tourney.... came back, did another quick squash with Other Half and Son. Another full-full day..... LOL!

5 comments:

All things beautiful said...

For want of something to do to remember this holidays (that is coming VERY quickly to its end soon...) that's my reason :-)

PreciousPearl said...

glad to see u r enjoying your holidays. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family :)

Dino said...

Waaa...nice....whats the damage to the wallet?

AJ7 said...

No real damage-la. For all that plus 2 big bottles of herbal tea.. the bill was only RM150. I'd say that is really reasonable! For you - something like USD $50. Tell me, how much would a meal like this cost over there?

Dino said...

Over here, on average, you're looking at about $25-$30 per dish for fish. I really don't think its that expensive honestly considering how fresh it is. Dem....maybe should consider retiring back home.

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