Cameron Highlands... All About Food

One impression from this visit is Cameron Highlands is not a place for exceptional makan-makan. But it's quite amazing how most of the makan places are able to have a variety of western and local dishes on their menu. Food is okay but you don't get wowed much. Maybe being in the highlands, the repertoire of choices is kinda limited. Coastal cities usually seem to have a more diverse and tasty cooking. Accessibility being one reason I supposed. And the tradition kinda remained, I guess!

Anyway, our first pit stop was this stall, known as Yong Teng Cafe in Tanah Rata for pancakes, recommended by a few friends. It was lunch time. The wonders of the internet age; it's easy to get good recommendations. This stall is run by a deaf and dumb couple and serves a variety of local and western food. They are nice people! My girl was fascinated to see us communicating with them.

We ordered the strawberry (pic) and pineapple pancakes. It's okay-lah. Daughter says my pancakes are better... 8). I use milk and butter as main ingredients. Most shops don't.

From the pancakes we moved to Excellent Kafe for our second lunch for the day.. this time to try their Mixed Grill; recommended by Karyn.

This is the Mixed Grill @ RM15. The mutton was exceptionally tender. I'm a mutton fan! And this one, I like. The chicken has a nice smell. Reasonably priced!

Also ordered this... beef soup noodles with tripes. Cannot smell the beef in the mee. But at RM4, can't complain much.

That was followed by dinner at TCafe in Tanah Rata. It's quite difficult to spot as it is on the upper floor, right above Mary Brown Restaurant. Access is through an alley beside Mary Brown Restaurant.

It is popular for their scones and apple pies. We decided to go with the recommendations. Can't go very wrong if so many have said that it's worth a try. Daughter had the above; strawberry scones with cream. She's crazy about strawberries... so this trip has been more about strawberries than anything.

Other Half took the apple pie with ice cream. Pies with ice cream is always nice. So this one is also nice. Only thing is it's hard not too feel the cold in this hilly cold weather; eating ice cream some more. He also tried their chicken sandwiches... he's a sandwich fan. The filling was nice; chicken was just right but toasted bread would have been nicer. Cos the bread wasn't strong enough to hold the filling in. They kept dropping out!

I was carbo-hungry by then since I had gone 2 days without rice. So I tried their Claypot Chicken Rice. They had capsicum and veg in it, quite different. It's okay but Other Half and Daughter liked it.

Saw this quaint little 'prayer' hanging on the wall... TCafe will change name to My Lord's Cafe soon. A Mat Salleh couple was playing card games when we got there. One of the things we noticed is how they seem to make time to sit down and play games, read a book... you know, do the non hurried stuff. Whenever I see Asian tourists, they're always rushing to go somewhere... it's like they are trying to get their every sen worth of money paid for the hols. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of hols, I feel.

The place has a rustic and homely charm about it. Ambiance reminds me of the older days when everything moved slowly. The dining area is divided into different sections - it's probably because the upstairs area was partitioned into rooms for residence. The owner did not knock them down. Oh ya! At 50 sen for 10 minutes, one can use the computer to check their email. At Equatorial where we were staying, it was close to RM15 for one hour access. High speed or no high speed, if you are planning to be on the the go, get yourself a broadband connection... much cheaper. Equatorial's daily internet access was almost RM40! Almost like daylight robbery.....

After that we drove around a bit and went for our second 'dinner'. This is Cameron Highlands. Everywhere you go you see steamboats; they actually taste good in this cold weather. We had heard about the famous Charcoal Steamboat but decided to give it a miss and go for something else. So we went to Jin Jin. Steamboat - can't go very wrong. Only need to boil your food. Their prawns were not fresh. Probably being in the highlands has something to do with it too. Jin Jin is adjacent to the Butterfly Farm and just a few hundred metres from Equatorial, where we were staying.

Breakfast on the morning before we left was with the Forum Mamasan... an old-old friend from our schooling days. We met for breakfast at Downtown Kopitiam at Tanah Rata.

One of their set meals. Other Half had this.

Yoke Leen's turkey sandwich. In touristy places it's always good to go to places such as this... where portions are set to the price set. In some of the Chinese restaurants, portions and prices may differ time to time.

So, makan-makan in Camerons.. it's another experience, a treasured moment nonetheless.... 8)