Nasi Goreng Paprik

It's quite a bitch to look for Malay food outlets in Cameron Highlands if you're an occassional tourist there - like me. The only places I know for sure is a foodcourt opposite HSBC bank in Tanah Rata, and another foodcourt next to the Brinchang central market. Since I was in Brinchang, I decided to get my regular dose of nasi paprik / nasi pattaya / tomyam at the market-foodcourt. Ok, ok: I know that ain't much Malay food but you tell me lah: where got authentic all-Malay food served nowadays in the Malay gerai??

So I went to this foodcourt and ordered nasi goreng paprik (and threw in an order of telur mata kerbau) from this stall smack right in the center of the row. Forgot the name of the stall dee; sorry :-( but can find one lah ... the center one lo. Looked at the menu board ... RM5. More expensive than usual, but then ... tourist town pricing la. Then Cameron Highlands summore, so I really expected a decent portion of really fresh veggies:



As you can see - what veggies? :-( Some bits of cauliflower, beans, chilli, carrot, sawi, a slice of cucumber, plenty of onions though - what else ... 3 pieces of cili padi. Now the cili padi was sick, man; HOT - and it's just about the only thing that tastes good. There was bits and pieces of so-called chicken in there; mostly bone fragments. Lots of nasi goreng, yes - so overall the portion's large.

But it just don't taste anywhere near as good as some of the nasi goreng paprik I had. The telur mata kerbau was weird, too - all raw in the middle (including the whites) but fried to a crisp at the edges. How the hell did they do that la ... The rest of the stalls in that foodcourt don't look too appetizing, either. Saw a group of Europeans trying to swallow their orders of kueytiaw goreng (well it looked like kueytiaw goreng) ... I should have taken a pic of their faces. Not good.

Conclusion for the average tourist: give up Malay food dining in Cameron Highlands, man. Not until you meet some local Malays pointing you to the right places. Maybe I'll try the Tanah Rata foodcourt next time. Wish me luck ...

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