After our street food adventure at Petaling Street (read my earlier blog post on Chinatown | Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur), J and I ventured into the alley via an inconspicuous entrance on Petaling Street and found our way to Penjaja Gallery (李霖泰菜市场). This place is more commonly known as Madras Lane Wet Market (中华巷湿巴杀市场) because it has a close connection with the old Madras Cinema that was burnt down in 1979.
It’s a typical wet market where you can get fresh vegetables and seafood…
…as well as live chickens too. We had the chance to witness the live slaughtering of a chicken when a patron ordered one. The chicken was held by the head and a sharp knife was used to make a quick slit on its throat and then it was thrown into the blue barrel (as shown in above picture) with the lid closed. I could hear the chicken screaming and struggling which eventually died away. That really gave me goosebumps.
On one side of the wet market was where cooked food hawkers served up local delights.
Chee cheong fun – one of my favourite breakfast foods now ‘cos Malaysian ones are just too good!
Only RM2 for this plate of chee cheong fun which was medium-sized (M) portion but it was actually the smallest on the menu anyway. I loved the balanced flavour of the sweet sauce and chilli sauce. The rice noodles were also smooth and slippery. A very humble looking dish but very tasty.
By the way, there is a yong tau foo stall on the opposite side so if you find this too plain, you can order some yong tau foo items and enjoy them together with the chee cheong fun.
There were two curry laksa stalls next to each other but we saw many locals buying takeaways from this particular one so decided to give it a try.
We ordered the Curry Laksa (RM6 for small) to share.
It came with a mix of thick yellow noodles and bee hoon with long beans, brinjal, cockles, pig skin and tau pok in a curry/laksa gravy. A calamansi lime was also given so I squeezed that over the noodles to give it a nice tangy kick.
The gravy was a cross between a curry gravy and a laksa broth. I really couldn’t decide if the flavour was more like curry or laksa. It had the consistency of laksa soup but also reminded me of a watered-down Chinese-style curry gravy. It was quite spicy but it was the bearable kind.
There were so much ingredients in this bowl – I must say the price was very value for money. I loved how the pig skin and tau pok had soaked up all those gravy so when I put them in the mouth, the gravy just oozed out from them. So shiok.
Cheap and good food, what’s not to like? These hawker stalls are open daily from 8am to 2pm so come early for breakfast or brunch before they sell out!