Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) - Limablas Peranakan Restaurant @ 25 Jalan Mesui

Date of Exploration : 16 Jan 2017

Peranakan cuisine has always been one of my weaknesses and any mention of udang petai (prawns stir-fried with stink beans) would instantly start a wild saliva party between my teeth. So when I saw a friend's Facebook photos of his nyonya lunch at Limablas, my keyboard got drenched.

But more than just serving up mouthwatering Peranakan food, Limablas' contempo-retro decor is a photographer's dream come true and would turn even the most camera-shy into an instant camwhore.

Here. I must come!

Tucked along the eclectic Jalan Mesui lined with quirky shopfronts, the entrance of Limablas is an invitation to travel back in time. It felt like I was walking into a 70s hipster's home.

 The good thing about Limablas is that it is located within the popular Bukit Bintang tourist district so it doesn't need a spaceship to get to. We stayed at Rae Hotel (which is on a street parallel to KL's famous Jalan Alor food street) and took us under 5 minutes to walk here.

We had initially wanted to come by for lunch on Sunday but the restaurant was closed so we came back on a Monday expecting a large lunch crowd but it was comfortably patronised. Unfortunately, they were out of petai (stink beans) that day and I'll have to find equal pleasure in Limablas' other menu offerings to make up for the disappointment.

Limablas means fifteen / 15 in Malay and is the unit number where the restaurant was originally located on Jalan Mesui. It's current unit number is 25 that's why there's a "@25" at the end.  To match the retro decor theme, I decided to channel Fei Yu Qing (费玉清) so that my poses will fit the setting...

... but of course, I can't emulate my evergreen idol so it's free-styling with the patchwork of vintage furnishings.

Limablas has an open bar at the patio but it was too early to sample their interesting sounding cocktails.

Hello there! This uncle chio or not? Hahaha...

Interior of Limablas... Yesterday didn't happen once more, it never went away.

Limablas offers a set lunch menu as well as ala carte selections. Most of the Perankan signature dishes are in it except Ayam Buah Keluak. At RM13.90 for the set lunches, they are a pretty good deal. Otherwise, eating here would rank on the high side. I find eating in KL generally quite expensive by local standards.

Retro-hip... a place to feed the stomach and the camera!

This flower fan looks like it fell out of the pages of Alice in Wonderland.

One of the fun things to do was to take a closer look at the display items... sometimes recovering a memory, and sometimes discovering a good laugh.

Old things given a new purpose at Limablas... me not included.

The period setting very got 'feel'. We stayed till past 2pm when all the customers had left and practically had the restaurant all to ourselves to shoot.

Put me in a vase and I'll bloom for you :)

We were so caught up with capturing nostalgia and putting ourselves in the photos that we almost missed the arrival of our orders. The charms of Limablas' movie-set grade interior could almost steal the limelight from the food.

Now that I've fed my Olympus Tough TG-4, it is time to feed the tummy...

We ordered the Bendil Kukus (literally translated as "bundle steamed", which is the okra dish), Nyonya Laksa, Ayam Ponteh (stewed chicken) and Gerang Asam Fish. The servings are rather huge so for the two of us, this is an over-order. Usually, waiters would warn us that we've ordered too much but maybe the waiter at Limablas thought I looked yao gui so he didn't stop us. Thankfully we didn't waste food. *Burp!*

Our bill totaled RM106.95.

The steamed okra (Bendil Kukus) was easily my favourite. The lady's fingers were cook just right and really tender and fresh but the belachan dip it came with was a stranger. Usually when I order this Peranakan dish, the vegetable comes with a coating of stir-fried minced garlic, onion and chilli in lime sauce layered on top with crispy hae bee (deep-fried tiny shrimps).

Maybe that's another dish altogether and not Bendil Kukus. For this, I much enjoyed the okra on its own without the sauce.

As for the Nyonya Laksa, I think it has an identity crisis. It looked like Penang Laksa (cucumber strips and lime) fell into a bowl of Curry Mee yet resembled neither in taste. The broth was thick and hearty but it didn't taste like the Nyonya Laksa I know. The taste wasn't bad, but somehow the flavours didn't quite work together and left me baffled. Perhaps some Laksa leaves could turn things around or it should be called Nyonya Curry Mee... LOL

The Ayam Ponteh won us over. Although the gravy was a tad too watery (nothing that a little tapioca flour solution mixed into the sauce can't fix), the dish hit all the right notes in taste and aftertaste. The chicken was stewed till the meat divorces the bone readily and the potato and mushroom had all soaked up the robust flavours.

No room for dessert... We were thinking of some Peranakan sweets to end off the saliva party but we were too stuffed!

Okay, I must qualify ah... I'm no expert in Perankan cuisine except for being good at eating so what my tastebuds dance to may be different from yours. Overall, although vintage-themed cafes and restaurants aren't exactly a rarity nowadays, I feel that Limablas has a character of its own and makes for an interesting dining (and photography) experience in the heart of KL's downtown tourist district.

Address : 25, Jalan Mesui, Bukit Bintang, 50200 Kuala Lumpur
Opening Hours : 11am - 3pm, 6pm - 10:30pm (Mon - Sat)

Osaka (Japan) - Dining with Death : Fugu Feast at Dotonbori

Date of Savouring : 2 Apr 2016

Japanese cuisine may have spread to major cities all over the world but there's one dish that remains tightly guarded within the home of the samurais. That deadly fish dish is called  fugu, a Japanese delicacy that both warns and warms the palate of any daredevil gastronome.

Fugu is the Japanese name for pufferfish (a.k.a. blowfish, globefish, balloonfish, and swellfish) and has its roots in a local term that means "swell up". In Chinese, pufferfish is called 鰒鱼 fù yú and is often nicknamed 河豚 hé tún (meaning "river piglet"), so it is common to see these Chinese characters used in restaurant signages and menus in Japan. If I have my way, I would nickname it "durian fish", but "river piglet" befits the adorable and comical way the fish looks when it puffs up with water (in sea) or air (on land) when threatened. And I have a soft spot for piglets, but that's another story.

I was hoping to get a taste of fugu during this Japan trip, not because I have a death wish, but I was curious to find out why, when there is no lack of safe for consumption fish species in the oceans, the Japanese would risk poisoning by biting into this forbidden fruit.

Although Tokyo has the highest number of fugu restaurants numbering around 3,000 throughout the city, we didn't come across any. Neither did we see the giant pufferfish lanterns, a sure sign that advertises fugu restaurants, in Kyoto or Nara so you can imagine the fireworks that went off in my gut when I sighted the ballooned fish hanging on a shop's facade in Osaka's glittering Dotonbori street!

I didn't understand a word of the Japanese signboard but the fugu lantern was enough to hook and reel me in. On closer inspection, the English name of this restaurant is Zuboraya Dotonbori.

Zuboraya Dotonbori has a range of fugu dishes to choose from its ala carte menu as well as meal sets for 2 to 8 people. Typically, a fugu feast doesn't come cheap. If the poison doesn't kill you, the bill would. A meal course consisting of 6 dishes could range anything from S$100 - S$250 per person depending on the origin of the fish, chef's reputation and complementing ingredients.

We had a very pleasant experience at Zuboraya although sitting on the floor to dine in authentic Japanese tatami style (with shoes off) made me wish I did more yoga. So now that I've salivate all over death, what did it taste like? Was it memorable like a deep and passionate love affair, or a forgettable pleasure easily replaced by another? Read on if you want to find out... :)

A License to Slice

In order to serve fugu, chefs must go through a 2-year licensing course where they study and practice disarming the poisons from fugu for human consumption. The most poisonous parts of a pufferfish are the liver, ovaries, testicles, entrails and eyes, which the chefs must skillfully remove without contaminating the flesh of the fish.

The preparation protocol is that all the poisonous organs that are removed must be deposited inside a plastic bag which is then sealed and placed into an air-tight container so that they don't mix with other wastes.

At the end of the licensing programme, the apprentices have to go through a stringent certification exam which qualifies them as safe hands to eat fugu from.

The chefs may be certified safe but each individual's body may react differently to varying degrees of fugu meat's chemical profile. Frankly, I was a little worried that I wouldn't survive the meal but seeing that there are so many diners, I guess there's nothing to worry about. Being able to write this blog post, obviously meant that I'm more poisonous than the fish. So I survived. LOL.

Die While Alive

What makes dining on pufferfish so deadly is the presence of a class of neurotoxins known as tetrodotoxin in its organs. Different pufferfish species have varying concentrations of the toxin in different parts of the body.

Tetrodotoxin is colourless, ordourless and resistant to heating and is 1,000 times more deadly than cyanide, causing death through paralysis of the muscles and organs in the body, especially the lungs, leading to breathlessness and suffocation. Victims remain mentally conscious and alive but are unable to move their bodies as tetrodotoxin invades. The toxin paralyses the diaphragm and causes a shut down of the respiratory system. What follows is a terrifying death where you are fully aware of what's going on around you but slowly dying from asphyxiation.

6 ways to reach your last breath... A typical 6-course fugu feast consists of fugu sashimi, fugu sushi, fugu tempura, fugu udon, fugu hotpot and a porridge to soak up the fugu-infused stock at the end. And that's what we ordered for ¥5,400 (S$68.70) at Zuboraya Dotonbori. The meal feeds two.

If you've ingested a fatal dose of tetrodotoxin through fugu, you'll feel it within 20 minutes and you're pretty much a goner. For this reason, people who are suicidal have used the pufferfish as their last meal. In cases of medium to mild poisoning, the effects may be felt anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours. These cases usually survive the effects of poisoning.

Although tetrodotoxin is very dangerous, the irony is that it is that which makes fugu such a thrilling dish, not because of the potential of death, but the numbing, tingling sensation on the tongue and lips when just the right amount of the poison is present.

Fugu skin and flesh sashimi... This is the favoured way to savour the unadulterated flavours of fugu, but also the most deadly. But the fugu sashimi we had was from farmed fish because the ocean-caught ones would cost much more and more dangerous for consumption as they would contain tetrodotxin.

The thrill of eating wild fugu sashimi is that if trace amounts of tetrodoxoin is present in the skin and meat, it will cause a tingling and numbing sensation of the tongue and mouth area. But it is hard to determine what's the safe level for each individual diner and amateur chefs may not know the proper ways to disarm the toxin. These uncertainties lead to poisoning and the possibility of death. Yet, this is the thrill that gained fugu its fans.

Safe-to-Eat Farmed Fugu

An interesting fact I found out is that pufferfish aren't actually poisonous. They acquire the tetrodotoxin from their diet of starfish and shellfish. These food sources contain a bacteria that causes tetrodotoxin during metabolic processes and the pufferfish is able to harness the poison and store it as a biological defence. Does that mean I should stop eating starfish and shellfish too?

Did you frown incredulity at the mention of starfish and thought maybe I made a mistake because starfish is not known as a culinary ingredient in Singapore? Well, I didn't. In Hong Kong, and maybe some other parts of the world, I've seen dried starfish sold as condiments to flavour soups. I bought two packets and experimented in the kitchen before. They imparted a mildly distinct taste in my soups that made me imagine what sucking on a moist seashell must taste like with every spoonful.

By understanding how pufferfish acquire tetrodotoxin through what they eat rather than producing the poisons themselves, there are now fugu farms in Japan that breed and rear poison-free pufferfish. A lot of what's supplied to fugu restaurants nowadays are the farm-bred versions of the wild species where their feed is devoid of bacterial tetrodotoxin contamination.

Fugu sushi was another way our taste-buds were led to experience pufferfish differently.

There are over 100 species of pufferish worldwide but only about 20 species are approved for consumption in Japan after a trial-and-error that first took place over 2,000 years ago. Today, Japan is a pioneer is developing fugu that is devoid of poison through farming and eliminating tetrodoxin-inducing food sources. Despite this safety guarantee, fugu is one dish that can never be served to the emperor of Japan.

Culinary Cult Culture

So what's the fun of eating "safe" fugu if it is just like any other fish? Admittedly, I was a tad disappointed that my fugu meal was most likely from farmed fish rather than from the ocean. I didn't verify with the restaurant but I assumed farmed fugu is used because of its prevalence due to its safety for consumption. And the price was more affordable. Wild caught fugu would've cost more.

Fugu Udon... my first encounter with cooked fugu and I found myself drawn to the firm texture of the meat.

As a point of reference, the Tiger Pufferfish (Torafugu) which is an unfarmed wild caught species and considered a gourmet (the "kobe beef" of fugu) costs about 22,000yen (S$280) per kilogram; while the Mafugu, a schooling species (you catch one, you catch many) and also farmed, costs less than half that price.

As you can imagine, the fugu connoisseur would hunt down premium or secret restaurants serving Torafugu while tourists like me get all excited over farmed fugu meat. Wild or farmed, fugu has a cult-like following in Japan and is the most exotic food to eat in the country.

Is Fugu Worth the Hype?

Taste-wise, I find the fish's meat to have a firm chewy texture and kinda sweet. It is pleasantly mild flavoured and easy on the palate but nothing exceptional. Without the tingling sensation that tetrodotoxin causes, the poison-free version of fugu is just like eating any other fish.

Fugu tempura.

Raw chunks of fugu to be cooked in a hotpot.

The hotpot broth was used to cook a rice dish at the end of the dinner course to put a full-stop to our fugu taste journey. It was really a full stop because by the time we stopped eating, we were so full.

Fugu is famed because of how it numbs the mouth because of tetrodotoxin and people risk death to enjoy it. So the toxin-free version of the fish lacks any real distinguishable draw to eat it really. It is like looking at a shark in an aquarium.

For the amount we paid for the dinner for two, I would say it is reasonable just to try what a fish that is not commonly found in most markets around the world taste like. I wasn't hooked on this dish but it sure makes for an interesting travel tale to tell given the pufferfish's dangerous reputation. Give it a try when you're in Japan!

Johor - Ink Brew by JWC Cafe (墨跡手沖館) and Eh He Gallery

Date of Exploration : 24 Mar 2015

Retro flavoured kopitiams and eateries are plenty in Malaysia, where the good ol' days are still served up in good ol' ways, but a new breed of old-school coffeeshops are elevating nostalgia to the realm of designer vintage by turning the pleasure to reminisce into an artform. And paving the way is Ink Brew by JWC with the adjoining Eh He The Classic Accents Art House at Johor Bahru's heritage district of Tan Hiok Nee.

Discovering Ink Brew and Eh He was something of a beautiful serendipity. We were poking our noses into an oddstentatious (odd and ostentatious) shophouse facade at the mouth of Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, unsure of what to make of it when an uncle seated in a kopitiam opposite encouraged us to go in. As we stepped through the doors of Eh He, thinking it's a performance arts theatre, we soon realised it is actually an art gallery embalming the Chinese history of Johor Bahru (JB). Beyond the gallery is a door that links to Ink Brew where the founding spirit of the precinct is translated into the cafe's menu and its deco. The result is a kind of retro that exudes effortless authenticity and bespoke artistry to entice not just the palate but hold the senses spellbound.

Coffee with a story. Sipping a cuppa at Ink Brew is not just about the caffeine fix but appreciating the philosophy that went behind crafting the concoctions. This brew is called "游神 - 五帮共和" ("Parade of the Gods - Five Tribes Unified") and is made from 5 different coffee beans.

In the early days, 5 prominent ethnic groups from China settled in Johor Bahru. They are the Hokkiens, Hakkas, Teochews, Cantonese and Hainanese. As they hail from different sects, constant feuds and territory wars ensued, often with bloody consequences. To unify the fragmented dialect groups, the Parade of the Gods was created in JB so that the 5 groups may be unified through religion. As a homage to honour this history of JB, Ink Brew signatured this 5-beans-brew to remind drinkers that differences is the essence of a flavourful unified existence. RM15.00 (hot), RM16.50 (cold).

At first glance, Eh He and Ink Brew which opened in March 2015 may seem like just another business trying to milk the appeal of nostalgia but that's just the superficial. I had the good fortune of meeting Pauline, one of the establishment's owners, and got a behind-the-scene understanding of the thought processes that went into realising every aspect of the gallery and cafe's design, spatial planning, and curated heritage within the premises. I came in not knowing I had a thirst and left with a hunger fulfilled.

Getting to Eh He / Ink Brew

Eh He The Accents of Art gallery and Ink Brew by JWC can be accessed by different entrances but they are linked. Eh He's entrance is at the mouth of Jalan Tan Hiok Nee while Ink Brew's entrance faces Jalan Ibrahim. But the 2 are joined by a door on the second level so it doesn't matter which entrance you get in.

For the ease of explaining how to get here, I'll use the Jalan Tan Hiok Nee entrance of Eh He as a point to direct wayfinding. Jalan Tan Hiok Nee is a short historic street in Johor Bahru that's somewhat like Singapore's Haji Lane where pre-war shophouses occupied by avant garde fashion boutiques, restaurants, cafes and heritage businesses congregate to create a blast-from-the-past lifestyle destination within the city.

Entrance of Eh He The Classic Accents Art House gallery at the mouth of Jalan Tan Hiok Nee heritage street. Opposite Eh He's visage is Kin Wah kopitiam that serves up traditional Hainanese coffee and kampung chicken's soft-boiled eggs.

If you are coming from City Square shopping mall after clearing the Malaysian customs, look for the exit to Jalan Wong Ah Fook. Walk along Jalan Wong Ah Fook in the direction of the huge Hindu temple, Sri Raja Mariamman. Behind the temple is a street called Jalan Trus. Walk along Jalan Trus which leads down the city's unofficial Little India and towards JB Bazaar and you will come to the entrance of the Tan Hiok Nee Cultural Street. Eh He's entrance is facing the start of Tan Hiok Nee Cultural Street (photo above).

If you are unsure of your way, ask for directions to Sri Mariamman Hindu temple or Jalan Trus or Jalan Tan Hiok Nee along the street. Most locals would be able to point you in the right direction. It should take no more than 15 minutes to walk from City Square mall to Jalan Tan Hiok Nee at a leisurely pace.

Entrance of Ink Brew with the prominent Eh He frontage on Jalan Ibrahim. The shophouse that accommodates Eh He and Ink Brew is sandwiched between Jalan Tan Hiok Nee and Jalan Ibrahim.

Eh He The Classic Accents Art House

Eh He is an unconventional name for a gallery but there's a quirky rationale behind it. "Eh He" is derived from Earth Heart, meaning that art is all around us on this earth and also residing within us. If you look at Eh He's logo, you will also notice the words "中间" (middle) and "旁边" (to the side), which allude that art is at the heart of our being while at the same time, surrounding us.

In addition to "Eh He 中间\旁边", there's a red banner that reads (from right to left as in the way that olden Chinese texts are read)　"吉安泰祥". For a moment I'm confused by the presence of so many phrases, making the sign seem more like a thesis rather a shop name. But after some explaning by the owner, I finally understood that 吉安 (ji an) is the name of the chief artist of Eh He gallery while 泰祥 (tai xiang) is the name of the business that used to occupy the shophouse.

Stepping through the entrance of Eh He is like stepping into a time machine. The first floor reception has 2 huge puppets and to the side is the original narrow stairs of the old shophouse that leads to the second level.

The second level of Eh He The Classic Accents Arts House. There's an old world charm about this place that's immediately captivating.

A photo on display at Eh He art gallery. The man in half wayang drag is 张吉安 (Zhang Ji An), a radio personality in Malaysia and artistic director of Eh He. Ji An did a series of photoshoots with his opera persona around different places in Johor as a reminder that where we are and where we are heading are rooted in our heritage and traditions. Modernity may have eroded the visibility of traditions but our distinct cultures live on.

There are listening stations around Eh He gallery where you can tune in to yesteryear operas and conversations spoken in the purest form of the various dialects in Johor Bahru decades ago. I love the retro transistor radios used for the listening stations that come with a USB port where you can just plug in a MP3 and play. It's an old shell with a new soul.

Surrounded by artistry in the gallery, we attempted to create our own photographic 'art'. Haha.

The best thing I like about Eh He gallery is the absence of "Do not touch" signs on its exhibits. There's no barrier to interact with the heritage artefacts to really feel them. But please handle with utmost care as many of these historic memorabilia are at the brink of falling apart.

刀马旦。Rekindling the days where I learnt and performed Chinese opera in my late teens. But mostly as a backdrop character. LOL. Behind me is the door that leads to Ink Brew by JWC cafe.

Ink Brew by JWC  (墨跡手沖館)

We almost didn't make it to Ink Brew by JWC which adjoins Eh He gallery through a door at the back of the art space. Initially, we thought the door was an access to the gallery's administrative office or staff quarters. But being nosy, we decided to check out where the door leads and thankfully we did. The door opens out to this...

... an unconventional sitting area that defies the usual set-up for a cafe. But I didn't think it was a cafe at first, and thought it's the make-up room for performance artistes who may put up shows at Eh He gallery.

But this is the extension of a sitting area for Ink Brew cafe. There's a lot of room to breathe here amongst salvaged vintage desks and authentic dressers that hail from the 70s. I immediately felt at home as one of my aunties used to have a wooden vanity dresser just like the one found here!

The walls surrounding the hall are the original structure of the old shophouses and you can see that some parts are not aligned in a straight line due to aging. The red calligraphic scroll encircling the ceiling is done by a renown calligrapher in Singapore as a gift to the cafe. And if you peer through the skylight, you will see a hump on the shophouse's roof that has been retained.

The hump is a classic Hainanese (I think) architectural feature that represents the mountain. In Chinese culture, having a house with a mountain at the back is good fengshui as it signifies that the household will have a solid backing in whatever it's inhabitants pursue.

Another door at the side of the sitting area above leads to a wholly different sitting space of Ink Brew with a stairway leading to the ground floor where the barista, cashier and kitchen reside.

Renovating the interior of the dilapidated shophouse took an arduous 4 months where many of the original building materials were retained.

The side wall of the cafe is exactly as it has been while as much of the original floor boards have been rescued and reuse. That explains the 2-colour tone of the wooden floor with the darker flooring being the original wood found in the shophouse and the lighter colour being add-ons because not all floorboards can be salvaged. I love how they try to recycle and 'artify' the old into the new.

Furniture at Ink Brew is also an inconsistent carpentry of tables and benches as they are made from salvaged wood at the original shophouse. What you are sitting on is a piece of Johor Bahru's history while you sip tea or coffee.

Here with Pauline See, the artist behind the massive wall mural at Ink Brew cafe. Her work behind us is titled "Temptation", which she alludes to how as children, we have ambitions and aspirations but as we grow up, we succumb to temptations that thwart the pursuit of our dreams.

She also shared that her artworks typically feature 3 colours - white to represent the aspirations and goodness that humanity possesses; black as a symbolic colour of the dark side or secrets that we don't want people to know; and red as the mark of breakthrough and creativity we have in us to make a difference.

What's not pictured here are flying whales near the roof which represent innovation, that we have the ability to break-free from our paradigms with courage and a readiness to adapt to new environments.

A staff sharing the stories and rationale behind the drinks and food items on the menu. I was so amazed by the casualness and enthusiasm of staff members taking the time to sit down and explain the concept behind the coffees, mocktails and food that they serve.

Drinking coffee at Ink Brew by JWC is an art of savouring the painstaking thought processes that went into creating the signature brews. Pictured here is 陈旭年咖啡 (Tan Hiok Nee Coffee). This cuppa is not created because the cafe sits on Jalan Tan Hiok Nee but a taste journey of the forefathers' effort to build Johor Bahru.

If you look at the Chinese word 旭 (xu4), it consists of the characters 九 (jiu3, nine) and 日(ri4, day). So the orange slice on the coffee has actually been sun dried for nine days. To truly enjoy this caffeine creation, you have to first put a bit of the cream in the mouth and drink the coffee. Then, take a bite of the orange slice and drink the coffee again. Lastly, submerge the remaining orange slice in the coffee, let it steep, and drink the brew again.

What you would taste is first bitterness, then an acidic sour flavour, followed by a sweet ending. This represents the 苦尽甘来 (joy after hard work) spirit of the early settlers where the virtue of being hardworking is rewarded with the fruits of the labour.

This story coffee doesn't come cheap though. It costs RM16.80 per cup.

Other than coffees, there are some taste innovations that are worth checking out. We love this mocktail called 小梦的天空 (Sky of a Little Girl, RM13.50) that features 泡泡糖 (crackling sweets). Every sip is a trip back to my childhood where these sweets crackle and come alive on my tongue! As the crackling sweets are kind of extinct on the streets, Ink Brew went through a lot of research to find a supplier.

Food is also on the serve. We ordered this pizza called The Garden (RM15.90) that has been designed by a nutritionist. It contains a lot of veggies on a thin pizza dough with the suace made from tofu. It's mild in taste but somehow you don't feel the guilt of gluttony.

I just had a bowl of curry noodles, 2 soft-boiled eggs, and a slice of banana sponge cake before eating this! So tam jiak because the items on Ink Brew's menu sounds so exotic.

We didn't plan on sitting down to have a coffee but the unusual vintage charm of Ink Brew compelled us to rest our feet with a step back into the past.

While prices aren't cheap at Ink Brew for the drinks, we find that Ink Brew and Eh He is totally worth checking out for the ambience, artistry, creativity and thoughtfulness that went into preserving this shophouse on Jalan Tan Hiok Nee and Johor Bahru's culture!

Pattaya - Extreme Street Food : Insects and Scorpions

Date of Feast : 11 Mar 2015

I pride myself in having an adventurous palate and Thailand is the best place to constantly push the limits of my appetite further. So while many tourists hunt for the best Tom Yum Goong, Pad Thai or seafood in whichever Thai destination they end up at, I keep my nose out for... insects.

Top Left : Taking a bite into a Balut (18-day-old duck embryo) at Cebu, Philippines. Top Right : Having a go at Sannakji, wriggling raw octopus tentacles, in Seoul, Korea. Bottom Left : Getting a grasshopper into my mouth at Bangkok, Thailand. Bottom Right : Conquering arachnophobia with my first taste of tarantula at Siem Reap, Cambodia. I've put a lot of weird things in my mouth. 

I love the insect snacks and no matter where I am in the kingdom, whether it is Bangkok, Chaing Mai, Phuket, Hua Hin or Krabi, one mission of mine is to seek out fried insect hawkers. And with some luck, I sometimes encounter them. They are most of the time just a single hawker with his or her pushcart by the side of a road. But in Pattaya, I found not one but three different insect snack sellers!

I met one at the Walking Steet, another one along the main road running the length of Pattaya known as Second Road, and a third one at the Jomtien area. I was happy as a clam and not one night went without snacking on what many would consider pests. So if you enjoy contributing to pest control like I do or just want to try chowing down on some bugs, Pattaya is the mother nest.

A lady bug seller I came across while strolling along Pattaya Walking Street. Located in South Pattaya, the Walking Street is closed to traffic from 6pm onwards and turns into a nightlife district with go-go bars, restaurants and clubs. She had the usual silk worm larvae (pictured here), grasshoppers, fried geckos, crickets, and these...

... giant crickets! They look plump and delicious but I went with my usual order of larvae and grasshoppers as they are my favourites. It costs 20bht a packet for each type of insect.

Do they make your stomach crawl? These are fried juvenile crickets and they are tasty plus high in calcium but grasshoppers are crispier.

The human consumption of insects is known as "Entomophagy". It's a mouthful so I prefer to term anyone who eats insects as "Human Baygon". LOL

While we don't have the habit of eating insects in Singapore, some poorer Asian nations look to insects as a nutrition source. In Cambodia, some communities are so poor that they hunt and eat tarantulas with rice as their sole intake of protein. Talk about fear factor food!

My favourites... fried grasshoppers and silk worm larvae. Sellers often spray a coat of soy sauce and dust the bugs with pepper to impart taste. Texture-wise, the larvae has a meaty, slightly chewy feel while the grasshoppers are crispy and has a grassy aftertaste.

If you get the really big grasshoppers, the abdomen is like biting into a flaky meatball and the femur is really tasty, but I would remove the thorny hind legs as they can scratch the mouth and throat.

Deep-fried geckos. Haven't tried these before because they look rather boney but ingesting them could be a good source of calcium. Perhaps on my next trip.

Insects are actually extremely nutritious as they are very high in protein but low in calories and some of them such as tarantulas pack 10 times the amount of iron compared to beef. Considering that insects reproduce quickly, need relatively small spaces to farm and eat very little to generate a high volume of protein, they are actually a much more sustainable source of protein than meat farming. 

From larvae, grasshoppers, crickets, mealworms, tarantulas, some unidentifiable beetles and the yucky giant water beetle (my least favourite), I've tried them all. But there's one bug that I've heard of but never seen sold. That is until I came to Pattaya and saw what I thought was a streetfood legend...

... fried scorpions! My eyes literally popped out of their sockets when I encountered them unexpectedly. I've been searching for them for so long. However, they do look rather revolting and I have second thoughts about putting one in my mouth.

The scorpion snack doesn't come cheap though. The seller charged me 160bht for this handful of bugs (60bht for the grasshoppers and 100bht for the small scorpion). I immediately knew he was trying to cheat me because a bag of grasshoppers costs only 20bht with all the sellers I've ever bought from, not 60bht.

And to charge me 100bht (approx. S$4.20) for a small scorpion is a rip-off. I thought the scorpion would at most cost 20 - 40bht per bug. So I argued with him and refused to take the scorpion. He finally relented and charged me 100bht for everything. I still feel cheated to pay 80bht for the scorpion but as I found out later, a scorpion does command a high price as they are harder to come by. I checked 2 differents sources (online and at the Pattaya Floating Market where a shop was also selling scorpions) and they do go for 100 - 120bht, but they were much bigger than the one I got.

The best way to face your fear is to swallow it. The pincers were very crunchy and the abdomen was fleshy. According to the seller, scorpions make you strong and are nature's Viagra especially the stinger part! Looking for a health tonic? While not down a scorpion?

No cocktail nuts or chicken wings, just chunky bugs to accompany a bottle of Mangosteen Wine (have you even heard of that?) after a full day of sightseeing in Pattaya. What a perfect way to chill! :o)

I remember the first time I ever tried bug eating in Bangkok. It was a grasshopper a seller offered me and I ate it more out of a curiosity and a dare to try something disgustingly exotic. But since that first bite, I've grown a penchant for these creepy crawlie snacks and a staple feed whenever I visit.
The only setback is, when you poop the next day, you will find bits and pieces of wing parts, legs or exoskeleton floating on the surface of the waste water. They are very buoyant and take a few flush to get rid of but it's a small bother for a bite of these delicious nightmares.