Spunky Madam

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In all honesty, I was never a huge fan of duck until I ate at Madam Heng's. Restaurant Hong Kong was merely another name in my litany of must-visit restaurants for the Perak Good Food Guide, which I was commissioned to write in 2008.

It was lust at first bite - the juicy-fleshed, crispy-skinned duck was simply otherworldly.

Since then, I've been a regular visitor, if not to eat, then just to drop by and shoot the breeze with the amiable auntie who runs the shop.

This story took a while to crystallize. It really is a tapestry of numerous events that seemed random and unconnected and unimportant save for their entertainment value, until the final piece - that dinner that I didn't want to happen but happened anyway - fell into place.

Unanticipated. That's how they all happen right - whether it's the right moment, the right story or the right person? :)

...

To give you an inkling just how good her roast duck is ...

By the way, credits to Wang Shao Ming for the "I am fine, you are fine, we are fine" photo. My bad for forgetting to submit your name, no fault of The Star. Roast duck on me, ya? ;)

Perak Good Food Guide

Not a word whatsoever of sar kok liew?

What a travesty.

Many a balmy morning, my homies and I would be sitting in a coffee shop and munching on our umpteenth piece of sar kok liew and tearing our hair out in frustration. Why, in the name of the Kitchen God, hasn't this delicious snack been recognized, nay, celebrated in any food tome of note?




















That oversight has been corrected - FINALLY - in this shiny new food guide by Flavours, which yours truly had a part to play in :)

So go on, hotfoot it to the nearest good bookstore and find out how something so simple as flour, water and yambean, can taste oh-so-divinely sublime (ok, ok, cliche overload)

I'd like to say that the most rewarding part about doing this book is rectifying this oversight, but but that is only the tip of the iceberg of satisfaction I felt, when I ran my fingers through the leaves of the finished product for the first time.

I hope this book will do fabulously well :)

Not just because I had a part to play in it, and it leads you to over 180 hugely satisfying eats, from the famous Ipoh white coffee and sar hor fun to the yummy, but little known sar kok liew, but more importantly, the Perak Good Food Guide has tried to give a face and recognition to the people who contribute to the vibrancy and diversity of the Ipoh culinary scene.

Eat your heart out :)