Cameron Highlands is a highland region located about 20 km east of Ipoh and about 150km north of Kuala Lumpur in Pahang, Malaysia. At around 5000 ft (1,500 m) above sea level it is the highest area on the mainland, and enjoys a cool climate, with temperatures no higher than 25°C and rarely falling below 10°C year round.

The Highlands were named after William Cameron, a British colonial government surveyor who discovered the plateau during a mapping expedition in 1885. The fame of Cameron Highlands then grew during the colonial era when British planters realised the potential of its fertile mountain slopes for growing tea, then a prized commodity. The Cameron Highlands are still home to many tea plantations, being Malaysia's largest tea-producing region. The area is also known as a major supplier of fruits and vegetables.

On the way up, do stop by Tanah Rata, which is located between the other two major towns (being Brinchang and Ringlet). Located on the top floor of a shoplot just right on the main road, T-Cafe promised good home cooked food, the highlights being their superb scones and delicious apple pie. You can't get anything better than this for a highlands experience - oven fresh scones with home made cream and strawberry jam, butter and a pot of freshly brewed tea from the highlands.

The apple pie is a different story with rich apple chunks, crispy pastry and a cold scoop of vanilla ice-cream. This is just the answer to weary travellers after a winding road up the highlands. This two highlights are just a small portion of T-Cafe's plethora of choices. Don't forget to try their vegetarian curry and their mango lassi too.









T-Cafe (opens from 11am to 10pm, Monday to Saturday)
No.4, 1st Floor, Main Road,
39000 Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands.
05 - 4914018

Bidor is located between Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur via the North-South Expressway. It is south of Tapah, north of Sungkai, east of Changkat Jong and Teluk Intan and west of the Titiwangsa Mountains. One of the most popular stopovers, Pun Chun is strategically located on the main road into town. Over the years, this has been my regular stopover, especially during Chinese New Year and before the highway was built. Everyone knows that Pun Chun is famous for its Ngap Toi Meen (duck-thigh noodles) and Kai Jai Peng (chicken biscuit).

There are other things at Pun Chun, namely the Wan Tan Meen (thin noodles with char siew or roast pork and dumplings) and Wu Gok (deep fried taro balls filled with pork). The noodles are not really special but the dumplings are freshly made daily and the roast pork is first rate! The taro balls on the other hand are crisp, well made with generous fillings. They too are made daily.

Do stop by especially when you're heading North on the highway from KL or further south. It's only five minutes from the highway exit, making it very convenient indeed.





Pun Chun, Opens daily from 5am till 10pm!
38-40, Jalan Besar, Bidor, 35500 Perak
Tel: 05-434 1554, 05-434 1562
Fax: 05-434 6191

Finally it's Friday!!!

Hokkien mee (Simplified Chinese: 福建面; Pronunciation in Mandarin: Fújiàn miàn
From Wikipedia (Can u believe they have this!)...
Strictly speaking, the Penang and Singapore Hokkien mee are two different dishes except that they are both prawn noodles and share the name 'hokkien'. The ingredients and method of cooking are different, the Penang version is cooked in soup while the Singapore version is stir fried. In this respect, the dish Hokkien mee can refer to three different distinct dishes; Penang Hokkien mee, Singapore Hokkien mee and Kuala Lumpur Hokkien mee. The Penang Hokkien mee is sometimes referred to as mee yoke in Kuala Lumpur as Hokkien mee in Kuala Lumpur by default means Hokkien char mee which is noodles stirred fried in dark soya sauce.


After a long bus ride, a nice hot meal is always welcome (plus a hot shower and nice soft bed of course), since we're in the the Damansara area, we decided to try this supposedly rather well known place. Arriving at 11pm on a Saturday, the place was quite crowded but more people were arriving as time went by, presumably from movie theaters nearby. While we were quite tired and not really in a mood to eat much, we tried both noodle dishes and they turned out quite good. I would rate this place just slightly lower than the stall in Jalan 222. Overall, this places gets 2 lips!

四川火锅, or 麻辣火锅, meaning spicy hotpot or even 火锅 or Huo Guo - Fire Pot is very aptly named. While resembling all forms of Chinese communal pot cooking which orginates way back to Mongolia, the szechuan hot pot has some potent ingredients not found in other types of hot pot. Instead of some nice, clear soup or broth that is featured in the others, we have a large vat of spicy oil which includes hot red peppers and Huajiao 火锅. Sichuan pepper (or Szechuan pepper) is the outer pod of the tiny fruit of a number of species in the genus Zanthoxylum (most commonly Zanthoxylum piperitum, Zanthoxylum simulans, and Zanthoxylum sancho), widely grown and consumed in Asia as a spice. Despite the name, it is not related to black pepper. It is widely used in the cuisine of Sichuan, China, from which it takes its name, as well as Tibetan, Bhutani, and Japanese cuisines, among others. It is known in Chinese as 花椒 literally "flower pepper"; a lesser-used name is 山椒 shānjiāo, "mountain pepper" (not to be confused with Tasmanian mountain pepper). In Japanese, it is 山椒 sanshō, using the same Chinese characters as shanjiao. Actually, there's also another name for this pepper, it's called "HellFire" pepper because after consuming it, you WILL definitely have a insatiatble craving for water plus you realize that most of your mouth is numb (good time to pull that wisdom tooth of yours) and your lips are probably twice as fat as before!

So it's with this expectation that we descended into the quiet township of Aman Suria. There lies a restaurant, the name I forget due to the potent effect of the abovesaid pepper. We proceeded inside after a hot walk in Kiara park -- a seriously bad idea and the flaw in the plan so be waned. Next time, soak in a ice cold tub or something before attempting this feat. This is no joke and ignore my warning at your own peril! Ordering a large simmering pot of szechuan spicy pot, we also had various starters which while potent, serves as just a prelude to the fires that will come. A casual survey of the dinning place revealed that everyone else feared this dreaded fire so much that most ordered bland noodles or had hotpots with clear herbal soup. Bunch of pansies compared to us fearless culinary adventurers. Patrons leaving would gesture at our apparent bravery or foolishness. Having trained at the prestigious Beijing Hot Pot restaurants, this was as hot as chewing cucumbers but of course the walk under the hot sun did us in. However, the hot pot was of average quality, with more oil than peppers so it was a bit thin. Any true Beijing'er would laugh this hot pot off but I think the average Malaysian would meet their match here!

One word: yummy! (or delicious )