Nasi dagang @ tg lumpur

I'm glad we made plans to go back to my hometown, kuantan over the weekend. The haze in the city has been really bad.

Feels good to be home even if it was for just a day (^^). It's really not that far. Just a 3-hour drive, point to point.. that's from our apartment to my aunt's house, including a stopover at the petrol station and mcdonald's ^^. 

photos shot with iphone 4s ~ not too bad, eh?

Like I said, this has been a really short trip, so we didn't do much.. except eat! As usual, aunt cooked to feed an army! So we had yummy home cooked food.. and extra to take home too^^. As stuffed as we were, we somehow managed to squeeze in a late "tea" at warung pak ali, tanjung lumpur, a quaint, rustic and charming little place facing the south china sea.  

Of course, tea is not the reason to visit warung pak ali's.. it the nasi dagang, of course! This is probably the only place in kuantan that serves this dish at 5.30pm till late. Nasi dagang ~ rice with fish curry, is a speciality of the east coast. In my hometown, the rice used is usually white, but in the state of kelantan, they usually use red/wild purple rice.

Nasi dagang rice is cooked with fenugreek seeds, sliced ginger, shallots, lemongrass and coconut milk to give it it's unique flavor and fragrance. At pak ali's place, you will find the rice more heavily flavored with coconut milk than at any other place in kuantan. The fish curry is also generously spiced and cooked with coconut milk. Fish is always fresh here. They don't open if they can't get hold of good fresh fish. The no-frills nasi dagang here is almost 4-5 times cheaper than in the city!

dreamy, luscious nasi dagang

By the way, the people in tanjung lumpur were mostly fishermen (hence the fresh fish, but you will not find many doing this these days), and the place used to be separated from the "mainland" kuantan by a river. One had to take a boat to get to and fro for the longest time. Now, a bridge connects tanjung lumpur to town in just 5 minutes (maybe less) by car! It's really not that far away.. but to the very young me then, it was a world away! (^^)   

"photoshopped" using pixlr ~  check out the HDR effect

Anyways, if you would like to try this special east coast malay food, after 5.30pm, of course.. do give warung pak ali's a try. It's in the same vicinity as restoran kamunlau and the ikan bakar restaurants. Otherwise, check out warong pak su and mak su also in tanjung lumpur. They have decent nasi dagang and satar.. and their operating days and hours are more regular too! (^^)