Street food fair a mouth-watering delight
By Rahimy Rahim
The Star
Sunday, Dec 22, 2013
KUALA LUMPUR - Ken, a linguistic student from Japan had deliberately gone hungry to ensure he had a huge appetite while at the Kampung Baru pit stop of the 1Malaysia Street Food Festival.
He was so game to try local delicacies that the 24-year-old even tasted a durian shake. "The smell is quite strong but it tastes good," he said.
Kampung Baru, popular for its authentic Malay cuisine, was packed with thousands of foodies feasting on the diverse local delicacies following the launch of the food festival yesterday.
Some 70 vendors offered mouth-watering local delights such as nasi lemak, grilled satay, nasi ulam (mixed rice), ikan bakar and bubur lambuk.
French tourist, Clement Chovin, 34, said he would definitely bring home good memories of the delicious food at the festival.
"The smell and taste of the food here is just amazing," he said.
The fourth street food festival of its kind, it is being held concurrently in 13 states at 18 different locations.
The festival was also held at two separate venues featuring the three dominant ethnic groups - at Jalan Alor featuring Chinese food as well as the Little India in Brickfields for Indian food.
Organised by the Tourism and Culture Ministry in collaboration with the respective food and beverage and hawkers associations, the festival will take place throughout this month.
Siti Zahara Halim, 36, a housewife from Sarawak, said she was visiting her relatives and wanted to bring the whole family to try the nasi kerabu - a traditional Malay rice dish, in which blue-coloured rice is eaten with dried fish or fried chicken, crackers, pickles and other salads.
"We came to the peninsula over the weekend and I wanted to have the nasi kerabu. Although it is quite packed, but we do not mind queuing for good food," she said.