.jpg)
Mee Udang Galah Off the Beaten Track
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright February 2022
A group of old schoolmates from Kota Bahru, Kelantan went on a food adventure away from their home town looking for something different.
They found an exquisite mee udang or prawn mee outlet off the beaten track called Kedai Mee Udang Mat Payakun Kuek, south of Pasir Mas, at a small village of Chetok, off Lorong Pak Nik Man.
Getting there was tricky. Luckily they had a classmate who had been there previously.
It’s a kampung restaurant serving mee udang like no other. The main attraction was freshwater udang galah, lobster in English but not the ocean variety that we import from New England or Western Australia.
Nevertheless, it was fresh and sweet imported from neighbouring Thailand. This kampung was strategically located close to the border for easy access to the supply of raw materials like udang galah, freshwater fish and vegetables.
Just to give you an idea of how cheap food was at this restaurant, try their signature dish; mee udang galah. One plate of mee with 7 huge udang galah was RM25. Or RM3.60 per piece. The price is unheard of anywhere in the world.
Coming from K.L where this imported crustacean delicacy starts around RM150 per kg, frozen, one plate of 7 at that price was indeed heaven-sent.
“Forget about the mee. Just focus on the udang galah!” Dr Zin, the guy from KL told his friends who were enthusiastic about the mee in tomato-based gravy that they found quite extraordinary.
However, RM25 of mee for ordinary kampung dwellers in the area would be beyond their means. The target market of this restaurant was certainly outsiders who had higher income than the rubber trappers or local farmers in the neighbourhood.
Anyway, it was worth the trip for this group of elderly schoolmates from Kota Bahru.
Zin who found the place worth a second visit was planning to return with a larger group of retired civil servants from Kuala Lumpur.
He was trying to get directions from a waiter who sounded like a Thai when someone at the next table suggested, “Google Pak Chik. You won’t get lost!”
So if you were worried about getting lost on your way to this fabulous udang galah restaurant just Google.
Kedai Mee Udang Mat Payakun Kuek is on Google, Foursquare, Instagram and Facebook. Google Maps will guide you there easily enough.
From Kota Bahru drive south past Pasir Mas to kampung Chetok. Turn right at Chetok Health Clinic. Then take another right on Lorong Pak Nik Man. The mee udang restaurant is just a few meters away from the junction.
Bring with you at about RM100. We assure you you’ll be able to eat one plate of 7 and take away 3 other packets of mee with 21 udang galah that will be more than enough to feed one family.
Enjoy your udang galah.
Mihar Dias (mihardias@gmail.com) is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
Register at headliner.newswav.com to become one of our content writers now!
Newswav is solely an aggregation platform and hosts the content. The views expressed and content above including media (pictures, videos, etc) were provided by the author. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.