Butterworth Curry Noodles House - Jalan Raja Uda

The shop is always crowded and after ignoring it for so long, we intend to find out why. 

Yes , why is it always so crowded ?  

Fish head curry stall - Sin Kim San , Rangoon Road

It's been raining hence the weather is much cooler today. Time for something spicy. An excuse actually . I just want to set my mouth on fire while satiating my craving for some maddeningly soft fleshed fish .

Fish head curry does just that. It's the best of both worlds. 

The expert sets to selecting the species . Kalah or Kannah I don't know which or what, but damn, the flesh is damn, damn , damn good....like a cross between chicken , swamp  crab and frog leg . Yes I have eaten frog legs but that was YEARS ago . This is a fish we're talking about with texture of  

3 animal species. 

All this talk about the head, where's the fish head ? Ok let's lift it out from under the luscious pile of okra , onions and mint now shall we ? 

Hot Bowl - Rangoon Road

One street behind , is where you can find the Lorong Selamat Char Koay Teow lady . The lady has a temper so famous she even made Anthony Bourdain laugh when she gave him a sound shelling . On the street behind Lorong Selamat, is Rangoon Road , where yet another bad tempered species plies his trade .....this time the male version.

Everybody thinks he has male menopause syndrome , but me , I think his ass is on fire , since he can't sit down properly due to the fact that his curry mee paste is so fiery it probably welded his um , back bottom down there openings together . There's got to be some leftovers some time and he's bound to get a taste of his own medicine more times than us paying customers.

And because there is a pony tailed girl in here with....surprise ! a bad temper too , I quietly confine myself to snapping a picture of the menu. 

Bee See Heong - another version of Chinese Curry Prawns

Sure , you' ve seen the brand of Chinese tea before but have you seen the teapot ? Well I haven't . The leaves inside are good on first pour , gets bitter midway but has no flavour when you add a second round of hot water , so I'm pretty sure this is a mix we're getting .

The better 3 dish meal

Two lanky white men walked into this crumbling dinner shack on stilts yesterday. I heard one of them say

" Geep mi yor besd " with a big grin, in all good intention. 

The local Mandarin speaking waiter shot him a blank look and started squirming about trying to look like he knew what he just said, without giving the game up.

The taukehsoh ( ladyboss) soon stepped in and asked 

in English 

" So what you want ? Cheeken ? Feeeshhh ? Where gee ? "

They nodded at all three and left the cooking all up to her.

Gee...no they shouldn't have left it to the ladyboss to recommend. Especially when they themselves eat spicy stuff and think you, would prefer less, um, stimulating dishes.

But let's forget those two for a moment and take a look at my meal first.

Butter prawn with slightly crisp egg batter , sugar granules and bayleaf. Tasty but a bit overdone . My biggest gripe is that the prawn was way too small for a dish like this and nobody in the kitchen had the courtesy to warn us beforehand.  

Curry Fish head - Hainan Orkid Tropica

Most curry fish head lovers, will know this place.

Under a block of dowdy flats...alllllll the way in Alor Setar.

 We Malaysians, this is how we keep on driving the food industry. Nothing is too far. No zinc roof to lowly,when duty calls for a good eat.

Numeral Eight Curry House, Alor Setar ( PF )

Update Nov 2014 :

I have bad news and I have good news. The good news is, they now cater to Malay & Muslim customers. The bad news is, the high quality is gone. The beef rendang was dry, the fish head curry was not as delightful as before. They even serve the weirdest Chinese tea I've ever had in my life.
Not returning. So long, farewell, goodbye forever. Wasted my time. Wasted my money. Wasted my petrol. 
----------------------------

Plenty of fans will agree that this huge bungalow with no signboard is one of Alor Setar's best food venues.

Perfectly manicured lawns in a pleasant environment filled with interesting features greets every visitor....

Economy Rice Stall, Perak Road ( NH )

Heartbreaking development is slowly choking the life out of this once upon a time ,nice little enclave.

Wonder how long this old shoplot can withstand the forward march in all it's startling barenness.

Lim Aik Chew, River Prawn Curry - Nibong Tebal ( PF )

Located in Nibong Tebal,this old cobweb and timbered shop is not that easy to locate on first try especially if you are not familiar with the locale.

But when you finally do,boy is it worth it.

The first thing,you absolutely HAVE to order is the almost emerald sugarcane juice.
The trick is to drink it fast before the ice in your cup waters it down.

So good,I had to have 2 for myself.