Saturday, January 05, 2008

The One With Bak Kut Teh

Everytime I post a blog about how much my cousin sister can eat, nobody believes me. This evening, her friend and a couple of the bak kut teh shop waiters can be my witness. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!

Went to the Jalan Ipoh bak kut teh place this evening with Irene and Puay Yin, who wanted to try the bak kut teh that I've been raving about.

Now normally, if three person goes for bak kut teh there, they would order for two person instead of three cos they might end up with too much food on the table and unable to finish in the end. So when the waiter came over to our table this evening, I look straight at him in the eye and went: "Bak kut teh sam gor wai!!" ("Bak kut teh for three person.") The guy look at the two girls beside me and asked: "Gei dor gor wai?" ("For how many person?")

"Sam gor," I replied, and he took off even without asking if I wanted any veg to go with the bak kut teh. Irene and I started screaming at the guy, wanting him to come back. We told him we're not finished ordering yet. And I repeated my order earlier together with what else we wanted to go with the bak kut teh: "Yat gor bak kut teh, yat gor yau choi, yat gor yau char kuai, yat gor tau pok, sam gor wai." ("One bak kut teh, one steamed vegetable, one bowl of yau char kuai and a bowl of tau pok for three person.")

As he took our orders, he kept looking at the girls for approval. You can see Irene nodding away and Puay Yin said, "Ok ar..." I bet at this point he must be thinking that we're a bunch of weirdos who's never tasted bak kut teh before!

After awhile, our steammed vegetable arrived, then came the yau char kuai, then the tau pok, but no rice. I immediately call for the waiter and asked for rice. His reaction was: "Yat gor fan?" ("One rice?")

"Sam gor." ("Three.")

At this point, I think the waiter is just too lazy to argue with me. Then the bak kut teh came. All three of us instantly stopped talking and dug in. Nobody said anything much, except for: "Itadakimase" and "be careful, it's hot."

Within 30 minutes we cleared all the food on the table and the whole giant bowl of bak kut teh. Leaving it dry, with not a drop of soup left. Irene and I even shared an extra bowl of rice!

All of us were so full! All we can think of was: go home and sleep. (Yes, we're a bunch of pigs.)

As we waited for the waiter to get us the bill, I told Irene that they sell cut fruits here as well. She looked past me and towards the fruit counter behind me, and I knew what she wanted -- mango! Now this was at a point that we are so stuffed up we could explode and all she can think of (apart from going home to sleep) is: Mango!

Another waiter came to check on what we ate. "Bak kut teh liong gor wai?" (Bak kut teh for two person?") We looked at him and went: "Sam gor!"

You can see the disbelieve look on his face when he heard our answer. Normally, these guys wouldn't ask what you had, because they already know. But looking at the empty bowls on our table and refusing to believe that one skinny guy and two small-sized girls can eat so much, he proceeded to ask us what we had and we repeated the order for him. Finally, he gave us the bill.

While waiting for him to come back with the change, I went up to the fruit counter to pick out the mango for Irene. The guy who came back with the change saw me and came to my assistant. He took out the biggest packet they have there and passed it to me. I guess he finally realised that these three weirdos can really eat? :P

- jessism © 04012008 -

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