Food Adventures in Malaysia: Day 6, Langkawi

We started the day by heading out to do an island boat tour. On the way, we had our taxi driver stop by a convenience store so we could pick up some snacks, water, and breakfast. I found the most wonderful packaged buns. I’ve had something similar to these before, but never with coconut. They were even better than I imagined. Super soft bread that was sweet all on its own, baked around an amazing filling of sugar, coconut milk, egg, and shredded coconut. If angels eat manna, this must be what it is.

Langkawi Island Hopping Boat Tour

The boat tour was pretty awesome. We rode around in motorized covered long boats, which in themselves were really cool. The Andaman Sea is a gorgeous blueish-gray color, and the islands and their fauna were simply breathtaking.

The first island we came to had gorgeous white sand beaches, palm trees, and adorable little monkeys everywhere. The monkeys kept eying our plastic bags of treats, so we had to hide them in our backpacks to avoid a full on “monkey shine” attack scene. The water was perfect for swimming in, and was full of stunningly marked tropical fish.

Langkawi Eagle Feeding

Back in the boat, we took a short trip over to a mangrove bay to feed the beautiful Langkawi eagles. I’m not sure how I feel about this tourist only act, as this must just be horrible for the ecosystem on these islands, but the Langkawi residents all seem to be mighty proud of their eagles and their feeding shows. I must say that it did make for some amazing pictures and was cool to see, but I am concerned about those beautiful eagles becoming dependent upon human handouts, even though they greatly enjoyed their delicious raw chicken breast treats.

Island of the Pregnant Maiden and Fresh Water Lake

Back in the boat, we passed an island called “Island of the Pregnant Maiden,” which looked exactly like one. How cool. A few more islands later and we came to Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest Park to visit the fresh water lake there, where legend has it the Pregnant Maiden buried her child after it died. This has given the lake supposed fertility powers. The lake water was cool and very refreshing on a hot day, despite the signs posting health risk warnings of potential bacteria and viruses. It’s been 3 months since my dip in that lake and I’m still not pregnant, so I guess the myths must not be true.

USSR Restaurant, Langkawi

On the plane ride to Malaysia, I met a gentlemen that was stationed in Malaysia for work. He lives in a sailboat, so has the luxury of exploring the entire peninsula, including the supporting islands like Langkawi. He recommended that while in Langkawi we eat at a delicious Russian restaurant. Well after an all day boat ride adventure, Russian food sounded just about right, so we headed off to the luxury yacht Harbor Park it is located at. Am I ever glad we did!

The first thing we ordered were pancakes (crepes) with smoked salmon. The pancakes were sweeter than I expected, but complimented the lightly smoked, very moist smoked salmon perfectly. So simple. So perfect. Nothing else served with them, just the pancake and the salmon. Expect a recreation recipe of these soon.

Next up was Chicken Kiev, a flattened out chicken breast rolled up with Dill inside, then breaded and deep fried until golden brown. It was served with clarified butter and garnished with dill. The salad was a waste of time, but the Kiev was very good and we were all happy little campers that we ordered it.

We also ordered and shared two bowls of Pelmeni. They weren’t the best I’ve ever had, but they certainly were delicious. Tasty little dumplings (wheat dough I believe) stuffed with ground chicken and beef, then tossed with sour cream and white vinegar, garnished with dill.

The Russians get it right no matter where they’re at in the world I guess.

Spanish Tapas in Langkawi, Malaysia

My airplane stranger food guide also recommend the Spanish Tapas restaurant in the same harbor, and being that he did not lead us astray on the Russian joint, we thought we’d give the tapas a go as well. Second lunch couldn’t have been any better! These tapas were outstanding.

In front you have grilled baby octopus with olive oil, black pepper, rosemary, and lemon. Pretty much amazing. I would like to repeat at home. Behind that you have fried calamari with pimento sauce, then you have fried olives also served with pimento sauce (these were so simple yet so incredible. It was a tempura type batter, and they were just pimento stuffed green olives. I look forward to making these at a party in the near future). Then on the right there is cheese stuffed chicken sausages served with some form of German mustard. The mustard was gross and I found they were better with the pimento sauce, though they were entirely too hot doggish for my liking. Being a hot dog lover, Ian enjoyed them greatly.

Langkawi Wedding and Batik Factory

We stopped in a luxury hotel to see the design work and passed by a wedding party taking photos. We were admiring their traditional Malaysian wedding clothes when their photographers insisted that we join in for their pictures. This was absolutely hilarious and a bit uncomfortable being that we had no idea who this newly wed couple was, but we just grinned and joined in the picture fun.

We then made our way to the Langkawi Batik Factory where they taught us all about the art of Batik and gave us a tour to teach us how it is made. Their artists perhaps aren’t the best though, so I saved my batik purchases for later in the trip at a more professional gallery. Very cool souvenir though, so I recommend getting some when in Malaysia or Indonesia.

Langkawi Sunset

After cleaning up from our long and sweaty day adventure, we headed down to the beach to enjoy some mocktails and catch the sunset. I ordered a Pina Colada which was made onsite from fresh juiced pineapples and cracked open coconuts. Mighty tasty, mighty refreshing, mighty deserving of a second order.

Kitta Chinese Seafood Restaurant, Langkawi

Dinner that evening will forever stay in my memories as one of the all-time best dinner experiences of my life. Holy hell, this place was out of this world. We started out with fried rice. Perfect fried rice. Perfect. Not oily, grains all separated, not over seasoned, robust flavors, lightly charred from the wok. Even Ian said it was perfect, this coming from a man who has eaten fried rice all over in China.

Next up was a Chinese dish that Ian has been telling me about for years, and I finally had the chance to try it. I’ll forever view fish differently now. This Grouper was lightly breaded in corn starch, then cooked by ladling hot oil over it in a wok. This resulted in the most tender and moist white fish I think I’ve ever had. It was very mild and not fishy at all. It was topped with ginger strands and cilantro. The sauce that was poured over it and resting in the bottom of the plate was a ginger sweet soy based sauce that was to die for. If you ever see Oil Blow fish on a menu, do yourself a favor and order it immediately!

We also ordered some Tiger Prawns. When we asked our server (who was absolutely adorable by the way) how many she recommended per person, she said two. We weren’t very hungry at this time, so we thought that sounded reasonable. Holy crap, these were the biggest prawns I’ve ever seen in my life! They were the size of small lobsters! Absolutely delicious too. They were perfectly cooked. So often large prawns get rubbery and tough when cooked, but not these suckers. They were split down the middle, had their heads still on, and were cooked in a very light brown sauce (soy I’m sure) with tons of garlic. I think they would have been even more amazing with some honey mixed in the sauce, and when I attempt to repeat them that’s what I will do. Oh so so delicious….

Yup, that’s a standard sized dinner fork….the ones with the long prongs….

That is one half of the split tail. Enormous!

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