We had occasion to celebrate the memory of a beloved aunt recently. Someone who was the very definition of “larger-than-life”, kindness itself, generosity overflowing, outspoken, contradictory, forthright, honest, and whose heart was so large your breath was taken away marvelling at the space it took up. Thus, we had to make a trip up north, where she had lived, for prayers and general celebrations. Over food. With tears, drink and laughter, as the family we knew she would want us to be.
One would think that it would be enough to head out there, do the necessary and return, but given that Aunty Yong’s life revolved around the community that food brought, it only seemed appropriate to stop at Jit Yue Hiong Seafood en route. It was a pilgrimage of sorts. Three hours later with Waze as a guide, we arrived at the restaurant and were promptly served cold coconuts. Pity there wasn’t any Malibu to go with it.
Jit Yue Hiong is a collection of sheds up in Sitiawan. They also sell Red Pomace (the leftover dregs from local wine-making that’s the colour of cut beetroot) for Foo Chow Red Wine Ginger Chicken and a special mee sua that’s pillow-soft yet has a paradoxically al dente bite — provided you don’t overcook it, of course! Jit Yue Hiong also specialises in popcorn. Of the cuttlefish variety. And, more specifically, of the salted egg sort.
Salted egg anything has taken off in a huge way in Malaysian cuisine. From croissants to cuttlefish, it seems to be stuffed in, on, or upon anything. Crabs, prawns, chunks of fish are all being slathered in this fine salty gravel. Some of it work. Some of it seem to be trying too hard to be different. But Jit Yue Hiong’s cuttlefish works. And when it works, it’s scintillatingly sublime.
Feather-light, crunch-inducing, munch-addictive morsels of tender cuttlefish snuggled inside a batter so golden, it’s like King Midas breathed on them. Then, enveloped in the barest hint of a salted egg varnish, enough to give it that savoury touch while not drowning out the sweetness of the main event — the cuttlefish.
Along with the cuttlefish was a bowl of soup. A broth in the best Chinese tradition. But the broth was really just a byproduct of the fact that there was a mound of la la (clams) in a rice wine stock that was steeped with ginger, spring onion, coriander and the cooking liquor of the clams. A heady, witch’s brew redolent of savoury, fresh-mown grass (from rice wine), with a hint of sweetness and metal (from the iodine in the clams), finished with a herbaceous garnish.
An oyster omelette that must have been deep-fried in a form that looked nothing less than a burnished, crunchy flower; curry leaf chicken; glass noodle crabs; and a mixed, stink bean vegetable dish rounded up a hearty lunch with a final bill amounting to almost but not quite RM28 per person.
Jit Yue Hiong’s food is home cooking in the best tradition of Malaysian restaurants. Some dishes were hit-and-miss, but in general, you will feel your waistband just that bit tighter and that utter contentment of having had good food and relief that your wallet wasn’t emptied. The icing on the cake is the adventure of “discovering” this distracting detour, which I thoroughly recommend for any “cuti-cuti Malaysia” long weekend.
Jit Yue Hiong Seafood is located at Kampung Cina, Sitiawan, Perak.
