Aunt’s Menglembu CKT

*Notice: This is to inform my readers that my aunt passed away recently. If you happens to come across a CKT stall in the same area, it would be either run by her daughter-in-law or someone else.

Menglembu is my birthplace. Maybe many of you have heard about Menglembu groundnuts (was it Cap Tangan or Pagoda?) but just to let you know that, there are no groundnuts plantation or factory in Menglembu. 😀

When I was still in primary school, I would tag along my parents to the wet market in Menglembu every Sunday. That was the only day in the whole weekend that we will go shopping (at the wet market, of course) and eat out. Usually after much bargaining, we would stop by at my aunt’s (dad’s eldest sister) stall for her char kuey teow. But Ipohan does not call it char kuey teow as this is supposingly a Hokkien word. We just call it chao fun (fried noodles).

It’s been quite a while since I come back for her CKT, so last Sunday, I dragged J2Kfm all the way to Menglembu to satisfy my CKT cravings. To eat here, one have to tolerate with the rising sun as the row of wooden shacks are partially exposed to the sun. Ordering was prompt as my aunt and my cousin sister who helped out at the stall recognizes me and quipped, “I saw you last year, you look like that, I see you now, you still look like that!” (which means, I don’t aged at all??)

I took that as a compliment. 😛 Anyway, back to the food. While J2kfm remained calm, I was practically shocked upon seeing his plate of CKT loaded with big, succulent prawns. And there were 6 of them. When my char mee hoon arrived, another 6 big ones lying on my plate. Since I don’t fancy prawns that much, you can imagine where my shares had gone to. That lucky fella. The noodles still taste the same as before and not so greasy. I particularly like the egg clinging onto-the-noodles-strands effect. The accompanied chilli sauce however, lacked the spiciness and garlicky taste.

While the place is crowded every day, the crowd will eventually thin out around 10am when the sun started to shine mercilessly. I did not notice before this but most of the patrons here are aunties and uncles around 50-60 with their grandchildren. Young people like us doesn’t visit the wet market nowadays?

Char kuey teow stall
The row of wooden shacks after Menglembu Police Station (at the traffic light junction)
Jalan Lahat, 31650 Menglembu

Directions: If you’re coming from Ipoh old town, follow the signs to Menglembu/Falim/Lumut. You will find yourself driving along Jalan Lahat when you see TNB headquarters on your right. Go all the way straight for about 3-4 kilometres and you will see a roundabout with a giant peanut statue. Take the 12 o’ clock direction of the roundabout, and you will see police station on your right. The row of stalls are located just after the police station, before the traffic light on your right.