I went out for a drive early the other morning. I do that every day to recharge the car battery.
In the past, I would just start the car and leave it running for 10-15 minutes but no, after a while, the battery just went kaput. The workshop guy told me I should not do that and I should drive around so that is exactly what I’ve been doing since.
I stopped by this bakery…
…in the commercial area round the corner from my house because my girl seemed to enjoy the buns that her ex-coursemate bought in Sarikei that day and gave to us. The other bakery opposite and the one beside the fast food franchise at the back were both still closed – it was that early in the morning.
I am not all that keen on dropping by these places as they did appear in the daily lists of places where there were people tested positive before but I have not seen them mentioned again lately. Anyway, it was so early in the morning – there was only one girl there at work, sorting out the newly-arrived buns that morning and placing them on the shelves, nicely labelled.
I saw a tray of assorted buns from the previous day that they were selling at discounted prices. Unfortunately, they were not tagged or labelled so I did not know what buns those were…and the girl was so busy that I did not feel nice asking her.
In the end, I just picked two of these…
…the only two in the tray.
I think they are usually called butterfly fritters but the Foochow version here is called ma ngee (horse’s ears) and of course, they are called by all sorts of names. In the past, prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, people would wait for these to come out of the kitchen, usually after 1.00 p.m. in the afternoon. The instant they appeared, they would all be snapped up, gone in no time at all.
They would be coated with a sprinkling of sugar but being a day old, obviously, that had melted completely. Other than that, everything was fine…
…and we enjoyed it so much especially when we had not had it for a while now.
They used to sell these home-made ones…
…in the afternoon at the fruit & vegetable sundry shop in the next lane from my house and of course, I would hop over to buy quite regularly. These were more authentic but the aforementioned ones from the bakery are just as nice, if not nicer even though they may not be as old-school as these.
I also bought two loaves of bread, one with walnut and cranberries and a plaited one with blueberry jam that looked a bit like the one from Sarikei that we liked a lot, minus the raisins. Both tasted great! Unfortunately, I did not ask for the breakdown of the prices so I do not know how much those ma ngee were after discount. They used to cost RM1.00 each, dunno now. Altogether, I paid RM9.90 for all my purchases that morning.
WeCare Bakery, Pedada outlet (2.311098, 111.846125) is located at the corner shoplot, back to back with the Sugar Bun outlet in that area to the left of Delta Mall, Jalan Pedada (now Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai).
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
In Ipoh I call you ma kwok, horse leg…. very nice especially freshly fried with lots of sesame seeds…
Yes, and extra nice if one has not been eating for a long time…like us that day! We sure enjoyed the two HUGE ones, shared by the THREE of us!
The butterfly fritters looks good and great to have with a hot cup of coffee. I like how they are sprinkle with sesame seed. I think we have WeCare Bakery somewhere near BDC. Will drop by to get some if I happen to pass by.
BDC? Last time I saw it somewhere around King’s Centre…or maybe I remember wrongly. Changed the name to WeLove now and yes, my relatives would drop by to buy the ma ngee there. I think they put the sesame seeds before frying – ya, these are deep fried, not baked…and they coat with sugar after frying. My guess!
I have not come across these fritters or else I would definitely buy and eat. A bakery, Baker’s Cottage, just opened near me. It is so small and not much choices of pastries available. But still, better than none. I have a terrible weakness for pastries!
I saw them at a stall at Bukit Bintang, that road leading to Jalan Alor, opposite KFC. They sell all those deep fried delights but I never bought any to try – dunno if they taste the same or not. A lot of bloggers have blogged about them – you can google and have a look.
I know Baker’s Cottage – there was one near Pearl Point, Jalan Kelang Lama. I used to attend meetings at the hotel there, Pearl International, and yes, I did drop by the bakery. I’ve tried their mooncakes too – I am using the box for my Chinese New Year ang paos. Aha! Now you know my secret hiding place! LOL!!!
Over here, ma ngee is called ma keok. The ma keok has generous sprinkling of sesame seeds but without sugar which suits us. Besides ma keok, the stall also sells Chinese crullers and hum chim peang. I can eat 2 pieces with a cup of black coffee.
Yes, horse’s hoof. Ma ngee is in Foochow, horse’s ears. Yew tiaw, we call yew char koi here. Wahhh!!! You are such a small eater, just two pieces! LOL!!!
Yes, we do have something similar but they’re somehow smaller and more twisted than yours.
More like biscuits than buns too.
Shop sign fonts are rather strict in Johore. Font size is Malay has to be bigger than all other languages, but Chinese signs in Sibu look exactly as big as English. So good ah!
>Ooooo…you got to go inside even! So privileged. I’m sure it’s not open to the public, is it?
That’s a public building, so unless it was booked privately by somebody. Anyone can visit it.
So I asked the guard, if I could have a look inside the building. He kindly showed me around, so nice, right?
Yes, the people there can be very nice, the older ones especially.
Actually, these ma ngee are not this big – only the ones at this bakery. Some are very small, two small ones, one twisted around the other – probably that is why the Malays call them “pelir kambing”.
I don’t think there are any restrictions or rules regarding shop signs here but if there are ads – like coffee shops signs sponsored by some drinks company, they have to pay for the advertising. Many from the peninsula coming here have sung praises of our road signs – nowhere else in the country have they seen road names in Mandarin in those signs, just here!
Another “Exotic” food that I have yet to taste…maybe I am too young (relatively speaking).
Nothing to do with age, don’t flatter yourself but if you mean you have not been out and about all that much, many things that you do not know, I guess you are right.
I’ve seen them at a stall at Bukit Bintang in KL selling yew tiao and all the deep fried stuff. Over there, they call them “butterfly fritters”. You can get them at the Taiwanese franchise place too – “I love yooo”…or something like that, the name.
https://suituapui.wordpress.com/2015/06/20/not-so-bad-after-all/
You have so many neat places nearby! I always enjoyed reading about your local haunts and eats and so glad I’m back blogging so see even more of your posts!
Welcome back!!! Haven’t seen you around for ages. Hope all’s good at your end! Thanks for dropping by. You’ll stick around, won’t ya?
I guess that is as good an excuse as any to go for a drive.
I find it kind of therapeutic, kind of relaxing and a welcome change from just sitting at home all day and night – these days that we are staying safe and staying home.