As I was going through the pictures I came across an interesting shot I took at one of our client’s event which I just HAD to share here and which I’m sure most of you would probably hate me for...hehe. I’ll tell you a bit about the event first.
We called it “A Gastronomic Experience with a 5 Star Hotel Chef”. It was a special arrangement we had with The Westin Kuala Lumpur where we arranged for winners of a contest run by our client to spend half a day with a culinary chef from the Westin Kuala Lumpur – not only to cook in their kitchen but also taken on a private ‘marketing’ tour to Pasar Pudu (one of KL’s oldest wet market) personally by the Chef, a sit-down breakfast at a local kopitiam, followed by the cooking session and lunch. I must say I was really excited to join in on this experience. Of course, it’s not often you get to witness for yourself how a 5 star hotel kitchen is run and better yet, them giving you a personal cooking lesson right in their own kitchen.
But for me, it was not only the experience of being in the kitchen with the chefs that intrigued me the most, but it was also the experience of touring Pasar Pudu. I’ve been to a few wet markets before when I was young. I remember following my grandmother to ‘Pasar Tani’ early in the morning and helping her to carry groceries. Although I didn’t enjoy it much (which 10 year old kid would enjoy waking up in the wee hours of the morning to go to a Pasar anyway?!) but as I grew older and now that my grandmother is no longer with us, I began to understand tit was not so much the trip to the Pasar, but it was more of the ‘bonding’ time with her. She loved to cook and the only reason I would enter the kitchen was to quickly grab something from the fridge, so I guess trips to the Pasar was the only way to get me to bond with her. Either that, she really needed help to carry her groceries. Haha. Well, either way, it was one of the fond memories I had about her.
Sorry I digress, but the reason why it reminded me of my grandmother, was because the Chef himself (Chef Kuan) also told us stories about how he constantly followed his mother to Pasar Pudu when he was younger. It was interesting to hear his personal stories on which stalls his mother used to patronise and some of the sellers during that time were still around and they greeted Chef Kuan personally like they knew them his whole life. It was nice to see how Chef Kuan still has a personal connection to the market even though now he’s a big time chef in a 5 star hotel and that he still enjoys returning to Pasar Pudu.
So as I was saying, I’ve been to wet markets before but none of it compares to Pasar Pudu. I had ‘rojak’ feelings after experiencing this market. It’s difficult to explain, because I felt intrigued but at the same time it was a gruesome experience. It’s sort of like the feeling you get when you watch movies such as ‘Hostel’ or ‘Saw’. I actually enjoy watching gore movies, but of course, I still cringe at the gruesome gory scenes with blood spurting out and eyeballs popping out. Oh well, you get the idea..hehe . If you are a fan or gore movies, then maybe you’d understand ;)
So I have to warn you that this market is probably not for the faint hearted. Why I say this is because this market was sort of like a ‘live’ slaughter house. Despite being surrounded by fresh produce, smelly fish and chaotic ‘pasar’ noises, you are also surrounded by one-man slaughter machines. As soon we stepped in, there was a man at a chicken stall, casually picking up chickens, bending their necks, then swiftly slashing their necks, threw the carcass aside, and picked up another one. It only took him about 1 second to slaughter each chicken. SO you can imagine he was like to production line machine – picking up a chicken, slashing it, throwing it aside…and the cycle continues. I even tried taking a picture, but he was so swift that my camera couldn’t take a still shot of him slaughtering.
I was already a bit ‘jakun’ by the live chicken slaughter man that I kind of dumbstruck for a moment. Then I thought, erm ok, this is a pasar and I guess it’s pretty normal. Then we continued walking and passed by the fish stalls. There were plenty of ‘live’ fishes but not in fishtanks mind you, but on the fishmonger tables still squirming and flipping around. I love seafood, and there’s nothing more satisfying for seafood lovers than to see and buy fresh seafood right? Erm, not this time. To my horror, I just had to witness one of the fish mongers pick up a fish and bang it’s head on the table just to stop it from flipping around much! Geez, this not only felt like a live slaughterhouse but a real life scene from Saw or Hostel – just that it’s animals and not tortured humans…haha..
So what came next was something even a gore movie fan like me couldn’t take. There was a stall selling frogs, frog meat to be exact. But as usual, this being a slaughter house, there was of course another ‘live’ show of the poor frogs being slaughtered. Weapon of choice? A pair of scissors! The seller just picked up the frogs and squished its’ head between the pair of scissors and with just one SNAP!; the head fell on the table and the carcass was thrown back on the table only to pick up another poor frog. This time, I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the man in action and it’s a good thing it’s not very clear (unless you zoom in on the picture) but maybe it’s not a good idea to look at it after you’ve had a meal.
I've probably painted you an ugly picture of Pasar Pudu, but I think this is what makes it unique, colourful, beautifully gruesome and intriguing at the same time. This represents a piece of Malaysia and since our generation is so used to air-conditioned supermarkets I bet a lot of us have not experienced such a thing. A visit to this market is truly an experience on its own which is why I chose to blog about this instead of the cooking experience in Westin KL’s awesome kitchen.
But to sum that part of the experience, I’ll let pictures do the talking. The kitchen is my dream kitchen which I’d hope to have some day. The food was magnificent (We cooked nasi dagang, prawn dumpling and beef tenderloin cantonese style) , the chefs were extremely friendly and being in the presence of the kitchen staff and chefs running around the kitchen preparing lunch for their guests on the day was awesome. I believe everyone enjoyed themselves, from the pasar trip, breakfast at the local kopitiam sharing each other’s personal stories to cooking in the kitchen until lunch – every moment was an experience on it’s own.
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