Supporting our local food traders

In recent months, our television was often tuned to the National Geographic channel and the Asian Food Channel or AFC, to watch shows that take us on exciting adventures from the comfort of home.

Watching these shows provides an avenue of escapism from the dark reality that such travel adventures especially abroad, may never be the same again.

Through watching these shows, mum and I can now claim to have “visited” the Swiss Alps, Machu Picchu and Budapest among other exotic destinations and have learnt more about the interesting breakfast foods served in the many provinces of China.

The sight of sophisticated casinos and scenes of traditional streets in the Macao Gourmet series of shows gave me wonderful flashbacks to my experience there in 2015, hosted by the Macao Government Tourism Office.

Besides the pleasure of armchair travelling, watching shows presented in Mandarin and learning its meaning by reading the English sub-titles, has taught me some new words and phrases, and even widened my Mandarin vocabulary.

Now I am waiting for opportunities to practice my newly acquired confidence in Mandarin, to place food orders and chit-chat with merchants in Mandarin…

One day while I was out on an errand, my mum and eldest sister watched an episode on AFC that featured a visit by Jason Yeoh, celebrity host also known as Axian, to a restaurant that served Teochew cuisine.

Later they shared with me about how they were enthralled by the painstaking process in the preparation of their signature dishes: Crab Ball Soup and Assam Fish.

This exciting episode featured a family-run restaurant with recipes handed down through generations. As they watched the show, mum and my sister were pleasantly surprised to discover that this restaurant was in fact, located in Johor Baru.

I did not watch this episode of the culinary series but I would trust Jason Yeoh for his taste recommendation. Better yet if we tasted the signature dishes too.

Even while we have been enjoying homecooked meals, it was always a welcome change to savour the taste of popular street food as takeaway treats.

So every now and then, I would make quick trips to restaurants and food-courts to support local traders by buying tasty treats like stir-fried oyster omelets, Singapore-style Hokkien stir-fried prawn noodles, pork burgers and even dosai.

A quick online check provided the location of Swee Ang Restaurant at Taman Pelangi and from its menu that highlighted their signature dishes, we did not hesitate to plan a takeaway meal.

This Teochew family business was apparently among the longest-operating food businesses in JB that had its origins from an outlet in the wet market food court.

I was not surprised because we know of a family who used to operate a food outlet in the wet market that served a very popular Teochew-style fresh, fish soup noodles. 

During this lockdown period, Swee Ang only served takeaways and deliveries, so I chose to go at mid-afternoon when there should be no queue, just before they closed for a break at 4pm.

I shared about this exciting food discovery with my friend, Wei Leng, whom I knew, would also be keen to try their menu, and we went together to buy our takeaways.

Choices! Choices! It was difficult to make up our minds as we studied their menu, perched on a stand and placed on the pavement, outside the restaurant.

Finally, I decided on several dishes that, of course, included their two signature dishes: Crab Ball Soup and Assam Fish.

The crab ball is made with fish and pork coated with a layer of crab meat and served in a rich Teochew-style clear soup, while the Assam Fish is slow-cooked with salted vegetables until the fish meat and bones are melt-in-your-mouth tender.

I picked two more familiar dishes of stir-fried fish slices with ginger and scallion and stir-fried sweet potato leaves with garlic, that should match with mum’s palate.

Takeaway dishes from Swee Ang [Clockwise
from top left] fish slices with ginger and scallion,
Assam Fish, Pork Tendons and sweet potato
leaves stir fried with garlic

To strike a balance with the soft and mild dishes, the order-taker suggested another signature dish of Pork Tendons with ginger, a chewy contrast – which I discovered later during dinner.

Then Wei Leng placed a separate order for her choices that included their two signature dishes as well as stir-fried rice noodles and sweet potato leaves stir-fried with sambal.

I passed my rattan basket that contained two tingkat or traditional tiffin carriers – one three-tier and the other two-tier – to the order-taker who assured me that my orders for five dishes should be neatly served in them.

Before he left for the kitchen, I gently reminded him to be mindful not to mix up our two separate orders – especially as we both ordered stir-fried sweet potato leaves – the spicy version for Wei Leng and the non-spicy for mum.

Crab Meat Ball Soup

While waiting for our orders to be ready, we sat comfortably on stools provided outside and chatted as a few cars and passersby plied the road and pavements.

I dropped Wei Leng home before heading back and I had just put our takeaway in the kitchen, ready to be warmed up for dinner when my handphone signaled a message.

It was Wei Leng who told me to check my takeaway dishes because she suspected that the restaurant may have packed the wrong stir-fried sweet potato dish for us and she was concerned that if it was spicy then my mum could not eat it.

Stir-fried sweet potato leaves with garlic

My elation was slightly dampened because I did not look forward to the extra excursion of driving over to her place to exchange this sweet potato dish with her.

As I opened the tiffin carriers to look at the takeaway dishes, my eyes zeroed in on the sweet potato leaves dish and immediately felt confident that what I saw was stir-fried with garlic.

By then I had received the photograph that Wei Leng sent that showed the image of the sweet potato leaves dish with her and which confirmed that hers was clearly stir-fried with sambal.

Stir-fried sweet potato leaves with sambal

To proof that the restaurant did not make a mistake in packing our orders, I sent her a photo of the sweet potato leaves dish I had with me, just for comparison.

“Sorry my mistake!” she promptly replied but I was just pleased that I need not make that drive over to make the dish exchange.

When I had showered (always after returning from a trip outside), I sat down for my afternoon tea. Then my phone signaled another message from Wei Leng.  

I smiled when I read that she declared that the Crab Ball Soup was simply delicious.

“You had Crab Ball Soup for afternoon tea?” was my incredulous reply and she confessed that she could not wait till dinner to savour the soup, especially while it was still warm.

Well, why not? After all, we had quite an eventful experience to Swee Ang and back.

Swee Ang is a Non-Halal restaurant located at No. 70 Jalan Kuning, Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Baru. Please visit their Facebook page for contact details, menu and current opening hours.