kuantan//penang
stopped by kuantan during the raya holidays. the family planned for this last minute and initially it was me coming back from kuantan yesterday and head to penang with a few of my peeps today. and i didn't even bother about getting the bus tickets a few days earlier thinking there'll still be tons of bus tickets lying around pudu. damn i'm wrong. so wrong. guess what? the earliest ticket to penang is tomorow at 3pm. 3!!! man, that means i will be missing lunch at penang!!! that is one meal less at food heaven. *smacks head*
the quaint little store. not sure what does it really sell but i was nagging dad about getting some roasted coffee beans and he brought me here. this place is really quaint i tell you. the whole stretch of the street is filled with old barber shop, vintage furniture shop, vintage photo studios (where they still use the big old rolliflex), book shop, and a toy shop. even the building that houses these shops dated back during pre-war. dad even told me the field at the opposite was once used as a killing field during the japanese occupation. the place feels and looks old, and i'm really grateful that the owners didn't bother changing with time.
it's sad that not a lot of people appreciate things like this anymore( like the news about tearing down some of the buildings in petaling street to make way for a mrt project, but thankfully they have decided to go underground). if it weren't for the coffee beans i wouldn't have end up here.
ok, story of the shop. i'm not sure what it really sells, because the liquor that they store on the shelve looks pretty aged, and they only had 2 kinds of coffee beans, from indonesia, roasted by the uncle of the shop ,which smells divine.they even have a modern looking wine fridge filled with champagne! nobody in the family is interested in continuing the business, and the only reason they're still selling is because of the request of their regular customers. the coffee beans are nameless and only identified by price, when we were in doubt about choosing which coffee bean the 96 year old dame came up and suggested us to take the rm16 per kilo ones. she was right, the coffee was absolutely heavenly.
interested in getting some of these coffee beans? i won't be giving you the exact location, but it'll be an adventure for you to find out (read: too lazy to call my dad and ask), but these hints are more than enough, trust me. it's in kuantan town, right opposite a big field with the mosque next to it, and there's a really big pos laju building next to the mosque.
see you in penang!
:)