SATAY FOR BREAKFAST
NUR ZARINA OTHMAN and EWE PAIK LEONG go on a food hunt in Muar, the royal town of Johor that holds hidden secrets
THEY say the most important meal is breakfast, but there is something peculiar about it in Muar. It is only here in the royal town of Johor that you eat satay for breakfast. Yes, you read it right.
The bamboo-skewered grilled meat is eaten either with soto or lontong.
Soto is spicey chicken soup served with nasi impit (pressed rice), strips of chicken, begedil (potato cutlets) and sambal kicap (spicy soy sauce).
Lontong or lodeh, as Johoreans call it, is a coconut cream-based gravy served with vegetables, such as carrots, cabbage and turnip, as well as other add-ons, such as tofu, tempe and glass noodles.
It is also eaten with nasi impit and topped with peanut sauce.
In Muar, you can find these dishes at a cosy little shop called Restoran Haba on Jalan Majidi.
If you think that the satay here is like the lean, no-fat meat variant that is sold in the Klang Valley, think again.
You can find slivers of fat in between the chicken meat or beef on the bamboo skewers.
As the meat is grilled, the fats will drip onto the charcoal, giving out a tantalising aroma that makes those watching their waistlines forget about dieting.
Then, there’s also satay babat, which is made of tripe (the edible stomach lining of a cow).
It is a rare delicacy as some satay outlets do not have this on their menu.