Saturday, July 9, 2011

FRUITFUL TIME IN RAUB




Durians, durians everywhere...


Off this beaten track lies a durian orchard

Durians, durians, durians! Although the season has yet to reach its peak, our recent trip to Raub proved fruitful enough.
At the entrance of Eddie's durian orchard


Fruitful visit to Raub!

Raub Durian Orchard owner, Eddie Yong was kind enough to meet us in the heart of Raub town and led us to his verdant plantation. Without wasting any more time, he proceeded to open up some durians for our group.


Mau Sang Wong or Musang King or Raja Kunyit is characterised by
its faint starburst lines on the thorny skin




The ingenious guy even invented his own durian-opening implements! Some of our group members even tried their hands at it without breaking out in a sweat.


Since it's early days of the durian season, we only savoured 3 varieties: Ang Heh (Red Prawn), D24 and Musang King (also known as Raja Kunyit or Mau Sang Wong). My personal favourite was the creamy Ang Heh which has a muted bitter aftertaste.

Then Eddie led us on an uphill trek around his orchard where passion fruit and rambutans are also grown. He even has a 'bird's nest' hotel where swiftlets were lured to roost and build their precious nests inside the building.


Too bad we missed out visiting the groundnut and soyabean curd factories since it was late afternoon when we finally finished. But we managed to stop and buy packets of groundnuts to take home.

Our leisurely drive to Raub turned out to be pleasant enough and surprisingly short - only about 1.75 hours from KL. We departed after a sumptuous seafood lunch at Mei Keng Fatt. Feast your eyes on what we had!

The piquant Four Heavenly King vegetable dish

Lotus Leaf Garoupa reeled in loads of compliments from our guests
Tender frogs legs steamed with minced gingerMarmite crabs are just slurpilicious!

Dinner was in Bukit Tinggi - there were some hits and misses but still good nevertheless. Among the notable dishes were Steamed River Fish with Soya Sauce & Ginger, Fresh Water Prawns with Glass Noodles in Claypot and Beancurd with Minced Meat & Pine Nuts.