Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels
Sekinchan, Selangor, Malaysia - July 2016
Sekinchan is getting to be a favourite destination in Selangor for local tourists. Many new seafood outlets have sprung up to cater for the appetites of the visitors, in fact the food business has overflowed to neighbouring villages like Kampung Sungai Limau and towns like Sungai Besar. Visitors can even pop into the bagan (fishermen's jetty) and buy fresh fish, prawns, etc. Other than seafood, some enterprising locals have tapped onto the tourist market and have opened up their cottage factories. A couple of these are the Yong Tau Foo factory and the prawn cracker factory. Now another new business have opened, one that caters for a unique market and capture the hearts of visitors; they sell love letters and other traditional cakes/desserts. But their trade is beyond just cakes, read on and see why this shop called Ah Ma House will tug on the heart-strings of many; it will definitely be a favourite place to visit in Sekinchan.
Ah Ma House is located on the paddy field side of the Sekinchan town. They are located at Jalan Tali Air 5 (which on Google Maps is shown as Jalan Malinja). If coming from Kuala Selangor, just as you enter the town, look out for a BHP petrol station on the left; Jalan Tali Air 5 is on the right a couple of roads before the petrol staion (directly opposite the Khind factory). Make a right turn in a about 200 metres down the road you will notice a mock-up windmill and that will be Ah Ma House.
Next to the windmill is a place where lovers can hang a pendant with their names engraved to show their everlasting love.
Ah Ma House is named after the operator's grandmother (in Hokkien affectionately called Ah Mah, meaning grandmother), it's a newly built timber-plank house that may not look like much from the outside but a peep inside shows visitors browsing through and buying all sort of wares (mostly dried food). Let's go in then.
At the counter is a low shelf selling food stuff with the Ah Ma trademark; behind this on a tall wall shelf are antique items such as rattan Nyonya tiffin carriers, enamel tiffins,, tea sets, etc. The older items are not for sale, but the newer, smaller enamel tiffins are. This is also the payment counter; on the far left is the mother of the operator who is the daughter of Ah Ma.
The operator has tried to set up the interior to have a throw-back look to the nineteen fifteens/sixties; in one cosy corner visitors can take a rest amidst old items from that era - wall clocks, a television set, gramophone, make-up bag, an attache case ala James Bond movie of that time, etc.
In another corner, cosy rattan chairs with an old table fan and black dial-type phone.
In the other corner, a small wooden table with long wooden benches sits in front of a concrete stove, below it are three red stand-alone charcoal stoves. It would have been great if this was not just a mock-up kitchen but an operating one like the one at Moh Teng Peow up in Penang, where Nyonya kuehs are actually cooked in the kitchen whilst patrons watch.
On the wall hung cooking apparatus, wire-netted noodles scoops, egg/dour beaters, rattan trays and food covers.
An old radio sits on a counter shelf with old cameras, huge handphones (okay this ones are probably from the early nineties).
This one is my favourite, an old manually hand-operated Singer sewing machine complete with it's wooden casing.
A closer look at the sewing machine, it looks like it's still operable; the equipment from old days can really last.
At the payment counter shelves are antique containers for biscuits, Milo, Nescafe and cocoa powder drinks.
At other counter shelves are memorabilia - old tea-sets, shaver sets, mirrors, and even a deck of colourful "Chao Or" playing cards.
Another old-timer, the "Samfong" pressed rice face powder, a favourite with ladies back then. This is still in production and available. But to the right is a centuries old brand - the Kwong Sam Hong "Two Girls" brand of cologne from Hong Kong.
All this old paraphernalia brings back memories of my grandmothers, mother and aunties too.
Other shelves are stocked with the shops items for sale, each with the "Ah Ma" logo of the grandmother fanning a stand-alone charcoal stove. Above photo shows their signature item - kueh kapit (love letters), and above it salted duck eggs.
Another shelf is stocked with bottles of sambal dried prawns and deep-fried anchovies. They have a wide range of products, visit Ah Ma's website to see the full range.
Other than their own products, there are also tidbits (now, these stirred memories of my childhood days) - red plum diskettes, plum tablets, etc.
Another childhood favourite, "Kanna" - preserved dried olives.
I can't recall what this gluey stuff is called; with the provided mini straw one can blow balloons from a wad of the sticky gluey stuff - the challenge was to see who can blow the biggest balloon.
Yumi Kee, the grand-daughter operator/owner, standing next to a machine that punches out rice-dried prawn cakes.
These cakes are made from rice (for which this region is a rice bowl) and dried shrimps (also another local product). They are very tasty and cost RM5/= for a packet of four.
So do go to Ah Ma House, they are definitely an interesting place in Sekinchan - let them stir old memories and at the same time support the local industry.
AH MA HOUSE
Jalan Tali Air 5, Sekinchan, Selangor, Malaysia.
Tel: +6019-3783300 / +6014-2305753 (Yumi)
Hours: 9:30am to 6:30pm (Everyday)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ah-Ma-House-Sekinchan
Webpage: www.ahmabakery.com
GPS: 3.505386, 101.105057
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