Showing posts with label Shops. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Malaysia 2016 : Ah Ma House Sekinchan (阿嬤的家)

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Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels

Ah Ma House Sekinchan (阿嬤的家)

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

Related Blogs :

Gallery - Scenic Sekinchan Padi Fields
Sekinchan, Selangor : May 2014

The beautiful paddies of Sekinchan; simple yet greenly awe-inspiring.

Rice Factory @ Sekinchan : May 2014
First time to a rice factory, and it was an interesting learning experience.

Yong Tau Foo Factory @ Bagan Sekinchan
Sekinchan, Selangor : May 2014
Want to see you Yong Tau Foo is made in a commercial way, visit this factory then!

Nyonya Food & Antiques @ Teck Kee

Good Nyonya desserts eatern within at a shop full on antiques & all is up for sale - Teluk Intan, Perak, Malaysia.

Cheap & Good Food @ Xin Hai San Restaurant

Simple but wonderfully delicious food at a small rustic town - Sungai Besar, Selangor, Malaysia.

Scenic Sekinchan Padi Fields Ride 31st May 2014

Another ride at the Sekinchan padi fields area, this time not only riding and see but also visiting factories, learning & shopping too.

Authentic Nyonya Food @ Moh Teng Pheow

Authentic Nyonya fare set in an interesting place; the kitchen! - George Town, Penang, Malaysia.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

India 2015 Kolorful Kerala : Day 7 - A Dahl Shopping Day

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Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels

India 2015 Kolorful Kerala : Day 7 - A Dahl Shopping Day

Fort Kochi - 12th January 2015

It's our last day at Kerala - a day for shopping for the girls and some cycling for us guys. The girls did some last minute shopping at Fort Kochi, no shopping in Broadway and then perhaps some at Lulu Mall.

This is page 6 of a 6-page blog, click on the respective titles below to go to other pages :
- Kolorful Kerala Day 1 & 2 - Of Spices, Tea Valleys & Cool Hills.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 3 - Of Tahrs & Kalaripayattu.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 4 - Of Elephants & Kathakali.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 5 - Of Kerala Backwaters Houseboats.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 6 - Of Fishing Nets & Mosquitoes.

Even though our return flight will be in the late evening, we left Fort Kochi after lunch as they will be a few stops for shopping along the way.

The girls had got up for an early breakfast and were soon off on their shopping at the Princess Street area. We guys were a bit sluggish, pulled ourselves up from bed, had breakfast then decided to go cycling.
We rented a couple of bicycles but were quite disappointed that that the conditions of the bike was not quite road-worthy. We had to go through a few bicycles to select two of the better maintained ones, even then their brakes were not working perfectly. Never mind, we won't be racing; so let's just go.

The leisurely pace of cycling gave us ample opportunity to take in the sites along our route. We visited the Chinese fishing nets again and this time got to talk to the fishermen.

In contrast to speeding by in a car, our riding pace allowed us the opportunity to observe life here. Near the port area, a man took delivery of some sacks of rice, loaded them onto his pull-cart and was soon pulling the cart away, heading for his destination which we hoped was not to far away.

We stopped by the Jewish cemetery to have a quick look and said some prayers. Continuing our journey we saw this odd camel being led by his rider. Hey! There are camels here.
About 6km from our hotel, I realised that we were lost. Fortunately, with the help of my mobile phone GPS tracking app, we were able to make our way back just in time to check out from Chiramel Heritage Homestay.
(... click to see more of your cycling Lost In Fort Kochi).

So it's lunch time now and we were cracking our head on where to eat.
Hah! We just walked over a couple of doors away to Dal Roti; it's a place that sells a wide range of prathas (Indian flat bread) cooked in a variety of ways.
This place sells northern Indian Mughal cuisine; so we ended our holiday in south India with a north Indian meal.
Hah again!
I had this Fish Kati Roll. It uses a type of pratha called Lachedar Pratha, a crispy and flaky version. I like it as the bread was well layered and each layer was flakily cripsy.

My buddies went for a Chicken Thali Meal; it's a combo meal that came with a chicken curry, paneer, two vegetable curries, a cooling raita sauce. Two pieces of flat pratha and some rice came with this, it was definitely a filling meal. Fortunately, they did advise that it can feed two, so they shared. Phew....
(... read more at Dal Roti blog).

From Fort Cochin we headed for Ernakulam where we started our shopping exodus at a Himalaya beauty care product shop. No prizes for guessing who got excited over shopping here!

Inside there were shelves of products for body care, hair care and even lip care!
Set up in 1930, Himalaya is renown for their health care products which include ayurvedic ingredients.

Our next stop was a place called Broadway, an open street shopping area. The girls had expected a place something like Petaling Street in Malaysia where they could buys some Indian clothing, souvenirs, etc.; sadly for them this place catered more for locals with shops selling bags, hardware, etc.
So no shopping here for the girls. But Kev did manage to find a neat antique shop along Shanmugam Road and got a few small ones for friends back home.

We expressed our displeasure to our driver Prakash, and he whisked us over to the Lulu Mall located not too far away. Lulu Mall claims to be the largest in South Asia; it is fairly large but not as large as others in South-east Asian countries. Still it has a good share of shops that should satisfy shoppers.
(For a list of the world's largest shopping centre, click here).

The air-conditioned interior of the mall was a welcomed change from the hot, smelly streets of Broadway. We popped into a few shops like this one above but the girls did not find anything that fancied them. Kev got a pair of harem pants for one of his friends.
Seems like this shopping trip benefited him more... Heh... heh...

At the Flora Hotel next to the airport, we stopped by to have a light dinner before checking in. They serve pretty good bun sandwiches here. It's the pan toasted type, toasted in a way that the thin crust becomes very crispy while not being over-burnt.
As we were checking at the airport, this poster of an Indian girl in a classical Indian dance pose seems to be bidding us "Goodbye, come again soon."
Yes, goodbye India, we will come again.

This is page 6 of a 6-page blog, click on the respective titles below to go to other pages :
- Kolorful Kerala Day 1 & 2 - Of Spices, Tea Valleys & Cool Hills.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 3 - Of Tahrs & Kalaripayattu.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 4 - Of Elephants & Kathakali.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 5 - Of Kerala Backwaters Houseboats.
- Kolorful Kerala Day 6 - Of Fishing Nets & Mosquitoes.

Related Blogs :