When in Batu Pahat’s Parit Raja district, don’t miss out on the best lempeng (pancake) in town, writes Intan Maizura Ahmad Kamal
“SAYANG, nah ambik ni (dear, come and get this).” The voice is gentle, a loving request from a husband to his wife, as he passes her a plate of piping hot lempeng — a pancake of sorts — to serve to a customer who’d made the order.
Gingerly, his tudung-clad wife balances the plate offered to her alongside the bowl of fish curry that she holds in her other hand.
The couple exchanges a smile before the husband returns to flipping more lempeng on the old-fashioned griddle. On the next ‘work station’ are rows of finely-swirled roti jala awaiting orders.
“Pak cik, satu lagi lempeng. Yang kelapa punya (Uncle, another lempeng please, the coconut one),” I make my order, salivating at the thought of finally satiating my craving for this childhood favourite which my mother used to make for our breakfast during my younger years in London.
My brother and I would turn our noses up at familiar British morning staples like cereals and toasts — but lempeng? It would bring us down the stairs and into the kitchen like a herd of elephants.
Fast forward to today. I’d been looking forward to this visit to Parit Raja, located in the district of Batu Pahat, and a town mainly populated by the Javanese.
A friend had waxed lyrical about this particular lempeng outlet, extolling the virtues of its delicious offerings. ‘Lempeng Sedap’, as its name aptly suggests, is where one can find the best lempeng in town.
LOVE OF LEMPENG
The sky is a beautiful canvas of cerulean blue the morning my friends and I descend on the already-bustling outlet, located beside the entrance to Kampung Parit Jambul and Taman Budiman in Parit Raja.
Having made my order, I’m ushered towards another part of this modest outlet where a mind-boggling array of dishes line one side of a wooden wall — accompaniments to complement the lempeng. And being a true Libran, I’m suddenly struck by that familiar feeling of ‘loss’.
Like a child in a candy shop, I could only stare at the sheer variety of dishes while a silent wail begins to crescendo inside me.
“Woi, faster la. Take all the curries la. The fish and chicken ones look good,” the voice of a fellow foodie and friend slices into my panic. Right.
“Don’t forget to take the chicken liver in cili padi, dik. That one is our signature to go with the lempeng.”
I turn to trace the owner of the voice and my eyes clap upon the tudung-clad lady, smiling at me, akin to an indulgent mother. She’s the outlet’s owner, I discover.
“Kak, can you sit with me a while. I’d like to ask some questions,” I say to her, beaming in acknowledgement of her recommendation.
A DREAM REALISED
It was in 2010 when Saemah Sujad and her husband, Yahya Abd Rashid, made the decision to relocate their business from Kota Tinggi to Batu Pahat. She recalls that the restaurant she ran in the former locale wasn’t as well received as it is here in Parit Raja.
“There was a flood in 2006 and my restaurant in Kota Tinggi was flooded out. Although we got it together again, business was never the same after that,” recalls Saemah.
She subsequently decided to dabble in selling clothes but deep down she knew that it was not her calling.
“I wanted to return to my food business,” confides Saemah, adding that she later started a business selling food by the roadside.
“My application for a shoplot was rejected so I sold lempeng and a few dishes from under the shade of a big umbrella. In one day, I could make around RM1,000.”
It was one of those uneventful mornings as she was preparing dishes to sell for the day that the idea to move to Batu Pahat suddenly consumed her thoughts.
Recalls Saemah: “I knew that the Javanese community in Parit Raja is big and that they love their lempeng. I was even given two big umbrellas by my son who said, ‘Mama, you can cook so you can make it your business.’
“In the meantime, my husband went on the look-out for a location. Four days later he found this place.”
And the couple hasn’t looked back since.
“We’re doing good business here,” says Saemah, beaming. “Our shop faces the main road so we’re visible. Also, it’s near to the Tun Hussein Onn University so we get a sizeable crowd from the student population too. There’s ample parking too so that makes it easy for customers.”
EVOLVING BUSINESS
Saemah has come a long way since her earlier business venture in Kota Tinggi. The youthful-looking 53-year-old is proud to share that her spread of dishes has expanded significantly. And she cooks them all, from fish curry to assam pedas fish, from chicken curry to chicken rendang.
Her sardine sambal and chicken liver fried in cili padi are huge favourites. “I’m here cooking at the back from 3am
everyday,” says Saemah, chuckling.
Other favourite offerings include
chicken soto, nasi lemak, fried noodles, fried tofu and crunchy fried tempe.
Her husband, a former commando, is the lempeng whizz. Having refined the process, he now makes three types of lempeng for customers to choose from, namely, the original lempeng (of just flour, egg, ‘planta’ and a dash of salt), the coconut version and also one with egg.
The secret behind their delicious lempeng, shares Saemah, is the fact that they blend their ingredients together.
“If you use a blender, the mix will rise and the end result is soft lempeng.”
Eyes shining in recollection, Saemah, the seventh out of 12 siblings, shares that growing up, lempeng had always been a staple in their Javanese household.
“I was only nine when I started helping my mum to cook. And yes, lempeng was the first thing I learnt how to make. I’d sit on a wooden platform watching her make lempeng on our old-fashioned wood fire stove.”
As I mop the last delicious drop of my fish curry with the last shred of lempeng in my hand, I couldn’t resist asking Saemah whether she has any plans to grow her lempeng ‘empire’.
A soft smile plays at the corners of her lips as she replies: “We all have dreams. Mine is to have my own thriving restaurant. A place where people from all over the country would converge because of my lempeng. But for now, I’m happy to maintain the business as it is. Tak larat! (no energy)”