Hot n' Spicy Tom Yam @ Alor Setar, Kedah

Recently, I have been outstation for work purposes in Alor Setar, Kedah for 2 weeks. Since I was in a "stranger's land" (means away from home), why not I go and explore that place?

Alor Setar is a town in Kedah which is actually nearing to Thailand border. You can access the Thailand border area, Danuk if you drive from Alor Setar in approximately 2 hours. Malaysians love to go there to enjoy cheap massage or purchasing cheap food and items such as cooking utensils, clothes, bags and others. To know more, I will talk about Hatyai, Thailand in my next post. No worries!

Coming back to Alor Setar story... Since it is located quite near to Thailand border, for sure somewhere in Alor Setar, I can eat yummy yet original Thai Tom Yam (a lot Thai people came down to Malaysia to open food stall and do business).

My colleague introduced me a stall that is famous for Thai Tom Yam. She told me that a long time ago, when she came to Alor Setar to work as well, some colleagues (who are Alor Setar residents) brought her to that stall to try out their tom yam. 

She told me that the tom yam is very spicy until some of them stomachache after tried out. But she dunno whether is the spicyness that made them stomachache or maybe cuz they added santan or milk into their tom yam soup (yeah, first time I heard people added santan or milk into tom yam!).

The stall is located in Mergong, in a Chinese "kopitiam" (or small restaurant) named Restoran Yippie Yap. She also told me that if we went there around 7pm or 8pm, we need to queue and wait for at least 30 mins just to taste that tom yam soup. Hmmm I really wonder how spicy that tom yam is!

The challenge  accepted!

We went there after our working hour which is around 9.30pm. That time, the stall seems like going to close as the lady boss started to pack all ingredients i.e. hotdogs, fish balls, prawns, seafood, vegetables and tofu into plastic bags. You need to choose your preferred noodle whether you wants mihun, mee or maggi mee and your selected ingredients to be served in your tom yam soup.

My colleague said that whatever ingredients  you picked, the boss still charged you RM1 per piece. So it is wise to  select those "worthy" ingredients such as prawns or seafood. However, I still picked  more vegetables than the other ingredients. Cuz I loveee veges!

I choose to have maggi mee, cuz if you choose mihun, the mihun will double its portion if you eat slowly and I don't like those yellow noodles.

Having a herbal tea to save me if the tom yam is really very spicy and to "cool" down the body "heat" after having such hot and spicy food.

Jeng jeng jeng! This is the tom yam that my colleague bragged about. The soup really really so in red...... but it is not so oily to eat. I took one sip of the tom yam.......

OMG!!! So spicy!!! My mouth was burning! Inside this bowl of hell, I  kept picked out medium-sized green chilies... No wonder the soup so spicy! Oh my mama... 

As I slowly ate the noodle and the ingredients, I kept sweating and tearing. Cuz the tom yam seriously spicy! I  never thought beside my hometown's (Raub) cili padi (it is the most spicy small chilies in Malaysia) is defeated by this tom yam!

However, as I ate the tom yam, my stomach was not feeling "hot and burning". Unlike the other spicy food, this tom yam is only spicy at its surface which means you only feel your mouth burning but your stomach was not disturbed by the spicyness.

Finally, I finished the noodle and ingredients.. without finishing my whole herbal tea. My eyes kept tearing till the end and I kept wiping the tears off.

But.. my mouth... really looked like two "sausages" ... red and swollen after eating that tom yam!! (>○<) Luckily, in 10mins, my mouth no longer looked like sausages. Haha

Since I picked around 5-6 ingredients, plus the noodle, this tom yam only costs RM7.20. Cheap or expensive? For me, I think it is quite expensive compared to tom yam you can eat in KL. Except those tom yam only have vegetables, not hotdogs or seafood in the soup.

Success! I have conquered the hot and spicy challenge! You girls should have a try on this tom yam if you are in Alor Setar!

xoxo,

your lil BFF ♡