Growing up, we’d frequent the Riverside Hawker Centre – popularly known as “Hai Kee” or “He Bian” to feast on our favourite eats.
The end of Jalan Rahmat leading to the river. I love this part of the road come evening; the colours of dusk gently embracing an old part of town.
“Hai Kee” has been around for as long as I can remember. The food court rests on the riverbanks, next to the jetty and maritime office. As a kid, I was TERRIFIED of the floor made of wooden planks. Someone told me that there were CROCODILES in the river and sometimes they would swim up and NOM humans…
Luckily the crocodiles left us alone, never once disrupting our meal. Perhaps there were no crocodiles at all, just an adult trying to scare an impressionable kid. Or maybe the crocodiles dwindled in numbers, much like the food stall operators at “Hai Kee” today.
Cross the road to Hai Kee!
After all, continuity means someone’s got to step up and take over. I see a couple of the food stalls have ‘new blood’ to continue with the business, but many others don’t. I wonder how long they will go on.
Our go-to drinks stall operator serves our favourite ice kacang. Coarsely shaved ice with an assortment of red beans, jelly, pineapple, sweet corn and nuts, topped with chocolate malt.
Ah Lam’s ice kacang
This stall was Ah Lam’s, who passed away last year. His children took over his business and continue churning out drinks and delicious ice kacang.
The late Ah Lam, photo taken sometime in 2010
We love our Fuchow Mee, prepared by this uncle here. He can’t hear very well so his wife has to shout out orders at him.
Dai Chow uncle
What is Fuchow noodles? Thick egg noodles simmered in a rich, dark sauce. Meat, prawns and vegetables are added. Then the kicker: black vinegar. That makes ALL the difference. You MUST have the black vinegar, don’t forget to ask for it.
Foochow egg noodles with black vinegar
The o-chien stall is going strong, the original seller still churning out plates of fried egg with oysters.
Frying o-chien like a boss
It is decent o-chien. Good even, if you’ve never had the ones in Penang. Here, they make up for it with a generous portion of oysters.
Fried oyster omelette
The wu xiang aka lo bak stall is now managed by the owner’s son. Translated to Five Flavours, this fritter dish originated from the Fujian province. The original 5 fritters were: prawn, pork rolls, pork liver, egg rolls and pork sausage.
Deep-fry till the cows come home
Now we have plenty of options, but be warned: this stall runs out early, especially during weekends. Batu Pahat folks love their wu xiang.
My wu xiang picks: fragrant crunchy prawn fritters and fish fillet
There’s a grilled chicken wings stall. It’s all right, not super fantastic, and very edible. But perhaps an unfair comparison; after all I’ve had the best chicken wings in the country.
One of the Lee brothers sells fish ball noodles (Penggaram Mee) at Hai Kee. I think his other brother at Taman Bukit Pasir makes a better version.
On some days (depends on whether they feel like opening or not), we get grilled stringray loaded with a generous serving of spicy sambal. I had it recently; it was better in my teenage memory.
The stall next to Ah Lam’s sell sotong kangkung – cuttlefish and water spinach salad. I ate it all before I remembered to take a photograph. But they do things the old school way here, check out the lady toasting you tiao (Chinese doughnut) over charcoal using a Ji-Gong fan.
There you go, my personal must-eat in Batu Pahat 🙂
Riverside (Hai Kee) Hawker Centre
Jalan Shahbandar,
83000 Batu Pahat, JOHOR.
