Big Fish Head Curry Tour - MALAYSIAN STREET FOOD in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

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- Good morning.
I hope you're having an amazing day.
It's Mark Wiens.
I'm in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
And one of the tastiest parts
or sections of the fish is the fish head
because you've got all those little oozy bits.
You get to dig out the little crevices of meat.
Locally, it's known as kepala ikan,
and it's very popular to eat in Malaysia.
And so today, I'm gonna take you
on a fish head tour of Kuala Lumpur.
We're gonna eat,
I have three places
that I wanna check out and share with you.
We're gonna eat them one fish head
after the next after the next.
And this is gonna be an amazing day of food in Kuala Lumpur,
and I'm gonna share
all the fish heads with you in this video.
(upbeat music)
It's just 9:30 a.m. right now.
They're still sort of setting up.
The fish heads are ready.
They're preparing the fried chicken.
This place, it's, I think it's officially known
as Annuar's Fish Head Curry, but lots of people know them
as just the Bangsar or fish corner
because it's here at the corner of the road,
kind of in a little shopping plaza area.
But the aroma, you can smell the,
oh, by the way, this place is also very famous
for their fried chicken.
You can smell the aroma of the fried chicken.
You can smell the curry leaves.
Oh, man. (laughs)
Fish head for breakfast, you cannot go wrong.
Fried fish.
- Fried fish.
(mumbles) in the front side, sir.
- [Mark] Okay, in the front.
- Boss, from the front.
- Okay.
They want to get a photo of all of them,
all the staff here at the front.
Say welcome to, welcome to--
- Welcome to.
- [Mark] Annuar's.
- Welcome to Annuar's--
- [Mark] Kepala ikan.
- Yeah, yeah, kepala ikan.
- Backside, backside, backside.
- [Mark] Okay, one,
two, three. - One, two, three.
- [Group] Welcome to Annuar's kepala ikan.
- Hey, yeah, kepala ikan (speaks in foreign language).
- Yes. (laughs)
Okay, awesome.
They're all so friendly.
- Boss, you're from what country?
- Ah, I live in Thailand.
- Oh, Thai. - Oh, Thailand.
- Yes, Thailand, in Bangkok.
- [Man] It's famous for 26 years.
- [Mark] So it's been at this corner for 26 years.
(man mumbles)
Wow. - Boss, boss.
(mumbles) the curry, very nice.
- [Mark] Oh, yeah.
- Yeah, the curry, fish curry, very special.
- [Mark] Hello.
(Mr. Annuar speaks in foreign language)
Nice to meet you, nice to meet you.
- Thank you very much.
- [Mark] Are you Mr. Annuar?
- Yes, Mr. Annuar.
- Ah, very nice to meet you.
(upbeat music)
Yeah. (chuckles)
Mr. Annuar just served us a giant fish head.
And you can see it's just,
they like literally opened minutes ago.
There's already a line forming.
It's self serving with the fried chicken.
Oh, thank you.
- Which part of the chicken you like?
You want the drumstick?
- [Mark] Yes, please.
- You want the wings?
- [Mark] Yes, please.
- [Mr. Annuar] They're frying the wings.
- [Mark] Okay.
- You want a thigh?
- [Mark] Sounds good.
- You want the breast meat?
- [Mark] Okay.
- [Mr. Annuar] Okay (mumbles).
- [Mark] Okay.
- Enjoy, eh.
- Oh, wow.
(Mr. Annuar mumbles)
Oh, thank you.
(Mr. Annuar mumbles)
Uh-huh.
- [Mr. Annuar] They're gonna make the cabbage.
- The cabbage, okay, great.
- [Mr. Annuar] The other guy.
- Ah.
(Mr. Annuar mumbles)
And we have the pleasure to hang out with Mr. Dino,
who is also,
we just met him as we arrived.
So we've got plates of rice.
We've got the fried chicken,
and then, yeah, the main event, the dish
that we came here for, which is the kepala ikan,
the fish head, which is prepared Indian style.
That sauce is just rich and spicious.
Oh, man, I cannot wait.
Okay, we gotta, we gotta set the fried chicken aside for now
and move right in to the massive fish head.
So the reason that the fish head is so tasty and so good
is because there's so many different parts of the fish head
to explore and so many different little crevices.
You've got the cheek.
You've got the upper head.
You've got the belly-ish section in the bottom.
You've got all sorts
of little crevices and crannies to dig out.
I'm gonna start.
Let's just begin with that top head of the fish.
And despite like it being a head, there's so much meat.
You can just see that it's' just sprouting with meat.
Just set some of this top of the head onto my rice first,
onto my plate of rice.
Maybe I'll go in for some of this belly section
at the same time.
Oh, yeah, there's so much meat on it.
I'll add some cabbage to my plate as well.
Okay, I'm going in for that fish head first.
This is the top of the head, that chunk of fish,
mix it with the rice.
Mm-hmm.
Oh.
The flavor of that curry sauce is smooth with spices.
You taste the,
actually, you really taste the curry leaves in there.
The blend of spices is incredible.
Okay.
And another bite that I can't wait to taste
is the fried chicken with some of that curry sauce.
Actually, maybe the most common thing
that everybody's eating here because it's quick and simple
to just place the fried chicken with the curry sauce on top.
(chuckles) One more, one more spoon.
Okay, I'm tearing into that,
tearing into that fried chicken.
Oh, the entire, the entire covering of skin in one bite.
Nice.
- Okay.
(Mark chuckles)
That is the bite. - Oh, wow.
The fried chicken is amazing.
- [Man] So well spiced, wow.
- You can see the big tub of chicken
which is marinated in a bunch of spices.
Then it's deep fried, so it has
this like deep fried crust all over the entire chicken.
Plus it's crispy, plus the curry sauce on top.
It's seriously tasty.
- [Man] Gorgeous.
Oh, man.
- Mmm.
Oh, the head.
The head is one of the best things.
And again, I think it is like marinated
in similar spice blend as the fried chicken.
It has that same marinade flavor as the fried chicken,
the spices in there, the crispy like outer exterior,
and then it's just like soft and tender.
- [Man] Look at the size of that cheek.
The cheek is huge.
The entire spoon just disappears under there.
Whoa, oh my gosh.
- [Mark] Look at that.
Dude, that's all one cheek.
Oh, and I didn't even get it all.
There's still more.
It like goes all the way to the eye.
That is all cheek.
- [Man] Dude, that's a massive head.
Look at that.
Oh my gosh, yeah,
the spoon just like disappears under there.
- I'm gonna definitely take this opportunity
to rehydrate my fish cheek.
A one biter.
Cheers. (man chuckles)
Oh, yeah.
I got a scale.
- Mmm, mmm, mm-hmm.
- [Man] The tenderness is out of control right there.
- We're getting down to the bottom of the fish head.
Now starts the exploration.
There's bits of skin.
Here's eyeballs.
Oh, here's the, here's the mouth.
Can you see those teeth on there?
Red snapper lips, upper lip.
Just be careful you don't cut yourself on the teeth.
Whoa, it's like, it's like jelly.
The curry sauce itself was amazing.
And then all the staff, everyone that works here,
Mr. Annuar, they're so nice.
They're so friendly.
Not only is the food delicious,
but I think why this restaurant, this street food style
in Kuala Lumpur has such a loyal following
is because it's so welcoming.
I mean it's like a neighborhood stall,
and you just feel at home when you're eating here.
Thank you very much, Mr. Annuar.
That was amazing. - Thank you very much.
I'm very happy to have you. - Amazing.
And thank you for your hospitality.
So that's Mr. Annuar, and then your logo.
And they were so nice.
They refused to accept our payment.
So yeah, thank you very much
to Annuar's Fish Head Curry, Bangsar, fish corner.
Man, that was incredibly good.
We are moving on now to the next fish head curry.
(upbeat music)
We're on our way to eat the next fish head curry.
You gotta get there before the lunch rush,
so we're on our way.
I know it gets packed,
and they can sell out of the fish heads fast.
One of the great things about KL, Kuala Lumpur,
is that it really is a garden city.
It's such a green city.
And so we're right in the center of Kuala Lumpur,
but we're kind of on the hill.
I think it's called Tugu Park or something.
But there's a cafe here that's famous for their fish heads.
Hello.
- [Man] Hello.
- So you get to the top of the staircase
and all of a sudden, it opens up.
There's a parking lot up here,
but you're just surrounded by jungle.
It's so green.
It's so lush.
And then you have,
you smell the spices.
There's a whole buffet counter.
Again, the famous thing to eat here
is the kepala ikan, the fish head curry.
And I believe that this version
is gonna be more of a Malay style.
Let's get straight to another fish head.
So you choose your fish head.
There are different prices for different sizes.
And we met,
what is your name again?
- I'm Hozi, Hozi.
- Hozi, okay. - Yes.
- And he watches our videos.
- [Hozi] What size?
- The biggest size, biggest size.
- Biggest size.
- [Mark} Yes, please.
- [Hozi] Okay.
- [Mark] Oh, nice.
Sounds good.
- [Hozi] Okay.
That's fresh, very fresh.
- [Mark] Okay.
Yeah.
Wow.
- [Hozi] Lady's finger and then (mumbles)
- [Mark] What is that sauce?
- This is like curry also, and then mixed--
- [Woman] Soya.
- [Hozi] Ah, yes, mixed, soya.
- [Mark] Oh, okay.
- [Hozi] Soya sauce, black soya sauce.
- [Mark] Black soya sauce.
- [Hozi] Sweet and sour.
- [Mark} Ah.
- Mango.
- [Mark] Green mango?
- [Hozi] Green mango.
- [Mark] Okay.
- [Hozi] It's celery.
- Wow.
(chuckles) To keep it warm.
This is fish head number two.
This is an absolute beauty.
And I like how they serve it.
Actually, the flame went out because we took so many photos,
but they did serve it above a flame to keep it hot
because it's so big.
There's so much curry sauce.
I love how they added that extra curry sauce on top
as well as the green mango shreds all over it.
That's gonna add another twist, dimension
to this fish head curry.
And he said that it's a mix between Indian and Malay style.
It's like the fusion of Malaysia
with the fish head in your pot.
I'm gonna just kinda park the, park the okra.
And this is the eye.
Look at the size of this.
I'm gonna,
I think, actually, the easiest thing to do is, again,
go for the top of the head there
with those chunks of fish that are just gonna flake off.
Oh, look at that.
Look at the amount of meat, the head meat on there.
And what I especially wanna do is go in for some of that,
that green mango and just kinda mix that.
I'll go in for some of the tofu, some of that green onions
and all those herbs, and stick this on to my rice.
Wow, you gotta really maneuver.
You gotta really work your way around this fish head.
(laughs) Yeah, I got some of those shreds of green mango.
That's an awesome touch to it.
Oh, wow.
Oh, that is stunning.
Oh, the green mango, that like burst of natural sourness.
Again, you can taste the curry leaves.
You can taste, I believe it's a jolt of also sourness
from tamarind, almost like a fruity taste.
The fish is like firm and fresh.
Wow, that sauce is unbelievable.
Look at this, that meat just blooming out of the fish.
Wow.
That curry sauce is good enough to drink.
Okay, I'm gonna try that tofu.
And you can see that tofu is just like
saturated with the curry sauce as well.
You can actually squeeze this tofu
and curry sauce would come out.
Look. (chuckles)
Just juices with the curry sauce, super good.
What I love about this is that sourness
that goes along with all the spices in that fish curry.
Really, really incredibly good.
Okay, I'm gonna move back in, grab some of that.
Look at that, the entire cheek again.
It's huge.
Oh, and there's also eggplant in there and the tofu.
And again, you can just so easily
just drown your rice in the curry.
It's just so unbelievably good.
I'm just gonna take a whole chunk, a mandible.
Is that a mandible?
Okay, this one is the,
this one is the cheek right here.
That's the cheek bit.
Kinda skim your thumb through, get all the bits of fish,
the gooey bits, the gelatinous bits, the gummy bits.
It's all good.
These are curry leaves.
There's beansprouts in here.
There's wing bean.
There's chilies and there's shallots, I believe.
And I think it's like a fish sauce.
I'll put some of this onto my rice.
I know my rice is pretty much
doused in the curry sauce already.
It's all drowned up, but that's okay.
Mmm, oh, that's wonderful.
Oh, there's coconut in there.
You can really taste the shredded coconut.
That is like amazingly refreshing
and just a totally different taste.
And then finally, one more dish we just had to try is the,
it's a type of shell.
Is it a seashell?
I believe so, right?
I think it's a seashell.
And shat you're supposed to do with these shells
is kinda suck, suck the top so that the little shellfish,
the little shell just like,
just like plops out into your mouth.
Oh, yeah, I got it in one go.
Oh, that's wonderful.
It's like a little squidy textured little shell.
And then you taste the lemongrass in there.
Another section of the fish head that you don't wanna miss,
I will rehydrate it, is the eyeball.
So we're gonna,
look at the size of that eyeball.
Actually, let me, I'm just gonna kinda,
whoa, look at the amount of jelly material.
Oh!
Wow.
That just melts in your mouth.
There's so many jelly bits.
And then the actual eyeball is like a hard little,
I can't even find the actual eyeball.
Usually, it's like a hard little marble.
Mmm, I just got like some, the socket material.
And then just to garnish,
we've got some vegetables here, some lettuce.
There's some cucumbers.
And this is a sambal, I believe, with shrimp paste,
as well as a dark soy sauce with chilies and shallots.
Mmm.
Here's another move that I saw
from the guy sitting at the table next to us.
Dude, you gotta try that.
- Oh, okay.
Mmm.
Which one hits first?
Mmm, those chilies are so nice.
There's like tomatoeyness there, and then the peppery curry,
and then the creaminess of that fish meat.
Cool.
- All that's left is the main like head structure, bone,
some, the jawline, and a little bit of extra sauce.
But that sauce is so good, you're gonna want to drink it.
Okay, time to wash my hands.
And then also, they give you this little, this little card.
We got table number,
we got table number, is that 189?
No, that's right, 189.
That's about how good your orientation will be
after eating that fish head. (laughs)
- I can't believe it.
It's like one of the 10 best meals in the past year,
I mean, easily.
- The total price came to 144 ringgit,
which is pretty expensive, but we did get the largest,
most gigantic fish head that they had for the entire day.
You can get smaller fish heads
for only 45 ringgit or 55 or 65.
We got the 120 ringgit fish head, but it was so worth it.
But definitely, a dish like that,
you should share between a number of people.
You should share it between more than two people
like we did. - Two. (laughs)
- Yeah. (laughs)
Well, Ying had a little bite,
but she was already full from the last meal.
But you can definitely share that between like
four or five people and still be very, very happy.
But that was so worth it.
This is an amazing, an amazing restaurant.
And again, I cannot emphasize the relaxing state of mind
and relaxing state of stomach that you will be in
when you eat here because it's so, ah, yeah, the fresh air.
That was amazing.
- Alright.
- That was amazing.
Alright.
We're driving over to an area of KL called Pudu,
which is a very Chinese area of the city.
(Ying speaks in foreign language)
(man speaks in foreign language)
(Ying speaks in foreign language)
- Thank you.
- Thank you very much.
Oh, awesome.
This is restaurant number three,
totally different style of fish head.
This is not a curry, but this is more of a Chinese,
well, it is a completely Chinese-themed fish head.
- Together with the body, yeah, yeah.
- Oh, and the body also.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
- [Man] Mun Kee, yeah, Mun Kee.
- [Mark] Oh, Mun Kee, okay.
- Yeah, Mun Kee.
Sweet potato leaf or kangkong.
- [Mark] Maybe kangkong.
- Kangkong (mumbles).
- Awesome.
- [Man] Okay, thank you, thank you.
- Thank you very much.
That's six different types of fish heads.
There's the black bean, the asam, the clear steam,
the ginger, the sambal and the Nyonya.
I thought the Nyonya would be really interesting
because that's the (mumbles).
That's the Malay-Chinese version.
But then he said that that's totally out.
They ran out for lunch.
So we missed the lunch rush,
but we ended up ordering the clear steam fish head.
That's another one of their specialties, and that's gonna be
totally different from what we've already eaten today,
the fish heads that we've already eaten today so far.
(upbeat music)
Fish head number three has arrived,
and this is exceeding my, what I even had imagined possible
as what is considered a fish head.
They like include, I think they only take off
the tail, basically.
This solid fish, you can smell the ginger, the chilies.
It's very like light and refreshing and aromatic.
Yeah, it just looks like very clean, very beautiful,
Chinese style steamed fish.
Oh, it's so juicy, and you can see, look at that flesh.
Okay, you are gonna have to be careful of bones here,
but look at that white meat and then the juice.
Onto the rice, and let me get a little more of that juice.
Okay, yeah.
So be careful of the bones though.
Mmm, mmm.
It's so, yeah, so clean and light tasting.
You taste the soy sauce.
You taste the ginger.
And I like how there's a few sliced up chilies
to give it some heat.
It's so juicy because it's steamed.
They are definitely stretching
the definition of fish head here,
serving you the entire body along with the fish head.
And I'm totally okay with that.
Oh, you know what, I didn't even notice this,
but I think it's just the half a fish.
So you get more meat on the body,
but then it's split down the middle,
so it's the half a head.
Oh, that's perfect.
And then you can kinda navigate your way around,
grab some of that head meat.
You can see the head has quite,
that skin is very thick and like blubbery.
And you know what else?
You can taste the Chinese wine.
- Is it plum?
I was gonna ask--
- I think the wine in there.
- If you think it's plum or wine.
- I think it's maybe rice wine.
- Ah-huh.
- You can taste that slight like wine flavor in there
along with the soy sauce, with the steamed ginger.
But yeah, the ginger is what really, is the key
flavor-defining ingredient in this fish head.
They have a side little bowl of raw garlic and raw chilies,
which I will go ahead and sprinkle onto my plate of rice.
That's gonna give it some extra kick.
Oh, I'm going in for that ultimate bite.
And I think I'm gonna add one more scoop
of that incredibly delicious steaming sauce,
full flavor overload.
Oh, yes.
That's delicious.
The fish, again, is so fresh.
It's, it's so lightly flavorful
and just emphasizes the natural flavor of the dish.
Okay, the next dish we got is the steamed chicken.
And this is called kampung ayam,
which is like a village running chicken,
steamed, with a ginger sauce on the side.
Dip it into the ginger sauce.
Oh, that looks incredible.
Mmm, oh yeah.
That is incredibly good.
Oh, the chicken has the perfect texture,
that running texture,
slightly chewy but full of flavor.
And you can taste the sesame oil in there
and that ginger sauce.
The ginger is just like completely crushed.
The oils have come out.
Mmm.
Oh, the chicken is incredible.
But I'm always a huge fan of steamed chicken
with the ginger sauce.
Yeah, it's a great, great like, just a great dish.
Finally, that kangkong, which is the water morning glory,
stir fried with sambal.
And I think there's some shrimp paste in here too.
Mmm, mmm.
Always one of the best dishes to order,
vegetable dishes when you come to the Malay peninsula.
You taste the shrimpiness of it,
and you can really taste the smokiness of the wok on that,
in that vegetable as well.
There's always a massive chunk of meat
right on the top of the head section there.
Look at that.
Rehydrate it a little bit.
This is a move I just cannot resist doing,
the rehydration move.
Yes. (chuckles)
I have to admit, when he set down the fish head
in front of us, the steamed fish head,
I was a little bit like wow, that's pretty big.
That's a lot of meat on there.
But somehow, it just kinda disappeared on us.
That was so easy.
It went down so easily.
It was so like just refreshing,
even though it being our third fish head in a row.
It just went down, and that was incredibly delicious.
Again, as you can see,
just a completely different style of a fish head.
This was not a curry.
This is a steamed fish head, Chinese style.
And again, I just cannot emphasize
what a joy it is to eat in Malaysia
because of the diversity of flavors, cultures and cuisines
that make up Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur.
This has been a joyous day
of eating fish heads in Kuala Lumpur.
This was not a comparison video.
I had no intention to tell you
which one is the best because they're all so different
and they're all so incredibly good.
But my aim of this video is to just give you a tour
and to check out some of these,
some of the best fish heads that you will find
in Kuala Lumpur and just share them with you.
So I will have all of the information
in the description box below so you can check out.
You can eat at all three places in a row if you would like
or spread them out between days.
Fish heads are truly one of the tastiest sections of a fish.
And that was a wonderful day in Kuala Lumpur.
So I wanna say a huge thank you for watching this video.
Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it.
Leave a comment below.
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Thanks again for watching.
Goodbye from Kuala Lumpur.
See you on the next video.