{"id":8133,"date":"2014-07-16T16:13:31","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T08:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mytwogirls.net\/?p=8133"},"modified":"2014-07-16T16:13:31","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T08:13:31","slug":"east-coast-part-3-kota-bharu-siti-khadijah-central-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mytwogirls.net\/?p=8133","title":{"rendered":"East Coast Part 3 \u2013 Kota Bharu, Siti Khadijah Central Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continues from here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2665Jun 5th Thursday\u2665<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

After having breakfast at the hotel (which was scrumptious and part of the room rate), we headed to Siti Khadijah Central Market. Named after Prophet Muhammad’s entrepreneurial wife, it’s a name fit for this market which is mostly run by women.<\/p>\n

This has to be the highlight of anybody’s trip to Kota Bharu. We like the place so much, we went there every day for the 3 days duration we were there!<\/p>\n

This huge market has a tremendous variety of things being sold, from the regular produce you get from any wet market, vegetables, poultry, fish and fruits, to souvenirs for tourists, i.e. batik, keropok, serunding, copper ware etc. <\/p>\n

First glance, it looked like any other wet market in Malaysia.
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Until we moved to the centre of the market. The octagonal central hall of the market is probably the most visually attractive part of the market, it has vendors sitting on raised platforms surrounded with their enticing goods, i.e. colourful vegetables, pickled, sauces etc.<\/p>\n

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We were actually quite shock to see turtle eggs being sold by 2 or 3 vendors openly. I thought these were banned?
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There are not that expensive considering these are from endangered sea turtles. The only consolation is during the 3 days we were there, we didn’t see anybody actually buying these eggs.
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The central hall is best view from floors above, the glass roof ensures the whole place is bathed in enough light to show off the beautiful colours of the produce sold.
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On the second floor, we found mainly dry grocers selling a variety of things. What attracted us was the wide array of salted fish available.
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\nWe went to one of the bigger stalls and asked for the best salted fish. The owner warned me it was very expensive, and asked me how many I would like to have. I gingerly (worried about the price) asked for 3 (they looked like these on the photo but lighter in colour), and waited for him to weigh and inform me of the price. Phew, they were only RM6 for 3!
\n(And by the way, they were delicious I regret not buying more!)
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I love to see how spices and curry powder were sold in big bags by the weight, not pre-packed like how we get them in KL.
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Serunding (dried meat floss) and keropok are being sold by a lot of the stalls here. I bought some back as well, not really that fantastic although they are cheaper than KL.
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The 2nd flour is where all the batik sellers are. Lots of clothing, shoes, accessories can be found too on that floor. Zara got herself a fake Hello Kitty bag which was quite good quality.<\/p>\n

Back to the ground floor, a section of the market is given over to ready to eat food. There’s wrapped tapai being sold.
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Different kind of kueh-mueh (Malaysian cakes), some not seen before in KL. Most of them were not covered, and we didn’t dare to try them. However, we did buy a pack of Kuih Gomok<\/a> (a round cake made with coconut and glutinous rice flour) and Kuih Ladu<\/a> (pepper cake) each to try. Kuih Gomok is nice, but I can’t say the same for Kuih Ladu.
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Not sure what this seed is, and a few stalls were selling this. We tried some and they tasted like lotus seeds.
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Outside of the market, we saw this fish satay being sold. It’s 20sen per stick! We tried some. It’s not really fish pieces, but more like some fish flavored dough pieces. Still, it’s a cheap snack to munch on.
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Not far from Siti Khadijah Central Market is China Town.
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Most of the shops here have jawi written on their sign boards.
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For lunch we went to Restaurant Nasi Ulam Cikgu<\/a><\/strong> at the Kampung Kraf Tangan<\/em>. Food display wasn’t the most appetising looking (hence no photo), but taste wise it’s ok, lots of greens, ulam to choose from.<\/p>\n

The rest of the day, we spent lazing in the hotel. Girls watched TV, while I went for a massage. <\/p>\n

In the night, we went to try out Yati Ayam Percik<\/a><\/strong> (847, Jln Long Yunus, 15200 Kota Bharu<\/em>). A big big disappointment. <\/p>\n

We should have known when we stepped into the restaurant, with greasy floor and flies buzzing around. When the chicken (ayam percik) pieces were served, the girls asked if it was chicken covered in vomit, so unappetizing looking, and the chicken which was supposed to be barbecued was cold, cooked, probably many hours earlier. Even my neighbourhood Malay restaurants make better ayam percik than Yati. The vegetable that came in a clump with the rice was horrible as well. <\/p>\n

We rarely walk out on a restaurant but this time we did, with our food barely touched. We thought we’ll only do justice to ourselves if we went to another place for dinner since we only have 3 nights in Kelantan.<\/p>\n

Off we went to Kedai Kopi White House<\/strong> (1329-L, Jalan Sultanah Zainab, 15000 Kota Bharu.<\/em>). Chinese owned, we understand that the owner’s grandfather used to be the Sultan’s chef, therefore their shop is so strategically located between the Muhammadi State Mosque and the Kelantan Sultan’s palace <\/p>\n

This small place is constantly full, we waited a while before we got a table. Coffee, tea, toasts were great, and even the packed nasi tumpang was quite nice.
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