Ramadan Bazaar 2010 @ Bandar Tun Hussein Onn, Cheras

The Ramadan Bazaar is a yearly food market set up in various locations (ie housing areas) offering buka puasa (breaking of fast) fare. It is only during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan that you will find these Ramadan bazaars. There is a huge array of food to choose from, such as traditional Malay delicacies, popular local drinks, plus a few Western delicacies such as pizza.

We visited the Ramadan Bazaar at Bandar Tun Hussein Onn, Cheras. Although the bazaar was not very big, the variety of food offered was pretty good.

Since it was our first visit to this bazaar, we did not know which stall was good or popular. Commonly, to tell if a particular stall is good, one just has to look at the queue of customers outside the stall. However, as we arrived rather early, customers were few so we relied on our eyes, nose and instinct and randomly picked items which we felt looked and smelt good.

A common sight in Ramadan bazaars are colourful array of drinks, with flavours such as corn, cendol, sirap, mata kucing, and bandung cincau.

The Unc, being the most experienced bazaar-goer amongst us suggested we got a drink before we started our food hunt; this proved to be a brilliant suggestion as it helped keep us cool in the sweltering heat. We had a mata kucing (longan) drink for RM2.

And just before we left the bazaar, a refreshing cendol drink, a steal at RM1 per cup.


We also bought a big pack of air tebu (sugarcane drink )(RM5) to go with our meal. It's been a long time since I've had one of these...





At the bazaar, we watched as this man skillfully made the murtabak (RM2.50), scooping ladleful of filling (made of minced chicken/beef, onions and eggs) onto the flattened dough on a hot plate. They claim that they sell about 350 portions a day!

The filling in the murtabak was very flavoursome and tasty.

We looked high and low for some ayam percik (spicy barbequed chicken) which is a popular dish in Ramadan bazaars. Unfortunately, the only thing we could find at this bazaar was either the ayam golek (roast chicken) or ayam madu (honey barbequed chicken). We opted for the ayam madu (RM16 for a whole bird), and we were not disappointed with our choice as the meat was succulent.

I was excited when we spotted this cucur udang (deep fried prawn fritters) stall. Since I do not like tofu, we did not go for the set, instead we just ordered 2 pieces of cucur udang to go (RM1 each).

The cucur udang was nice and crispy, and lovely when dipped in the sweet chilli sauce.

There were many stalls offering nasi campur (mixed rice) with a whole assortment of dishes, but we only tried the rendang daging (beef rendang).

The beef rendang (RM3) was possibly one of the best tasting dish from this bazaar. The meat was tender and well flavoured. Unfortunately, we could not find any lemang (traditional Malay bamboo rice) to go with the beef or it would have been perfect.

Since Hubby likes his seafood, we got a Pari Bakar (grilled stingray wrapped in banana leaf) and Sotong Bakar (grilled squid), both marinated in a spicy and aromatic sauce. We paid RM14 for both these items. Other ikan bakar offered here are cencaru, tilapia and kembung.

The lime/chilli dip was pretty spicy, but was a great dipping sauce for both the squid and fish.

We loved the satay from this bazaar, the meat was lean and nicely marinated. We got 2o sticks of beef and chicken satays (RM0.50 each). The accompanying peanut dipping sauce was good.

The only miss we had from this bazaar was the popiah (spring roll). Both the popiah goreng (deep fried) and basah (moist) were dry and tasteless. RM0.60 each.

Last but not least, my favorite stall of all was the one selling all the lovely kuih muih (traditional Malay cakes), 5 pieces for RM2. This stall was also selling asam laksa (RM3 each).

The colourful kuih muih

All my favorite kuihs - seri muka, kuih koci, onde-onde, karipap, kuih tepung pelita, and kuih ketayap.

The assam laksa was pretty awesome - appetizing sourish soup with plentiful of flaky fish.

Most stalls operate from 4pm to 8pm.

Location: Ramadan Bazaar, Bandar Tun Hussein Onn, Town Park 1 Bandar Tun Hussein Onn, 43200 Cheras, Selangor Darul Ehsan. (carpark beside Carrefour Bandar Tun Hussein Onn)