Supermarkets in Ipoh

Getting groceries is one of those everyday activities that should be so simple but can be radically different depending on the country you are in. It is one of my favourite things to do as I find that visiting supermarkets tells you so much about a country and the people that live there, they condense a lot of what is important for daily life in one place.  Everyone likes to visit the market when they get to their holiday destination as it gives a colourful insight into daily life.  I find the supermarket does the same, albeit in a rather less glamorous and photogenic way and I often stop off at one, even when I am on holiday just to browse.  I can also say that while I love to visit  and get produce from markets wherever possible life is busy and sometimes a supermarket can just be easier, particularly with three children in tow.

Wet Market Section

In 1990s Diyarbakir (Turkey) we went to a variety of stores that reminded me of the type of all purpose ‘feed store’ seen in western movies.  We would stand at the counter and hand over the grocery list.  In Nigeria we would visit 4 supermarkets each trip as what was not available in one was potentially abundant in another (and this information would inevitably be forwarded to all friends leading to a shortage!), the butcher and fishmonger would bring meat directly to us in a rather foul smelling van.  In Venezuela we basked in an abundance of American produce, in Norway there was a shortage of fruit but an abundance of hot dogs and whale meat and in Kazakhstan I could pick up cheap caviar with my bread but had to go to a separate bazaar for good quality if seasonal fruit and vegetables.  The Netherlands (Albert Heijn) and The UK (Waitrose and Lidl) are, in many cases the gold standard for me – produce from around the world, available fresh and at my convenience. 

Beautiful Fruit and Vegetables

Shopping in Sarawak was bizarre as I could buy Waitrose branded products in my local supermarket together with Australian, Pakistani and American imports but for good quality fresh produce we had to go elsewhere. Shopping here in the Peninsula is even easier.  Just about everything is available from the local supermarkets with the exception (as in Sarawak) of good quality meat.  I have explored the meat markets in Ipoh but most of the produce is simply not really tasty.  I have been spoiled in previous postings as meat in Kazakhstan was ok (if you knew where to go) and in the UK we got it direct from source as my Father in Law kept his own herd of cattle.  In Venezuela as well the meat was melt in the mouth beautiful.  I find that meat here is expensive for what you get, I buy the expensive cuts and stretch a small amount by bulking out with extras.

Fresh fish

Other than the meat, however, I can get literally everything under the one roof and the quality is good.  Ipoh is well served for fresh produce, being near the Cameron Highlands we get local temperate produce as well as the inevitable tropical offerings.  I have never seen so many different types of Mangos on offer and I can buy three different types of cucumber and a huge array of tropical greens.  A lot of the fruit is imported from a variety of destinations; China and the US seem to be the most common.  No matter what the origin I always wash and sterilise it before eating, just to make sure. 

Malaysia has a love affair with instant noodles

Rice and noodles are staples here, in fact one of the biggest problems I have is tracking down a 1kg bag (which will last us 2 months or so) as most people buy gigantic sacks.  The array is almost bewildering, Jasmine, Basmati, Thai, Long Grain, Short Grain, Glutinous, Boil in the Bag, Red Rice, Brown Rice…… the selection for noodles, instant or otherwise is equally extensive.  Being a mixed race country I can get Indian, Chinese and Malay ingredients very easily and pretty much everything that I need to cook western favourites.  Unlike Sarawak, however, there are fewer western convenience foods and mixes available in Ipoh. I suspect that KL, where there is a large expat community, will have more.  It is not, however, a big issue because there is such other variety.  

Rice in huge quantities, it is the main staple

Malaysia has taken to the packet mix like a duck to water.  No need to make your green curry or sambal from scratch, it is all available premade and ready to pop into the pot, just add meat and vegetables.  These are an excellent shortcut; they make tasty meals but cut out the time with the mortar and pestle.  For when I am feeling as though I want to make a bit more of an effort but not too much I have invested in jars of ready-made ginger, galangal, garlic and lemongrass paste.  I am still looking for some turmeric paste – it dyes everything yellow when I make it up myself. 

Ipoh has a large Chinese Community so pork is readily available.

Like meat bread is often inferior in the supermarkets but many have a bakery either in the same building or just next door so it is not a big issue.  Baking stuff is readily available, even self-raising flour although I tend to just add baking powder and keep only plain in the house.  Fresh milk is also more readily available here than it was in Sarawak, because we use very little, however, I tend to buy the long life, shelf stable, cartons.  Baby formula is, like in Sarawak, readily available in a number of brands.  Ready made weaning foods are also on the shelves but there is a limited variety of options.  This is not a big issue for me as I tend to make from fresh in any event or just feed family foods but I do (gasp!) keep some jars for when we are out an about.  The baby is fed up of the two options, a pumpkin based slop and a carrot based slop.  

The supermarkets are always busy, particularly at weekends

Malaysians have a sweet tooth so the chocolate, sweets, flavoured yogurt etc aisles are extensive.  Because of the range of different cultures here there is always some festival or event to celebrate and the shops will have promotions for the festivities.  The main ones are Christmas, Chinese New Year, Ramadan and Eid but even away from these times there is always something going on.

There is always some celebration....

I have a selection of supermarkets to choose from.  The Malay supermarket, Mydin, is round the corner from the children’s school.  I have an hour between collecting my daughter and my son so we often pop in there to collect formula (RM15 cheaper than elsewhere) and top up any extras I need, there are no non Halal products available there.  There is a Giant just round the corner from our home which I also use for the odd corner shop run.  Both have extensive homeware sections so are good places to pick up tea towels, charcoal, Tupperware etc, it has a non halal section but it is limited to alcohol only.

Alcohol is easily available for those who want it.

We have the option to shop at Tesco here, it is significantly more expensive than the other supermarkets and much like in the UK I find the quality of their product fairly inferior for the price paid, their fruit and vegetables often look tired and out of date and many of the dried products on the shelves are close to sell by and stale, I do pop in for English style biscuits (Jaffa Cakes, Ginger Nuts and Chocolate Digestives) from time to time.  My favourite place to shop is Aeon, the fruit and vegetables are always fresh, the seafood is very fresh and high quality and the meat is the best in town.  There is a good wet market in store and I can even buy cut flowers (surprisingly hard to find here).  The non halal section does a good range of pork meats and imported products and a good alcohol selection although the meat is more important to us as we drink alcohol only infrequently. As with all non halal sections we have to purchase the products in section and there will be a non Muslim cashier available to facilitate that. There is also what appears at a glance (I have never really bothered with it in any posting) a good organic section and they have the best cheese selection in Ipoh, I can even buy hummus, easy enough but time consuming to make fresh so I prefer to cheat.

Even fresh flowers are available

All in all, outside of Europe, possibly the least challenging posting I have lived in for stocking up the larder.  


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Shopping in Kazakh Bazaars

A little earlier I wrote a post about shopping in Kazakh supermarkets.  We can get most of the items we want from those supermarkets but I tend to find that certain things are better bought from the bazaars.  

When we first arrived I was surprised to find that the quality of fruit and vegetable in the supermarkets is fairly low and that the prices are expensive.  I asked our housekeeper where she did her shopping and she directed me to go to the bazaars. 

There are a few to choose from, the best are the Centralni (which is on the way out of town not in the Centre as one would expect) although that suffered a fire recently, Eusasia which is more like a mall with a lot of small independent shops and Artyum, a cross between a bazaar and a shopping mall, which is my favorite place to go.  Artyum is not anything like a bazaar of one’s imagination.  It holds no echoes of the Moroccan Souks, the Istanbul Grand Bazaar or even the bazaars we used to visit in Diyarbakir.  It is a large, square, concrete edifice close to the centre of the old town.  The first time I went there I prepared for disappointment but this changed as soon as we walked inside. 

Ground floor of Artyum Bazaar

The ground floor has three corridors of small shops which are lined with food stalls.  There is a meat market with the meat displayed underneath pictures of the animal of origin.  I do not buy meat there, however, as I am never certain how long it has been since butchering and it does not always look or smell fresh.  The small shops sell all sorts of dried and packaged goods, from cereal to instant noodles, juice to sweets.  The real benefit to shopping here, however, lies in the stalls that line the rows outside the shops.  These sell fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the year.  While the supermarkets seem to carry old, poor quality specimens the stalls always have a good selection of high quality produce.  The stall holders are very friendly and will usually allow you to choose your own so you can be sure of avoiding the rotten pieces.  They go to a lot of trouble to display their wares in interesting patterns and spray them regularly with water to keep them looking fresh and tasty. 

Friendly stall holders display their wares

It always surprises me when some expatriates complain about the poor variety of fresh ‘greens’ in the winter months as, other than salad I have never found them difficult to buy. Herbs can be difficult to source and expensive to buy in winter but I have followed the suggestion of my housekeeper and buy them at the end of summer when they are plentiful and cheap and then store them in the freezer. Artyum is a good place to practice Russian, the stall holders will happily give you the proper Russian or Kazakh name for any of the vegetables if you ask.  One stall holder I go to regularly even tested me each visit to see if I could remember what she had taught me the last time.

The stalls are beautifully set out

Interspersed between the stalls selling fresh produce you can find stalls with dried fruit, spices and pulses.  I usually pick up some dried chickpeas to make hummus and some dried fruit for a family snack.  Kazakhstan has brought the concept of dried fruit to a whole new level.  Of course we can buy the usual raisins and sultanas, dried apple and apricots but we can also buy dried pineapple, peach and kiwi. 

As you reach the back of Artyum there is a ‘gardening center  of sorts.  Plants from the florists are expensive but some really beautiful plants can be bought here for about 1/3 of the price.  A lot of the gardening stalls sell seeds and I think I will buy some kitchen herbs and possibly some cut and come again salad to sow next winter.

Artyum's Garden Centre

The second floor (Kazakhstan follows the American rather than the European floor numbering tradition) has a range of shops selling homeware, small pets and pet supplies and shoes, there is also a wide range of shops that sell Kazakh souvenirs.  These range from decorative (!) plates and rather tasteless statues of horses and the Baiterek to the distinctive Kazakh felt work.  We bought our vacuum cleaner here and the place is such a warren that every visit turns up something new.  I was over the moon on my last visit to find a shop selling hide chews for dogs.  Our poor girl has been putting up with carrots instead of chews since we arrived here.  She is very fond of carrots which do just as good a job of cleaning her teeth but I know she does not find them as satisfying.

Souvenirs of Kazakhstan

The third floor is full of fashion shops selling clothes for men, women and children.  You can get evening gowns, lingerie, suits and sports ware.  In the winter it is possible to buy Shubas (fur coats) for half or even one third the price of the shops in the major malls and some of the shops sell the beautiful fur hats that most women here wear over the winter.  The debate on fur rages heavily in Europe and America but here in Kazakhstan it is seen as the most practical material to cope with the cold as it is both warm and windproof.

The upper floors carry a range of furniture, craft shops and beauty salons.  The furniture in Artyum is mostly Chinese imports and does not always appeal to western tastes.  Furniture is expensive here in Astana and the bazaars are about the only place to get any at prices I would consider approaching reasonable. 

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Shopping in Kazakh Supermarkets

Earlier this week I was speaking with a new arrival here in Astana.  He was telling me how confusing he found the supermarkets and how long it had taken him to get everything he wanted.  This started me thinking about how I get around things like shopping when I come to a new posting.

I find that I get used to whatever is available in my last home and fall into a way of shopping and eating that works well with what is available in the shops there.  My basic shop in the UK is subtly different to one I would do in the Netherlands for example.  Moving to a new country presents a challenge – not everything I want will be available and I have not yet got my head around the cost of living.  Add to that not speaking the language and even naming something can be interesting. 

Kazakhstan threw up a new challenge for me – it is the first time I have lived somewhere with a different alphabet.  For various reasons I did not have time to learn much Russian before I came out so the Cyrillic alphabet was very strange to me.  Adding to the confusion is the fact that there are two languages spoken here – Russian and Kazakh.  Kazakh is written in modified Cyrillic so until you can tell the difference you are not even sure which language you are reading. 

My usual trick when I go somewhere new is to prepare a basic shopping list with translations so I can get at least the staples into the house.  This time we were taken to the supermarket straight after waking up on our first day.  It was a very kind and well meant offer but unfortunately it also meant that I had no time to prepare a list or even to grab a dictionary from the suitcase.  

Supermarkets here are well stocked with everything we could need so  I was just about ok - meat is meat, juice is juice wherever you are in the world.  I was a little apprehensive about buying horsemeat by mistake but it turns out that it is quite distinctive and most meat is labeled with pictures of the relevant animal.

The real confusion started when I came to the dairy section of the supermarket.  Kazakh supermarkets have a bewildering dairy offering.  Most comes in a range of fat percentages - you don't buy semi skimmed milk you buy 2.5% milk.  The milk that comes in cartons tends to be longlife and fairly unpleasant, you can buy it fresh but it comes in bags to decant into a jug rather than in a carton.  In the UK you can buy one type of sour cream - here the supermarkets stock at least 3 different types.  

Sour cream - it comes in more variants than you could possibly imagine.

Milk in comes in bags rather than cartons

I spent a good 5 minutes trying to make head or tail of this confusion but I was not very successful.  My first error was to mistake Kumiss (Кумыс) for Milk (Молоко) just because it comes in milk cartons. Kumiss is a sort of fermented milk/yogurt perfect for making yogurt based doughs but it is an acquired taste and the children were not at all pleased to find it on their cereal. It was a stupid mistake because  Молоко looks so like milk but I was tired and on autopilot.  I have since heard from a number of people that they made the same mistake.    Still this is part of a long tradition of family mistakes - when we moved to Norway my mother misread a label and bought whale meat instead of beef. 

Kefir is not milk - and it is not a pleasant mistake to make

Strangely enough for a long time it was almost impossible to buy natural yogurt.  All the yogurt available came pre-flavoured, fine if you want to eat it, not so good for cooking.  Kumiss is a good substitute but in recent months live culture natural yogurt has been in all the shops.

There are some other strange differences to get used to.  Tomato ketchup and mayonnaise are very popular but it took me some time to find them.  I was looking for jars but here in Kazakhstan it is sold in squeezy pouches, they are actually much easier to use and store and it will be quite a change to go back to using jars when we move.

Mayonnaise

Butter was also a difficult staple to locate - I looked in all the chiller cabinets but finally had to give in and ask for help.  It is stored in the freezer section rather than in the refrigerators.  Another slight annoyance is that it tends to come in 200g blocks instead of 250g.  I never weigh butter - I measure it by eye and it took me a little while to adjust.  Eggs are  found in packs of 10 rather than 12 and are kept in the refrigerators, my housekeeper thinks I am very strange for keeping my eggs out on the counter rather than in the fridge.

It can be difficult to explain how to find items, a few months ago I was back in Europe and my husband called me from the supermaket asking me what the washing liquid looked like.  We had run out but he could not tell what bottles held the washing liquid and what bottles held the fabric softener.  I had managed to work this out when we arrived because I recognised a brand name otherwise it would have been a process of trial and error.  In the end he plumped for a washing powder instead just to be certain he was getting the right  product.

Before I worked out the brand names and labels I made a number of mistakes buying tomato puree instead of passata.  The puree is sold in jars here instead of tubes. This has another long pedigree in our family.  Years ago we bought what we thought was tomato puree from a Nigerian supermarket.  The name 'Tomapep' should have given it away - it was a hot sauce rather than a puree - we all had a bit of a shock when we ate our food that evening.

In the winter it can be difficult to get fresh vegetables, our local supermarket has a particularly limited selection but the bazaar is pretty good even in the depths of the cold.  Herbs are like gold dust and very expensive during the colder months so I freeze them in the autumn and then use them as necessary.  I also keep a pot of windowsill herbs for basil and rocket because I like them very fresh.

My favorite aspect of shopping in Kazakhstan is the wide range of juice available.  In most places we have lived (other than Turkey) the range of juice tends to be limited but here we can enjoy Sea Buckthorn, Rasberry, Cherry, Rosehip, Peach, Apricot and many many others.

Juice comes in lots of flavours

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