Cameron Highlands 2009 – w w w . x e .s . c x

Cameron Highlands: T Cafe @ Tanah Rata

T-Cafe had been raved on the blogosphere as a good and cozy restaurant. T-cafe is located at Tanah Rata, just above Marry Brown restaurant.

Some parts of the cafe has loads of notes and letters from people all around the world thanking the owner for her good food and hospitality.

We were fortunate to be served by the owner. However, we got told off by her for putting our wet umbrellas on a side table. We were directed to put our wet umbrella into a rubbish bin instead.

There were also a few letters recommending T-cafe to the Lonely Planet. I’m not surprised with that as the restaurant had load of letters and awards being paraded.

We ordered chicken chop, lamb chop, scones including strawberry scones and tea.

Chicken and lamb chop came with a pot of gravy served separately. It was ok but would be better if we are given more gravy. Yut Kee’s chicken chop and Steven’s Corner lamb chop are so much better.

However, their strawberry scones were excellent. It was served warm with butter and whipped cream on the side. It was also not too dry.

Tea on the other was just so-so. I wonder what were the past visitors raving about this place. The food and drinks were mediocre. In fact, the Gardenia Butterscotch that we brought along tasted so much better.

If you’ve visited this place and had something good, please let me know so that I can try it the next time.

Cameron Highlands: Strawberry View @ Kea Farm

One of my fondest memories of Cameron Highland is the time when my parents and I were having steamboat at a restaurant in Brinchang. It was a restaurant located in a shophouse. It was during the older days when we didn’t have internet booking. Dad decided to screw booking a hotel and went straight up to Cameron Highlands without an accommodation in place. We eventually found a room upstairs of a shop house. It was just few doors away from our restaurant.

Strawberry View @ Kea Farm was recommended by PY’s friend, who is a local in Cameron Highlands. Although named strawberry view, it has nothing to do with strawberries but maybe you get to see a strawberry farm in the day time.

We got ourselves a pot with chicken broth and tom yam divided equally. Tom yam came in a bowl of paste which we had to mix it up to make the soup. I am not a big fan of tom yam but my friends were crazy over it. They threw all the good stuff into the tomyam section 🙁

I must say the food is not bad. We even get to exchange our unwanted eggs with mushrooms.

But after all those food especially tom yam..all I wanted to do is head to the toilet..

Cameron Highlands: Big Red Strawberry Farm

We stumbled upon this place by chance after having tea at Strawberry Moment.

It’s a farm whereby members of the public are invited to visit it.

Sifat (Butt) shaped strawberry

Sitohbehli with Spora

Mutated Sitohbehli
Other than strawberries, it has also various vegetables and cactus.

Vegetables are sold at a very cheap rate. A friend of mine bought their vegetable in Cameron Highlands and had steamboat at their rented apartment at Cameron Highlands! One of the vendors offered us raw corn. Its unlike our normal corn. It was juicy and sweet!

Clean your shoes here!
Perhaps the most unique bit of this farm is that they have a shop selling everything relating to strawberry. It ranges from food to your air freshners.

Their handwash was strawberry favoured as well.

They even have Doraemon strawberry yogurt! zomggg!!

Cameron Highlands: Boh Tea Plantation @ Sungei Palas

Our first destination in Cameron Highlands was the Boh Tea Plantation @ Sungei Palas.
The Boh Tea plantation was first established in 1929 by a British businessman, J.A. Russell. It survived the war and Boh Tea is now a well known brand for tea.
Our intention to visit the Boh Tea Plantation @ Sungei Palas was to visit the cafe located inside the tea plantation. However, the drive to the plantation wasn’t easy. We had to go through a small lane just enough to fit two cars. There was only one way in and one way out from the plantation and hence cars had to squeeze through the tight lanes. Since its a peak period for Cameron Highlands, many cars were trying to get into the plantation. There were a few times we were stuck for a long time because buses were trying to get out from the plantation. There was also once were we were diverted into another road because the roads were too congested. It resulted in two of our cars (Kiang and Eric’s cars) being diverted out from the plantation. After all the hard work in waiting and squeezing through lanes, they had to return to the hotel. I was on the other hand lucky and managed to get into the plantation.

Blood Bustard!!

Finally! Cafe on top of the hill!

Apparently this dog is one of the fixtures around this place

We had to hike around 200m to get to the cafe

The Cafe..after all the bloody hard work.
We ordered loads of pastries and of course tea. Prices are reasonable, tea served by teapot is around RM3.30 while BOH “Teh Tarik” is around RM2.80.

The scones are just so-so. Perhaps dont bother getting your scones here

Boh Tea Tarik

Old skoool!
Other than the cafe, there’s even a shop, a museum and even a guided tour on Boh tea!

Part of the museum 😀
We left the place around 2pm and we got out from the plantation easily. I was told by Kiang and Eric that they took a long time to get out. What made it worst was that everyone’s handphone didnt have signal except for mine which ran on Celcom. The poor chaps have to settle for lunch at the hotel.

Cameron Highlands: Strawberry Moment

As the name suggests, everything is about strawberry here. This coffee shop consist of two sections, one being the dining area and the other side being a shop selling all sorts of strawberry products.

Most of the stuff here are pastries and desserts. We ordered…

Strawberry Juice! Yummmyy! Reminds me of the Ice Blended Strawberry that I had in Bandung!

Strudels. Not bad

Strawberry Tiramisu. So-so only.

Crepes and Strawberry. Good!

Kena cheated..I thought they will fill up the entire bowl with strawberry. Instead, we got cherry tomatoes, marshmallows and even cucumber!

Chocoberry. Fresh strawberry dipped with chocolate 😀
The shop sells, among others, preserved strawberries, strawberry jam and strawberry chocolate. Each product has a tester on the side. Some tasted great but some tasted weird.

My personal favourite would be their strawberry chocolate! The funny thing is that the tester can only be obtain through request. I think its so good that people keep finishing the tester.
Related Link
Strawberry Moment Website
~ Labyrinth ~: Strawberry Moment

Cameron Highlands: Overview

One of my earliest memories of Cameron Highlands is an image of a huge fly perching on my Dad’s car.

Despite this unpleasant image, I decided to head to Cameron Highlands on 7 March 2009. I had the company of A, Sharon Dilirius, Eric, Jeff, Kiang, Katrina and the Yam sisters. The 9 of us drove in three cars in this 3 hours journey.

Ipoh ala ‘Hollywood’ signboard

Cameron Highlands is a highland region located around 200km from Kuala Lumpur. It is well known for its agriculture and also cool weather which is very popular among tourist. Due to its weather, tea and strawberries, which are rarities in the places under the Equator, are substantially planted here.

Our research on the internet indicated that the fastest way to Cameron Highlands is through the Simpang Pulai toll. The other way namely through Tapah takes a long time notwithstanding the exit to Tapah comes first.

We took the Simpang Pulai way and I must say it was indeed a pleasant drive. The roads weren’t too windy and we were not caught in any traffic congestion. However, there was one part before the road up to Cameron Highland was flooded. Fortunately there was a pile of uneven mud for us to drive through. Eric’s car was too low and ended up scrapping mud from the path.

We booked three room at the Equitorial Hotel. One of our rooms was free due to some membership thingie with Berjaya. The other two rooms i.e. a two bed room apartment came with a good rate through a website. When we arrived, we were informed that the two bed room apartment was not available because its water supply got cut off. In return, we were given two Superior hotel rooms at the same rate as the two bed room apartment!

The meteorologist department forecast that it will be sunny in the morning and rain in the evening on our first day. It was quite accurate. It rained the whole day on the next day as well. I remember Cameron Highlands being cold at night. It didn’t change much, it was still cold at night. In fact, it felt like Autumn!

Ye Olde Smokehouse

Our trip was primarily focus on eating (!!!). A set out an itinerary of the places that we should visit. Many of the places in the itinerary came from blogs. We manage to cover the usual stuff namely strawberries, tea, steamboat, sweet potato balls and sweet corn!
Speaking about strawberries, its a heavily commercialized item in Cameron Highlands. Many shops sells merchandises relating to strawberries. There were pillows, keychains, fridge magnets and umbrellas with a picture of a strawberry or in the shape of a strawberry.

Self plucking Strawberry…keke

All red!

Unfortunately, strawberries doesn’t last long. My strawberries had some white foam growing on it after 3 days.Euw..

It was quite unfortunate that we spent a lot of our time on the roads. Since Monday is a public holiday, many KL-lites came up to Cameron Highlands to clog up the road. But things are much better than last time. The roads now are wider. I remember when I was still a young boy, the road up to Cameron Highland was small and tight. Some parts even had only one lane!

Bloody Bustard…

After eating non stop for a day, we headed home with a full stomach. Eric, Sharon and Jeff continued their journey to Penang and Hatyai for another food fiesta. The rest of us headed home to face reality again. I wish I had more time in Cameron Highlands!

Related Link
joyloh.com » Pahang – Cameron Highlands – Very comprehensive travel guide on Cameron Highlands. Highly recommended!