Ikan Bilis - specialty of Pulau Pangkor
Pulau Pangkor is known in
Malaysia as the number 1 place to get ikan bilis. The question of course
is, what is ikan bilis? The translation into English is "anchovies".
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On the west coast of Pangkor you find the beaches,
restaurants and hotels, this is the tourist part of the island. The
east coast, where you arrive when you take the ferry, is what
you could call "the industrial area".
Industrial is quite a rather big word since the industry
is based on fishing. This part of Pangkor is not as much visited by
tourists as it deserves. For example, it's great to visit Kheng Hai
Chuan Fishery. You may even try to get a ride on one of their
fishing boats (on your own risk of course).
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The old signboard of Kheng Hai Chuan Fishery in Pangkor town,
the bird nests are completely attached to the board. |
And the new signboard, Mr. Beh told me he hopes the
birds will again building a nest on it. |
Pangkor, since many years is famous for it's dried fish. The
cotters sail out once or twice a day to catch fish. Depending
on the license they fish near or further away from Pangkor.
Some fishing boats have licenses to sail all the way to the
borders of Indonesia.
Catch and processing
This is how Mr. and Mrs. Beh of Kheng Hai Chuan Fishery described
the catching and processing of ikan bilis. Ships sail out in pairs. The
first boat is doing the actual fishing. Once the nets are in, the fish
is directly moved to the second boat. Much of the processing is already
done on board. At the second boat the fish is roughly sorted. At the
boat the fish will be boiled. There are no additional chemical
used, not even salt!
When the boats return to Pangkor Island, the fish has to be
further sorted and dried. The drying is done in the open air. But if it
is not possible, drying can be done indoors. In general the fish is left
to dry for a few hours.
Sorting goes first on size. Another criteria is the color
of the fish. In principle the rule is simple, the fairer the fish, the better.
Fairer colored fish means also that the bone structure has not yet developed
and therefore is of better quality.
Another way to check the quality of the ikan bilis is by
examining the color of the eyes. The best quality ikan bilis will
have bright blue colored eyes.
Ikan bilis is now ready for selling. This goes directly in
the shop. Mr. and Mrs. Beh do selling themselves if they're in. I
have to admit, the shop looks a bit lousy, even the name board above
the shop looks run down. This doesn't mean the quality of the sold
fish is also rundown, on the contrary.
Ikan Bilis drying in the sun
The board can not be changed, since for over 40
years a birds nest is attached to the board. It can be seen as a
sort of trademark for the quality of Kheng Hai Chuan Fishery company
being over 40 years in business in Pangkor.
Most of the fish however is sold elsewhere. The Kheng
Hai Chuan Fishery company sells to anyone who wants to buy.
Now, the next thing is, what are you going to buy and why!
Kheng Hai Chuan Fishery has all quality fish they catch for sale. As said, some
of the fish is sold in the shop which is located in the middle of Pangkor Town.
While you check the fish in big bags stalled out in
the font, you may want to have a look in the back of the shop where
workers sorting the fish. Almost all the sorting is done by hand.
Piles of Ikan bilis or anchovies
Of course I tried the fish myself. There is a distinct
difference between the fish the company catches themselves and the
imported fish. And yes, they sell imported fish from Thailand too.
The question I had was.... why??? Why sell imported fish
while you have your own fish right out of the sea? Mrs. Beh explained it
very simple: imported fish is cheaper but treated with chemicals and thus
of lesser quality. And since there's market for this fish too, it's sold.
Sorting of the fish partly is done in the shop itself. This
picture was taken before the fire in May 2007 that burned
down the original shop
It is easy to check the difference between local and foreign
fish. The foreign fish has a thin layer of white powder on the skin. You
can taste it too. Foreign fish more salty and drier then the local produced fish.
The Kheng Hai Chuan Fishery sells fish that has
no addition of any chemicals, not even salt. In other words, the
ikan bilis you buy from Kheng Hai Chuan Fishery is 100% natural.
And yes, it's slightly more expensive.
Ikan Bilis Dishes
Ikan Bilis is much used in Malaysia in
Nasi Lemak. There are more possibilities to used Ikan Bilis. In Italy
anchovies is used in pizzas. When you get a pizza here in Malaysia, you
can have some with the ikan bilis and sambal ikan bilis.
Where to buy?
The Kheng Hai Chuan Fishery is located in the
main street of Pangkor Town:
24 & 26 Jalan Besar
32300 Pangkor Town
Pulau Pangkor
Perak Malaysia
Tel. #6 05 6851162 or 019 - 578 2268
Fax #6 05 6851244
The Fire of May 2007
In May 2007, a huge fire razed through Pangkor Town,
demolishing in total 17 shoplots including the one Kheng Hai Chuan
Fishery shop of the family Beh.
The shop continued to be open during the building of
the new shops. At the door of the original shop, the only door which
survived the fire, is a sign where the temporary shop is located. It's
in the alley next to the original shop. Mr. and Mrs. Beh continue,
of course, to deliver excellent ikan bilis to an even more excellent price.
Am I joking? Well, a family I recently brought to
the shop where amazed by the prices and bought for a few hundred
ringit all kinds of dried fish.
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What's left of the Ikan Bilis shop of the Beh family ... |
... and the new shop |
More pictures what happened after the May 2007 fire in
Pangkor town you will find
here.
It may be clear I do hope the shops will be open by the end of the year 2008.
The rebuilding of the shops has been started in November 2007 and officially the
whole process will take between 12 and 14 months.
August 2009 - The new shop is open!
The new shop celebrates the shop warming party with many officials. It is
a big party, celebrated in the Pangkor Town main street which for the
occasion is not assessable.
I arrive around 4.30pm when a group Chinese drummers give a great show
and a bit later the food was served
After the show there's plenty of food for the invited guests.
More about the opening of the Kheng Hai Chuan
fishery shop in Pangkor Town
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