Spankin' DA Monkey - Dave Avran's blog: FMS - Malaysia's Oldest Bar & Restaurant

"You don't have to swim faster than the shark, just faster than the guy next to you." - Anonymous

Saturday, February 25, 2006

FMS - Malaysia's Oldest Bar & Restaurant

FMS Bar & Restaurant
2 Jalan Sultan Idris Shah.
Ipoh, Perak
tel 05 2540591
open 7 days a week
12:00 noon – 9:30 pm

The Hong Kong Bar in Chulia Street, Penang that burned down in a fire in September 2004 was 85 years old. KL’s famed Coliseum Café is 87 years old. The FMS Bar & Restaurant in Ipoh celebrated its 100th anniversary recently on February 22nd, 2006 with an exclusive party for a limited guest list of 50 people. Yes, I was one of the privileged few to receive a call from the owner.

Founded in 1906 by a Hainanese immigrant, "The F.M.S", an acronym for the Federated Malay States, was the archetypal European miners' and planters' bar, where the starched-shirt colonial types could get real western food and whiskey stengahs back in the day when a big bottle of Anchor Beer was sold at 65 sen. It was also popular with senior government servants and the who’s who of Perak. The oldest bar and restaurant in Malaysia was founded in 1906 and it has occupied the present premises since 1923, with a hotel upstairs.

FMS grew as famous for its curry puffs, baked crab, inche kabin and lamb stew as it did for its belly fighting contests amongst the white miners and planters and the raw egg gulping contests where everyone tried to beat resident champion Dara Singh. Every Thursday was ANZACS night, with singing and dancing and trishaw races. Nephew says a few couples met and married through the bar’s activities as well, and some still keep in touch with him.

Today, it is operated by fourth generation proprietor Pang Chee Ein, 72, popularly known as "Nephew" of the late "Uncle" Cheam Yeow Toon, as they are known to regular clientele. A new heritage cafe serving Hainanese food has replaced the hotel above the bar.

There are two levels to this place - the bar and restaurant on the ground floor and the sit down dinner place on the first floor. The first floor serves mainly Chinese dishes. You come here not only to dine on their food but also to lap up a bit of history in the pictures and paraphernalia from Malaya, which all add to the ambience of a bygone colonial era. There are 60's advertisement posters from F&N and the most interesting one is the first set of Cabinet Members in Malaysia with their names written in Jawi. FMS is like a mini museum and it displays a lot of the antique stuff in glass cabinets.

FMS is definitely worth a visit for its ambience and decor. Despite the many items hanging on the wall and stored in the cabinets, you don't feel the clutter. It is not air-conditioned, preferring to retain the old ceiling fans which whirl sluggishly overhead. It doesn’t have piped in music either, and it was quite amusing to see the Emcee using a loudhailer to address the crowd at the anniversary bash.

This hard bitten, cynical, sob-of-a-bitch journalist was swigging Tiger beer and interviewing ageing Orang Puteh with white moustaches who had flown in from various locations across the globe to attend the FMS bash when I came across a poignant love story.

While talking to CB, (not his real initials) he revealed that he had a torrid love affair with a local Chinese girl, ML (again not her real initials – to protect her identity lah) in 1959/1960 and he used to rent the rooms in the hotel above for RM6 a day for their trysts. Her family vehemently objected to the Kwei Loh and they eventually broke up, with both getting married to other partners. He confided to me in a low whisper that he had flown back from Australia in the slim chance that she would attend the party and he could meet her again after 46 years.

“Fat chance” I thought, although I kept my thoughts to myself. I decided to keep an eye on the randy old bugger anyway. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I saw an attractive looking woman of sixty plus with her daughter in tow enter about an hour and a half later. She scanned the room and I saw the sparks fly when her eyes met CB’s eyes. Sheesh! Somebody get me outta this Hindi movie sequence and get me another Tiger beer. CB immediately left his friends in mid-sentence and walked to her in a daze, his face frozen with an ear to ear grin.

The last I saw of them they were huddled at a cozy corner table far away from everyone else, holding hands and animatedly chatting away in their own world. The daughter, in her 30’s, and obviously the mother’s alibi, was seated alone drinking a whisky water.

So there you have it – a reunion love story within an anniversary story very much in keeping with life’s mysterious ways. Who knew?

Posted by: Dave Avran / 3:18 PM

Comments:

Wow. They must be in their 60s and he must be MADly in love.
- rocky
Sent via BlackBerry from Maxis

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:32 AM

Hi Dave. Thank you for a wonderful story on FMS 100 b/day party. Nephew showed it to TV Smith and I when we were there yesterday. I wish I could have been there to celebrate too. What a wonderful place it is the FMS.

# posted by