Hameed Restaurant, Central Market: The Epicenter of the Kuala Lumpur Underground Scene is Dead

Joe Kidd says:

We did everything there. It was home away from home. We fell in love there. Fall out of love too. Made tonnes of lifelong friends and also fought, slapped, kicked and spat. We also met our own selves there. And lost our innocence. Restoran Yussoof AKA Restoran Hameed, that where we would go, day in, day out, for years and years; just because we can be 100% sure that our friends will be there.

Indeed I stopped going there regularly for years. Maybe from 1997/98, but everytime I meet friends who hang there my question would be, “How’s Central Market?”. And I would always stop over if I found myself in the area. Recently I’d go there often to pick up Maximum Rock’n’Roll from Rudy at his stall, and buy tobacco at that small shop under the stairs.

My band wrote a tribute to the place way back in 1995. Here it is:

PAYDAY (ode to CM ’88-’95)

end of month has come
scratched my sign on the line
get in queue and cashed my money
bought a pack and two buns
wonder where my friends are right now
much too early for them
number 33’s on the run
blowing smoke all around

took a ride to chow kit road
browsed for hours at the bundle stalls
while the indons they looked so bored
on the lookout for the plainclothed cops

payday now

it’s getting late
pregnant skies on the way
rode a 12, went straight to CM
gotta see all my friends
gonna pay the ones that i owed
share a smoke and a joke
buy a round of hot teh tarik
just lepak there till late

central market, hey! here i come
no better place to hang around
the only scene where i belong
nothing beats the underground

=====================

cheers to each and everyone who were there.

Joe Kidd says:

ekspres rakyat ‚Äì “mana tak nya‚Ķbila masuk hamid (dan lain2 tempat juga!) tu je, dah kena jeling2..kena usha2..atas bawah..mana ada budak nak port kat situ! cuba buat style org kampung skit‚Ķpergi ler tegur2, tanya2, sembang2‚Ķtak kira ler budak kecik ke bapak budak‚Ķnampak ler mesra‚Ķbaru ada budak nak lepak sana balik”

oi! bas ekspress! lari tajuk la bro! ni bukan pasal bebudak tak nak lepak. tempat tu tutup! aiyo! satu lagi pasal jeling, tengok atas bawah tu, kalau hang nak jadi halimunan, invisible man, XXXray, apa ka, tak yah la pi jalan-jalan. Duk rumah. awak ingat everyone of us tak pernah kena jeling, kena tengok atas-bawah? Everybody has to start somewhere la. Everyone kena “checked-out”, itu lumrah berkenalan. You were also checking them out! Yang menghalang hang to know these people better is your pride. Tak pun “low-self esteem”. kalau tak you would be saying hello to everybody, opened yorself up so people can open themselves up in return and get to know you. That’s how you make friends. aiyo!

syukree ‚Äì “masih ingat earth mankind? masih ingat dulu bebudak cm lepak bincang ‚Äònak boikot saper hari ini‚Äô? bebudak cm lepak2 mengumpat org”

and then mung pulok Syukree, nok ngu’pat mana-mana pun buleh. Duk depan komputer sorang-sorang pun buleh. kat masjid pun people duduk ngu’pat jugok! so mung ingat budok-budok CM suma malaikat? Pasal boikot-memboikot itu sudah jadi lumrah perangai budok-budok yang tak apathetic. Mung jugok duduk bercerita pasal “direct action”. Boikot memboikot tu direct action la! aiyo!

sheesh, i’m feeling like a CM apologist pulak! no. the truth is bukan semua kat CM tu indah. Ada yang hodoh yang amat. Tapi itu memang lumrah. kalau ada tempat yang everything indah, aku dah lama pindah kesana. Yang penting, semua yang baik, semua yang buruk dan semua yang diantara keduannya adalah “package” yang ada, dan package tu aku terima dan aku rai kan, dan akan rai kan sampai bila-bila. So there.