In Malaysia, the golden word of the Malaysian society is 'makan', which means 'eat' in Malay. Indeed, food is Malaysia's favourite, if not national pastime. This is due to the wide and diverse variety of cuisines available, a reflection of the country's multicultural society. This national love of food makes it Malaysia's most powerful uniting factor, which is why despite the recent race politics rocking the country the Malay will still unhesitatingly enjoy roti canai, the Indian his steaming hot plate of char kuay teow and the Chinese ordering nasi lemak without thinking twice.

Malaysia's cuisine does not only consists of Malay, Chinese, Indian and the lesser-known Dayak, but Nyonya food as well. Nyonya food is a fusion of Chinese and Malay recipes and styles of cooking as the community itself is a result of intermarriages between the Chinese and Malays in olden times. Local cuisines can be widely found in hawker stalls (sometimes called mamak for those serving Indian food), kopitiams (coffee shops) and restaurants as well; although the more popular places for enjoying local food would be at the former two. In fact, it is not uncommon to see people of varied financial and social status eating next to each other under the din of coffee shop chatter or clouded by sweet-smelling smoke and steam arising from the hawkers' humble woks.

Of course, as Malaysia moves alongside other nations of this world, foreign cuisine makes its way to the country and into the welcoming stomachs of eager Malaysians. In fact, foreign cuisine is enjoyed as much as local cuisine is and both exist harmoniously on the menu. Examples of common foreign cuisine available in this country are Western and other Asian varieties, such as Japanese, Thai, Middle Eastern and others. Popular franchises such as KFC, McDonald, Burger King, Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks are also easily found and softens the impact of cultural shock. However it is also not uncommon to see these fast-food outlets offering local twists to their menu.

Malaysia has an active food scene, with new eating hang-outs popping up every now and then. This topic aims to introduce Malaysia's inimitable food scene - from what's good to eat, to where as well as various good food blogs - which while eagerly embracing foreign tastes also takes fierce pride in its local gastronomic heritage.



Photo by Garbage Kingdom

I'm interested in Dayak cuisine, especially the traditional ones.

Malay Food

Variety is the spice in Malay food. The traditional culinary style has been greatly influenced by the long-ago traders from neighboring countries, such as Indonesia, India, the Middle East, and China. Malay food is often described as spicy and flavorful as it utilizes a melting pot of spices and herbs.

Malay cooking incorporates ingredients such as lemon grass, pandan (screwpine) leaves, and kaffir lime leaves. Fresh herbs, such as daun kemangi (a type of basil), daun kesum (polygonum or laksa leaf), nutmeg, kunyit (turmeric) and bunga kantan (wild ginger buds) are often used. Traditional spices such as cumin and coriander are used in conjunction with Indian and Chinese spices such as pepper, cardamom, star anise and fenugreek. Seasonings play an important role in Malay cooking as they often enhance the food taste and flavors. Many of the seasonings are not dried spices but are fresh ingredients such as fresh turmeric, galangal, fresh chili paste, onions, and garlic. A combination of fresh seasonings and dried spices are normally pounded together to make a fine paste and cooked in oil. Fresh coconut milk is often added.

Rice is the staple diet in any Malay meal. It is often served for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper too. Most meals are eaten by using your fingers, and eating utensils are kept to a minimum. All dishes are served at the same time, accompanied by a refreshing drink. Fish is popular in Malay cooking, as with other seafood such as shrimps and cuttlefish. Beef and mutton are very popular choices but never pork as it is against their religious beliefs to eat pork. The other popular white meat is chicken. - MariMari.com

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Nasi Lemak
Nasi lemak basically means 'rice in cream', as the rice is first soaked in coconut cream and then steamed. This gives the rice its distinctive light, creamy flavour. Sometimes pandan (screwpine) leaves will be added as the rice steams to give it some fragrance.



Nasi lemak usually comes with accompaniments such as a slice or two of hard-boiled egg, sambal ikan bilis (spicy anchovy condiment), cucumbers slices and salted fish. It is traditionally served on banana leaf or oil-absorbing brown paper, but nowadays you can find it in a polysterene lunchbox or simply wrapped in plastic. You may also have it served on a plate.



An example of how nasi lemak is traditionally wrapped.

Photos taken from rasamalaysia.com and flickr.



Nasi Dagang
Means 'trader's rice' in Malay. Also known as Nasi Dagae in the Kelantanese dialect. It is a popular dish of the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, especially in Kelantan and Terengganu. Consists of reddish-brown rice cooked in coconut milk and accompaniments like kerisik (toasted grated coconut), acar (pickled vegetables, pronounced 'achar'), hard-boiled egg and fish curry.



Photo taken from tpcalcake.net.


Nasi Kerabu
Yes, the rice is blue! A concise description from flickr:
This rice dish is a regional specialty from Kelantan and the rice is tinted blue from petals of flowers called bunga telang (clitoria).

The blue rice is then served with a combination of fresh aromatic herbs, or known as ulam, hence the other name for this rice dish - Nasi Ulam. The Ulam here consists of local mint, basil, lemongrass, kaffir lime/ turmeric leaves, bunga kantan (torch ginger flower buds) etc and is served with raw vegetables (bean sprouts, long beans etc), salted egg, kerisik (grated coconut), tumis (pounded chilli paste) and a good serving of ground black pepper.



Photo taken from flickr.


Nasi Paprik (also known as Nasi Goreng Paprik)
While Nasi Paprik is considered part of the Malay cuisine in Malaysia, it is actually Thai in origin. It is also known as Nasi Pad Prik, with Pad Prik being a Thai phrase (I looked up somewhere and it said pad = stir-fried, prik = chilli). It is rice fried in chilli or tomato sauce with a topping of stir-fried chicken and vegetables. This picture features sambal belacan (shrimp paste condiment) in the background.



Photo taken from flickr.



Nasi Goreng Kampung
Means 'Village-Style Fried Rice'. A simple but delicious consisting of rice fried with anchovies, shallots and vegetables. There are several versions, but the fried anchovies and shallots are what makes it a nasi goreng kampung. This dish can also be fried with soy sauce, which would give it a dark colour.



Photo from shiokornot.com.

I drove 30km this evening to eat nasi goreng at this new Malaysian restaurant in Melbourne.
It is called Old Town Kopitiam, and it is located next to the up-market Chi Karaoke Lounge, in Little Bourke Street, the heart of China Town.
Nasi goreng is a dish common to many restaurants, but in this restaurant the dish is anything but "common".
A great find. Highly recommended.

Hey Ralf, thanks a lot for this entry! It just gave me an idea - maybe you could post your finds on Malaysian restaurants/eateries/food in Australia? After all the Malaysian food scene should not just be confined within the soils of Malaysia; Malaysian food can be found in quite a number of countries now. I think featuring places like these can be very helpful for overseas Malaysians or Asian food enthusiasts, I've been reading discussion boards in Facebook and other forums as well and Malaysians overseas are ALWAYS searching for places to get a taste of home. I've read about some places in the US and will feature them soon, but not in Australia.

Having said that, Malaysians overseas like swingdoctor or malaccan (though not very active nowadays), etc can contribute to this place and maybe post their favourite haunts for a Malaysian fix.

Here is the official website of Old Town Kopitiam.
There are more photos of the restaurant and the food, plus address and contact information.
Apparently they are still looking for staff, so students out there might be interested to apply.

Malay Food (cont'd)


Ketupat
Ketupat is basically rice wrapped in woven palm leaf. Uncooked rice is first filled into the woven pouch and then boiled. The grains will then expand and the rice becomes compressed. Usually served during Hari Raya Aidilfitri, a Muslim festival also known as Eid ul-Fitr in other countries. It is eaten with curry or rendang, or served as an accompaniment to satay. To eat the ketupat, simply slice the pouch into half.

Traditional ketupat is usually plain, but nowadays other varieties are made by adding spices, corn, etc.





Photos taken from flickr, here and here.



Kangkung Belacan
One of the popular dishes in Malay cuisine that is also a common household dish due to the simplicity of its nature. Consists of kangkung (water spinach) stir-fried in belacan (shrimp paste). Chilli is commonly added in the wok as well for extra oomph, although one can opt out of it. Kangkung can be quite a challenge to chew due to its stringy (and some say rubbery) characteristic for the uninitiated, but once you get over that this simple dish is a delight to eat.



Photo taken from flickr.


Ayam Percik
Spicy barbequed chicken and easily found in roadside stalls in Kelantan. The chicken is marinated with salt, sugar, chilli powder and turmeric powder. The spice paste on the other hand is made of candlenuts, garlic, dried chillies, red chillies, ginger and shallots. The paste is then fried with tamarind (for the sourness) and lemon grass (for flavour and fragrance), after which water, coconut milk, sugar and salt are added to make a spicy gravy. The chicken is then barbequed over 'a low charcoal fire or under a grill, basting frequently with the gravy, until the chicken is cooked' (norlia.com).



Photo taken from flickr.


Beef Rendang
A dish brought to Malaysia by Minangkabau settlers, it is a popular serving at Malay feasts and festivals. It takes around 3 hours to cook, during which it boils until it is almost dry, moist only with the thick gravy that is left behind. The meat is also tenderised during this period and absorbs the spicy condiments, which makes this dish such a burst of flavours. It is in a nutshell, a spicy beef stew cooked in coconut milk. By the way, I've just had some during my Hari Raya visit yesterday; I regret not eating more because for some reason I felt full quite easily. : (



Photo from rasamalaysia.com.


Serunding
Serunding is basically the dry, floss version of rendang and has a long shelf life. I LOVE serunding. One can munch on it as a snack or eat it with a steaming hot plate of rice.



Photo from flickr.


Ikan Bakar
Fish barbequed/grilled with turmeric, chilli or a spicy sauce.



Photo from flickr.


Keropok Lekor
A specialty of Terengganu and other east coast states of Peninsular Malaysia. A recipe borne out of the largely fishing communities there. It is basically shredded fish and batter deep-fried, and usually eaten as a snack with chilli sauce.



Photo from flickr.

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And thanks for Old Town Kopitiam's website address, Ralf. I wonder if any MYChat members in Australia has been there.

If anybody else has been to that restaurant, or any other favourite eatery, please post about it here.
I was working in the vicinity, so I went to Old Town Kopitiam again today.
Nasi goreng and bubur cha cha. Getting into the Nyonya food.

...

Old Town Kopitiam serve delightful steam herbal chicken whole and fried tofu stuff with minced chicken/fish meat. Yum...Yum have a try, have these a while back.

OK back to ori OP

Pandan Chicken



Nasi Lemuni Hitam (Lemuni Rice)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_TwPZDqd-pOo/Ry3y...0-h/lemuni1.jpg

Bubur Pulut Hitam (Black Glutinous Rice Dessert)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TwPZDqd-pOo/SCXI...-h/DSC_3270.jpg

Ikan Assam Lemak (Fish in Sour Coconut Sauce)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TwPZDqd-pOo/R7L0...-h/DSC_1162.jpg

Beef Rendang Cooked On Charcoal Fire

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TwPZDqd-pOo/SBtB...-h/DSC_2702.jpg

Wow.....I didn't eat dinner so it amplified the effects of those pics.....Awwwwww...

Ooh nice picture Ralf! Darn have not eaten nasi goreng for some time. : (

Nyonya food is goood. It's not too dissimilar from Chinese or Malay food due to its mixed heritage. Keep your fingers crossed, I will feature it in the next few posts!

Lol, they say hunger is the best sauce so come here often!

I have just popped in here to ask for help.

I have a block of Blachan. Tell me in detail, how do I make sambal Blachan, step by step please. I will try to make adaptations with what spices will be available to me here.

Hi Elle, I would like to tell you how I would normally do it, but I guess to be on the safe side I'd give you a recipe from a professional food blog. The only spices you need are chilies and hunger.


Sambal Belacan

4 oz seeded chilies (sliced thinly)
1 tablespoon belacan (shrimp paste)
1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons kalamansi lime juice/lime juice
Salt (optional or to taste)

Method:

Clean chilies with running water, seeded and sliced. Transfer the chilies to a mortar.

Heat up a wok or pan on low heat and “toast” the belacan until aromatic. The texture of the belacan would turn dry and powdery after toasting. Transfer out and add to the chilies and start pounding with the pestle until fine. (Some people like their sambal belacan somewhat coarse so it’s personal preference.)

Transfer out to a bowl, add salt and sugar to taste and add lime juice (or kalamansi lime juice). Blend well. You can keep the sambal in the refrigerator for up to a few days.

Cook’s Notes:

If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can use a mini food processor to grind everything.
If you like extra fiery kick in your sambal, you can add a few bird’s eye chilies.

- Taken from rasamalaysia.com. You may want to click on the link to see some reference pictures.


Kalamansi lime is also known by its alternate spelling, calamansi. It is also known as musk lime. Substitutes for calamansi would be calamondin (closest substitute), but if you do not have that either you may try lemons or mandarin oranges even.

Enjoy your sambal belacan! Just the thought of it makes my mouth water, despite having dinner just a while ago.

Oh you mean belacan like this one ?

I am still not sure what exactly they mean by "dried shrimp extract" ..... perhaps there are other varieties which use more real shrimp rather than "extract".
We need advice from our culinary experts.

Yup, like that! In Sarawak the belacan from Bintulu is considered one of the best, if not the best. Not sure what they mean by dried shrimp 'extract'... probably the wrong choice of word. Belacan is made from real whole shrimps (krills to be exact), that are dried under the sun and fermented.

Crystallised Dream, Now tell me what you would do at home. Is it much different to that in the recipe?

Also, I have no idea what Kalamansi lime is. What is the difference between this and ordinary lime? Can this be achieved by different blends of vinegar and sugar? Can you try to describe the taste of Kalamansi lime? More sour?, bitter?Sweeter? More aromatic? What is it? Do you ever use garlic, or ginger or shallots in a sambal Blachan? Sorry I am a real simpleton on Sambal Blachan. I only know how to enjoy it.

Oh it's not too different really, the ingredients are the same. It's mostly a matter of the ingredient's measurement, I do everything based on instinct and what tastes good.

Are you in the UK at the moment? If so, then I am not sure what the British think of as ordinary lime. Anyway, calamansi lime is really quite sour, but aromatic. Here in Malaysia it is our 'ordinary lime', so I do not really have other variety of limes to compare with.

This is a photo of some calamansi limes. I searched on the internet and another name for it is musk lime. Maybe that would be a more familiar term in the UK; otherwise pay a visit to an Asian grocery store. However like I said, you can substitute calamansi lime with its closest relative the calamondin, or lemons or mandarin oranges. I wouldn't recommend vinegar as a substitute though, a bit too pungent/tangy.

I guess the 'ordinary lime' would have a green flesh, for the calamansi it is yellow-orange.

C.Dream, thank you so much. You have cleared up many of the doubts in my head. Thanks. No the limes we get here are nothing like the Malaysian limes, but will have to do.

No problem, all the best with your sambal!

Chinese Food

The unique appeal of Chinese food is its vast menu. Just as the Chinese will eat anything with their backs facing the sun, the cooks will cook it in every conceivable way. For example, there are countless variations revolving on one simple theme of noodles. Give it a little gravy and some salted anchovies, it’s called ‘Pan Mee’; fry it over a flaming wok with some soy sauce and it becomes ‘Char Keow Teow’; marinate the noodles in rich oil with prawns and it’s called ‘Hokkien Mee’; the list goes on.

While Chinese food is generally mild in taste, the Malaysian Chinese have innovated and produced dishes with a touch of Indian and Malay cooking, creating food that can be equally as spicy. Chopsticks are the preferred method to eat and should be used correctly; not crossed in the centre and used in an ‘X’ motion.

Chicken and pork is extremely popular but exotic meats such as venison, frogs, shark fins, snails and even the occasional lizard are used. Chinese food is probably the most varied in Malaysia and best of all, it’s everywhere – from hawker stalls to ‘kopitiams’ (shop lot restaurants decked with the barest furnishings) and fancy restaurants to the humble Chinese home. - Malaysia-Hotels.net

*CD's note: Chinese food in Malaysia is usually of the South Chinese variety, as this is where the ancestors of most Malaysian Chinese came from.



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Bak Kut Teh
Pork bone tea soup. Consists of meaty pork ribs cooked in a soup infused with herbs and spices such as star anise, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seeds etc for hours. Additional ingredients include offal, mushrooms, pieces of dried tofu, choy sum and others. The dark soup colour is derived from the light and dark soy sauce added during cooking. I would usually add oyster sauce for additional flavour and sweetness and of course, lots of white pepper for a spicy oomph.



Photo from rasamalaysia.com


Bak Chang
A sticky Chinese rice dumpling that is made up of glutinous rice and a dark filling that consists of pork, shiitake mushrooms, chestnuts and for some, salted duck egg (mine usually comes without the egg). The dumpling is then wrapped in leaf.





Photos from flickr, here and here.


Bak Kua
Bak kua is basically a salty-sweet dried meat jerky in the form of flat thin sheets. It is usually made from pork but chicken and beef versions are also available. These thin slices of meat are marinated and then barbecued in high-temperature ovens.



Photo from rasamalaysia.com.


Pau/Bao
Paus or baos are bread-like steamed buns. Fillings vary, including pork, chicken, vegetarian, red bean, and even chicken curry. They are usually sold in a large refrigerator-like machine which is actually a pau steamer. Sometimes there are coloured dots on the pau, these indicate the fillings. I am not sure if there is a universal marking system for these paus though! The pau in this picture is char siew pau (roasted pork steamed bun).



Photo from rasamalaysia.com


Cantonese Style Fried Noodles
Crispy, deep-fried noodles in thick egg gravy. Cooked with prawns, leafy vegetables (usually choy sum or Chinese cabbage) and lean pork.



Photo from mykitchensnippets.com

Let me guess what the label actually trying to convey dried shrimp paste mix fermented shrimp. In can guess this product will taste less fermented with mile odor or none at all.

I love my belacan stink. Heavenly.

elleX0 can you describe the taste of sambal belacan you enjoy. I'm curious cause there are variety of sambal blacan for different dish.

Chinese Food

Young Tau Foo

Famous Ampang You Tau Foo was there last week taste so nice



Pan Mee



Hakka Mee
Taste like kolo mee



PJ Duck Rice
Close within 3 hours of openning




Western Food

German Butcher Plate

Yum...yum heading my way again for October Fest

layersuck, the sambal blachan I dream about is:
It is chilli padi hot, sweet, sour, smells to high heaven or fermented prawns, and a little goes a long way, on Fish, or Beef or Pork or Chicken eaten with rice.

I have always thought that the Block blachan I have bought, is similar to the pictures shown above, were too diluted with bulking materials to give that pungent aroma or fermented shrimps. But I may be wrong. I have once been presented (sent from Singapore) with a couple of jars of ready to use blachan made by Princes Hotel/Restaurant in Singapore but I never saw it again. 1/2 a teaspoon of that stuff on my dinner plate transforms the whole dinner.

Chinese Food (cont'd)

Char Kuay Teow
My FAVOURITE Chinese dish, although I've not eaten it for some time because I'm trying to eat other varieties of hawker food. It's basically rice noodles stir-fried with prawns, eggs, chives and beansprouts with soy sauce that gives it its dark colour. Cockles may be included, although I prefer mine without. I group some ingredients under the weird category and cockles are one of them, lol.



Photo from bionictomato.com


Hainanese Chicken Rice
One of the subjects in Dr Ng Yen Yen's recent controversial 'Malaysian food' remarks. Whatever la, no need to claim these because as the name suggests it is not even exclusively Malaysian. Like what KF Seetoh said, just association is good enough. Anyway, the Hainanese Chicken Rice consists of chicken that has been boiled in pork and chicken bone stock. The rice is oily and is prepared with chicken stock made for this purpose. In Malaysia the dipping is dark soy sauce with slices of chili and maybe garlic as well. Cucumber slices make up the garnish.



Photo from feedmelah.com


Hokkien Mee
There are two types of hokkien mee (mee = noodles), namely the Hokkien Har Mee (Penang) and Hokkien Char Mee (Kuala Lumpur). Har mee is basically prawn noodles with kangkong (water spinach) with a soup base, and is served with sambal. Char mee on the other hand is fried noodles with soy sauce, and unlike the Har mee is dry / no soup. Instead of prawn and water spinach, the Char mee utilises slices of chicken or pork, squid and cabbage. The noodles are also different. Har mee uses egg or rice noodles, whereas char mee uses thick yellow noodles.

Hokkien Har Mee


Hokkien Char Mee


Photos from flickr, here and here

Wantan Mee
Wantan mee takes its name from the dumplings that accompany the noodles, which are usually made of pork or prawns. Like Hokkien mee, Wantan mee has two main variations: oily noodles with dark soy sauce on a plate with slices of roast pork and vegetable + a bowl of wantan soup, or noodles in a bowl of wantan soup, usually without the dark soy sauce treatment. It was very hard to find proper photos of wantan mee in Kuching (which is usually the latter variation), so I've included a snapshot of the wantan mee I took a couple of weeks ago.

'White' Wantan Mee


Dark Wantan Mee with Bowl of Wantan Soup




Lower two photos taken from flickr, here and here


Kolo Mee
This, ladies and gentlemen, is what my city Kuching is famous for. Being the creators of kolo mee we are the only ones who do it best. Okay cut the crap, kolo mee is a noodle dish that originated from Kuching (but is now well available all over Sarawak as well as in parts of Peninsular Malaysia). Nobody really knows what kolo mee means, and so far the most I got was 'Kolo is the sound that can be heard when cooking these noodles in the old days'. The typical kolo mee has springy, curly egg noodles and is served with minced pork, red meat, white vinegar, pork/peanut oil, vegetables and garnished with spring onions (scallion). There are several variations, as shown below.

Typical Kolo Mee


Red Kolo Mee
(the red colouring is from the red char siew (roast pork) sauce)


Red Kolo Mee with Straight Noodles
(the straight noodles are also known as tit mee - a disturbing name, but you can be assured that is not the namesake)


Min Joo Kolo Mee - Kolo Mee Kosong or Plain Kolo Mee
(Min Joo is the name of the shop from where this particular variation of kolo mee comes from. It is manned by a distinctive character - a man whose military-style management of the shop may send shivers down your spine, but be rest assured his noodles are one of the most sought-after in Kuching)


Photos taken from flickr, Facebook here and here, and eatingasia


Kueh Chap
A downright sinful, 100% non-halal dish. Consists of wide, flat rice noodles in dark herbal soup (not unlike bak kut teh) with slices of pork meat, pork innards (intestine, stomach), pork skin, pork ear, tauhu pok (fried beancurd) and sometimes hard-boiled egg. As always, the soup gets its darkness from soy sauce. Kueh chap is sometimes served with chili sauce.

Innards are in my weird food category so I do without them.





Photos from robinng and flickr


Yong Tau Foo
Means 'stuffed beancurd'. The stuffing in question is made of either fish or prawn paste, or minced pork. Yong tau foo has also come to mean various vegetables and fresh produce prepared in this manner. Yong tau foo can either be eaten with soup or with rice.

Yong Tau Foo with Soup


Yong Tau Foo Prepared Two Ways - Steamed and Pan-Fried


Photos from flickr, here and here



Popiah
Hokkien-style spring roll. Stuffings usually consists of stewed vegetables such as turnip and carrots, as well as shredded tofu. Other stalls may include other types of vegetables. May be eaten as is, or with sauce.





Photos from flickr, here and here

I just love kolo mee and hakka mee, wantan mee dull and most of the time lack flavor even my dull looking Kolo Mee taste better. Some stall in fact serve kolo mee with wantan soup and that to me is a perfect combo.

Yea I agree, wantan mee is kinda dull, I still don't understand why I ordered that dish instead of kolo mee. Kolo mee + wantan soup, I should remember that next time. The only time I eat that combo is when my sister orders wantan mee, haha. I prefer my kolo mee red though, for some reason the white kolo mee is less flavourful and drier.

As I was driving the truck during work, I found another Malaysian restaurant in Melbourne.
Rumah Aneka, located at 604 Balcombe Road, Black Rock, near the beach end of the road, next to the clock tower.

Elle, there are many version of belacan. Belacan are not unique to Malaysia, but exist under various name throughout Southeast Asia and Southern China. In Malaysia, i've seen two version Belacan. The Malay version, coarsed texture and light gray in color, often sold in a round cake. then there's Chinese version, smooth texture and dark brown in color, not unlike a chocolate. both have different taste so you might want to make sure which type of belacan you want. The most basic form of Sambal belacan contain Belacan and red Chilli. It's often served with Ulam.

One more popular food in Malaysia is Roti John. don't be deceive by the name, it's not western food, it's totally malaysian in Origin.

whats in that roti john

Originally, it's bread and Egg, panfried. But over the years, more ingredients were added. there are Sardines, ground beef,chicken,lettuce, mayonaise, ketchup, onions and so on.

So it is like the evolution of the cuisine.

There's this burger stall that sells Black Pepper Chicken Burger. The last time I went was in 2006, and it was RM2.00. They seem to be growing and have acquired a shop of their own (exactly the same spot), I should think the burger is more expensive now. The stall's name is Jantayu.

But man, that was the best RM2.00 burger I've ever eaten... or the best under-RM5 burger for that matter. The way the sizzling black pepper sauce flowed over the sides, mingled with chilli sauce...

I hope to go there again soon with my friend, and post some pics after the jump.

Belacan is also popular in Myanmar and Thailand.... We call it Karpee....

I love Chicken Rice Shop....

Popular in the Philippines too, has many names and variants, bagoong alamang is most popular.

This little Malaysian eatery in Melbourne is fast becoming my favourite place for a quick and delicious feed after work.




Hey you have been gone from AF for a long time.
Seems like about a year since you were on AF regularly, but welcome back long-time member.

Thanks dude...

I think you might remember me from some topic about traditional Filipino dances, and how I got in trouble for calling Flipcombatmedic "Flip", but honestly I was just abbreviating his username...... however a few other folks thought I was being rascist. Anyway it is all sorted out now.
So have you got any cool Malaysian restaurants in your area ?

I need a sponsor... too many food, hard to choose.

Ani SUp Utara











Variety of Northern Malaysian style soups can be enjoyed here... The nearest Ani Sup Utara branches in my area is in Bangi and in Diplomatic Presint in P14, there is also one in Damansara... I have a nice time digging in my soup...

Kayu Nasi Kandar

If you're a fan of Indian style cuisine, why not try Kayu Nasi Kandar... Nasi kandar was originally from Penang introduced by Indian Muslim...

mmmmmmmm I want to eat it all

Malaccan Portuguese Cuisine

Fiery Devil's Curry



Papa Joe's Pub

It's in Portuguese Settlement of Ujong Pasir...



De Lisbon Restaurant



They are also popular with Pasu Kaemadu (baked fish), and Garing-garing Fretu (fried whitebait with sliced shallots)...

Ikan Bakar Kuala Perlis (Kuala Perlis Grilled Fish)





A simple set of grilled fish with "air asam" (dipping sauce) and curry...



Dipped Fried Squid



Everything served in the restaurants there are fresh from Kuala Perlis Jetty...............



Kuala Perlis Dining Square

I know you've been around here longtime but I have not read posts about you getting into trouble with Flipcombatmedic, anyway, we Filipinos usually do not take offense being called Flips, unless you use condescending tone...

No we dont have Malay restaurants here in my place in the central plains of Luzon, , maybe in Manila, but I have not heard of any...we have Javanese, Thai and Viet restaurants though. Maybe the reason why we dont have Malay Restaurants is because we cook almost the same foods as Malays daily. Ours are just less spicy and of course we eat pork.

I didn't get into trouble "with" Flipcombatmedic, he understood, but someone else thought I was having a go at the Filipino people. No worries.
No Malaysian restaurants in central Luzon ? Well after seeing those pix from Sonofgunongjerai I wanna head on down to Papa Joe's Pub.
But I can't afford the taxi fare, so I'll just go out and buy some fish fillets and cook something Malaysian style at home.

Darn, there were some of layersuck's pics I failed to see earlier and then there are sonofgunung's pics... Sonof, did you have to post a closeup picture of the Devil's Curry?

Anyway I haven't got to eat the Jantayu Black Pepper burger I talked about, but I did eat Mamak Mee during lunch on Friday between classes. I went to this place called Heritage Cafe which is located near my college. The Mamak mee the day before was delicious, on Friday it was still tasty but a tad too salty. They're capable of making good food but the quality isn't consistent, sadly. The reason I keep going there is because of the peaceful ambience and free wifi - my college's wifi is really crappy...




In the background is iced Milo (if you don't know what Milo is, it's like some chocolate, malt + milk beverage) and a bowl of soup, which basically consists of a plain slightly salty soup flavoured with deep-fried shallots and spring onions and an addition of beansprouts. Without the beansprouts it would be your typical sup kosong (plain soup), a usual accompaniment to dry rice or noodle dishes.




This Mamak Mee (Indian Muslim-style fried noodles) consists of yellow noodles tossed around in dark soy sauce, beansprouts and kai lan for the vegetable department and fried eggs, fishballs and sausages and really good prawns make up the meat components. It is then stirred around in curry-like gravy and chilli sauce. This noodle dish is a marriage of Indian and Chinese influence (and I guess with the sausage it adds a Western edge). Mine is not the mamak mee though, varieties abound wherever you go.