Banana Leaf Rice at Nirwana Maju in Bangsar
Posted by: Kwokmun on: January 27, 2012
Indian food has been a staple of the Malaysian food repertoire for a very long time. As the Malay archipelago is famed for its spices, Indian food fits right into the culture. Like the Malays, Indians use many of the same spices; cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon et cetera but it’s the combination of spices that they use that make their food so distinct and flavourful. It’s so popular that we adopted many of their dishes as something that is distinctively Malaysian, for example, nasi briyani and kurma.
Indian Muslims introduced mamak stalls (or simply, mamak) to Malaysians as a localized version of Indian fare to the public. The locals love it and it’s a go-to place for many people to hang out, enjoy cheap food, and the company of their friends over a cup of drink. What’s also very popular are Southern Indian style banana leaf rice restaurants. As the name implies, rice, vegetables, curries and meat are served on a banana leaf and patrons are traditionally supposed to eat with their hands. People who are not comfortable with that concept may use forks and spoons but what’s the fun, right?
I met my friend at Nirwana Maju in Bangsar, grabbed a seat, and ordered our meat and seafood to go with the fragrant jasmine rice. After 10 minutes, the waiter laid fresh banana leaves on the table and put some rice in the middle. Our meal automatically came with a side of deep fried bitter gourd, spiced long beans, and cucumber marinated in milk. Then they served us some fried fish, chicken, and spicy squid rings. We also had some papadam, which are Indian crisps made from lentils or chickpeas. Boy were they delicious! They also have other curries, quite a number of fried items, and vegetables which we could order from. It’s best not to go overboard when ordering because banana leaf rice can be expensive. Our meal costs us at least RM15-20 per person, if I remembered correctly.
After our meal, we head to Tutti Frutti down the street for a cup of frozen yogurt. It’s sold by weight, about RM5 per 100g. It tastes just like the fro-yo joints in North America and it’s way overpriced. My blueberry frozen yogurt with sweetened deep sea coconut was pretty good though. The only problem is, my cup was too big and I filled it up real good. It must have been at least 400g in there. =) Ah well, can’t put a price on dessert sometimes.
Culinary School Reflection Week 3
Posted by: Kwokmun on: January 26, 2012
- In: Canadian | Reflection
- 1 Comment
Week 3 was a success in my opinion in that I managed to organize notes according to the dishes that we were going to make. Usually, the chef would be all over the place because the way the class was organized was based on mise en place and demo. At a given time, we might have a demo, not for a single dish but multiple components of multiple dishes. It can be confusing at times but there is a good reason why they did what they did. Certain dishes need time to cook from scratch, for example, a stew or a brown stock. In addition, those multiple dishes have the same ingredient but might be cut in a different way. Why emince a garlic for the first dish now and then finely chop two garlic cloves for a later dish? It’s inefficient and the best way is to get our mise en place done for an ingredient in one shot. Had I organize the way I did two weeks ago, my notes too will be all over the place.
Another thing that we did was turning vegetables. Quelle horreur! My turned veg was not even but after deciding to turn 1 kg of carrots in the weekend, my skills had improved a bit. Practice makes perfect, right? But my issue with turning vegetables is that it produces a ton of trims. On average, it’s about 60% trims! Some people think that would make a good stock but I was not in need of stock, so I stir fried it and ate them. Why waste perfectly good carrots that just happened to be in odd shapes? In a restaurant (even at home), even cuts facilitates even cooking. While that’s true, my trims are edible as well, despite having some crunchy bits on one end and overly soft bits on the other end. It’s OK, I can do that at home. =)
Tea Time At Modern Kopitiams
Posted by: Kwokmun on: January 20, 2012
Mention tea time and we would probably think of English style afternoon tea with tea sandwiches, scones, biscuits, and drinking tea from a tea cup with the pinky up in a posh setting. Malaysian tea time is not quite fancy like that. Like food, Malaysians have tea or coffee anytime of the day. At any given time, you would see coffee shops or mamak stalls filled with people, either passing their time, chit chatting, talking about football (the real football, of course), making business deals and so on. Tea time is truly the time when people get together, take a break, and lepak (hang out in Malay). Often you’d also hear friends calling one up and say, jom gie mamak, or yum cha or lim teh; They all mean the same and goes to show how serious Malaysians are about catching up over a cuppa.
We do have plenty of western style cafes like Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaves, or Austin Chase, but unless you can afford it given how expensive it is, very likely that many people would lepak at a kopitiam or mamak. In my recent visit to Kuala Lumpur, I was shocked to find that there are many modern style kopitiams in every corner of the city. But kopitams have very humble beginnings. They are little coffee shops in pre-war shophouses (see picture above) serving tea, kopi (local term for coffee), and other beverages with toasts and other titbits occasionally. There’s also nothing fancy with the decor, with marble and wood tables and white ceiling fans but as simple as they are, one would feel a sense of colonial charm and a laidback airiness to it. It’s quite an indescribable feeling if you ask me. The prices are dirt cheap as well with many beverages ranging around RM2 or less.
Lately, the concept of kopitiam has been given a modern edge and out came franchises like Pappa Rich, Old Town Coffee and the likes. Their decor is definitely cleaner and slightly more sophisticated. The menus also offer wide choices of beverages, much more than an old fashioned kopitiam, and they serve Malaysian favourites that all of us love from the hawker centres. I’ve had nasi lemak and curry laksa at Pappa Rich and their tastes are by no means top notched but it’s something I would order again. I love that free WiFi are offered at their outlets as well.
But as the franchises grow bigger and more popular, I am afraid that local food will be treated like crappy fast food chains that standardized everything from measurements to flavours. In order to cater to more and more people, they make bigger menus but the quality might suffer in the end because it is not possible to cook everything fresh to order. What’s lost in the end too are the personal touches that people put in that makes their food special, as in the case of hawker food. I am certainly not anti Pappa Rich but I also hope that people will continue to patronize the smaller establishments so that they continue to make the food that we’ve come to enjoy.
Culinary School Reflection Week 2
Posted by: Kwokmun on: January 15, 2012
Week 2 is definitely getting more challenging. We’ve covered fish cookery, canapes, bread making, and sauces this week. It’s definitely plenty to take in but I am coping quite well. One of the recurring challenge in week 2 is mise en place. We are constantly preparing a few meals in a day and we often prepare mise en place for the meals at the same time, depending on whats covered in the demo. It is increasingly important to know what ingredient goes to what recipe so that I don’t have to keep reread when I am prepping them. Some of the improvement that I can work on include:
- Impeccable knife skills.
- Finding a way to efficiently prep ingredients for multiple recipes.
- Knowing new recipes by hard.
- Take notes efficiently.
Like the chef said, it’s important to close my eyes and visualize how everything would work out in a recipe. I think that’s important especially we are working in a high pressure environment and it is very easy to lose track of what we are doing sometimes. Can’t wait for week 3!
Food Court and Hawker Centres in Malaysia
Posted by: Kwokmun on: January 14, 2012
No matter where you are in Malaysia, there’s one thing you’ll notice about the people; Malaysians are fiercely passionate about what they eat and they eat all the time! From glitzy Bukit Bintang to the residential suburbs like Petaling Jaya to the kampung (village) areas, there is no shortage of food options. Restaurants, both Asian and Western themed, are quite prevalent in Kuala Lumpur nowadays but the food culture in Malaysia has humble beginnings.
In the olden days, when Malaysia was starting to become a melting pot, there were street hawkers selling their specialties to the locals trying to make a living. Not many people can afford to rent a shop in those days, you see. As time progresses, many individual hawkers were consolidated into hawker centres, enabling the locals to have a wider selection under one roof. But it still retains its unique characteristic, the fact that hawker stalls make what they know best, which happens to be their specialties. Food courts are kind of like hawkers centres. In fact, many times, Malaysians use that interchangeably. But to me, food courts are mostly air-conditioned and housed inside a shopping mall of some sort whereas hawker centres are open-air complexes.
In comparison to food courts in North America in malls, train stations, and airports, which tend to comprise outlets opened by major fast food chains, Malaysian hawker centres are made up of tens of individual proprietors who make their own specialties. They may sell similar food items in different food courts but the taste can vary quite a bit. So it’s not uncommon for Malaysians to travel a distance to their favourite food stalls to get their fix even though they could get some around the corner where they live.
Another great thing about hawker centres is that many hawkers really care about what they make. In North America which are accustomed to mass produced fast food, you could notice a sense of renaissance in the food culture with the emergence of organic and artisanal food. When people sell handmade artisanal products, north Americans go gaga. Many hawker food is as artisanal as you can get because many pride themselves with making their specialties from scratch with fresh ingredients. And they always have their special way of making their food, whether it’s the combination of spices or the cooking methods, that gives them a slight edge over their competitors.
Take SS2′s Wai Sek Kai (Hungry Street) hawker centre in Petaling Jaya for example; there are two rows of food stalls in the hawker centre, all selling their specialties from grilled seafood to mixed rice to beverages. Menu? What menu? You just go to the food stall and ask them what they are selling, order, take a seat anywhere in the hawker centre, and they’ll come find you. Pay them when you get your food and enjoy. There is no wait staff or napkins (tissue), so don’t expect exquisite service. What you can expect though is plenty of choices for great food for prices between RM2 – RM10.
I could hardly make up my mind after walking back and forth for 10 minutes. I had a fantastic plate of yau yee ong choy (blanched brown squid, kangkung, tangy sweet sauce, crushed peanuts, and a squirt of calamansi lime) while my partner had sotong bakar or grilled spicy white squid with green beans, and okra/lady’s fnger.
For drinks, there’s nothing better than a glass of fresh sugar cane juice but I settled for a bowl of deep sea coconut and longan. This type of Chinese style drink/dessert is called tong sui, which literally mean sugar water. They are boiled with the ingredients, water and sugar for a few hours and then serve in a bowl either hot or cold, depending one’s preference. Some people swear by its ability to cool down the “heat” in the body but for me, it’s a refreshing drink on a hot sunny day.
What great way to end the day by having a bowl of ice kacang (shaved ice, syrups, jellies, cendol, cincau, cream of corn, and red beans, peanuts) at the first stall. It’s sweet, creamy, and delicious and the uncle who’s selling this, packed the bowl real good with shaved ice. If we had to choose a national dessert, this is it! My partner didn’t care for the stuff at the bottom of the bowl as much but I think the entire combination is heavenly sweet.
With a strong tradition in street food, I was surprised to learn that the food court at Lot 10 shopping centre, called Lot 10 Hutong was established to celebrate the best of hawker food in the Kuala Lumpur area. These hawkers, which are scattered around the city, are famous and have a huge followings but now have stalls in this food court so that Malaysians can enjoy the best of the best in one location. Have I mentioned Malaysians travel far and wide to eat the best food in town? =)
I couldn’t resist a good bowl of mixed pork porridge or chee chap chuk (porridge with pork meat, liver and fried crunchy intestine garnish) served with a side of yau char kwai, which are fried crullers. Sounds gross I know but the intestines give texture and incredible flavour to the whole dish. My partner had the fish porridge while my cousin had a dish of crispy duck and BBQ pork with rice. However, my favourite would have to be the Kim Lian Kee’s KL style Hokkien Mee, which is to die for! It’s noodles in black sauce and tons of crunchy fried pork fat. As with any Malaysian dish, it’s served with a side of special chilli sauce; and in this case, belacan sambal and calamansi lime. It’s was crazy delicious!
If you’re in Malaysia next time, don’t miss out on the hawker stalls. They may not look upscale but in them lies their passion for food and years of tradition for the select few.
Lot 10 Hutong
LG Floor,
Lot 10 Shopping Centre,
50 Jalan Sultan Ismail,
50250 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603-2782 3840
Fax: +603-2145 9544
SS2 Wai Sek Kai Hawker Centre
Centre Court (bounded by Jalan SS2/60, 61, 62, 63)
Petaling Jaya
Culinary School Reflection Week 1
Posted by: Kwokmun on: January 8, 2012
The past week was quite an interesting one as I started culinary school on Tuesday. It’s quite a dream come true actually because I get to work with food all day long. But it’s also one tiring week as well. Not only do the instructors feed us a ton of information, but we were also always on the go doing something, whether it’s cutting a vegetable, sauteing onions, etc. In a professional kitchen, it’s all about discipline, multi tasking, speed, and of course, the food has to taste good. For me personally, it’s keeping a balance of all those qualities that make one a good cook. Here’s a quick rundown of my thoughts after week one:
- Teamwork is essential because most kitchen meals are a collective effort of many cooks.
- Sharing is important because you are probably never gonna get the entire stove to yourself.
- Good cooks communicate very well with the chef and the teammates. I most definitely need some improvement on that. I might know what I want to accomplish in my mind but if I don’t communicate it out, other people might duplicate that work.
- Strive for perfection but sometimes, time takes precedence. I can’t take forever to cut the perfect brunoise while someone is waiting for his/her meal.
- Organization is crucial. Keeping the cutting board clean and spacious, getting the right ingredients for mise en place, knowing what to cook first on the stove are all organization. Yet another area I need to improve on.
- Always learn from teammates and ask questions.
- Knife skills are super important. The chef instructor can’t stress that enough.
- Keep a good pace and not running around the kitchen like a mad man. I think with proper organization comes confidence and good pace.
Off I go with more knife cut practice. Next week we are learning about sauces and the basics of bread making and I look forward to doing all that.
Trip Report: Singapore Airlines on Sep 10, 2011 (Chicago – New York – Frankfurt – Singapore – Kuala Lumpur)
Posted by: Kwokmun on: January 7, 2012
- In: American | Breakfast | Dinner | Food | German | Lunch | Review | Singaporean | Travel
- 2 Comments
When I was a little boy, I remembered going to school one day and my best friend (let’s call him J) was showing off his kiddie bag that he got on his trip on Singapore Airlines (SQ). There’s pens, playing cards, and surprisingly silverware, which I highly doubt is complimentary. From then on, I always wanted to go on Singapore. Now that I’m an adult, I could finally pay for my own ticket and I decided to go with them on my trip back to Malaysia with my partner. SQ doesn’t fly US domestic flights; so with much reluctance, I flew American Airlines (AA) from Chicago to New York and then Singapore Airlines all the way to Kuala Lumpur.
Chicago-New York (AA 3855)
Check in was confusing as usual at terminal 3 at O’Hare. Should I head to international check in counters because my final destination is international or should I go to domestic check in counters because I am only flying AA from Chicago to New York? I was finally directed to the international check ins, I believe. I used the check in kiosks but I had some problem with it and the AA staff standing there was of no help. She gave me a horrible attitude as if I was inconveniencing her. You can tell, she tried so hard not to look over whenever someone has a problem. The flight was quite uneventful with the same mediocre service I expected from American. If I have a choice I won’t fly with them again.
New York-Frankfurt (SQ25)
Check in was a breeze. Although I already had a boarding pass for this flight from AA, I was required to check in again at SQ’s counter in JFK. After battling hundreds of people at the security, I was boarded into SQ’s Boeing 747 while holding on to my garment bag. Upon boarding, I was greeted with pleasant smiles and no less than three welcomes from the flight crew. When the first stewardess saw me with the garment bag, she immediately offered to take that from me to hang it up in a closet. Wow, now that’s service!
When everybody was seated, we were offered hot towels in economy class! Have you mistaken, miss Singapore Girl? I, a poor peasant who can’t afford to fly business, have steamy hot towels? Why, thank you! For our first snack to Frankfurt, Germany, we were given a choice of wine or beer with a packet of peanuts. Coming from the US where we don’t get crap for flying, this was indeed refreshing.
Dinner service started shortly and I chose the General Tso’s Chicken. I am not a big fan of Americanized Chinese food but I didn’t feel like having goulash that night. It’s pretty darn good, actually. Even though I’m in Economy, we had a menu booklet with a list of courses from appetisers to dessert. SQ really went all out to make us feel special. Speaking of dessert, we had ice cream bars. Yummy! Oh, there’s also a wide choice of wine, spirits and cocktails, which are all complimentary to Economy passengers. I sheepishly asked what kind of cocktail I can have with my meal and the steward asked me, “What cocktail would YOU like?” My Singapore Sling came 5 minutes later. I felt like a king already.
It’s a lot more difficult to sleep in economy and Singapore Airlines is no exception even though the seats are quite comfortable. The flight crew walked around the cabin making sure all passengers are hydrated. I needed some snacks in the middle of the night and the stewardess graciously brought some Ferrero Rocher bars and peanuts as I requested, plus a couple of granola bars, just in case. She made me a very happy man =). With the smell of toasty bread from the business class cabin, I knew breakfast finally came. It’s a continental breakfast with muffins, croissants, and rolls with jam and butter. Shortly after, we landed in Frankfurt International Airport for a quick stopover.
Frankfurt-Singapore (SQ25)
Within an hour, we boarded the plane again, this time heading to Singapore. Lunch was served and I had the beef roulade with spaetzle and vegetables with a creamy delicious sauce. May I also add that the potato salad with bacon bits and a spicy tang of grained mustard was the best I’ve had in my life? Oh, and the German butter was also better than American butter due to its higher fat content as shown on the foil packaging. Mmm! The sleep wasn’t the best but thanks to the entertainment system on my personal screen, it was able to catch up with plenty of movies. Never have I experience any airline entertainment system with so many interesting movies that I wanted to watch other than Singapore Airline’s KrisWorld. They did not have Ferrero Rocher bars on this route but instead, the stewardess brought me all sorts of cookies on a little tray for my midnight snack.
A few hours before we landed in Singapore, I had a beautiful breakfast of fritata with fried potatoes and bacon, fresh fruits, juice, coffee, and yoghurt. I wanted to have some wine but I resisted the urge. After all, coffee would be a healthier choice. Upon arrival, my garment bag was ready at the exit and I was greeted again with smiles and plenty of thank yous.
Singapore-Kuala Lumpur (SQ109)
Singapore’s Changi International Airport is one hell of an airport. If you have never been there, you should because it is spacious with lots of shops, eateries, and green space. For those who cannot afford to go to airline lounges, good news for you. Changi has plenty of reclined seats for those who wants to relax. Some are even equipped with soothing music and cable TV. There’s free internet all over the airport and even stations where you can charge your mobile phones. It’s like a locker fitted with charging cable for any mobiles imaginable. One just needs to plug their phone in the locker, lock it and grab the key with him/her. When it’s charged, retrieve your phone with the key for that locker. Genius!
After a 2-3 hour wait time in Changi, I boarded the plane for Kuala Lumpur. It’s only a 45 minutes journey but the crew managed to serve everybody hot coffee and tea with the same level of service from their international routes.
Conclusion
It is no accident that Singapore Airlines is awarded the best airline in the world. The service was impeccable even in Economy class. I can only imagine how much better it would be in business and first class. The food was great as well and with complimentary alcohol and plenty of snacks, I could not ask for more. Hopefully I will be able to afford Singapore Airline’s business class next time. =)
Happy 2012 – A New Beginning
Posted by: Kwokmun on: January 2, 2012
- In: Announcements | Food | Travel
- Leave a Comment
Hello readers! I am finally back from my trip to South East Asia with my partner. It has been a fantastic experience visiting my family and friends in Malaysia, as well as touring around Singapore, Jakarta & Bali, Indonesia, and Bangkok, Thailand. Aside from Singapore, I have to say that I never been to any of those places before in my life despite living there for 20 years. I was not very adventurous then nor did I have the financial capacity to travel around the region. Now that I have the capacity to do so, I just went for it!
I also have another announcement to make. I have decided to make a switch in my career from my current position as an IT professional to pursue my passion in food. I will be attending culinary school in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia for one year. In fact, I am already in BC, and class starts tomorrow!! I am super excited that I will be learning how to cook professionally but I am also nervous at the same time because the food industry is all very new to me.
See, I grew up with mindset that my future jobs has to be somewhat prestigious and most importantly, it has to pay well. We’re talking about lawyers, doctors, investment bankers, etc. From where I came from, many people throw their passion out the window because they can’t survive on passion alone. But being in North America, I witnessed the joy of many people who are doing what they love. Many of those jobs still don’t pay well. But their labour of love seems to be worth it.
Let’s face it, I won’t get paid very much by working in the kitchen. It’s hot, messy, and downright exhausting. It would take years for me to make what I was making in IT. Not that I am interested but forget about appearing on reality food shows or Food Network as a celebrity chef. The reality is, many people has said it’s tough to make it in the food industry. Culinary school costs thousands of dollars and the pay is so low it would take years to pay off the tuition fees.
But I am pushing 30 and culinary school is something I want to do in my life. I asked myself: If not now, when? I want to gain experience in the kitchens and perhaps in food writing after school and if I really cannot make it for any reason, at least I have my IT experience to fall back to. Let hope passion would prevail. I will chronicle my ups and downs along the way and expect to see plenty of food reviews from South East Asia.
Hiatus Continues … in South East Asia
Posted by: Kwokmun on: October 25, 2011
Hello readers! I have to apologize once more for the lack of postings recently. Aside from the small kitchen in my apartment, which didn’t help at all, I am currently on a trip to Malaysia and parts of South East Asia for a couple of months. I was not able to secure a fast internet connection to post something new nor do I have adequate time to sit at home to write as I am always on the run meeting with friends and families. But I promised lots of food pictures when I get back to the United States. =)
Sincerely,
Kwokmun
Summer In A Small Kitchen
Posted by: Kwokmun on: June 27, 2011
Hey readers! It’s been a while since my last post. I am still alive, thankfully. It’s just that I’ve been busy with personal matters lately. I moved to a new apartment with a tiny kitchen and when I say tiny, I mean real tiny. I barely have any counter space for chopping vegetables. My fridge is so small it would only fit pint size ice cream in the freezer. It’s pretty much the ones you see in a hotel room. I’ll deal with it, I’m sure. Well, that’s no excuse for not cooking, I know but lately, I am just mentally stressed out that I prefer to just sit back and chill. I promise I will be back really soon since July 4th is coming up.
