For the longest time, I had always thought that we imported every single type of roti from India. Roti telur, roti bawang, roti pisang, roti tissue, and of course, roti cheese.

It wasn’t until friends who visited South India told me that all these different roti were actually as much a Malaysian invention as with bak kut teh and yu sang.

Kalau keju, mesti Kraft!

The problem with most mamak food though, is that the ingredients used often is sourced at the lowest possible price, consequently the quality suffers.

When it comes to roti, none can be more apparently than the cheese used in roti cheese. Which brings us to the purpose of this advertorial – restaurants are starting to realize that better quality ingredients can be really important in certain cases, and hence you can now find burger and roti with Kraft cheese in certain outlets.

The slogan goes: KALAU KEJU MESTI KRAFT, KASI SATU ROTI KRAFT

the roti cheese competition: female, first round

Last weekend I went to Hassan Cafe at SS15 (just opposite the good old KFC) to check out an event held by Kraft at the mamak restaurant.

As it turned out, it was an eating competition where 2 Samsung L100 Digital Cameras was at stake. The competition was simple, whoever can eat the most Roti Kraft in 5 minutes win. One for male, the other for the ladies.

I arrived in time to catch the competition for female category, there were 10 contestants altogether vying for the prize. The pressure must be quite intense, there were dozens of cameras snapping videos and photos while the ladies try to chew down their roti cheese as fast as possible.

After 5 minutes, there was a tie for first place with both girls managed to finish two roti cheese, so we went to sudden death overtime. Check out the video below:

The two lucky big eaters walked away with the Samsung Digital Camera, so jealous!

Check out kalaukejumestikraft.com for more information and to find out where you could get Roti Kraft or Burger Kraft. There is also a Kraft cheese fan page where you can find more info and activities (already over 6000 fans as of writing).

In the facebook page you can find multiple photo albums of previous events and more videos too. Wall discussions are quite lively as well, for example, a particular message stated: “TRY NEW RCPY FISH BALL WITH KRAFT N PRAWN“. Interesting, interesting!

congratulations!

In a totally unrelated random trivia: Robert Kraft, the CEO of Kraft Group owns the New England Patriots, one of the most successful NFL teams in this decade that won 3 Super Bowls. The quarterback of the Patriots is Tom Brady, who married Gisele Bundchen, I suppose some of you might know Gisele more than the Patriots, but everything in this world is related in a weird way.

Tags:  cheese,  kraft,  lunch money,  mamak,  roti

Posted by KY | 20 Comments »

The epitome of laziness in Malaysian citizens can be summed up by the availability of instant noodle at food outlets, usually mamak stores. Though I haven’t traveled to many countries in this world, in those I have been, I failed to spot a single restaurant offering instant noodle outside places such as 7-11 (where you have to boil it the noodle yourself anyway)

mamak stall at SS4 (near Taman Bahagia LRT)

This phenomena seems rather recent, for the life of me, I can’t remember anyone ordering any maggie or indomie goreng from mamak stalls before the turn of millennium.

But some 10 years ago, after a particular mamak stall owner not named Samy Vellu decided that there would be a market for prepare indomie goreng, maggie soup, and so forth. It’ll be a dish that is as simple as boiled instant noodle with an egg, or like in this case, maggie goreng with a little bit of other ingredients normally found in Indian/mamak mee goreng.

maggie goreng with extra chili padi, slurps

The rest, well, is history. Today you find instant noodle offered in virtually all mamak stalls and some restaurants all over the country. I’m sure pretty soon Singaporean might claim that they had started it all too.

One of my favorite places for a plate of maggie goreng is the mamak stall at Alisan (at SS4, the one on the road, closest to Chinese kopitiam). I sometimes have mine with extra chili padi for a more intense kick. There are also traces of tofu, cabbage, egg, bean sprouts, and maybe a little bit of shallots, all contributing to the unique taste of that spicy and wholesomeness.

This particular mamak stall opens from around 6pm till probably around 3am, they also serve roti canai, nasi goreng, mee goreng, and all your favorite diabetes inducing drinks. Kurang Manis is a must.

Address:
Jalan SS 2/4A,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.111388, 101.611133

Tags:  alisan,  indomie,  maggie,  mamak

Posted by KY | 31 Comments »

Other than nasi lemak and bak kut teh, one of my favorite local food of all time must be banana leaf rice. My usual fix for this Southern Indian dish is at Kanna Curry House, since it is rather good and pretty close to where I stay. Mell, however, insist that the best banana leaf rice is this particular Restaurant Nirwana Maju at Bangsar.

Restaurant Nirwana Maju Banan Leaf Rice

Nirwana, as the restaurant is commonly referred to, is located at the heart of the most happening area at Bangsar, just right across Bangsar Village on Jalan Telawi 3. Street parking can be a bit challenging most of the time, but parking at Bangsar Village shouldn’t cost more than a couple ringgit for a meal.

fried brinjal, potato, cucumber, with 2 curries and dal

For those who are not familiar with banana leaf rice:

• a clean and preferably fresh sheet of banana leaf
• rice with usually 3 types of vegetables
• choices of curry and/or dal
• condiments such as deep fried salted chili
• usually also serve with papadum

As you can guessed, the standard banana leaf rice is basically a vegetarian dish. However, you can always add fish, mutton, chicken, fried fish roe and squid, and a host of other side dishes for a meal worthy of any glutton.

Mell and KY, deep fried brinjal & papadem at Nirwana

The rice and curry at Nirwana is as good as any that I’ve had, but the really special item here is one of their standard vegetable served that I haven’t come across anywhere else – deep fried eggplant (the green and white type). The crispy yet savory batter and the sweetness of eggplant is a combination that proved to be very addictive, I love it!

Sri Nirwana Maju banana leaf rice is located next to Bangsar Village

Two sets of banana leaf rice with an order of fish or fried chicken and drinks usually come to some RM 15 for two person. Still pretty reasonably priced despite being located at Bangsar. If you love banana leaf rice, give this one a try!

Address:
Sri Nirwana Maju 43 Jalan Telawi Tiga,
Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.131014,101.670892
Tel: 03-2287 8445

Tags:  banana leaf,  Bangsar,  Malaysia,  mamak,  mellissa

Posted by KY | 43 Comments »

Lala is of course, is most commonly associated with the description of female who dresses up in horrible fashion with matching technicolor hair from the wrong decade, the male version would be addressed as ahbeng. They also tend to speak in the most accurate manglish (0.5% English, 10% Malay, 50% Chinese dialects, the rest unknown). The whole subculture is so amusing I wonder why there isn’t any PhD thesis written on it.

However, the lala we’re talking about today doesn’t walk on two feet with 4″ platform shoes. We’re talking about the favorite Malaysian shell fish found at many food courts and seafood restaurant, so lest I digress..

fat lala in kam heong style = best

It just occurred to me that I haven’t blogged about the best lala place despite having been eating there since before the inception of this blog, until I went there again a couple of weeks ago with IQG for a yum cha session, and again 2 days ago with Tock for dinner.

At this place, lala is typically served in two methods of cooking, “kam heong” and “shiong thong”. “kam heong”, with curry leaves, plenty of garlic and spicy curry sauce, is by far my favorite. The latter is a slightly soupy version with a lot less kick but most suitable for those who can’t handle hot food.

this place is actually a mamak strip

The thing I love about this place is that the lala is always rather big. The “kam heong” sauce packs a punch and the shell fish not overly done so it retains most of the juice. Imagine the spicy sauce in your mouth, and that sweet lala juice exploding into the mix when you bite on it. Simply irresistible. I mean, just look at the dude’s expression in the photos below. The sauce was so good Tock actually “sapu” it clean with the “chai kueh” from the other stall.

tock can’t get enough of the sauce!

The medium plate of lala costs RM 15, probably slightly on the more expensive side. However, I rather have this once than the others twice due to the quality on both taste as well as the size of the shell fish served. Simply second to none. Give it a try!

alisan is just behind Perodua showroom at SS4

Address:
Jalan SS 2/4A,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.111388, 101.611133

Tags:  lala,  mamak,  seafood,  ss4,  tock

Posted by KY | 41 Comments »

After spending way too much energy and sweat on our futsal last night, we decided to head to the famous Jalan 223 nasi lemak place for some well deserved recuperation session. Even though it was already past 11pm on a weekday, the Selera Jaya 223 food court is bustling with activity, there are so many hungry ghosts packed in the area you would think there’s a sideshow going on.

futsal buddies: Dree, Jeff, Shiang, and Terence

The main attraction at this place is the nasi lemak. There are two types, the nasi lemak with blue print a little sweeter and wetter, while the red print version is slightly drier but more spicy. They come with half a hard boiled egg and some fried anchovies. Since there are so many customers dining at the area, the nasi lemak is always still hot for consumption, a nasi lemak panas is always better than the nasi lemak at room temperature.

I’ve tried both versions and they are really tasty, with no fuss and no frill. You can’t beat the value at RM 1 per packet either.

2 types of nasi lemak, otak-otak, and a set of half boil egg

Half boiled egg is another item that they do very well here. Just look at the picture above, perfect boiling, and you don’t even need to crack the eggs yourself. My buddy Shiang insisted that using the half boil eggs as gravy for the nasi lemak is the way to go. I didn’t try that myself, sinful, sinful.

the most “Kao” milo ice ever

As for drinks, the milo ice is definitely the most “kao” you can get anywhere. I thought filling 1/3 of my glass with milo powder is pretty “kao” already, over here they do it at almost 1/2 glass. It is a bit crazy if you ask me.

The otak-otak, while fresh and served hot, is really not up to par as compared to those I had in some other places (most notably those Suanie brought from Johor). However, I do eat it once in a while just to refresh my taste bud. They do taste a little too sweet.

the food court is situated just across Amway building at Jalan 223

If you’re looking for a midnight indulgence with an original local theme, this is definitely the place to be.

Address:
Medan Selera 223,
Jalan 223, Petaling Jaya
Selangor
GPS: 3.100482, 101.633223

Tags:  jalan 223,  mamak,  nasi-lemak,  otak-otak

Posted by KY | 38 Comments »