Tag / sambal
April 10, 2013
While many Penang hawker dishes such as char kuih teow, hokkien mee, and laksa are famous all over Malaysia, wantan mee is always a bit of an odd ball. Being a traditional Cantonese dish in a predominately Hokkien area, wantan mee was sort of adopted by the islanders.
the wantan mee stall at kedai kopi seng thor
Like languages and culture, food that is separated geographically from its place of origin usually evolve and adapt to the local taste. This is evident in the case of wantan mee in Penang as well.
sambal goes very well with wantan mee
A prime example is the wantan mee at Seng Thor kopitiam at Carnarvon street. The dry version comes with both deep fried and boiled wantan, vegetable, charsiu (bbq pork), and the all important Penang style sambal belacan.
While the chasiu isn’t nearly as good as those you usually find in Klang Valley (for some reasons charsiu in Penang is usually dyed and not nearly as flavorful), I like the extra dimensions offered by deep fried wantan, and of course, the sambal belacan makes a huge difference, pretty much transformed the entire dish like how chili pan mee is different from normal pan mee.
If you love sambal and food in general, you should try wantan mee here (and many other stalls in Penang).
of course, you shouldn’t miss the best ochien in town
Of course, if you are already in this kopitiam, don’t forget to order the fried oyster omelet here. One of the bests ever.
Address:
Kedai Kopi Seng Thor
160, Lebuh Carnarvon,
10100 Georgetown, Penang
GPS: 5.415495, 100.33468
November 16, 2012
Kim Lian Kee is one of the oldest restaurants in Petaling Streets, claimed to be one of the firsts Hokkien-style fried mee in in KL, it’s been run by the Lee family since 1927. We found ourselves at Petaling Street not too long ago and decided to have this as lunch.
Kim Lian Kee Hokkien Mee at Petaling Street
Kim Lian Kee still retains the small shop lot on ground floor with a few tables by the roadside in a semi alfresco style old school dining area, but walking upstairs revealed a comfortable dining hall with clean marbled table and air conditioning.
It’s good to see old school eateries upgrade to keep up with modern time.
old school hokkien mee and fried hor fun
We tried their Hokkien mee and Fried Hor Fun.
They were served relatively quickly, the Hokkien mee was really as good as advertised. Plenty of “wok hei” and made better by the generous amount of lard. Other ingredients are pork slices, prawns, and cabbage. The aroma of the noodle is said to be partly attributed to the usage of thick prawn shell soup. The sambal served along side with the noodle was top notch as well.
The fried hor fun was decent as well but I didn’t find it close to the standard of their Hokkien mee.
some squid with soya sauce as snack, with horng, yuki, and kerol
Other than fried noodles, Kim Lian Kee has quite a lot of other dishes on their menu. We only tried the squid with soya sauce as an accompanying dish. The seafood tasted pretty good, but it was a tad too salty.
If you find yourself at Petaling Street, do check out this restaurant for some good Hokkien Mee. Order other dishes at your own risk. Prices are in line with most air-conditioned places, expect to spend around RM10+ per person.
Address:
Kim Lian Kee
49, Jalan Petaling
Kuala Lumpur
GPS:3.144496, 101.697532
Tel: 03-2032 4984
November 14, 2012
The PJ SS2 mamak square is a pretty popular and cheap dinner/supper place, with a mixture of Chinese (all pork free) and Malay/Mamak offerings. There’s good chicken rice, fried rice, tomyam, and more, but what most people don’t realise is that there’s a pretty awesome nasi lemak half-stall as well.
Nasi Lemak Utara, sharing the same stall with Burger Wan
This is a half-stall because it shares the same spot as the burger stall, with the nasi lemak “desk” facing on the other side. In fact, the nasi lemak guy and the burger guy are related.
Nasi lemak is usually ready by around 7+ in the evening but it often doesn’t last the whole night. There isn’t many dishes to choose from, but the usual suspects of sambal cuttle fish, fried chicken with rempah (my favorite), curry chicken, and cockles are almost always available.
super delicious nasi lemak, at a fair price, check out the rempah too
The rice is fragrant and usually served warm with a sheet of banana leaf, and you get peanuts, fried anchovies, and half a hard boiled egg by default. The sambal is pretty mean and carries quite a kick as well. My go-to order is usually the chicken with rempah (ask for more rempah) and cockles, and that usually comes up to RM 7 or so, pretty reasonable price for what you get.
Next time when you’re there, do give it a try if they are open (there’s no pattern, sometimes the dude takes random holidays it seems).
Address:
Nasi Lemak Utara
Jalan SS 2/60,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.117783, 101.622430
July 25, 2012
Most of us know Alicafe as the tongkat ali infused canned coffee drinks. In fact, it is my favorite driving companion to keep me awake whenever I’m on one of those balik kampung drives on the highway.
There’s more than just drinks when it comes to this brand, now there’s an Alicafe TigaRasa restaurant. I was one of the lucky few who was invited to get a taste of what they have to offer just a few days ago.
Alicafe Tiga Rasa restaurant, at USJ Taipan
Located at USJ Taipan, Alicafe TigaRasa restaurant offers Malay cuisine in a contemporary setting and pretty good range of menu. The restaurant is tastefully decorated, giving it a bit of a kampung feel, but of course, dining area’s air conditioned.
The kitchen area is separated by glass, you can actually see your food being cooked (side effect: they always have to keep the place spotlessly clean).
here’s the TigaRasa secret – sambal lemak, gulai lemak, and hebi-hiam
Now here’s how this restaurant got it’s name, tiga sara (three flavors) – from the three different traditional Malay sauces:
- Gulai Lemak – the creamy coconut based sauce with kunyit, sambal, and lemongrass. Rich and flavorful
- Sambal Lemak – a classic with plenty of chili, garlic, some coconut milk, and other spices
- Sambal Hebi-Hiam – now this one is interesting, hebi means dried shrimp and hiam translate to spicy in Hokkien. So yah, this is inspired by Nyonya cuisine and prepared with dried shrimps, curry leaves, onions, garlic, and more.
ikan pari, grilled lamb, and grilled chicken in different sambal, vegetable
You can then mix and match the three sauces with ikan pari (stingray) or ikan selar (yellowtail scad), grilled lamb chop, grilled chicken, mixed grill, or mixed vegetables. For those who like it even hotter, you can always customize the order with added chili padi too.
I tried the three sauces with pari, mixed vegetable, and lamb, and it is pretty difficult to pick a favorite. Each one offers a different experience, but they share the same characteristic of being rich and flavorful. I like the fact that terung (brinjal) and other vegetable is added onto the meat/seafood dish too. Goes well with steamed rice.
siakap tomyam, curry fish head, and fried chicken
Other than dishes prepared from those three sauces, Alicafe TigaRasa offers dishes such as siakap tomyam, curry fish head, fried chicken and more.
Saikap tomyam (barramundi) is deep fried but served with spicy tomyam sauce, and the curry fish head reminds me of my mom’s style of cooking, the Nyonya version of curry that is slightly milder (unlike some Indian style would) yet plenty delicious.
The fried chicken has a hint of belacan to it, a very different style from some of those “KFC copycats”, and definitely a taste that I’m familiar of from the mixture of Nyonya-Chinese style of food we get in Penang.
this whole set for 4 can be had for RM 69.90
To be honest, I’m quite impressed with the food at Alicafe TigaRasa, they do fill a niche by offering mostly traditional Malay cuisine with some mixture of other tastes that is still very close to home.
For the puasa month, there’s special promotional set that starts from RM 10.90 that includes a drink, kurma dates, a main course, and Hokkaido cake as dessert. For family of four (or 5), a RM 69.90 set gets you siakap fish, fried chicken, scrambled egg, TigaRasa mix grilled vegetable, Hokkaido cakes, kurma dates, and Alicafe’s homemade Pati Kurma Madu drinks.
the desserts, and the leng lui is of course, Hanis
I can’t wait for them to have more branches!
Address:
Alicafe TigaRasa Restaurant
No.8, Jalan USJ 10/1H,
Subang Business Centre,
47620 Selangor
GPS: 3.04817, 101.68677
Tel: 03-8011 9412
June 11, 2012
I’ve had to travel to Pasir Gudang for work for a few weeks recently. Most of the days, we have our lunch at Tanjong Puteri Golf Cafe thanks to the expat friendly lunch menu. Not particularly exciting to me, however.
So when we found ourselves having a little more culinary freedom on one of the afternoons, my colleague who’s based on location drove me to the nearby Kampung Putih for some good old ayam penyet at Restoran Selera Sambal.
Restaurant Selera Sambal at Pasir Gudang
Kampung Pasir Putih is not exactly a tourist attraction, but it does have a few restaurants on the main stretch that caters to the locals and the ship yard workers alike, Restoran Selera Sambal is one of them.
The menu includes all sorts of penyet (smashed) dishes – starting with ayam penyet (chicken), leleh (cat fish), udang (prawns), sotong (squid) daging (beef), to burung punyuh (quail). Combinations of two ingredients are possible too, as with burger conventions – these are called “specials”.
ayam penyet set at RM 6.50, yum yums
I’ve only tried their classic ayam penyet so far. The chicken certainly very crispy and flavorful, with the meat tend to be slightly tougher, but in the kampung chicken type of way, I like it.
And as with the name suggest, their sambal is really top notch. It was spicy and addictive, I naturally asked for more. Other than tempeh, tofu, ulam, and soup, there’s also some fried potato as sides. It’s a full meal for sure, and all for RM 6.50.
If you find yourself at Pasir Gudang, remember that Tanjong Puteri Golf resort is not the only choice for lunch. Thank you Adnan for bringing me there. 
Address:
Restoran Selera Sambal
No. 25, Jalan Pengkalan 5,
Taman Pasir Mas
Kg. Pasir Putih
Pasir Gudang, Johor
GPS: 1.441042, 103.932096
Tel: 016-707 4788, 017-702 9297
