Food Finds
Penang hokkien mee, or prawn mee as it is usually called here in Klang Valley, is one of the more iconic dishes from the island known for its good hawker food. While prawn mee is quite available this part of the country, its sister dish – loh mee, is quite a bit trickier to find.
Do Re Mi 123 kopitiam and it’s Loh Mee stall
Hence, whenever I find a hawker stall offering Penang loh mee, I’d usually give it a try. This same opportunity presented itself when I was at Do Re Mi 123 kopitiam looking to have kuih teow soup a few weeks ago, forgetting that it moved to nearby Hock Seng kopitiam.
As per my usual style, I ordered using Penang Hokkien, and the operator seemed to understand, passing my pseudo authenticity check.
Penang loh mee with appropriate condiments
Luckily though, the loh mee turned out pretty good. It came with appropriate condiments of minced garlic with vinegar and sambal, as well as proper ingredients with sliced pork, prawns, hard boiled eggs, kangkung, bean sprouts, and those really thick starchy soup.
I like mine with mee + meehun mix
Overall taste was on point, though I’d probably give Johnny’s version a slight upper hand due to the availability of more ingredient choices, but this one was definitely sufficient to satisfy cravings.
Address:
Restaurant DoReMi 123
Jalan PJU 1a/20b
Ara Damansara
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.119897, 101.579194
Chee Cheong Fun is a dish that’s found in many places in Klang Valley. However, most versions here are of central region, where the sweet sauce is watery, or that they are served with curry, and most of the time, together with yong tau foo, which admittedly I’m also a fan of.
chee cheong fun stall at Restoran O&S
However, being from Penang, my favorite version of chee cheong fun is still the version served up north on the Pearl of the Orient – a version that’s ultra simple – just the rice noodle roll with sweet, thick, dark sauce that’s not entirely unlike rojak sauce, and then topped with sesame and fried shallots with a side of sambal. (edit: of course it’s also with prawn paste, this was something I failed to mention)
I also like mine still rolled instead of unwrapped (the usual way of serving)
While you get them readily on Penang island, my go to in Klang Valley is the little stall at Restoran O&S at Taman Paramount in Petaling Jaya.
For RM 2.60, I get my serving of proper chee cheong fun that hits all the spots. The sauce is thick & flavorful with a hint of peanut butter (perhaps?) and not overly sweet at the same time. The chee cheong fun itself too is soft and smooth as it should.
The restaurant gets busy over weekends, be prepared to share tables.
Penang style chee cheong fun at O&S, rolled
Address:
Restaurant O&S
Jalan 20/14, Seapark,
Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.107713, 101.624919
Hours: breakfast & brunch
On my first visit to Kelantan, we managed to try two meals outside of the “kenduri kahwin” that brought us there, first was the nasi kerabu Liniey, and the second was this quintessential Malaysian breakfast set at Kedai Kopi Wah Mui.
Kedai Kopi Wah Mui, Kota Bahru
This little old school restaurant is located by the main touristy area of Kota Bahru (if you can call it a touristy area at all), just across the road from Muzium Diraja Istana Baru, or the royal museum of Kelantan, a place Sultan Yahya Petra lived from 1939 to 1960. Worth visiting if you’re into a walk down the memory lane for a bit.
Anyway, back to this kopitiam.
Kedai Kopi Wah Mui is operated by a Chinese owner, but the Kelantanese way is such that everyone is a customer so long as halal food is served, and in this case, it is.
I ordered the simple classic mix of roti kahwin (toast with kaya & butter), half boiled eggs, and kopi ais for some afternoon tea time indulgence. It was simple, and for the lack of a more sophisticated word .. tasty! Love the richness of kaya, how the eggs are executed perfectly, and crispy toast bread.
roti kahwin, telur setengah masak, and kopi ais
If you want a simple 1 Malaysian breakfast (or afternoon snack) and a good cup of coffee at Kota Bahru, this won’t be a bad choice.
Address:
Kedai Kopi Wah Mui
1448, D1, Bandar Kota Bharu,
15000 Kota Bharu, Kelantan
GPS: 6.133082, 102.237111
Hours: breakfast and tea time
Welp, it’s been almost three years since I last have an entry on cooking, I guess it’s not better time than now to put in one of my favorite dishes mom used to cook when I was a boy – Nyonya seafood curry with salted fish bone. This really came about because I managed to get some really big whole salted fish from the Filipino market in Kota Kinabalu.
ingredients for seafood curry pot
As the name of the dish suggests, this is a classic Penang style Nyonya dish. Unlike normal curry dish, the presence of salted fish bone gives it a better taste character that’s much better than salt ever would. It is also a dish that has pretty much everything in it – vegetable, seafood, santan, and with steamed rice, makes a whole meal.
blending onion, ginger, garlic
Anyway, here’s the ingredient list of the version mom makes:
“tumis” chili paste with oil, and then add seafood
Cooking instructions:
add vege and santan next
Remember to serve this with a nice plate of steamed rice, low carb diet be damned.
viola, it’s all done, seafood curry with salted fish bone
I promise to not let another 3 years passed before putting up another recipe on this blog, and this is in fact, the 100th. You can find more of my simple recipes here.
One of the most best things in modern living is convenience, we can contact anyone at anytime, have news delivered to us via the the internet, and of course, gets food delivered to us by a few clicks and swipes via services like GrabFood.
But of course, modern convenience also has some downsides, one of which is the increasing use of plastic as an enable. Plastic, however, is also linked to climate change and environmental pollution in several ways, from air quality to ocean toxicity, plastic wastes contribute to ecosystem disruption.
Upcycling Workshop, officiated by Shaz Mukhtar, GrabFood social media manager
As the major player in food delivery business in the country, GrabFood is in a unique position to make an impact in reducing single-use plastic by working together with merchants & eaters to reduce the use of single-use plastics, starting with cutleries.
The first step GrabFood took is by introducing a toggle option in the app to allow customers to opt for single-use plastic cutlery. Next time you use GrabFood, please do not opt in for single-use plastic cutlery unless you are stranded somewhere and absolutely have to use them.
Getting it done with otherwise waste material
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE are the three major steps in saving our environment, in that order.
To send the message across, together with others, I was invited to participated at an upcycling workshop conducted by GrabFood in ME.REKA, a makerspace in Publika. ME.REKA is a space where you have access to tools and expertise in making whatever you have in mind – be it wood & metal working, 3D printing, and so forth.
getting busy with it
Our tools were hot glue, scissors, knife, spray paint, ropes, with material to be upcycled being plastic spoons and bottles.
By cutting the spoons and sticking them around cut up plastic bottles, we were able to make some pretty neat looking small vase. Check out some of them below, and of course, one made by yours truly. It was overall a pretty fun session and one that sent the message across pretty clearly.
succulent vase upcycled from single use plastic waste
So remember, for your next meal via GrabFood, please do not opt-in for single-use plastic cutlery and use those metal ones from your kitchen or office pantry. If your office doesn’t have cutlery, bring some metal ones to work.
