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Month: November 2017

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Travelogue: Finding clarity in Iceland’s brooding landscape

by Global Gastronaut
Posted on November 9, 2017December 29, 2017

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Stumbled upon this incredible heritage bakery in JB’s old town that’s still powered by a giant wood-fired oven. It’s been been running since 1937 and specialises in Bengali curry puffs, or just karipap, as they’re locally known. These are thin sheets of pastry wrapped around fillings like curried potatoes, lamb or beef. I went a little after lunch but locals tell me the aroma of bread baking over coals and wood in the morning is simply irresistible. I also bought some kaya buns and wholemeal bread — and I can’t wait to tear into them with my bare hands.

Penang is home to more than just one type of laksa. I managed to squeeze in lunch at @jawihouse and got to speak to @nurilkarim, the head chef and son of an anthropologist who owns the place just before flying off and it was truly an educational experience. What’s pictured here is the Jawi Peranakan laksa, a dish created by the Jawi Peranakan community who are of Arab, Indian and Malay descent. Much like the Chinese Peranakans, this community thrived in the urban areas of the Straits Settlements (specifically Penang and Singapore) and arose from marriages of immigrant grooms and local Malay brides. The result is a cuisine that is nuanced and cosmopolitan for its time. This laksa itself is a coconut based tuna fish broth that incorporates spices like fennel seed and star anise; ingredients otherwise not seen in other laksa varieties and points at middle eastern and Indian influences. There are hints of finger root and a good hit of turmeric. Torch ginger slivers and mint used for garnish brightens up an otherwise creamy base and a reminder of its distant cousin, the asam laksa that Penang is otherwise famous for. This is what I love about food; it exists outside the boundaries of state control, codifies history and immigration patterns while still being a breathing culture that is lived everyday.

My search for good hawker fare of course led me to Penang. On top of my list: char kway teow like it’s meant to be. These are flat rice noodles stir fried over a searing heat. The magic isn’t in the seasoning. No that’s the easy part. It lies in mastery of the wok; of man’s manipulation of time and fire to produce a plate that’s smokey and complex. It’s difficult to go on a hunt when time is so short. I was torn between sampling all that the island had to offer and really nailing down the good ones. I ended up at Sisters char kway teow on Macalister road simply because it’s the only stall on my list that opened at 9am. While the dish was perfectly seasoned, it lacked the kiss of wok hei that I was looking for. Sure the prawns were fresh, plump and juicy and the cubes of lard gave the entire dish a nice crunchy lift. Was it because I came too early? I didn’t manage to try everything I wanted to but that’s alright because I’m pretty sure I’ll be making many more trips to come.

"I don't want this dish to end," said one of my dining companions that Friday night. We're at @Dewakanmy and about a third through the extensive degustation when this dish arrived. It's a little smaller than it looks in pictures yet its flavours punched well above its weight. This dish to me represents all that Modern Malaysian cuisine could be, elegantly interpreted with a restrained hand. It's not about taking a classic hawker creation and shoving it through the meat grinder of a restaurant and turning it into a Frankenstein dish. It's about breaking down the ingredients and flavours and assembling it carefully on a plate. What you see here are slices of prawn warmed lightly in a tart starfuit juice speckled with kaffir lime leaf oil. The green bouquet that sits on top is a selection of local herbs, leaves and shoots known as ulam, along with their blossoms. Each leaf was an incredible explosion of herbaceous beauty; one that many of us have forgotten as we lurch into urban times. These ingredients have been falling to the wayside as we embrace all that is foreign. This is one of the new dishes in Dewakan's latest menu and I've been watching the restaurant grow from strength to strength. What's being served right now is a strong selection of hits while older signatures have been tightened. The dish unfortunately ended, and with that, the curtain around what exactly this country is capable of has come down. If this is the direction Modern Malaysian can take, I can't wait to see more.

Spent all night slaving over a charcoal fire as is my yearly ritual. This time around, I broke with tradition and did a Malayan recipe for rendang tok, a dryer rendition with lots of lemongrass hailing from the state of Perak. My mum’s recipe was otherwise handed down from my grandmother and we have our ancestral roots in Central Java (okay, so my mum freaked out a bit when she tasted it and said, “Why is this rendang Malaysian?!”) It’s hard not to be inspired by the culinary culture of Malaysia when I’ve been living there the last 2 months. That said, I’ve used some ingredients from @javaraindonesia — thanks for making craft Indonesian ingredients available to all; and will also be serving my dish on a plate made by @bendangstudio_official. To those celebrating, selamat Hari Raya, happy Eid and to those who are not, have a fab long weekend! ❤️

Today marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, and with it goes the incredible food bazaars that’s given me an eye opening culinary tour of Malaysia. I’ve been going to the one at TTDI every other weekend — one of the bigger ones my side of town, and savouring different things each time. Satay is always good as is the selection of traditional Malaysian dishes like Nasi kerabu and Nasi dagang which we otherwise don’t get in Singapore. And who could forget the hot steaming rolls of putu bambu, soft crumbly rice cakes steamed in bamboo shells with a molten centre of palm sugar. What struck me is that the sellers speak in varying regional Malay accents and are always happy to proclaim that they’re heading back to their hometowns soon. It really doesn’t get anymore authentic than this. Swipe for more shots of what I had.

finesse [fi-ness] noun: extreme delicacy or subtlety in action, performance, skill, discrimination, taste. . This word is often thrown around by food critics when describing a chef's skill. Yet it is also found where you least expect it; like in a bowl of cendol in a cul de sac off Petaling Street that doesn't even have an address. For my non-Southeast Asian friends: It's a dessert of iced shavings flavoured with coconut milk with lashings of palm sugar (otherwise known as gula melaka) and topped with slivers of jelly made of rice flour made fragrant with pandan leaves. . But here, the cendol contained flecks of pandan and tasted just a touch more savoury than usual to counter the sweetness of the gula melaka. It was also chewy and had a bounce, demonstrating that the seller has indeed gone through many trials to get to this perfect balance, instead of simply buying it as a ready-made ingredient from a supplier. When we paid up, the vendor said with a smile: "You'll never see cendol as beautiful as mine in the whole of KL." I can't help but think to myself, 'I've never seen cendol as beautiful as that in the whole of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia' – and that's a huge area. . If that isn't finesse, I don't know what is. [Swipe left to see a closeup]

I’ve been eating my way through KL and @entierfrenchdining at Alila Bangsar is the latest entrant in the rapidly developing scene. It’s opened by veteran chef Masashi Horiuchi — whose resume includes L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon in London; the man behind Shelter In The Woods (which I sorely miss since it closed) and Sakurazaka in Singapore. His food in KL is just as good, and makes me miss Shelter even more. Until I write a proper review on the interwebs, here’s a peek at what I loved that night: dark chocolate macarons for petit fours made with Pahang origin chocolate by @chocconcierge. The squares perched on top? Dark chocolate truffles laced with orange zest. I’ve had Pahang-origin chocolate multiple times now as a bar, truffle, and desserts at two restaurants (@restaurantnouri and @dewakanmy), on top of interviewing the owner back during my Michelin Guide days. It delivers every single time and was perfect when eaten as a ganache piped in between macaron shells. Note that I don’t normally enjoy macarons — they’re so sweet it’s almost vulgar but Chef Masashi’s team has managed to tame the sugar monstrosity with the complex, brooding quality of the chocolate, and in doing so, sent us into the night well on a bittersweet note.

Throwback to that time I wandered around the streets of Milan with @victoriacheng and @kloren1023 while savouring this delicious gelato made with Sicilian pistachios. Thank you @travisgoh for introducing and educating me on the wonders of this magic ingredient!

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Dining dispatches from Southeast Asia, and beyond.

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Nasi ulam: A herbed rice recipe that’s easy, nutritious and delicious
Modern Malaysian cuisine blooms in the kitchens of Beta KL
Photoessay: Saturday morning at a Malaysian Farmer’s Market
Gaggan’s head chef Rydo Anton hopes to represent Indonesia to scale new heights
The definitive directory of ceramic studios and makers in Southeast Asia

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