This year we celebrate small stuff: the tiny gadget that puts stray beansprouts in place or those that cost next to nothing: a pocket notebook to jot down all your favourite grazing spots. We applaud a daddy who cooks with his small son, a portable stove that saves moolah on trips and a shop that sells most things at RM5. Then there’s the stupidly creative: origami projects (just need paper!) or often overlooked: local flat fish (about RM2 for a handful) fried in batter and breadcrumbs with lots of Sarson’s vinegar drizzled on top.

Of course there are books, sites and eateries we can’t get enough of and a rather erotic scene involving a crustacean- but none that really breaks the bank. We realize that it’s a year that many people had to tighten their belts so here’s to simple pleasures, penny-wise delights and the realization that the best and delicious things in life are those shared… with lots of buttercream icing on top of course…

Favourite Favours

1/ Belacan wedding favours

Chocolate hearts are so last year! When Penang lass Li Ann tied the knot with Baba-born Benji they gave special heart-shaped belacan wedding favours. Now that’s what we call funky!

Favourite D-I-Y

2/ Durian origami

Sonobes… polyhedron… hours spent with paper cuts. Pain-staking yet one has to admit, impressive. Okay we admit it- we’re origanerds.

Favourite Handbag Filler

3/ Buku 555

Everyone should have this in their bags- err… not to tally debts or store your bookie’s emergency number but to remind you of makan places you’ve yet to try. Note down a place when it crosses your path and whip it out when the question, ‘where to makan today ah?’ crosses your lips. But of course you can just bookmark our site too.

Favourite Cheapie

4/ Pagoda T-shirt

Bring back the pagoda baby! In the world of fickle fashion, this stalwart has stood the test of time- just ask your neighbourhood CKT man! Cheap, cooling in humid weather and makes coveted door gifts! Fashion is cyclical afterall…

Favourite Life-Saver

5/ Super POWER TC-350, Dual Voltage Travel Cooker

Just plug this into any hotel room socket, you have yourselves a small kitchenette to cook up a small dinner. From reheating Brahim's pouch curries and ayam brand sardines to instant mushroom soup- it can provide cost saving meal options for travellers and at the same time curing cravings for local food. Adly our head honcho went to local markets, bought fresh scallops, fish and handmade tagliatelli, went back to his room and cooked up a small storm. At 350watts and weighing about 500gms, this is a must have appliance for cost conscious travellers and food adventurers alike.

Art and Media

From toast to prawns and dinner with some rather scary females there are many things that we love from the artistic world this year. Here’s the top of our list.

Favourite Art Installation:

6/ Dinner Party

Who would you invite to a fantasy feminist dinner party? What deco? What plates? Judy Chicago takes up the challenge with this incredible art installation from the 70’s. The guest-list reads famous women in myth and history from goddesses like Kali (can you pass the salt and gravy and mustard and poke Godiva?) to artists like Virginia Woolf. Each lady has special embroidered place mats and individual china with flowers in various vulva ripeness. Insanely fascinating.

Favourite Music Video

7/ OK Go toast video clip

We sure hope that they threw one heck of a PB&J party after shooting this video. 2430 slices of bread should not have been toasted in vain. In reality the video for Last Leaves used loaves that were past their sell-by date, saved from the bin for their 2 seconds of fame.

Favourite TV Show

8/ Man vs. Food

Hey Adam! Come on over. We dare you to a banana leaf eat-off. This show is like a traffic accident, you don’t think you want to watch it, but you just can’t look away.

Favourite Movie Scene

9/ The Prawn scene from I am Love

This prawnographic scene was so salivated; we just had to see it for ourselves. But it’s all in the eating thanks to screen chameleon Tilda Swinton who exuded so much sexual energy even Instyle quoted ‘men might want to come back in their next lives as crustaceans’.

Favourite Local Short Film

10/ Rojak

15 Malaysia truly got our attention at how talented our filmmakers are. This video stands out, not only because of the ‘Through a Scanner Darkly’ animation style but also the sentiment- community integration from a rojak mamak point of view.

Favourite Viral Video

11/ Digi Sambal Belacan Viral

What is not to love about a chubby guy in various guises talking about sambal belacan? One of the best viral campaigns to come out of the overdone 1Malaysia sycophantic hysteria.

Books

Our little library is growing nicely but here's the thing. There are SO MANY yummy books out there, we might have to (NO!) cut our grocery budget to buy them all. Here are some that stood out on our shelves this year.

Favourite Random Facts Book

12/ Schotts Food and Drink Miscellany

Things that have caused Homer Simpson to drool…Mmm...'? Robert Burns address to the haggis? How the 4 other kids lost the competition for Wonka's factory or food that famous people have choked on? All the things you never knew you never knew about food.

Favourite Book with a Twist

13/ Kafka's Soup

“My two favourite things!” Honey, the content chief drools: food and literature. Recipes are written in the style of famous writers. So you get a roast lamb recipe ala Raymond Chandler in noir script or you learn how to make eggs tarragon in Austen-speak i.e 'it is a truth universally acknowledged that eggs, kept for far too long, go off…'- And yeah, the recipes work too.

Favourite Coffee Table Book

14/ What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets

In a world of cool ideas- this is one of the coolest. Photographing the world’s diet in pictures from the low end (Masai herder: 800 cals a day) to the mind-boggling high (Snacker Mom:12,600 cals daily). Sure makes you feel grateful for our good fortune in the food we eat on a daily basis.

Favourite Food Musings

15/ Tapai

At first we just got it because the cover was so cool! Style of writing is conversational so you can imagine sitting and chatting with the author in a coffeeshop. “I learnt so many things about Malaysian food from this one book!” Ebee our Indonesian designer grins.

Favourite Recipe Book

16/ River Cottage Bread Book

It has been a bit of a challenge to graduate from this book. Graduate meaning- have tried at least 80% of the recipes in a book. Compact and informative, you might think making bread is intimidating but somehow in the relaxed River Cottage style, it makes you think you can do it. All recipes work and nothing makes you feel more like a cook than kneading calluses.

Websites

Oh so many great websites out there! And all so pretty… here are some that we can’t resist clicking on when we feel the need for a bit of online inspiration.

I’m a broke student but I want to eat well

17/ sortedfood.com

This jammy site focuses on simple recipes for students. It’s a real gem chock full of not only food ideas but also video delivery ideas. Ooo plus the website is very ‘lawa’.

I want to get krafty

18/ designsponge.com

Granted it’s not quite a food website but their ideas are cool and accessible. Plus you need nifty things to put your plates and glasses on and boxes to wrap around those homemade cookies. For more ambitious DIY freaks, how about a whole new dining area to offset the lovely food you serve? “There’s a lot of great colour ideas as well for food matching and styling,” enthuses Sjaiful, our in-house chef.

I want to ogle at cool food photos

19/ whatkatieate.blogspot.com

Great use of typewritten font and photo skills, this is a truly fun blog. It’s got great recipes and beautiful quirky-styled food. Katie keeps her words at a minimum and lets her lush photography do all the talking.

I need to listen to a deep voice describing a burger

20/ cheeseandburger.com

This website never fails to put a smile on our faces. It celebrates the greatest asset in a burger: cheese. Sure its Wisconsin Cheese specifically but we dare you not to get a foodgasm rifling through this website. The photos are screen-biting delicious and narration that goes with the website is classic. Who is this dude? We reckon he’s the ayahanda of the Cheese and Burger society…

I want to watch a small child messing with food

21/ mydaddycooks.com

It’s super cute watching 2 year old Archie and his dad whip up easy recipes in the kitchen although half the ingredients often end up in the tot’s mouth! Goes to show it’s not about how grand or awesome your recipes are but whom you share the experience with.

Eateries

Gossip spots, guilty pleasures or just sheer gluttony. Whatever the excuse there are some places this year we can’t help sneaking off to when our schedules permit. Here’re the main spots our stomachs call home.

Romancing the Scone

22/ The Haute Food Co

The scones here have become so popular, they often run out even before teatime. They are buttery, insanely addictive especially eaten with clotted cream and jam. There’s also delicious baked goodies here, scrummy sandwiches and great specials so give them a go too. Chef Li laughs, “I actually don’t like baking scones all that much but my customers just keep coming back for them!”

Good Willy Hunting

23/ Willy Satay

The beef satay is melt-in-your mouth and the chicken is scrumptious. They still serve ketupat rather than nasi empit and the kuah kacang’s great too. Ayin, daughter of the founder cheekily said, “satay sini sedap sampai terangkat… macam willy…” Oookay then…

Raging Ball

24/ Shin Kee

Has there ever been a more perfect meal? Slippery noodles, intense aromatic broth, tender beef slices, springy beef balls, and the magical beef mince. "Life didn't have meaning before Shin Kee", sighs food researcher, Alia. “Best of all everything we do here is pork-free including the mince that’s usually pork and no one complains,” Anthony the next-gen beef-baller clarifies.

The Sound of Nasi

25/ D'Cengkih

Nasi lemak, nasi ambang, old-style snacks like lempeng, lopes and ubi kayu rebus- pretty much everything here is sedap. And it's also on our list because on weekends they have live music. “Sometimes I find street musicians and get them to play here,” Halifah the owner remarks, “then they start getting offers to play elsewhere, last night this violinist I found played for the Sultan of Kedah.”

Steam: Part 1, 2, 3 and 4

26/ KJ Steam Burger

Since this post came up, narry a week goes by without someone calling us, asking us for directions to the stall. Unfortunately, the folks here are from a ‘suka hati Bapak aku’ school of thought so sometimes with a serious hankering for the burger, we’ll get here only to find out that it’s not open. “We make our own black pepper sauce too,” says Mad who with his brother steams, charcoal grills, butters and dips nonchalantly. The oblong biasa is to die for.

27. Japan Attack!

We dug many things from the land of the rising sun this year- we call it the 3Ms- movies, manga and makan!

Movies: Udon + Tampopo
When it comes to sentimental food movies, no one does it quite like the Japanese. Tampopo, a classic in our books is about two milk truck drivers helping out a lady to make the best ramen. Udon evethough mawkish in some places is just so maddeningly charming. Worse still it makes you crave a bowl of udon.

Which is where Sanuki Udon comes in.
This is where the best cheapie discovery of the year (thanks Meena) Sanuki Udon is, fresh udon (for as low as RM5!) made daily with juicy yakitori and new favourites like Nihon Kai are. Move over Mont Kiara and Hartamas, Taman Desa is the new little Japan.

And of course nothing gives us more of a hankering for all things Japanese food than Oishinbo. This is a manga on Japanese food and cooking. Absolutely fascinating and apparently the original in Japanese went up to 100 issues. We are happy for the few that has been translated. Imagine that, there’s an entire compilation just on rice…

"It's those little things that count..."

Food

Sometimes it’s too obvious to put food in our list. But the fact remains every year; we get our teeth around the most amazing things. We want you to get to know them intimately too.

Battle-snack

28/ Kompia

We discovered this in Sibu. Dubbed the Chinese bagel- it’s unleavened bread stuffed within an inch of its life with meat. But you can also get plain ones that you can toast and spread butter on it. Best eaten hot. Apparently a general invented it during the Ming dynasty. The hole in the center is so that a warrior can thread a string through it and tie it around his neck in case the munchies hit between sword thrusts.

Eggs-tascy

29/ Cencaluk Omelette

Hot, crispy egg curling at the corners yet moist inside with onions and chillies redolent with the salty-brininess of cencaluk. Need we say more?

Hot-stuff

30/ Sambal from Ulam

Our food editor has been raving about this so much, we had to put it in the list. We’re still waiting for some Alex…

Childish-glee

31/ Last Polka

One word: nostalgic. Peanut butter, horlicks, teh tarik and more - all the cosy flavours of childhood and home. We dare you not to fall in love with (or into) their tubs of creamy goodness.

Perk-me-up

32/ Coffee - Kluang + Melbourne

Our office is coffee mad. On the local side, we can’t get enough of the heady blend from Kluang, further afield, we fell a little in love with the coffee and tea stall at Victoria market in Melbourne. “It’s awesome!” enthuses James, our video dude. “I got a 250gm packet of ground Colombian and immediately bought a coffee press. My friends were impressed!”

33. Playing with our food

Fruit Ninja: The ultimate stress-busting game, bar none. All the power of slicing flying fruits without having to clean up a big mess afterwards. Put on a ninja mask to really get into it! exclaims Alia.

I beg to differ, Honey chips in…

Bad Apples: I still can't stop playing this. I just want to make good juice all day and hear the disembodied voice say 'JUICY'...

No seriously, James interjects Plants v.s Zombies is the bomb.

You plant plants like catapult cabbage, corn, watermelons, pea shooters, star fruits, squash, and many more to defeat a barrage of zombies in your backyard. What more fun could you ask for?

Let's just say we spend a LOT of time playing useless food games.

Favourite Street

34/ Lebuh Ampang - Rice, Roti and Rocking noodles

Foodie heaven in the heart of Kuala Lumpur! Here is where you can find the only roti banjir special, stall in wall that serves wicked shawerma, satay world in a 80 year old pre-merdeka kopitiam that also serves some old-skool mee hailam, best pasar malam in kl on a saturday night, a kakak that cooks mee goreng mamak for like 15 years in a unnamed mamak shop in Jalan Bunus, best capati around the corner, nasi padang with gulai tembusu, fresh susu kambing with jelly, alleys and alleyways that serves finest chinese chicken rice, ipoh hakka yong tau foo, fruit stalls, karipuffs and kaya puffs to the famous beef ball noodles and the list goes on… yeah our CD Riz said all this in one breath.

Favourite Local Destination

35/ Terengganu - Kopi, Keropok and ikan!

The coastal drive from Cherating onwards is a gastro-trip! A must-stop at Hai Peng- for grilled roti benggali then Tong Juan for stuffed crab claws. Next soldier on to fabulous butter prawns at C.B Wah near Tanjung Jara, (if you’re lucky before that you can get the famous Kerteh durians). Kuala Terengganu- grilled fish at Yellow House, superb Terengganu fare at Meka or Pasar Payang for simple nasi dagang onto Batu Rakit where you can feed on sotong goreng, fresh keropok lekor and juicy satar by the beach. Follow the coastal road onto to Penarik where the best laksam in the world is available in the early hours of the morning- also with seaview. Rock on to Tembilar where Kedai Mek Ani, has great Malay food and pengat durian and on weekends Kuala Besut has an excellent market where you can get all kinds of interesting stuff from Terengganu’s interior. Just one thing: you MUST love fish.

Favourite Overseas Destination

36/ Brooklyn - Papoosas, Pizzas and Peach Cobbler

Bless you Erin and Alan for bringing us to friggin’ awesome Soul Spot, our top place to eat while in Brooklyn. Adly went back 5 times to scoff down Southern Soul and Carribean food like mac and cheese, jerk chicken, southern fried chicken, BBQ beef ribs and peach cobbler. Chef Yaya is from Gambia so everything here is also Halal! They also introduced us to papoosas, a favourite food discovery of the year. It’s from an El Salvadorian foodtruck at Red Hooks- a taco shell filled with meat, jalapenos, cheese and a spicy cabbage. Also Brooklyn is home to pizza legends Frascati, D’Farrars and Grimaldi’s, fresh lobsters down near Russian Sheepshead Bay and Lorelei B & B where we stayed and got served the best breakfast ever by Rob.

People

This year we will gladly stand up and give a round of applause to these paragons of taste and style.

Favourite Local Dude

37/ Baba Ee

He runs marathons, cooks the most wonderful Nyonya dishes and makes his own cencaluk and belacan. Is there anything this man cannot do? We spent an illuminating day with him, starting at daybreak with geragau fishing to a tasty cencaluk omelette in the afternoon. And his wish, “I want all these young chicos to learn how to make cencaluk and belacan, or else one day it will be lost.” All hail Babe Ee! The Running Chef.

Favourite Overseas Lass

38/ Susan Spungen

What do movies Julie and Julia, It’s Complicated and Eat, Pray, Love have in common? They both have memorable food scenes. And the woman behind the pasta dish that Julia Roberts orgasmed over or the duck that Amy Adams had to truss, and the chicken Meryl Streep stabbed is this lady. Hardly anything you see on-screen is fake, she made 50 cakes for EPL, 50 chickens for Complicated and still kept her passion for food.

Favourite Food Ambassador

39/ Rasa Malaysia

She’s been tirelessly promoting Malaysian food on her blog. It’s full of fantastic photography and mouth-watering recipes. And her family are all foodies and proud Penangites. They even run food tours in Penang.

Gadgets

Ah… gadgets, this year we celebrate the small things that impressed us and made us wonder at the minds that created the mix of function and aesthetics.

Curvy Bombshell

40/ Bormioli Rocco Glass bowl

So sexy… we’ve shot so many dishes in it and everything it holds looks stonking excellent. For a RM50 bowl it makes things look RM500 on screen.

Agile Dancer

41/ Tweezers

An essential tool in a food stylist’s bag. You need the delicate pinching action to make noodles look pretty or arrange condiments scattered dishes in a carefree-styled way. So small and yet so mighty.

Cutting Agent

42/ Nut Chopper

This is one of the best things to come from the practical mind of Marta Stewart in her arsenal of kitchen helpers. Don’t you hate it when nuts fly off the board as you try to chop it? This nifty gadget just lets you churn out chopped nuts in two variables: fine or coarse.

Elegant Maid

43/ Porridge Stirrer

“I found this in Scotland and thought, wow someone thought to invent something just to perfectly stir porridge.” Aida our Chef in Residence is amazed. And it is a perfect tool for both thick oatmeal and runny congee. It prevents clumping and gets all the bits and pieces in porridges evenly distributed.

Kitchen Guard

44/ Kuhn Rikon Kinderkitchen Dog Knife with Teeth

A great invention for 4-year-old Jamie and Rachel Ray wannababies. The cutting knife is kid-safe and in shape of a dog! The tail prevents the knife from slipping, ears act as hand-guard, the nose is blunt and teeth is serrated- so it cuts sandwiches easily but not wee fingers. The only thing it doesn’t do is bark! Also available are other ‘animal’ appliances like mouse measurement cups, birdie spoons and crocodile tongs.

Favourite Recipe

45/ Quick buttercream frosting

Goes great on every cake, light enough not to give that sickly aftertaste, not too sweet and easy to spread. 5 egg whites. 1 1/8 cup castor sugar. 1 tsp vanilla and 500g butter. Stir egg whites and sugar on a double boiler until mixed- 3 mins. Beat vanilla and butter (a tablespoon at a time) until creamy. Done.

Favourite Ingredient

46/ Ikan Lidah

This fish is frequently overlooked but it’s so sweet, perfect for deep-frying and you can eat them all, even the bones! And so cheap! You can get a kilo for less than RM5- this gives you over 30 fishies.

Favourite Store

47/ Daiso

We know we’ve lauded all things Japanese but this store deserves it’s own number. We’ve spent many happy hours browsing this store. All sorts of bowls and plates for props, snacks lost in translation, kitchen stuff, showercaps, tupperwares, polka dot umbrellas and more knick knacks than you could swing a cat at. And everything for RM5! A cheapskate’s wonderland.

Favourite Trend

48/ Go green the foodie way

We’ve started Meatless Mondays (with a few hiccups here and there) and attempted to make kitchen enzyme from scraps. Most supermarkets now have BYO bags or you can get some snazzy ones with great design. Bring your own chopsticks or tupperware out. Eat banana leaf, because the plates are biodegradable plates and your fingers are utensils. Even during the Penang bridge run they used biodegradable corn-starch cups at drinking stations. No matter how small, every bit counts.

49. Malaysian chefs rule!

Masterchef, Kitchen Millionaire- we’ve been giving the world a taste of our food. Remember Poh Ling- runner up for Masterchef using petai in her otak-otak? Then there’s Adam Liaw- winner of the 2nd Masterchef that made Asian inspired dishes like Hainanese lobster rice. In the UK- Jennie Cook made top 5 in Kitchen Millionaire with her Penang curry mee. And Malaysian restaurant Laut in New York just got our first Michelin star. Huzzah!

Favourite Project

50/ LOVE your Street Food

Hands down our LySF. We rediscovered our own love of street food when we launched this campaign. It spanned three months, spawned countless designs, videos and social network quips. This is our roots, the reason for our website’s existence though it has now grown to so much more. LySF is our little love note, our homage to those who have fed us so well through the years; plus we get to give them an award too!

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