"The fluffy steamed bun returns"
Kok Ee Choon started Yik Mun in Malaysia after closing his coffee shop on Hainan Island, China. Along the old interstate route connecting Ipoh to KL, his small shop started with the kaya pau. At the same time his kopitiam opened its doors, the Sultan Idris Training College opened as well. Since Yik Mun was one of the only coffee joints in the vicinity, it became the 'place to hang out'.
Yik Mun is now run by a 3rd generation Kok Family, Kok Jek Ming. The steamed pau's now come in four flavours which are chicken curry, beef curry, red bean and coconut jam (kaya). Chicken or beef curry filling has a slightly sourish curried taste that is deliciously wrapped in the fluffy bun. I love my red bean filling sweeter and my kaya generously runnier so Yik Mun's version of these are not my favourites.
True to being a Hailam kopitiam, they serve a variety of other kopitiam dishes such as Mee Hainan, Wantan Mee, King Prawn Mee and Soft Boiled Eggs. Go for the Mee Hainan, a bestseller. Yellow noodles drenched in dark soya sauce and fried with fishballs and prawns are just delicious. The soya gravy has a nice seafood taste.
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"Sambal paru that's tender and moist..."
It's 7 am and I'm stuffing myself with a plate of 'Nasi Lemak Paru'. Only the thought of paru (cow lungs) cooked in sweet spicy sambal would entice me to get out of bed this early in the morning. Serve it with nasi lemak and I'm up and out the door like Speedy Gonzales.
The sambal paru here consists of thinly sliced paru that is fried and then sautéed with chillies and onions. This is quite similar to 'daging dendeng' but paru is used instead of the usual beef strips. Bits of onions and chillies cling to the paru pieces like super glue, their surfaces slick with spicy sambal. Two types of paru I like, the ones fried crispy and the ones like this, soft and slightly chewy. Its savoury meaty flavour mixed with the sambal go so well with the rich steamed nasi lemak.
The owner, Nizam or more affectionately known as Abang Zam has been serving nasi lemak to the residents of Taman Melur for the past 14 years. He wakes up at 4.30am to prepare the rice, sambal and lauks. He cooks it at home and sells it at his humble cafe almost every morning. Modifying his sister-in-law's recipe (she sells nasi lemak nightly at the cafe), his nasi lemak is now a firm favourite amongst the early-risers living nearby. If 'paru' is not your thing, there's a choice of cockles, squid sambal or chicken rendang for sale too. Zaam Instant Cafe also serves roti canai and roti telur.
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"Mama's cooking gone native!"
Native cooking is all about fresh ingredients and fuss free cooking. At Cafe Sumai Indai, resident cook and owner Ramina or more lovingly known as Indai, whips up authentic Iban dishes that you usually find in a longhouse.
One of the signature dishes here is the 'Ayam Pansuh'. This is a dish that requires minimal prepping. Chicken pieces, tapioca leaves, ginger and torch ginger flower are mixed together and cooked in a bamboo. The secret is not to add water since bamboo already has a high moisture content. Water would just dilute and mute the flavours. Instead of barbecuing the bamboo, Indai cooks it directly on her stove. She takes it off the fire when the chicken aroma starts to fill up her kitchen. That's when you know it's done!
When you slurp the broth, it slides down your throat like your mum's chicken soup. Bitter tapioca leaves and tender chicken chunks are infused with hints of ginger, warming up your tummy like a cosy blanket. This is great for those cold, rainy monsoon nights. Indai also makes pork, fish and even duck pansuh if chicken's not your thing.
If you are an adventurous epicurean, the shark umai will be right up your alley. Strips of shark fillets are marinated in a combination of chillies, ginger, lime and onions. Once the flesh transforms from translucent to opaque, it's ready to be eaten. This is a Melanau dish that is now a common lunchtime 'lauk' served in most homes across Sarawak. The raw fish will absorb the citrusy juice and the chillies giving you a tangy and spicy hit with each mouthful. Eat it the traditional way- with some sago pearls. This is a great alternative to rice if you want to have a lighter meal. They serve both here.
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"Tongue tingling!"
If you ask any chilli pan mee fanatic where they can find the best bowl of the stuff you will always hear two names, Kin Kin and Super Kitchen. It’s been a battle that has gone on for years. If you ask me though, I will say that they both have a different taste overall and I pick between the two depending on my mood.
Super Kitchen has many outlets around the city, which makes it very convenient. The way they keep the standards of their pan mee up is to produce the specialty chilli in one central location and send it out to the other outlets daily. With quality control like this it’s no wonder that they have a delicious product.
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"Great vegetarian food!"
If you’re looking for hearty Indian vegetarian food that even meat lovers will enjoy then look no further as this spot has a multitude of delicious dishes to pick from. The menu boasts over 300 authentic dishes along with some of their own special creations.
Founder, P. Rajagopal opened up his first branch in India 30years ago. Eventually his sons Shiva Kumar and Saravanan joined him in the business and it has grown tremendously since. The first one in Malaysia was the Bangsar outlet that opened up in 2003 and the most recent one is the Brickfields restaurant, which opened up last year. Their success has spread worldwide with 27 outlets in India and 30 across the globe in 10 countries. The recipe for their success has been their passion for serving authentic and delicious high quality vegetarian food.
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"Absolutely delicious!"
With hot and mostly sunny days like ours, ice cream should be a daily affair, especially if it is as delectable as what Buckets churns out. Back in the day ice cream was traditionally churned in a wooden bucket; this is where the new player in the artisanal ice cream market gets their name.
While the ice cream here feels rich and creamy on the tongue, it’s actually made in a healthier way using top quality ingredients. They replace the cream with palm fats and gelatine isn’t used as a stabiliser for texture. Their ice cream is trans fat and preservative free meaning there is no fatty aftertaste or waxy coating on the tongue, just pure smoothness and a depth of flavour. The ingredients selected are the finest to ensure quality such as actual Oreo pieces in the cookies and cream, real Tahitian vanilla bean for the waffle cones, strawberries from France, chocolate from Belgium and more. Even the sorbets are made using the fruit pulp for pure taste and texture instead of using artificial flavouring. This keeps many of the vitamins and minerals intact meaning that the ice cream is not only healthier than the regular variety but it provides you with goodness too!
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"Honest good food!"
The massive chunk of duck thigh sits in a reddish brown gravy, absorbing the myriad of spices in the dish. A heady aroma hits you as you take a whiff. You try it, expecting something familiar but it's different. The gravy is slightly tangier than a normal curry and though it has an almost rendang-like consistency, it has a milder coconut taste.
This is the Itik Sammah, Dawood Restaurant's signature dish for the past 73 years. Sammah is actually what the thick and exotic gravy is called in Tamil. Syed Aliar, the current owner of Dawood says he uses duck because it has tons of flavour compared to chicken. The meat is also gamier and richer. Another firm favourite is the roast chicken. The chicken is tender, juicy and tongue-tingling hot, the result of hours of roasting with lots of chillies and onions. Other specialties available at Dawood are the quail curry and fried chicken.
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"Great food and ambience!"
Subak is an ancient irrigation system that's been used in Bali to transfer water from the hills to the paddy fields. It was his fascination with this system that prompted Haji Salleh Lamsah to name his restaurant Subak.
Nestled in lush greenery, Subak is the tranquil culinary escape for city dwellers looking to get close to nature. Dining areas are named after rooms you can find in a traditional Malay kampung house, so you can choose to dine at anjung, (porch), serambi (balcony), kolam (pond) or loteng (attic). The main area where the buffet stations are set up is called rumah, of course.
Helmed by Chef Hassan Abdullah, Subak's kitchen churn out classic Malay cuisine as well as western dishes like the Lamb Shank Masala and Black Cod Fish, which are a couple of Subak's popular dishes. Their Nasi Goreng is also a great hit, last month, they served 170 plates of their Nasi Goreng.
For Ramadan, they've lined out an impressive buffet menu, rotating dishes throughout the month so if you like a particular dish that Subak serves, call them first so you'll know what day to come. During my buffet, the main dishes were Telur Itik Masak Lemak Pucuk Ubi, Udang Goreng Kunyit Berempah and Daging Hitam. There were also beef soup and stirfry vegetables.
Telur Itik Masak Lemak Pucuk Ubi consists of duck eggs cooked with tapioca leaves in coconut-turmeric gravy. The duck eggs are poached, so when you cut through the yolk, it's still creamy and oozing with flavour. The tapioca leaves add a slight bitterness to the rather rich dish.
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"Pure gula Melaka is key!"
There seems to be a lack of good putu piring in the world today. I scour Pasar Ramadhans and all I see is the same tired popia's and yellow stacks of tepung talam plastic containers. The one or two lone stalls I uncover are a study in puny, stodgy morsels with too little gula Melaka- one tasted like sweetened dust. Dust… anyone? Anyone…dust…?
“Would you pay 90 sen for putu piring?” I asked around. Most say they would if it were the real deal. Good putu piring to me is soft, a little moist with generous gula Melaka within. Not all of it is melted; there should be chunks that you can still chew for a moment before it happily dissolves on your tongue. Beneath it the grated coconut must be fresh, dewy not dry adding a jolt of saltiness to the sweetness.
Alas KL-ites, I’m afraid this putu piring is in Melaka. And I am having urges to drive there after buka. This is the putu piring that I want right now, anytime, any day. I want to hold the hot steamy little things in my palm. I want to feel it between my teeth, in my mouth, down my throat.
Mr. Pang who runs this barely there stall with his wife and family has been doing this for 33 years. And it’s good business. The house behind he keeps as a base to sell his kuih while his family now stays elsewhere. They open about 7.30 and by 10pm you'd be lucky to get any.
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"Get your assam laksa fix!"
O&S is a bit of an institution in Petaling Jaya. It’s got all the requisites of a corner kopitiam - chicken rice, pork rice, prawn wantan, prawn mee, and of course, assam laksa - and they’re all pretty top notch offerings. Some of these stalls have been here for about 20 years, like Mr Ooi who runs the assam laksa stall.
Hailing from Pulau Tikus, Mr Ooi and his family run a pretty tight ship. Serving bowls upon bowls of curry laksa and assam laksa in this nameless stall (just look for the stall next to the chicken rice near the front), he barely takes a break preparing ingredients as his wife readies the noodles and his son rushes about filling orders.
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