The perfect meal, as Tony Bourdain once wrote, is rarely just about the meal itself. I’m inclined to agree - the best steak in the world eaten while sitting across my mortal enemy would not be the best steak in the world. Many of my perfect meals consist of reheated rice, sambal belacan, and some ulam picked from the garden... at midnight. But I digress. Let me tell you about a perfect meal that I had recently..
The FC designer and I were up in Penang last week to sniff out some good eats. We had, after a couple of days, already run through the regular mill of nasi kandar, assam laksa, ais tingkap, etc. Fish head curry was next on this extensive list. After getting a few lukewarm recommendations from folks around us, we turned to Lord Google, who pointed us in the direction of Paya Terubong. With no GPS in hand, we plowed on anyway - getting stuck in after-office traffic on roads traversing acres of graveyards, the sun slowly sinking.
Finally, in the shadow of a giant Buddha statue, we saw it: Restoran 1288. Breathing a sigh of relief (that we didn’t get horrendously lost), we parked tidily in a spot that happened to be right next to the restaurant. Taking this as a good omen, we waded through the place to get to the fish head curry stall. The place is not your regular Chinese coffee shop, it’s a veritable food court. There are at least 20 stalls in and around Restoran 1288 and all of them look good. But we’re here on a mission: fish head curry.
"The gravy was incredible!"
The friendly middle-aged couple manning the stall helped us choose a shiny kerapu head, some veg, fried chicken, and waited. We were honestly wondering whether we could eat this meal as both my dinner companion and I had been rather unwell for a few days. Then a giant bowl is slapped down on our table. Magically, our tummies rumbled. Our appetites had returned!
Okra, tomatoes, fresh mint and raw onions obscured the fish. Steam escaped in between the roughage in sexy tendrils. I gently pushed them aside to reveal the fish, and boy, it did not disappoint. Half a head (as there was only two of us) but lots of meat still on the skull, and plenty of little nooks and crannies to tunnel through. I gave the eye to my companion and she happily sucked and slurped it up. The gravy was incredible. Just the tiniest hint of curry that gave it a quiet depth, yet wonderfully tangy and fresh.
The kangkung belacan was also quite delicious, crunchy stalks with juicy prawns peeking through the soft leaves. My dinner companion is hardly a vegetable lover but she ate this up in record time. The fried chicken was belacan-style as well, tender meat with crispy salty skin. Soon our plates were piled high with fish and chicken bones, picked absolutely clean. The aunty kept dropping by our table, asking if everything was alright and to our liking. We barely glanced up at her, grunting our approval through mouthfuls of the curry which we were drinking like soup.
After every speck of rice, meat and vegetable was gone, we leaned back and stereotypically rubbed our bellies in unison. It was already dark outside; we didn’t even notice! We hailed the aunty down to sit with us and raved about her curry. She grinned, telling us that her nyonya mother taught her how to cook. “The best cooking teachers are our mothers, aren’t they?” I agreed with her. We waved goodbye about three times, reassuring her that we would come back whenever we were in Penang.
It was a perfect meal in many ways. It was the end of a road trip, our first together. It was the first real meal we had since we fell sick. It was the culmination of many months of working together and now really becoming friends instead of just colleagues. It was all the jokes and trials and tribulations we had gone through over the past few days. My dinner mate glances out the window at the graveyards on the drive back. “Maybe they all died from how awesome the fish head curry was.” Laughing heartily, we took the (extremely) scenic route back to our hostel in Georgetown. The night wasn’t over yet.
More Photos To Drool On
Bright green and delicious
Cheers - you guys struck gold !
by JonFebruary 16, 2011 10:07PM
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Foodster's Verdict
Fish Head Curry at Kedai 1288
Taste
Address:
Restoran 1288, Jalan Paya Terubong, 11060 Pulau Pinang Tel:
Open:
Daily; 6pm - 1 am
Pros:
The best fish head curry you’ll have on any budget.
Cons:
The roads are long and winding; keep a sharp eye out for road signs.
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Cheers - you guys struck gold !
by Jon February 16, 2011 10:07PM
You must be logged in to post comments