The nasi lemak brunch....

It’s that time of the year again. Its Christmas time and I get to play dress up and attend my wife’s departmental Christmas party. Since I don’t work, I spend most of my time in jeans and t-shirts (and thermals and sweaters in the winter), so I don’t get the chance to dress up very often. Over the weekend, we went to the Malaysian Association of the Netherlands Annual Gala Dinner and we decided to dress up for that. This is us before the event:

Before the Gala Dinner... we looked goooood

Besides that, I’m stuck for ideas. I've spent the whole morning just hanging out at my favorite watering hole, the Coffee Company at Korteporten in Den Haag, and followed that up with walking around aimlessly for another hour or so. Then I came home and spent the last 2 hours reading comments on articles posted on a website dedicated to Liverpool Football Club (I read the articles in 15 minutes). Now I’m just waiting for the time to get ready and head off the Louwman Museum for the Christmas party.

Since I’m not doing anything else, I thought I might as well write about the events over the past weekend, particularly Sunday when we had our nasi lemak brunch. As I mentioned in the last post, I left the invitation open, anyone who wanted to attend would just have to read the post and let me know that they were coming. You’d think with that type of invitation, I’d probably have to cook for 100 people. But not here in Den Haag, I had a guest list of 5 and a half and even then, at the last minute, someone couldn't make it.

So I was left with Fazrin, Merlyna, Siti and Shaukatt being the 4 and little Khaleef making up the half. Brunch was scheduled to start at 11.00 and at 8.30 that morning, my wife got a message from Siti telling us that she was already hungry and couldn't wait to come over. I hadn't even started cooking yet.

The guests. From top to bottom: Fazrin & Merlyna, Siti  & Shaukatt, and Khaleef

 It usually takes me about an hour to cook nasi lemak, but this time I had to allocate a bit more time because I was planning to serve fried chicken with the nasi lemak. I started cooking at 9.30 and by 10.30 I was done with the nasi lemak. At 11.00, Siti, Shaukatt and Khaleef arrived.  I was only half way through cooking the chicken so I could feel the daggers coming from Siti as she was probably expecting to eat immediately upon arrival.

In a way, I was feeling a bit under pressure. This would be the first time I was going to cook nasi lemak for friends since I started writing this blog. I knew expectations were going to be high. As we sat down to eat, I grew more anxious and nervous. What if it turned out to be a disaster?

After my first bite, my fears quickly disappeared. It was exactly how I liked my nasi lemak. The rice was perfectly cooked, not too creamy or heavy and the sambal had the right balance of hot, sweet, sour and salty. Everything tasted right. I got confirmation of that when Siti asked if she could take some of the sambal home if we had extra.

The fried chicken on the left and the sambal on the right

But what really brought a smile to my face was that we almost finished the rice. As a general rule, for the 2 of us, I normally cook about 1 cup of rice. If I’m feeling really hungry, about a cup and a quarter and even then we’re usually stuffed by the time we finish it. If I base my calculation on that rule, 4 cups of rice should have been enough for all of us. I added one extra cup just in case anyone was extra hungry. But then, when I poured the rice into the cooker, there wasn't much left in the bag, so I poured the whole thing in. In total, I cooked about 6 and a half cups. THAT WAS A LOT!!!!

Anyway, all in all, it was a success. I spent the rest of the day with Fazrin and Shaukatt watching football while my wife, Siti and Merlyna went shopping. They left Khaleef with us but being the nice boy that he is, he didn't create too much of a fuss and we managed to enjoy the games on the telly.  

Plans for the weekend...

It started snowing about an hour ago. That’s the first time snow has been sighted this year in Den Haag. For me, it’s not truly winter, until you see snowflakes drifting down past your windows. That’s the real sign of winter and a warning that the temperatures are going to drop further.

I have this love hate relationship with winter. I hate winter because every day is the same as the day before, it’s wet, windy and overall, very dreary. But I also love winter because it gives me the opportunity to put on my body hugging thermals and I DO look good in body hugging thermals. YES, I am that vain and I’m sure most of my friends will be able to testify to that fact (sometimes I can’t walk by a mirror without taking a peak at how good I look). It’s a shame that I always have to cover up the tight fitting thermals with a t-shirt or a sweater on top.

Anyway, since the weather is not very encouraging, I’m more or less stuck in the house for now. Rather than waste my time this morning watching the idiot box (I can do that later today), I've decided to make plans for the weekend. I've got a couple of friends staying over this weekend. They will be in Den Haag for the Malaysian Association of the Netherlands Annual Gala Dinner which will be held on the evening of Saturday, 8^th December 2012.

I have a lunch invitation on Saturday at a fellow Malaysian’s house somewhere in Den Haag (I haven’t got his address yet). In the afternoon, Fazrin Edzuan Jamaluddin and Merlyna Aillen Kraal will be arriving from Antwerp, Belgium, and we’ll all be attending the Gala Dinner that evening. Fazrin and Merlyna will be spending the night at our place. So my Saturday is fairly packed.

Sunday morning is usually tennis time. I joined this group of 6 Malaysians who play tennis on Sundays. So far, I've missed a few sessions because I was traveling and a couple of sessions had to be cancelled because we didn't have enough people as others were traveling too. For this Sunday, I’m not sure if tennis is on. Three of us will be attending the Gala Dinner, so we’re not entirely sure if we can get up early that Sunday morning to play tennis. And on top of that, another one of us will be traveling that weekend. So we might not have enough players. Then there’s always the weather which might put a dampener on our plans.

Rather than living with the uncertainty, I've decided to make my own plans this weekend. Since I have guests over this weekend, I have decided to make nasi lemak for brunch. It’s the perfect substitute. In this kind of weather, all you’d be doing is warming up, you won’t sweat much playing tennis. If you eat nasi lemak, and the sambal is hot enough, you will definitely break into a sweat. So in a way, it’s a better Sunday morning activity compared to tennis.

I already have 2 guests and I’m still contemplating on whether I should invite more.  I enjoy entertaining friends, but I do try to keep a limit on these kinds of invites. I like chatting and catching up with friends but I wouldn't enjoy the occasion if I have to shout at them from across the room. Taking this into account, I have decided that I should invite a few more people over for brunch. I think a limit of 8 or 10 people would be nice. I just need to figure out who I can invite. Maybe what I can do is just leave the invitation open. Anyone who reads this post is welcome as long as places are available. All they have to do is just inform my wife or me that they would like to come. First come, first serve.

Now that my plans for the weekend have been settled, all I have to do is figure out what to do for the rest of the day. Maybe this afternoon, if the clouds stop pouring stuff that will make me wet, I might just drop by the gym (I think there’s too many maybes there). 

P.s. I haven't exactly cleared these plans with my wife. So, these plans are still subject to change

UK Trip (Part 3)

Yeay!!! There is a part 3 to this story. I didn't really expect there to be one as my writing depends on my mood. I guess I am in the mood to write but I don’t really have anything else to write about (Hint to Ida Faiz back in Malaysia). Before I go on, I think I should prepare everyone who reads this blog (all 12 of you) that if you’re looking for more rambling on nasi lemak in this post, you will be terribly disappointed. I won’t even be mentioning nasi lemak (except for these 1 or 2 instances). This post is more about the rest of my trip which doesn't involve any nasi lemak at all.

Just to let you know, today is the first day where the temperatures here in Den Haag has dropped below zero. That’s what my wife’s phone seems to say. I’m not sure what my phone says. Sometimes it gives a different temperature reading compared to my wife’s even though we both use the same brand of phone, with the same OS and the same app to check the temperature. Maybe the weather pattern is a bit different at her office (which is a staggering 2 kilometers away) than it is here in the comforts of my house.

Oh Yes! Back to my story. UK Trip Part 3.

Photo taken 2 years ago

I think in my last post I mentioned that we spent the night at Highworth, which is a small market town just 30 minutes from Swindon. I decided I wanted to have a light breakfast (not sure what my wife wanted to have but I noticed it wasn't very heavy either) as we were planning to head to Bath. My main aim to get to the historic city of Bath was to go to Sally Lunn’s House, home of the famous Bath Bun, which is located in the city center. We arrived just after 9.30 and headed straight there.

A bit of a history lesson. Sally Lunn was a Heguenot refugee who came to Bath in 1640 escaping French persecution. She found employment with a baker located in Lilliput Alley and introduced the creamy yet light and delicate bun which has now become famously known as the Bath Bun. The original and very secret recipe to this bun is now passed along together with the deeds to the house. Over the years, a lot of imitations have cropped up including the “London Bath Buns” but none have been able to match the deliciously light original Bath Bun.

The bun comes with a variety of toppings, sweet and savory. I have never tried any of the savory toppings such as the Smoked Salmon Bun, Roast Beef, Creamy Brie (this actually sounds interesting) or Welsh Rarebit. I have always gone for a sweet topping. In fact, I've only ever had one type of topping which is the Cinnamon Butter topping. The bun is served with a topping of melted cinnamon butter and a slice of lemon on top. When you look at it on your plate you wonder how could something so simple be so famous, but the moment you put it in your mouth, you feel as if there’s a small explosion mixing the sweet and salty cinnamon butter together with the crunchy and creaminess of the toasted bun. You just can’t help but to close your eyes and enjoy the sensations.

The famous Sally Lunn's Cinnamon Butter Bun

The Coffee and Walnut topping (pic courtesy of my wife)

My wife had the Coffee and Walnut topping which was equally as good. I had a small bite from her plate and I wished I had some more. Maybe I should have just ordered another one.

Left: The after effects of the floods.
Right: Cross Guns
(again pics courtesy of my wife)

After walking around Bath for a couple of hours (shopping, what else) we headed out to Avoncliff, which is a small village just a few miles from Bradford-Upon-Avon. Cross Guns is a typical English pub located in Avoncliff right next to the river Avon. Going there was a bit of a gamble as the area had experienced some heavy rains and had flooded the day before. The effects of this flooding were very obvious when we got to Cross Guns. A couple of their tables were in the river waiting to be fished out by the proprietor when the water level recedes further.

The menu at Cross Guns is fairly simple. It consists mainly of traditional English food. I had a meal here once 18 years ago and I remember it till today. That time, the steak was particularly memorable, but this time, the starter and desserts did it for me. For starters, I had the Cross Guns Mushrooms which were sliced mushrooms cooked in a creamy garlic sauce (couldn't take a photo of this as my phone had run out of batteries). This dish was absolutely divine. For dessert, I had the Spotted Dick, one of my favorite traditional English desserts. The Spotted Dick is a steamed suet pudding which consists of dried fruits served with a creamy custard sauce (once again, no photos of the one served). At Cross Guns, the pudding just melts in your mouth together with the creamy custard making it a very appetizing dessert.

The Cross Guns Mushroom. Absolutely delicious.
(Battery ran out so once again pic is courtesy of my wife)

Not the one that I had but it does look good

After Cross Guns, I was stuffed. We hadn't really made any plans for the afternoon.We had booked a hotel in Warwick for the night but e didn't really feel like heading straight straight there since it was still only after 3.00 in the afternoon. So we headed to Bicester Village an outlet shopping center located in the heart of Oxfordshire, for, surprise surprise, some more shopping. We spent almost 3 hours there, walked the entire breadth of the outlet village twice, and eventually arrived at our hotel in Warwick at almost 9.00 in the evening. Overall, it was a day of indulgence. In fact, the whole trip was about indulging ourselves. If we could find a place for a nice relaxing massage, the whole trip could have been a perfect pampering holiday.

P.s: To find out more about Sally Lunn's House and Cross Guns, visit their website. Here are the links:

Sally Lunn's House

Cross Guns

UK Trip (Part 2)

Before I continue on to Part 2 of my UK Trip, let me first apologize to Teddy and all my readers. I got the name of Teddy’s bistro slightly wrong in Part 1. It’s actually called the “Malay Cuisine and Bistro”. I only realized this last night when I visited their Facebook page to get some details of the bistro. A big APOLOGY for that mistake.

Moving on, after we finished our meal at the bistro, my wife and I headed to Liverpool. I was planning on catching a football game between my favorite team, Liverpool FC, and BSC Young Boys from Switzerland. Surprisingly, for someone who wasn't keen on watching a football game, my wife was more excited than me throughout the game. She made more commentaries about how the game was going on and about our defending. We should watch more games together (but maybe we should wait until it gets warmer).

The teams lining up at Anfield. Unfortunately we were on the opposite side

Overall, the game was an exciting one, but the end result wasn't good for us. The game ended in a 2 – 2 draw, and I have to say, we were very bad at defending. We took the lead twice and due to our lapse in defense, they equalized twice.

The next morning, we had planned to drive all the way down to Bath. I went to the University of Bath and had planned a visit to some of my old hunting grounds. The main purpose of going there was to go to Sally Lunn’s House and Cross Guns (more on those 2 later).

Somehow, after a shower and packing all our stuff, our plans changed. I remembered the menu board at Teddy’s place and started to wish that I had tried the nasi lemak. I suggested we drop by at Teddy’s place on the way south and my wife was quite enthusiastic about the idea. So once again, we took a detour (again, nowhere near the route we were supposed to take to Bath) and headed off to Stalybridge (and again, the thought of eating nasi lemak made me drool all the way).

Teddy's nasi lemak

The nasi lemak was absolutely delicious. The rice was less creamier compared to mine, which I suppose was due to it being cooked in a lot less coconut milk, but had cardamoms and cloves in it. These spices were a perfect substitute for the coconut milk as they also gave the rice richness without the heaviness of the coconut milk. The anchovies came on the side and not in the sambal, but the sambal was full of chopped onions (I usually blend my onions and put some of the dried anchovies in my sambal) and these chopped onions gave the sambal its sweetness. All in all, the nasi lemak was superb and because it didn't use as much coconut milk, you don’t get the feeling of wanting to doze off after (which was good since I was going to spend 2 hours driving on a boring motorway).

The nasi lemak also came with some chicken satay. When it comes to satay, I'm a bit of a stickler. My dad used to sell the best satay at night markets in Kemaman, Terengganu. We used to make our own satay and the peanut sauce that accompanies the satay. Every year, during the Eid celebration, we used to get huge orders for satay (in one year, the orders exceeded 80,000 sticks of satay). So my dad's satay was very popular in Kemaman (in fact, if you happen to visit Kemaman and there is a night market, you might still find a stall there which uses my dad's recipe. Look out for Satay Bistari and I can guarantee you that you will enjoy the satay).

Teddy's satay, although not as delicious as my dad's, had the right ingredients. The chicken was tender and moist while the peanut sauce was hot and creamy. Shame there was only 3 sticks of it. I enjoyed the satay although I do miss my dad's satay (Maybe on my next trip back to Malaysia I'll take a short day trip up to Kemaman).

Back to my story. We had to change our plans and not head to Bath that day. The extra 2 and a half hour detour (including the time it took for us to finish our meal) created havoc to our plans but it was well worth it. We ended up heading into the countryside around the Cotswold area to places like Chipping Campden, Stow on the Wold and Burford and went shopping instead (which was our plan for the third day). We spent the night in a very nice hotel at Highworth which is half an hour outside of Swindon. A bit of chaos to our holiday plans, but still a good meal and a good day.

UK trip (Part 1)

The title to this blog post implies that there will be more than one entry featuring my recent trip to the UK. To be honest with you, I´m not entirely sure how many entries there will be regarding this trip. At the moment, all I know is that there will be at least 1, maybe 2 and if I decide to indulge myself, 3 or more. So bear with me on this one.

For future reference, a particular trip to any foreign location will have at least one entry depending on the amount of good food we eat. Based on this logic, during our trip to the UK, we had a lot of good food. Like my wife said, the trip to the UK was basically an “indulgence” trip. We indulged in a good football game, good food and lots of shopping.

Let’s start at Birmingham International Airport, which is where we landed. We had decided while planning this trip that we wouldn't fly into any of the London airports because a) they were nowhere near where we wanted to go; and b) just too much hassle. So upon our arrival, we picked up our rental car, a Nissan Micra (which disappointed me a bit because I had booked the new Ford Fiesta which I was so looking forward to trying but wasn't available) and headed straight to Stalybridge which is on the outskirts of Manchester (nowhere near Liverpool but we had to go there anyway).

The cafe from the outside

The reason for this detour was to go and meet up with a friend of my wife who recently opened a café/bistro in Stalybridge (I would never have expected that someone would open a café serving Malaysian food in Stalybridge, it’s like a small town or more like a large village, not exactly remote but way out of the way for your average Malaysian). But E.N Rumly (Teddy), the proprietor, has somehow made it work. Most of the food on the menu is your typical western fare such as sandwiches, pannini and such, but you also have nasi lemak, fried mee hoon, satay and some other Malaysian dishes.

Before making this trip, we had already told Teddy that we were going stop by to sample some of his food. While driving along the way, we got a message from him outlining the menu, White rice served with “Asam pedas ikan semilang (hot and sour catfish)”, “Sambal tumis petai udang (prawn in sambal)”, “Rendang daging (beef rendang)” and “Daging masak hitam (beef cooked in black gravy)” (hearing this, I ran out of saliva from drooling too much just as we reached Manchester).

From the outside, Teddy’s café looks just like any other café. With the exception of a sandwich board leaning against a tree just outside the café, there was nothing to indicate that it is a Malaysian café. In fact, because he only just recently opened, he didn't even have time to take down the sign from the previous owner.Walking in, I noticed the décor was quite simple. None of your usual “Visit Malaysia Year”and “Malaysia Truly Asia” posters, no “Wau bulan”hanging on the walls or bamboo pieces and dim lighting to create a “fake” Malaysian food stall environment. Just a bright, neat and clean dining area for the comfort of patrons.

As I was taking my seat, I noticed a few boards on the wall displaying some of the dishes served. Then I noticed the one on the wall opposite my chosen seat, “Nasi Lemak” my favorite meal. I started to get excited but I realized that Teddy had probably spent the last couple of hours cooking the menu he sent to us, so I wasn't going to make a big fuss out of it. So I sat there quietly while waiting for Teddy’s other guests, Rosnah Mu, her husband Simon Alexander and their 2 children.

The nasi lemak menu board

For starters, Teddy brought out 2 pieces each of homemade “Roti canai” with curry. For those of you in the know, making the dough for the roti canai is the easy part, spreading the dough to make the roti thin, light and crunchy is not the easiest thing to do. There is a special technique called “Tebar”or spreading which makes the dough very thin before it is folded over to form the roti before the roti is pan fried. Here is a video of this technique.

Teddy’s roti canai, was filling. The roti was light and crunchy, and the curry was hot and spicy. In fact, it was very hot and spicy, I had to mask some of the spiciness by dipping pieces of my roti in some sugar after dipping it in the curry (I like doing that anyway as it adds a bit of sweetness to every piece of roti that goes into my mouth). But it was excellent. I tend to sweat whenever I have some good spicy food, and after the third bite, I could feel the sweat exiting my pores on my forehead.

The "Asam Pedas" and "Rendang

Then, came the main meal (more sweating). The asam pedas, sambal tumis, rendang and daging masak hitam arrived at our table and my drooling, which had stopped the moment we walked into the café, started again. I am not a big fan of catfish, unless is fried till it’s crunchy, but I had 2 pieces of the fish in the asam pedas. And the rendang was superb, but my favorite was the sambal tumis petai udang. At one point I was a bit worried there wasn't going to be enough for all of us (the food came out in small bowls and we all had a huge plate of rice to accompany it all). But I was wrong. And surprisingly, after the 2 pieces of roti canai, I finished all my rice.

Devouring the main meal

The meal at Teddy’s place was absolutely delicious. I ate so much that I couldn't even have a bite of the dessert; in fact none of us could eat the dessert, which was a shame really because Teddy had already cooked it. I highly recommend to anyone in the vicinity of Manchester to drop by and have some of the sumptuous fare on offer at Teddy’s café. His café, the “Malay Cuisine and Bistro” is located at 57, Grosvenor Street, Stalybridge.

Teddy

P.s.      Looks like the entry on the Nasi Lemak will have to wait till Part 2

P.p.s.   Sorry there are no pictures of the roti canai, sambal tumis petai udang and daging masak hitam. I completely forgot to take pictures.

Looking ahead....

Todays weather

Before I go on with this post, I have a confession to make. I don’t check my blog very often. On average, I take a peek at the dashboard maybe once a week and even then, only when I feel like writing and posting something. So to all readers of this blog (probably 7 in total), if you post a comment on my blog, I apologize in my tardiness in moderating any comments. I hope this doesn't deter anyone from leaving comments.

It’s a pretty cold day today. Temperature is about 7°C but “Real feel” is 4°C. So today it feels like it’s pretty close to freezing. With the relatively thick fog and visibility down to 50 meters, I really don’t feel like going out (so all plans to go for a short run have gone out the window).

Since I’m stuck inside with not much else to do, I thought I’d write something. I haven’t got any new experiences relating to nasi lemak and on top of that, my memory has deserted me temporarily (another way to say I’m too lazy) so I can't recall some of my previous experiences either. Since that is the case, I thought I’d write about my plans for the next few days.

Nothing much will be happening over the next couple of days. However, on Thursday, my wife and I will be flying to the United Kingdom. The plan is to fly into Birmingham Airport in the morning, hire a car and head towards Liverpool to catch a football game (I’m a huge Liverpool fan). Along the way, we’re planning to stop somewhere near the outskirts of Manchester to visit my wife’s friend who runs a bistro in Stalybridge, 30 minutes from Manchester city center (the amount of time taken to drive from Manchester city center to Stalybridge was provided by Google Maps. I have no personal experience of driving that route so have no idea how long it would take).

At Anfield, Liverpool on 30th December 2011

Truth is, Stalybridge is nowhere near to being “along the way” to Liverpool. It’s a good 45 minutes in a totally different direction. But since my wife has graciously allowed me to watch a football game (while she will probably have to spend the evening in a hotel room watching whatever is on BBC), we will be making a major detour along the way (I also wouldn't mind some good Malaysian food too).

My wife tells me, the name of the café is the “Malay Bistro” (I have a suspicious feeling that she doesn't know the name of her friends bistro) and they serve fusion Malaysian food. I am not that keen on fusion Malaysian food. In my opinion, “fusionizing” (not sure if such a word exists but I guess you get my meaning) Malaysian food only corrupts the taste. But since the owner Teddy, has offered to make “nasi kandar”, I’m all for it (right now, I’ll drive 100 kilometers for a plate of good nasi kandar).

I am so looking forward to this trip. The football match will be quite enjoyable, but most importantly, the potential to eat some good Malaysian food (I will be doing a Google search for "Malaysian restaurants" in Liverpool). The UK has one of the largest populations of Malaysians living abroad. Hopefully I can get to sample more Malaysian food in the UK. We shall see.

A major problem

J. Mokhtar tagged me in this photo

Last week, I was tagged in a photo posted by fellow blogger J. Mokhtar (you can find a link to his blog in my blog list on the right). The photo was a picture of a selection of “nasi lemak bungkus” at the breakfast buffet of the Le Meridien Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. They offered 5 options for your sambal. There is the conventional sambal ikan bilis (dried anchovies) then they also have the options of sambal udang (prawns), ikan (fish), daging (beef) or sambal sotong (squid). I can’t testify to the tastefulness of the nasi lemak as I’ve never tried the breakfast buffet at Le Meridien before and JM didn't say if he tried the the nasi lemak either.

Upon viewing this picture, my wife decided she wanted to have some nasi lemak. She made this decision while rushing back from Brussels via Roermond (another brief shopping trip). It was good that she volunteered to cook it as she hasn't cooked nasi lemak since I moved here to the Netherlands (and also because I was in a rush to catch a football game and since we were expected to arrive an hour before the game started, I was planning to park myself on the sofa until the game finished).

Here are a couple of pictures of my wife’s nasi lemak (the nicer photo was taken by my wife).

My wife's nasi lemak

After devouring her nasi lemak, I had a major criticism. I have a problem with her nasi lemak and I haven’t told her about it yet. I thought I would reveal the problem here in my blog rather than revealing it to her personally. I think in most cases, this could be grounds for a divorce.

The problem I have with her nasi lemak is that she doesn't make it often enough. I had three plates of it that night and another 2 plates over the weekend. Besides my own, the only other nasi lemak that I can eat 3 servings in one sitting is my mom’s.

Her nasi lemak is different compared to mine. The rice she cooks is not as creamy or as rich as mine but it is still very good. Apparently she adds another ingredient, "fenugreek", into her rice. As I said before, a good sambal has to have the perfect balance of sweet, sour, salty and hot. Her sambal doesn’t have the intensity of these tastes but the balance is there. Although I prefer a more intense sambal, her version is perfectly balanced and it doesn't overwhelm your taste buds. Through all the tastes, you can still feel the richness and creaminess of the rice.

My version of nasi lemak will flood your taste buds with the sweet, sour, salty and hotness of the sambal mixed with the creaminess and richness of the rice. Together with the crunchiness of the fried dried anchovies, it makes a wonderful meal. My wife’s nasi lemak achieves the same objectives (a delicious meal that you can have over and over again) but with a lower level intensity.

Maybe next time my wife says she would like nasi lemak, I might just park my butt on the sofa again and wait for it to be served.  

When all else fails....

I was back in Kuala Lumpur last week. Although I went back to visit my kids especially the youngest, who was recently diagnosed as having a growth in his brain and had to undergo surgery, I also had some errands to run. So I spent almost an entire week darting from one end of KL to another, making brief sojourns into Shah Alam and Petaling Jaya, while trying to ensure that everything I had to do was done. And as always when you runaround trying to complete all your errands, you will forget one or two (no need to go into details of that).

Going back to KL is always fun. There’s always so much to do, many places to go and a lot of friends to catch up with. Special thanks to Ida, Selva, Arni, Salwani, Nasir, Fadhli, Jaf, Hakim, Nazam, Alfie and Shasha for putting up with my last minute calls to hangout. I’ll try to give you guys more notice next time I’m back.

Chawan Kopitiam in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur

The biggest problem I always have when trying to meet up with friends in KL is to find a decent location to hangout. With friends coming from all over the Klang Valley, it’s always a challenge to find a place which is central enough so that everyone has to go through the hassle of KL traffic just to meet up (we have to be fair to everyone). About the only place I can think of which is both convenient for everyone to meet, and can give you migraines to get to is Bangsar.

The unwrapped "Nasi Lemak Bungkus"

So, while I was in KL, I spent quite a lot of time hanging out at Chawan, the one which is located in the Jalan Telawi area of Bangsar (99% of my friends have to go through some form of traffic jam just to get to Bangsar). This is the location of the original Chawan kopitiam. It has opened a branch in Citta Mall, Kelana Jaya but being in a very central location, this remains the preferred venue to meet up with friends and hangout.

Just to clarify my position, I don’t LOVE Chawan. In my opinion, as a Kopitiam, it’s pretty decent. The food there is good without being outstanding, the atmosphere is friendly, although on hot days, try to find a seat in front of one of their industrial sized fans, and the prices are quite reasonable. Even though it’s not my favorite place to hangout, it IS a place I go to whenever I can’t think of any other place in a central location to meet with friends. So in my book, Chawan is a “when all else fails” kind of place.

Although it falls into that category, they do serve a very nice nasi lemak. If you look at the menu, you will find 2 different versions of nasi lemak. The first is the “Nasi Lemak Bungkus” which is the meal that I always order whenever I’m at Chawan and looking for something a bit heavier to eat. Then there is the “Nasi Lemak with Chicken Rendang”, which is your standard kopitiam nasi lemak.

Unwrapping the "Nasi Lemak Bungkus"reveals a delicious meal

The “Nasi Lemak Bungkus”, is just your basic nasi lemak which is essentially made up of rice, sambal, cucumbers and boiled egg.  At Chawan, the portion of the nasi lemak bungkus is much bigger than what you will find elsewhere. The rice although a bit lacking in terms of richness, is nicely cooked and is quite flavorful. The sambal has the right balance of sweetness, sour and salty, with a twinge of hot to give it a bit of zing. The cucumber and boiled egg is just that, you won’t get any kind of variety anywhere else.

The "Nasi Lemak with Chicken Rendang", equally as good

I find myself ordering the “Nasi Lemak Bungkus”at Chawan on almost every visit. It’s a simple meal but delicious nonetheless. It’s been creeping up my “list of top places for nasi lemak” for quite some time now. Not bad for a place which falls into my “when all else fails”category.

Expressing displeasure

I am not a happy bunny. I am so disappointed that I have to write this post now on my 4 inch android smart phone screen rather than wait till I get home and type it nicely on my 15 inch screen notebook.

This is what happened. I haven't been sleeping very well since I got to Malaysia. I had a couple of hours sleep the first night I arrived, and since then, about 4 to 5 hours a night. This morning, my body.decided to retaliate. By the time I woke up, it was already 10.00 am (all my plans to go out for an early morning run went out the window by then).

In school, my teachers always told me that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So I always treat the first meal of the day as breakfast, no matter what time of the day it is. Following that, at breakfast, I must have a breakfast meal. So a juicy piece of steak is not an acceptable breakfast meal. Neither is nasi kandar or tomyam. Unpleasant things might happen if I don't follow the proper protocol (however, a breakfast meal can be eaten for dinner as my tummy loves breakfast meals).

Since breakfast had already shifted into brunch's area, I had to get breakfast pretty quick. I decided that a roti canai at Raju's would go down very well, so I jumped into my car and started to make my way there.
Now, anyone who has spent at least 2 weeks in Kuala Lumpur will know that you do not take the Federal Highway from Subang to KL during peak hours. But since it was already 11.00, I thought it would be.pretty safe, I was wrong. It looked almost like a carpark (don't these people have jobs they should be at).

Since breakfast was perilously close to trespassing into lunch's territory, I had to take drastic action. A light bulb went off in my head and when I saw the junction to the LDP. I realized I was close to one of my favourite places for nasi dagang and laksam (both of these are perfectly acceptable breakfast meals).

Restoran Jaya in Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya, specializes in Kelantanese dishes. It serves a variety of meals but I particularly love their nasi dagang and laksam. Sometimes on weekends, they will also have pulut lepa (or pulut panggang to those who do not understand Terengganu speak). Since I was in the neighbourhood, I thought I'd drop by for some nasi dagang.

Restoran Jaya in Kelana Jaya

When I got to the restaurant, I immediately went to check out their food counter. They had run out of laksam, but they still had some nasi dagang left. Wonderful. I ordered a plate and took a seat, while the waitress started to spoon out the rice onto a plate. As I was sitting down, the girl came up to me and told me that they were out of fish. All they had left was chicken.

No Terengganu born person will eat their nasi dagang with chicken. We Terengganu born and bred will only eat our nasi dagang with fish. I was disappointed, and to express my disappointment, I told the girl to forget about serving me nasi dagang with chicken.

Since I was already in lunch territory, and my tummy was already expressing its unhappiness at not being filled, I decided to order a nasi lemak. I've never had nasi lemak at Restaurant Jaya but I do know some people who like it.

It wasn't bad actually. The sambal was a bit too hot and it didn't have enough anchovies. The rice wasn't as creamy as the rice that I usually cook, but overall, it was pretty tasty. It wasn't outstanding but still a thumbs up to them.

The nasi lemak

My tummy doesn't like it when I change my mind about what I want to eat. Once I make my decision on what to eat, I have to stick with it (better I don't decide on anything until I look at the menu). It tolerates it when I change my mind once, but it gets very unhappy when I change my mind twice. And it expressed it's disappointment 30 minutes ago. I just about made it to the toilet.

P.s. I don't know the address of Restaurant Jaya but I can describe how to get there or better yet, I can take you there. All I want is a plate of nasi dagang in return. For a description of the directions or to arrange an excursion, please leave a comment with contact info and proposed date of excursion so we can meet there or we can go together so I can collect on my payment.

Where to first?

I've been living away from Malaysia for about 18 months now. Although by some standards, that isn't a very long time, for someone who has hardly left the country in the past 20 years, it sometimes feels like an eternity. Moving to another country, there are so many things that you leave behind. Before moving, you experience the excitement of being able to travel and live in another country, but there's also the dread of leaving behind family and friends, places you go to regularly, and in most cases (especially for Malaysians) the food.

Nowadays, you can find a Malaysian restaurant in most countries. If you're ever in London, you can enjoy a mouthwatering "daging salai masak lemak cili api" at Bonda Restaurant and in Luxembourg, you can start a fire in your tummy with a "sambal sotong" at Restaurant Malaysian.  Every major European city now has a Malaysian restaurant, so there's always a place where you can get the flavors of Malaysia whenever you don't feel like cooking.

However, to me, it's never the same as being home. Maybe it's the environment, maybe it's the weather or maybe it's the company. Eating a tomyam in Den Haag never feels the same as the superb tomyam I get at Restoran Sri Melaka at Amcorp Mall in Petaling Jaya even if the ingredients are the same.

So now that I'm back in Malaysia for a week, you would think I would have a "things to eat list". Surprisingly, no. It's 3 a.m. in the morning of my first day back in Malaysia, and I can't decide where or what I'm going to have for breakfast. Shall I go to "Raju's" in Jalan Gasing for roti canai? Or maybe to "Ulik Mayang" for some nasi dagang (But then again, I had that a couple of weeks ago in Den Haag)? Or, maybe since the main topic of this blog is about nasi lemak, maybe I should go have that.

Oh well, I'll make up my mind when I get up in the morning. I might be spared the agony of indecision anyway since I am still awake at 4.00 a.m. so maybe, by the time I wake up, it'll be lunch time.

Nasi Lemak in Luxembourg!!!

Yes!!! You can get nasi lemak in Luxembourg. BUT, (and that is a very big “but” as indicated by the size of the font) you either have to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia, or part of a tour group with 10 or more other people.

I spent the weekend in Luxembourg with my wife and our friends SHA and SI with their 18 month old son Khaleef. We went on a shopping expedition to Mettlach, which is a small town in Germany, just 30 minutes across the border from Luxembourg. For Malaysians who have lived in the Netherlands for a period of at least 3 months, you will know that Mettlach is the home of “Villeroy and Boch”, or V&B for short, the makers of fine tableware and other ceramic and crystal products for over 2 centuries.

SHA and SI with Khaleef

In all honesty, we didn’t really spend that much time in Luxembourg. We arrived on Friday afternoon, walked around for a few hours and stopped for some delicious hot chocolate at the "Chocolate House", spent the night, and left for Mettlach at 10.00 the next morning. We had planned to return to Luxembourg before the shops closed (maybe we thought we wouldn’t get enough of shopping in Mettlach), but by the time we got back to Luxembourg, it was already dark. We spent a total of 9 hours on our shopping expedition (that includes the drive to Mettlach and back).

A Collage of old pictures from the "Chocolate House"

When we got back to Luxembourg that evening, we were all hungry and tired and just wanted to grab some dinner then head back to the hotel for some much needed R&R. Prior to leaving for our shopping expedition, I did a Google search to find out if there was a Malaysian restaurant in Luxembourg.

Hey presto! There was one, just 2.5 km from the city center,  the “Restaurant Malaysian” on the Rue de Rollingergrund, Luxembourg. My wife suggested that we head there for dinner before we go back to the hotel. Since all of us were tired and had pounding headaches (my wife and SHA from all the dilemmas they faced while shopping, SI and me from looking at the bills) we decided Malaysian food would be a good choice.

Restaurant Malaysian on the Rue de Rollingergrund, Luxembourg

When we stepped into the restaurant, the first question we asked the Maitre d’ was “Are you Malaysian” (this is a very important question to determine the authenticity of the food). He replied that the chef was Malaysian and offered to call out the chef when we wanted to order (apparently the menu was not good enough for us).

The decor of the restaurant, your usual Malaysia poster and the "Wau Bulan"and something different, a picture of the butterflies of Malaysia

The chef, Chong came to our table and suggested a few authentic Malaysian dishes. We agreed on sambal sotong (squid), sweet and sour fish, udang (prawns) cooked in tomyam gravy (usually a tomyam is in the form of a soup but this time it is much thicker) and some veggies. We were hoping the seafood was going to be fresh and asked if he could make butter prawns instead, but since Luxembourg is a land locked country, they had so source of fresh seafood so they couldn't make any butter prawns. No matter, if the food was good we’d be happy anyway.

Surprisingly, the food was excellent. Even though the sambal was a too thick and you don’t get much of the delicious gravy, the sambal sotong was superb (I’m not usually a big fan of squid. Too rubbery for my taste). Cooked to perfection, it had just the right amount of hot and sweet. The prawns were my favorite  The tomyam gravy with its wonderful mix of lemongrass, tomatoes, chilies and cabbages were a perfect blend for the prawns. I've always liked sweet and sour fish and this one didn't disappoint. Although they used fish fillets instead of fresh fish, they were fried to a crispy golden color before being doused with the sweet and sour gravy.

The veggies, Sambal Sotong, Prawn Tomyam and Sweet and Sour Fish. Yummy!

All in all, it was a wonderful meal. After the meal, the chef spent some time talking to us and telling us about his experience in Luxembourg. It was then that he told us his experience of cooking breakfast for our former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, when he was on a state visit to Luxembourg. Tun had insisted on having a Malaysian breakfast so Chong had prepared some authentic Malaysian food including nasi lemak and murtabak for our former premiere.

He also told us that he had Malaysian groups in his restaurant before, visitors from Malaysia on official business in Luxembourg, embassy officials, and once in a while, people like us, Malaysian tourists exploring the culinary delights of the city. From there, I deduced that Chong could make nasi lemak for me if I was part of a tour group, or maybe, if I called in advance and made a special request. Next time I make a trip to Luxembourg (and I am very sure there will be another shopping trip to Mettlach) I'll call him in advance and find out if I can get some nasi lemak.

Nasi Lemak in Lisbon???

Last weekend was our wedding anniversary. My beautiful wife and I have been married 2 years and like our first wedding anniversary, we decided to go away for the weekend. So this year, we decided to go to Lisbon, Portugal (I had other plans but apparently watching a football game live in a stadium is not romantic enough for an anniversary weekend).

Since I couldn’t go to Liverpool and watch my football team play, I decided to try and find out if there was any Malaysian restaurant in Lisbon. I thought that if I couldn’t enjoy a football game during our anniversary weekend, maybe I could find a place that serves nasi lemak and enjoy my favorite meal instead. So before we left, I googled “Malaysian restaurant in Lisbon” and got 2 possibilities. The first was “Malaca Too” which was on Rua Rodrigues Faria and the other one was “Duck Tale” on Rua de Escola Politecnica (Got the addresses from Google too).

The Farol Design Hotel in Cascais, Portugal

We left for Lisbon on Wednesday evening and arrived quite late in the evening. The hotel we chose to stay at was the Farol Design Hotel located about 30 km west of Lisbon in the town of Cascais. The setting was perfect for an anniversary weekend. The hotel was originally a 19^th century mansion owned by the Count of Cabral. All the rooms are individually designed by local and foreign fashion designers. So the rooms were absolutely beautiful.

Hotel swimming pool

Besides the rooms, the hotel’s swimming pool was situated at the back of the hotel overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. We spent a lot of time just relaxing by the pool, basking in the warmth of the sun and the beautiful weather, surrounded by breathtaking scenery and enjoy the soothing hands of the masseuse too.

On the first full day of our stay in Portugal, we decided to remain in Cascais and explore the quaint little town and all its offerings. We hired two bicycles from the hotel and cycled into town, riding past the marina and the “Cidadela de Cascais” before stopping in town for lunch. It was a wonderful day to just take things easy. We returned to the hotel in the afternoon, and spent the rest of the day by the pool.

Cidadela de Cascais

On the second day, we decided to go to Lisbon, enjoy the sights of the city, and maybe try and make a beeline for the Malaysian restaurant so I could have a go at their nasi lemak (if they had any). Unfortunately, the trains were on strike, and for a second day, we were stuck in Cascais. No matter, we just returned to the hotel for more afternoon delight in the sun and a wonderful relaxing massage on the rocks.

A lot of pavements in Lisbon and the whole of Portugal are decorated with patterns such as this

Finally, on the third day we managed to catch the train to Lisbon. This was to be our last full day in Portugal, so we had to take in as many of the sights as possible. We had lunch at the Praca de Commercio and decide to climb up to the “Castello de Sao Jorge” after that (warning, it’s a very steep climb). Along the way, we stumbled across an art gallery with some beautiful paintings of Lisbon. We couldn’t afford the paintings, so we bought some tiles which had been glazed with copies of the artists painting. We even got the artist himself to sign the tiles. It was great.

The artist, Abel Grade

After that, we took a quick tour of the city, on a couple of “Hop-on, Hop off” buses. This took us to the early part of the evening and we still had to take the train back to Cascais. So needless to say, we didn’t get the chance to look for the Malaysian restaurants in Lisbon. Well, we had a great time anyway. We enjoyed our stay in Cascais and plan on going back again. Maybe next time we will have a chance to check out at least one of the Malaysian restaurants. 

Thoroughly enjoyed our anniversary weekend in Portugal

My Nasi Lemak in Den Haag

Since cooking my first nasi lemak back in my university days, I have perfected my nasi lemak to my own taste. Over the years, even though I haven't done it very often, I’ve cooked nasi lemak for friends (in university) and family (maybe a couple of times as I also love my mom’s nasi lemak). I have more or less perfected my technique and the ingredients that I use. I can now rustle up a delicious mouthwatering meal in 45 minutes.

When I first arrived in Den Haag, I didn’t know that many people here. My circle of friends consisted of my lovely wife and a couple of her friends who I met before on previous trips. So I had to make new friends. I decided I should try and extend the hand of friendship to the Malaysian community first as we probably had more things in common. I just had to figure out how to go about doing that.

One of the generalizations that I can make about Malaysians is that they will never say no to food. Under most circumstances, when you invite a Malaysian over to your house for any kind of food, you will get a positive response. Of course there are those who would decline because they can’t squirm their way out of a previous engagement, but if you ever invite a Malaysian to your house for a meal, be prepared to receive a “Yes” answer and in most cases, prepare a lot of food. We Malaysians, can really eat!

Based on this, I decided the best way to make friends here, especially among the Malaysian community is to invite them over for a meal of my nasi lemak. We decided on a small group, just five of us including my wife and I. It had been a while since I cooked anything (privileges of living with your mom for a few years). So I didn’t want to invite a large group just in case my nasi lemak didn’t turn out as I expected. These were to be my guinea pigs. 

Needless to say, my nasi lemak was a hit. I’ve cooked it a few times since and everyone in Den Haag who has had a plate would always have seconds. Nowadays, whenever I decide to have nasi lemak party, guests rarely decline whenever they receive an invite.

 P.s. Big thank you to the guinea pigs, my wife Zaiton Abdullah, and friends Samantha Lee, Zulfa Ashida Zulkifle, Johan Mokhtar and Azrina Kamaruddin

Devouring Nasi Lemak in Den Haag

Since I moved to the Netherlands, I haven’t been able to eat my favorite meal on a regular basis. I can’t just pop out to a stall and grab a stomach full of bliss like I can in Kuala Lumpur. So, if I do have a craving for nasi lemak, I have to cook it myself.

Cooking nasi lemak here isn’t really a problem. I can get most of the ingredients at the Chinese supermarket in the city center. However, I’m not fond at all of the dried anchovies they sell. They import the stuff from Thailand and somehow, it doesn’t fry very well. You don’t get the same crunchiness as you do with Malaysian dried anchovies after frying.

Because of this, I have to get my dried anchovies from Malaysia every time I go back home. Sometimes, as most of my friends here know about my obsession with the good stuff, they will buy some dried anchovies for me when they make a trip back home. After being here for 18 months, I have yet to run short of dried anchovies.

Besides my own home cooked version, I have had nasi lemak cooked by other fellow Malaysians as well. So far, I have tasted 4 different varieties (2 were cooked by the same person but in different quantities thus ended up tasting different). I think I’ll talk about all these different versions in future posts (if not, this will end up to be a very long post). As for now, talking about food has made me hungry so I think I’ll go and have some nasi dagang which was leftover from the weekend.

P.s. I didn’t cook the nasi dagang. I have no idea how to cook it. 

At a glance

In the last post, I more or less elaborated on my fascination with this Malaysian meal, so I guess now I should go into more detail as to the essential components of the meal. Bear with me cause this could be quite long.

A lot of my friends place emphasis on the dishes that come with the nasi lemak. They place a high degree of importance on the fried chicken, “paru goreng” (fried cow’s lung) and Chicken “rending” and other dishes that sometimes accompany the meal. I, on the other hand, don’t consider these dishes at all when looking for a good nasi lemak. The most important criteria for a good nasi lemak to me are the rice and the “sambal”.

a)      The rice

The rice is cooked in coconut milk with some ginger, shallots and salt to give it flavoring. The coconut milk gives the rice a wholesome and rich flavor. Besides giving it a bit of a bite, the ginger and shallots also produces a wonderful smell when you open the lid of the rice cooker. For more aromas, most people will add a “pandan” leaf. Personally, the “pandan” leaf is not an essential ingredient.

Over the years, I haven’t really seen much variety when it comes to the rice. I have seen people add in pepper to the rice, but this doesn’t change the taste much. Recently though, I have encountered nasi lemak where the rice is also mixed with dhal beans which besides increases the richness of the rice, also provides some crunchiness as well.

b)      The sambal

This is the most important dish. The basic nasi lemak comes with a sambal of dried anchovies cooked in a chili sauce. To me, this is the dish that makes or breaks the nasi lemak. Even though the sambal has a fiery chili base, it does not have to be very hot. However, to cross the line between average and mouthwateringly delicious, it has to have a perfect balance of sweet, sour and salty.

There have been many variations to the sambal. The basic taste has remained the same, only the contents have changed. I have seen people use prawns, squids, chicken and even eggs as a substitute for the dried anchovies. I prefer to stick to the crunchiness of the dried anchovies, fried prior to mixing it in the sambal. I have on occasions used boiled quail eggs as a substitute.

Besides the rice and the sambal, nasi lemak is served with basic accompaniments. Slices of cucumber (sometimes useful to help reduce the fiery effects of the sambal) boiled eggs (sometimes fried) and fried anchovies (usually the same ones that goes into the sambal set aside as an accompaniment) are the typical ones.

Nowadays, most places will serve nasi lemak with other dishes. In your typical Malaysian kopitiam, you will get a piece of chicken “rendang” together with your meal. Some stalls I know specialize in nasi lemak accompanied with a steaming hot piece of deep fried chicken. Other places will have a variety of dishes which you can have with your nasi lemak. As for me, it doesn’t matter what comes with the nasi lemak, as long as the two basic components of the meal, the rice and the sambal, are delicious, then you better be wearing stretch pants, or make sure your pants don’t fall off when you unbutton your pants.