We’re back home after a nearly 3 week trip to Malaysia for Chinese New Year. I was so nice to see family and friends again, and of course to eat all the wonderful foods we’ve been missing. We didn’t get to them all, but not for lack of trying! Seriously, some days it felt like we were constantly eating. (If you’re a fan of our Facebook Fan Page, you would have seen some of the things we ate.)
In addition to eating food we can’t get here in America, we also brought back some Malaysian foodstuffs that we can’t find here. Want to see some of what came back in our luggage?
Warning: the contents of this post are extremely drool-inducing. Viewers are advised to keep a handkerchief nearby and cautioned against leaning over their keyboards.
“Golden Coin” from Hung Kiew Kee Restaurant, Sarikei
We finally found the restaurant we were looking for.
Jit Hin Restaurant, Tebakang
Way back in December of 2009, we drove out to Serian, a small town about 45 minutes’ drive from Kuching, to check out the local fruits they had on sale at the market. Our intention was to drive further out to the village of Tebakang to have lunch at a place highly recommended by our friend. But we couldn’t find the shop we were looking for.
The restaurant known as Jit Hin is famous for its huge prawns and wild meats. We always talked about going back with our friends, but it didn’t happen until just recently when we all decided to go during the Labor Day public holiday. One of our friends pre-ordered the prawns for the whole lot of us, and so we arranged to meet at the restaurant at 11 AM for lunch.
Hurry, hurry, hurry! Get your rice and curry! The best that’s found in Kampung Melayu, Georgetown. (Apologies to Dr. Bombay)
Nasi Kandar Kampung Melayu, Penang
Nasi kandar comes from “nasi” meaning rice and “kandar” meaning balance – hawkers in the olden days carried their rice and curries in buckets balanced on poles over their shoulders. Nowadays, bustling nasi kandar restaurants like Original Penang Kayu can be found all over Peninsular Malaysia, serving up Malaysian-Indian fare 24 hours a day. But one of the oldest – and arguably the best – nasi kandar stalls is found in the Kampung Melayu (Malay Village) enclave on Penang Island.
Annie’s uncle is a nasi kandar connoisseur. So, on the morning of Day 3 of our whirlwind trip to Penang, he took us for breakfast to Kampung Melayu Nasi Kandar.