Sick of airplane food and not interested in airport food, but pleasantly surprised by airport hotel food!
We’re on our way from Kuching to Honolulu, but we made an overnight stopover in Kuala Lumpur first. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time in KL to get any mamak or roti canai. Breakfast was a bowl of porridge, while lunch was a McDonald’s cheeseburger and a Diet Coke at KL International Airport. Totally uninspiring.
The second leg of our journey took us from KLIA to Taipei, Taiwan. Our onboard airplane meal was special – especially horrible, that is. We should have known something when the supervisor at the check-in counter warned us about the kosher meal that Annie and I had reserved.
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.
Last year, when we went to Penang during Chinese New Year, our new friend Criz took us around to some of his favorite eating places, including the Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul stall on Lebuh Keng Kwee in the middle of Georgetown. Since we came back to Penang this year, returning to this stall was a priority. As it turns out, we were able to visit it twice during our trip!
