For the second time this year, we find ourselves in fantastically delicious Penang. The first time, we came for a short trip to eat, visit family, and eat some more before the Chinese New Year holidays. This time, we’re here to celebrate the wedding of one of Annie’s cousins.
Hurry, hurry, hurry! Get your rice and curry! The best that’s found in Kampung Melayu, Georgetown. (Apologies to Dr. Bombay)
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.
If you listen carefully to the sounds of Penang neighborhoods, you will hear many different calls signaling various mobile services. There’s the loudspeaker calling out, “Old newspaper!” in various languages from the van collecting paper for recycling. There’s the “toot-toot” horn of the truck delivering gas cylinders for home kitchens. And there’s the dingalingaling of a handbell being rung by the roti man as he weaves his bakery-shop-on-a-motorbike through the streets.
See, if you want some fresh baked bread in Penang, you don’t need to go to the bakery; the bakery comes to you!
