Malaysia - Kaya Toast and Poached Egg Breakfasts

Kaya is that bread spread coconut based jam simply made by steaming

a combination of egg and coconut milk flavoured with a few strips of pandanus leaves

and

tempered by sugar to taste. This spread is best put over toast with some butter to awake the senses on a
sleepy morning - and accompanied by a hot cuppa of coffee, Milo or even tea.

In Peninsular Malaysia, the most successful chain of commercial kaya toast outlets belong to the Old Town White Coffee franchise. They also provide a variety of street food favourites ranging from Penang styled char koay teow (wok stir fried flat thin rice noodles), mee goreng (wok stir fried Hokkien noodles in a savoury paste of tomato, chili and bean paste) to curry laksa. Old Town originates from the food city of Ipoh in the northern state of Perak, which used to be rich in tin mining. The classic combination of poached or half boiled eggs and a serving of two pieces of kaya toast has existed for more than a century. Nowadays you can get multi-grained bread and organic free range eggs as available preferences. In addition, you can have wireless internet, free streaming hifi and marble top tables all thrown in as part of the experience. The toasts are available till past midnight in trendy hubs of Malaysian cities and in Singapore.

The teh tarik (pulled tea) - foreground in image above - is also served at Old Town, primarily a cinnamon-flavoured black tea and condensed milk mix that requires a bit of showmanship in its preparation.

A process of repeatedly pouring the prepared combination between two vessels, from a height, cools the initially hot mix to a viable drinking temperature before being served. Think of this as comparable to decantering wine!

When served, you should obtain a nice frothy top and a much improved flavour for the drink.

Images above have been taken at the Sunshine Square outlet on Penang Island.

Below, the Old Town outlet at JB Plaza, Johor Baru.

Singapore - Muthu's Curry

Muthu's Curry can be found in the Serangoon district, Singapore's Little India.

At the entrance, one comes across a floral arrangement made in the style of Tamil Nadu.

The restaurant is already full of diners by the time my group of mates and I arrive for the second session seating.

The place reminds me of an Italian eatery in Australia, except that the fare on offer comes from another place, another time. The spices and condiments, that ruled the Indian ocean trade routes from Arabian ports to South-east Asian villages, have finally culminated in a culinary experience that requires all the senses to fully delve into. The palate is stimulated by the texture and consistency of various curry gravies. The ears are tingled by the wave of social chatter induced by good food. The eyes already anticipate what will go into the stomach, even before any food is partaken. Our nimble fingers exert their dexterity across food enhanced in taste sensations by being served on fresh banana leaf  "plates". The nose lingers with the aroma of things coming out from the earthen ovens. Hmmn, there is even a drinks area like in a pub, where revellers gather to muse on good times, all smiling as they hold their drinks.

Fish head curry (above), originally confined to South-east Asian ports, married south Indian

cooking practices with the Chinese penchant for seafood, plunked down in the heady cosmopolitan times of colonial rule and lingers as one of the most tasty fusion dishes along the Equator. The dish is savoury and spicy, with creamy gravy essential to bathing a carefully chosen succulent fish head of an adequate size.

The okras are only coincidental to the main requirement to suck curry-flushed fish eye balls or fin innards.

My top preferences that evening, apart from the curry fish head, were the eye-catching tandoori chicken (above) and the delectable prawns (below).

The right selection of steamed white rice is critical to accompany such dishes - be they basmati or jasmine rice. That evening, I could have been eating these in Sri Lanka, Chennai, Penang, Malacca or Kucing, but in Singapore it was air-conditioned comfort combined with business efficiency and papadums. We also tackled the naan breads. best to soak up any excess gravy from the various dishes. To provide a balance against the heaty stuff, we were provided with the yogurt-like raita and ice cold honey lemon drinks. Then we continued on with squid and lamb shanks, each with its different and signature taste of curry....

Tampopo's in Singapore

The specialty of Tampopo's is Kyushu inspired black pig flavoured ramen noodles. Meant to be eaten slurpy, the accompanying milky thick soup is one to savour - the above images were taken at the outlet at Novotel Liang Court along River Valley Road. The quality of the freshly made noodles is significant, for combined with the pork slices, garnishings and hard boiled brown egg, the whole experience oozes with

a warm satisfaction hardly matched by street side noodle stalls. Maybe the stock in the soup links back

to the first boiling ten years back.

Bee and I had green tea ice cream topped up by red beans for dessert. This was after an entree of exquisitely grilled unagi (eel).

Wanton Mee

This simple but beautiful idea - of having freshly made egg noodles lightly cooked and then dry stirred with

a soy sauce to be ultimately garnished with vegetables and thin slices of Cantonese-styled char siew pork - is what I have grown up with. Wanton dumplings (with dabs of pork or prawn mince inside) are best served separately in small soup bowls. (above).

Introduced to me in childhood as a breakfast snack, or whenever to mitigate hunger pangs at an ever open street stall, the standards of this wanton mee are determined by the smoothness of the noodles,

the quality of the black soy sauce used, the deftness as how the meat wantons have been made and the bite rating of the char siew - see the picture below.

There are different variations of wanton mee, but the best version I like is from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - and which I rediscovered on a recent trip to Johor Baru. In a shop with a front of barbecued roasts hanging outside Jalan Wong Ah Fook in JB Square, the kopitiam (coffee shop) setting inside is unassuming, but the wanton mee they served is impressive. It was better than the versions I have tried in Sydney, Penang, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

An alternative garnishing is the roast duck, sliced to bite sizes and often served with cut cucumbers. (above).

In addition, service in this Johor Baru shop was quick - I would return!

Three Hours in Johor Baru, Malaysia

The city of Johor Baru (or "new Johor") has always looked - and been - a significant transit city, straddling the two different worlds of cosmopolitan, resource-poor but business efficient Singapore and the resource-rich but race-conscious nation of Malaysia. The city's denizens see a stronger currency just a stone's throw away - added with higher costs of living, better career opportunities and a much cleaner state of things in Singapore. Many of its residents work or have an education on the island nation, but return every night to their beds on the Malaysian side. Above image, a vehicular jam builds up on a Saturday morning near the Johor border checkpoint.

Half-shaven coconuts lie for sale at a stall in JB Square (above). Fresh coconut juice is a vital ingredient to the Malay, Indian and Straits Chinese cultures and also to mitigate the humid heat of a city that lies close to the Equator. The varied uses of coconut, in all its forms, from husk to cream, cannot be underestimated for many Indian and Pacific Ocean countries.

The shopping centre nearest to the border, JB Plaza, even offers a mock UK telephone booth with working phone facilities. Image above - credit to Ms Auyong Kit Fong.

Pickled stuff (above) - whether on fruits, vegetables or even squid ("sotong") - are a hit with the palate of the various ethnic groups calling Johor Baru their home. Below, potato curry puffs on sale

as you enter Johor Baru from its train station.

Above, savoury yam and pumpkin cake slices offered as breakfast fare in Johor Baru. All pictures above were taken during a three hour stroll in the city before returning to Singapore.