Stop 4: Lankawi Island

Lackadaisical Island Living

Taste & See: The only problem with island life is the happily lazy pace makes it hard to work up the constant hunger that comes with frenetic sight-seeing. Get up late, lay by the pool, walk down to the beach, read until I doze off . . . with all this busy laziness, I have so little time to get hungry. This, of course, creates a real difficulty, since ideally I would be consuming (Malaysian) island food in great quantities.

Proximity to the sea obviously makes for fabulous seafood, e.g., shrimp the size of tennis balls, ordered at a Chinese 'pick - your - live - seafood - from - the - tank' style restaurant, across the street from the ocean.


Small convenience stores all along the main road display lovely produce of all shades, like this magically shocking pink Dragonfruit.


Within easy walking distance of our hotel were at least a dozen restaurants, some obviously catering to backpackers & tour group buses, others barely a stand with a couple stools and hastily scrawled menus in Bahasa Malay. You might be able to guess what caught our eye . . .

Some things are the same everywhere, so we were pretty sure what we were getting into when we asked for Samosas:



The rest of the time ordering was kind of a game, picking out words we'd seen (and eaten) in different contexts and trying to make our best guess. Below, Mee Goreng, or fried noodles, a dependable standard:


And a surprise, based on the point - to - a - random - dish - on - the - menu method: lovely fat Mushrooms in Spicy Sauce with Scallions. No complaints here.


On days of excessive lackadaisicality, when walking to the beach & back was about all the activity I could muster up, I was content to eat the happily authentic Malaysian food at the hotel restaurant. For example, Laksa- a fish based soup in a spicy broth with egg noodles.


This was Curry Laksa, or in Penang, Curry Mee, one of several variations of Laksa found in India, Malaysia, Singapore & China. This Laksa has chewy egg noodles, a hard boiled egg & a broth of curry and coconut milk, unlike other variants of Laksa in the region. The soup is chalk full of tofu, fish cakes, and shrimp-- and would usually have cockles, but for the tourist setting. [Well, maybe the hotel was not so authentic.] The soup is accompanied by sambal chili paste and Vietnamese coriander.

Another traditional dish, Nasi Lemak:


Strewn on a banana leaf around rice are various toppings, such as marinated prawns, shredded chicken, spinach, peanuts, cucumber slices, dried anchovies, hard boiled egg, pickled vegetables & sambal, a spicy-sweet sauce. The name means "rice in cream," which refers to the cooking process: soaking & steaming the rice in coconut cream, sometimes with knotted pandan leaves, lemongrass or ginger for extra flavour.

At night we often opted for some of the more upscale restaurants in the area, which tended to set us back a whopping $10-15 per person, twinkly lights, candles and drawbridges inclusive.


A for ambiance:


And attention to decor detail:


The food at this place wasn't bad, but I can't help thinking the dollar samosas and mushrooms from lunch would have been equally enticing. We are clearly paying for the atmosphere. And the English menus.

Mixed Vegetables:


Chicken Rendang:


Rendang is a popular festival dish for Malays. It may look like a curry, but it is actually quite different, at least when it is authentic. It is typically made with beef, though we had chicken, above. Many other kinds of meet, or even jackfruit or cassava, can also be used. The meat is 'marinated' in coconut milk and spices like ginger, galangal, tumeric, lemongrass & chillies for several hours, boiled slowly until the liquid is nearly gone and the meat is coated in flavour. Then the meat is fried as the liquid evaporates. The long slow process makes the meat very tender.

Steamed Fish with Vegetables:


And finally, my favorite meal of the island, and the most egregious example of inactivity leading to inability to fully consume the feast before me, the Nasi Campur Kampung sampler. For a total 69 RM, approx $21, A & I had a full tray of a dozen small dishes of beautifully presented Malay food.


What you see below includes the following, from left to right, back to front:

Row 1

Satay Ayam Dan Daging - Chicken & Beef Satay
Kurma Daging - Beef in Mild Curry
Ayam Gulai Kampung - Spicy Chicken
Rendang Tok - Marinated Beef
Bayam - Stir-fried Spinach

Row 2
Cucumbers & Onions (for Satay)
Ikan Alu-Alu Bercili - Barracuda with Chillies
Nasi Putih - Steamed White Rice
Nasi Kuning - Yellow Rice
Sambal Sotong - Dried Curry Squid
Rice Chips

Row 3
Peanut Sauce
Masak Lemak Labu - Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Curry
Udant Kapitan - Spicy Prawns
Pajeri Nenas Dan Terung - Pineapple & Eggplant Curry
Jelatah - Pickled Vegetables

The Pineapple & Eggplant Curry, simply divine . . . a bit sweet & tart from the pineapple juice, rich, smooth, complex.


And after dinner, home to bed to work up energy for another day of loafing & eating. What a lovely lackadaisical life indeed

Stop 3: Penang Part II

Oh, glory.

Taste & See: I found Little India to be the most charming part of Georgetown. As in Singapore, the vivacious neighborhood was overflowing with the bright colours of Bollywood posters and sari fabric stores, and bouncing to overlapping soundtrack hits. In Singapore, the city is generally modern and reserved; in Georgetown, a bit grungy. Either way, the extravagantly beautiful Little India stands in stark contrast.

And the food- oh, glory! Every corner had a cafeteria-style Indian restaurant with a half dozen regions' foods served up at different stations, the perfect antidote to my inexplicable cravings. Sometimes I yearn for the for mushy warmth of baby-foodesque Indian dishes like Butter Chicken and Palak Paneer, sometimes for the complexity and strangeness of something altogether new. Georgetown offered both lovely versions of the familiar and a few surprises I look forward to tracking down back home.

We spent a good deal of time meandering through town, ostensibly towards a tourist site but more often wandering from one food break to another. One day we had barely finished a bowl of Malaysian-style won ton noodles (Giow) when we passed a catch-all Indian place, brightly done up in greens and yellows.


Who could resist the red-rubbed Tandoori Chicken sticks roasting? Certainly not us.


Served with tamarind & cilantro sauces:


It is practically our tourism duty to consume as much Roti as possible during our stay (or so we told ourselves):



Our last night in Georgetown we traipsed through the rain in search of Sri Ananda Bawan, a hallowed Guide Book destination where we would at last find A's much-coveted banana-leaf meals.


We had been informed that upon sitting down, a slough of vegetarian Indian food would appear on banana leaves before us as if by magic. We made the mistake of doubting the oracle and proceeded to order a "few" dishes. In the mean time, the table began to fill with things we had not ordered . . .

First, the banana leaves topped with scoops of a trio of potato-based veg dishes reminiscent of church potluck fare-- though far more flavourful:


A trio of sauces (from top left, coconut chutney, red garlic sauce, and masala) splashed on in generous quantities:


A basket of crispy Papadums:


Topped off with a few bowls of Dahl:


The food is making A pretty happy at this point. Little do we realize this is merely the beginning of the onslaught.


Out came a Pakora:


The odd Black Pepper Chicken, lightly breaded chicken chunks in a sauce of curry-like consistency, with a flavor I'd expect from a Chinese restaurant:


Two more curries, with ladyfingers (okra) & mutton (here, goat rather than lamb):


One of my favorite dishes consisted of a something like a hamburger-patty made of beans and spices, chopped up into small pieces on a grill & served with a dipping sauce.



We made valiant efforts to consume this feast . . .


I, especially, deserve an honourable mention for foregoing silverware-- even with the soupiest dahl. Following A's lead, I made a little ball of rice and scooped it directly into my mouth with one hand, attempting to imitate A but with a far higher percentage of the food winding up decorating my face.


I was proud of my efforts, but rather delighted to finally have clean hands at the end:


Despite all the food wasted smeared on my face, we were ultimately no match for the banana-leaf feast.


In fact, we ended up with a guilt-inducing quantity of leftovers. All of that delicious food, never to be enjoyed to its full potential . . . how tragic.


I suppose that is what we get for mistrusting our sources. Let this be a lesson to you, dear reader. Traverse the Little Indias of Asia and order to your heart's content . . . but know you will always be left lamenting the fact that your hunger is no match for the volume of glorious food.

Stop 3: Penang (Part I)

No other activity besides eating.

Taste & See: Welcome to George Town, Penang, where the motto is "Leading, We Serve," and there is, according to one travel guide, "Don't look for any other activity besides eating." Which does not, in fact, present a problem for me.

Immediately following the early arrival of the KL train in Penang, we begin day one with a groggy search for one of Penang's famous food courts (hawker centres). Unfortunately, the eagerly-awaited food court is mostly closed at 11 AM, so we are left to look for something to tide us over until 1, when we are promised it will be open. Happily, I find one delightful fruit of globalization, and one of favorite foods-- first sampled as imported by the Chinese to Thailand and now as done in Malaysia-- Giow Ba Mee Moo Dang [see linked article for photos in Thailand].

Of course, this meal- as all my meals- included the delightful Teh Tarik (as mentioned in KL entry; thanks to this blog for the photo):


Later we return to the food court for meal #2. The food court itself is perfectly situated, right on the water, providing a fresh breeze & views.


Equally fun to watch, Malays enjoying snacks:


Even more fun, joining in. I see a woman sit down to a big red pile of sauce poured generously over bits and pieces of nothing I recognize. When she notices me staring I ask what it is and how to get some. She calls it by what I suspect is a local slang, in any case, something other than rojak, the Singaporean- Malaysian- Indian mixed salad I had expected to hear, and insists I try it so I don't "waste my money to buy something I don't like." I gladly assent-- and am immediately hooked by the flavor of the chili sauce.

She directs me to a vendor with bowls of unappealing brown fried things, and I initially can't conceive of how this could become the beautiful bowl you see below. Thankfully, her husband shows me how to load an empty plate with the objects for my salad and whistles over a mustachioed Indian man, who promptly chops up my potatoes, eggs, fishcakes and shrimp fritters into small pieces, throws on a handful of sliced cucumber, and drenches it all in the glorious red sauce:


The lovely Rasa Malaysia food blog describes Rojak: "Rojak is a Penang-style salad. Ingredients such as cucumber, jicama, pineapples, jambu (water apple), bean curd pieces, and cuttlefish are tossed with Hae Ko (prawn paste), chili, roasted belacan and topped with ground peanuts." I'd have liked to tried more fruit, less fried brown things, but that will have to await another visit.

Later that night, the endless Christmas lights bejewling this food court draw us across the road from our majestic Cathay Hotel, with its forgotten, dust ballroom of a lobby.


A lone performer strums on a guitar and croaks out entertainment, reminiscent of the food courts in the middle of Thai night markets, minus the katoy shows and kitschy Thai dancing. This does not appear to be for tourists. I'm amused to observe this appears to be an international food court; are the Philippine & Japanese food stands exotic treats amidst the "mundane" Nasi Lemak & Mee Goreng?


We try two kinds of skewers: Beef - look so succulent, but sadly mushy, unable to be saved by the gooey brown sauce.


Mushroom - sad and limp but so flavorful with a perfect chewy texture.


Ah well, appearances can be deceiving! Coming up next, Penang Part II- Indian food.