Missing the Wuntun Noodle with Chicken Feet and Curry Noodle

Wuntun Noodle with Chicken Feet

There are a lot of food that I missed while living in Vancouver and the moment I had the opportunity, I headed for the closes Indian coffee shop I can find. In this trip, the first taste of real authentic Malaysian cuisine was the roti chennai. After that, I went to the morning market and ordered the wuntun noodle with chicken feet and the curry noodle topped with char siew. These are the usual breakfast meal many Malaysians indulge in.

Curry Noodle with Char Siew

Wuntun noodle was my most consumed breakfast when I was working and living in Kuala Lumpur. The curry noodle with char siew was the alternative to the wuntun noodle. If both of these was not available in the coffee shop, I will then, settle for the roti chennai or nasi lemak. But in the morning market place, there are all kinds of breakfast meal that are available. So, I would eat one different favorite noodle cuisine a day.

A Bowl of Cendol and a Plate of Rojak

Rojak

While driving through Selayang on the way to Batu Caves, I stopped by the road side where a rojak food truck was operating on the Batu Cave Road to savour a bowl of cendol and a plate of rojak before continuing with my journey. And I was not the only person doing that. In fact, there were at least ten other drivers that did exactly the same. This seemed to be the rojak food truck operator's permanent business spot, attracting patrons on the busy Batu Caves road.

Cendol

Cendol and rojak are complements to one another. It just not right to have one and not the other. At every rojak food truck stop, it is common to find both these authentic Indian specialties. Rojak is a cuisine mixed with cucumber, jicama, bean sprouts, shrimp crackers, shrimp fritters, egg, and top with the thick sweet shrimp broth. Due to the cuisines' popularity, rojak has become a significant part of the Malaysian food culture. Cendol on the other hand is a concoction of sweeten coconut milk, palm sugar, shaved ice, red beans, and green noodles.

Yellow Spoon The Thai Restaurant

Lemon Juice Steam Fish

I had a pleasant surprise when I was introduced to one of the latest addition to Bandar Manjalara's famous streets of restaurants. Yellow Spoon Thai Cuisines serves a range of authentic Thai cuisines. The operators of the restaurant are actually my wife's cousin and his wife, who is the chef, with culinary skills in authentic Thai cuisines. We were treated to some of their specialty cuisines and unique beverages.

Pandan Fried Chicken

Yellow Spoon Thai Cuisines is especially unique being the only Thai cuisines restaurant on the street and may even be the only one in the area. Majority of the restaurants in the area are hotpot restaurants. In fact, these hotpot restaurants are so dominant that Bandar Manjalara is known for hotpot restaurants. But among these hotpot restaurants are some restaurants serving the best authentic cuisines, like Ulu Yam Taro Noodles.

Rice Stick PadThai

And along the streets there are durian stalls that provide some of the best local durians and other tropical fruits. In Yellow Spoon Thai Cuisine, we were served with a four course meal starting with the lemon juice steam fish. An excellent cuisine with steam rice. Then, we were served with the flavourful pandan fried chicken, keow teow padthai, and seafood tomyam. Ambiance in the diner was very comfortable and clean. So, the food served was tasty, flavour, and authentic in an air-conditioned diner.

Hand Knead Noodle

Fried Pan Mee

In recent years, the hand knead noodle has become popular among many Malaysians across the different ages. There are at least seven different coffee shops that serve primarily the hand knead noodle in the new Puchong township. And that, is not counting the hand knead noodle stalls in various coffee shops that sells these type of noodle cuisine. And seen as a new business opportunity, these hand knead noodle shops has quickly flourished to other townships like Subang and beyond.

Pan Mee with Thick Vinegar Gravy

These coffee shops that only serve the hand knead noodles has reinvented the entire hand knead noodle cuisine by introducing new recipes to increase the range of offerings. On their menu there are easily twenty different types of hand knead noodle cuisines. In the morning market place where the hand knead noodle originated only have either the dry or soup type but today there are over twenty tasty flavours of the hand knead noodle.

The best in Mee Rebus, Mee Goreng, and Rojak

Mee Rebus

Among my wife's favorite casual Malaysian cuisines are the Mee Rebus and the Rojak or Persembur as it is called in Penang. These two cuisines can be found in Indian coffee shops where they often also serve roti chennai, mee goreng, dosa, curry puffs, briyani chicken rice, and many other Southern Indian cuisines. This kind of coffee shops are meeting place for all the different ethnic groups in Malaysia because it serves only halal food which is appropriate for mostly all dietary needs.

Rojak Persembur

So, these Indian coffee shops has become a place of congregations for Malaysians. Today, Indians coffee shops are so common that they considered a neighbourhood coffee shops. To every community in Malaysia, these Indian coffee shops has developed into a significant part of the growth and integration between the different ethnic groups in Malaysia. Therefore, these Indian coffee shops indirectly played an integral part to the peace and harmony in Malaysia bring the people together.

Mee Rebus Mamak

Although they serve only casual and simple cuisines, these coffee shops are often full with people. And the best cuisines these coffee shops can offer are the fried noodles (Mee Goreng) and the blanched noodles (Mee Rebus). And besides the noodles, they have special days where they offer all kinds of curry dishes and rice dishes. Among which are briyani rice, tomato rice, coconut fragrant rice, curry fish head, beef rendang, and honey fried chicken.

Breakfast in Royal Subang Golf Club

Roti Chennai Dipped in Curry

I was in the Royal Subang Golf Club for breakfast with some friends who had just completed their regular weekend morning golf session. I only joined them for the breakfast and did not participate in the golf session. The breakfast cuisines was not really out of ordinary cuisines but just the normal casual kind of cuisines we normally find in any Malaysian, that serve Muslim food, kind of coffee shop. Of cause the cafeteria in the club house also serves Western breakfast.

Curry Puffs with Eggs

Since back in Malaysia, I have not even thought of any meal that is Western yet. I still prefer to eat as much Malaysian as possible before heading home to Vancouver. My simple breakfast meal that day in The Royal Subang Golf Club was Roti Chennai with curry. That was good enough to satisfy my taste buds. The simplest meals are always the best. They are cheap, satisfying, and flavourful. Not always the healthiest but control is important.

Plain Dosa

Other than roti Chennai, there were also dosa, curry puff, and nasi lemak among the morning choices of food served in the cafeteria. These are all popular Malaysian breakfast choices and have been the traditional breakfast among the different ethnic groups in Malaysia. In fact since the first day of my visit to Malaysia, I have had the roti Chennai at least five times and still haven't had enough of it. I really missed this simple South Indian bread that was introduced into Malaysia by the Indian immigrants.

Typical Malaysian Breakfast Meals

Curry Noodle

In the dozen of days or so that was in Kuala Lumpur, I practically spend the mornings eating typical Malaysian breakfast like curry noodle, prawn noodle and even Hakka yong tau foo. They are very heavy meals in comparison to the much lighter breakfast meals I normally have for breakfast in Vancouver. In the morning markets, is where you find all kinds of vendors, including food carts vendors selling all kinds of popular Malaysian rice and noodle cuisines.

Penang Prawn Noodle

In Vancouver we consider these rice and noodle meals to be meals worthy for dinner or lunch but people in Malaysia eat these for breakfast. So, to avoid over consuming, I always order a smaller portion. And that too seems a lot for me. It is not that I don't enjoy curry noodle, wuntun noodle, or prawn noodle for breakfast. I just want to avoid putting on the extra pounds which I will eventually have to work on taking off later.

Hakka Yong Tau Foo

Of the twelve days in Kuala Lumpur, I ate roti canai and nasi lemak breakfast at least twice each. Therefore I had eight days of breakfast to try the more Chinese kind of breakfast. So, I picked curry noodles, prawn noodles, wuntun noodles, and yong tau foo for breakfast on at least one of the days. I could not exactly remember which day it was but that I ate what but I have eaten these noodle cuisines at least during one of the breakfast.

Awesome and Authentic Thai Cuisines

Squid Curry

One of the places I got to dine in Malaysia was a neighbourhood restaurant that specializes in authentic Thai cuisines when a long-time family friend invited us to dine with the family. This restaurant was not easy to find if one is not familiar with the surrounding road system in Kepong as it was hidden in between two adjacent neighbourhood of Kepong and Maluri atop an elevated parcel of land at the edge of the industrial park in Kepong.

Large Prawns with Petai Curry

And to make directions even more complicated, the restaurant does not have a name nor a sign outside its business location. I guess the people that come to dine here must have been referred by someone that had enjoyed the cuisines here. When we finally located the restaurant, I realized that we have been here many years before. And next to this restaurant, is another Chinese restaurant that also does not have a restaurant name displayed outside its' business premise.

Stir Fried Water Spinach

While waiting to be served, I noticed that the ambiance in the diner was not pleasant at all with smell of incense and joss stick burning creating excessive smoke in the diner. But most of the diners did not really care, they just went on with enjoying their dinner. As for me, my eyes were burning up with the excessive smoke. When our orders were finally served, we forgot about the smoke and the smell. We just ate as fast as we could so that we can get out of the restaurant.

Otak-Otak in Coconut

The diner might be a torment for some people but the cuisines were really good, tasty, flavourful and unique. I am not sure if the cuisines were authentic as I am not familiar with all of Thai cuisines. But I am sure everyone that have eaten here will agree that, they serve some pretty good Thai cuisines. I wish, I could have said that I truly enjoyed the meal there. The ambiance in the diner needs to be improved and comfort for diners should be a consideration.

Two of the most popular Cantonese Fried Noodle Cuisines

Cantonese Fry Thick Rice Noodle

Among the many different types of noodle cuisines that I have eaten, there are two types of Cantonese style noodle cuisine that are among my favorite noodle cuisines. I really love a good plater of the thick rice noodle fry with thick egg and chicken broth gravy. This is a popular noodle cuisine in Malaysia among Chinese diners. This popular Cantonese noodle cuisine is served in nearly all Chinese type eateries in Malaysia.

It is also a noodle cuisine that is

Cantonese Dark Soy Fried Egg Noodle

easily copied as the ingredients and style of cooking are common among restaurants, food carts, and food stall throughout the country. The second most favorite in my list of Cantonese noodle cuisine is the fried egg noodle with seafood and thick dark soy sauce gravy. These two noodle cuisine although commonly found in Malaysia but in Vancouver there are no similar noodle cuisines. I have come across somewhat similar noodle cuisines but yet to find really similar in taste and flavour yet.

Yaw Lee the popular neighbourhood Chinese Malaysian Restaurant

Honey Garlic Pork

There is this neighbourhood Chinese restaurant, Yaw Lee Chinese Restaurant, in Kuala Lumpur that we frequently dine in when we visit Malaysia. In fact, there are many of such neighbourhood restaurants in the Kuala Lumpur area where they have become family diners. Most of these popular restaurants are usually pack with family diners on the weekends and holidays. And no matter which of these Chinese restaurant we chooses, they serve the same range of popular cuisines.

Garlic Ginger Steam Fish

Due to popularity demand and diners' need for choices, there are many of these Chinese restaurants in each neighbourhood. But in the neighbourhood where my mom lives, Yaw Lee Chinese Restaurant is our favorite. On the popular cuisine list, Yaw Lee serves many of the Cantonese type cuisines that can also be found served in many other such restaurants but the menu listed prices at Yaw Lee Chinese Restaurant is the most appropriate.

Soy Sauce Clams 

Some of these neighbourhood restaurants can be very expensive to dine in if given the opportunity for them to make a quick profit. Other than cooking up some real awesome authentic Cantonese cuisines, these neighbourhood restaurants are also very good in taking advantage of their patrons by charging exuberant prices for specialty cuisines, like unique seafood cuisines. So, this is the reason we seldom order specialty cuisines when dining at these neighbourhood restaurants.

Fried Crawfish with Salted Eggs

If we wanted specialty seafood cuisines, we will go to a restaurant that serve specialty seafood cuisines. In neighbourhood restaurants such as Yaw Lee Chinese Restaurant the common Cantonese cuisines such as Honey Garlic Pork, Garlic Ginger Stream Fish, Soy Sauce Clams, Fried Crawfish with Salted Eggs, and Clay Pot Tofu Pork in Soy Sauce are some of the most popular and awesome cantonese cuisines that the entire family love.

Favorites from Malaysian Night Markets

Pulut Panggang

Pasar malam or night market which is a popular Malaysian activity throughout the country stretching from the very North of the peninsular to the very South of the East Malaysian state of Sabah. Night markets are popular night time activities for Malaysians of all walks of life. In the night markets there are all kinds of vendors selling popular Malaysian cuisines, from Malay to Chinese cakes, delicacies, and cuisines. I prefer the small unique food items from the night markets.

Peanut Butter Pancake

Of all the cooked items that is found in these night markets, the most commonly found in the night markets are pulut panggang or banana leaf wrapped glutonous rice, apam or pancake, and fried chicken breast. other these commonly found cooked items, there are also the food carts that sells sugar cane drink, coconut water and soy bean drinks. Of cause there are also all kinds of unique food items found in the night markets.

Fried Chicken Breast

One of the main reason these night markets is a popular night activity is due to the closed proximity these night markets are located to residential areas. And these night markets are also weekly activities within each location. So, all the night market vendors will get to retail their products and wares every night at different locations on different nights. The opportunity to operate their business to a wider market is tremendously appealing for these night market vendors.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Hainanese Chicken Rice

This is the more popular chicken rice among all different types of chicken rice. Hainanese chicken rice is made famous by the Hainanese clan who have immigrated to Malaysia to provide labor in the tin mines during the glory days of the mining industry in Malaysia. And among the heritage that was introduced by the Hainanese clan in Malaysia were in the form of this fine delicious chicken rice cuisine.

Chinese Malaysian Chicken Rice

So, this Hainanese chicken rice cuisine that started in Malaysia has become so popular that it has become a cuisine synomymous to Malaysian cuisines. Today, the Hainanese chicken rice is listed in the menus of Malaysian restaurants all over the world. In Vancouver, the Hainanese chicken rice are found in all the Malaysian restaurants. On top of that there are two locations that particularly serve the Hainanese Chicken rice.

Chicken Rice

The Hainanese chicken rice is served with two different types of chicken cuisine. First choice is roasted chicken and the second boiled chicken. Other than preparing the chicken using a special chicken recipe, the chicken rice itself is also cooked with fried garlic, chicken broth, chicken fat, and ginger. Than, the chicken meat can be combined with Char Siew and Roasted Pork. I like my chicken rice with just roasted chicken. The chilli sauce that comes with this chicken rice cuisine is a mix of chilli, vinegar, sesame seed oil, and chicken broth.

Hand Knead Noodle

Hand Knead Thick Noodle

Hand knead noodle, the favorite among the older generation evolved as a home made noodle to become a noodle cuisine with more than twenty different recipe combinations that operators of these particular coffee shop cuisine could now able to operate their own full noodle range restaurant serving different combinations of hand knead noodles. Most of these hand knead noodle restaurants are located in Puchong and Subang area in the Klang Valley.

Hand Knead Round Noodle

But these individual hand knead noodle stalls still exist in many of the wet markets in Malaysia. In every morning market in Malaysia, there will be a hand knead noodle stall. This popular hand knead noodle is as common as nasi lemak. Other than the actual hand knead noodle, the broth completes the noodle cuisine. And ingredients in the broth are usually chicken stock, mushrooms, mined meat, oyster flavoured sauce, sesame seed oil and soy sauce.

Common Coffee Shop Cuisines in Malaysia

Char Keow Teow

Usually the different Chinese coffee shops in Malaysia serves many different cuisines. But there are some popular cuisines that is found in nearly every coffee shop. Cuisines like Char Keow Teow, Wuntun Noodle, Curry Laksa Noodle, Nasi Lemak, and Hainanese Chicken Rice just to name a few. When I was back in Malaysia for a few days during the later part of April this year, I dined in many of these coffee shops and these popular cuisines were still the same.

Wuntun Noodle with Char Siew

These popular cuisines although available in most coffee shops but the taste, flavour and authenticity may vary from one coffee shop to the other. Nowadays, most of these food carts in the coffee shops are managed by foreigners. The cooks are no longer locals but hired hands. And worst is when the owners of these food carts are foreigners too. The local cooks and food cart owners are in an extinct profession. Slowly we are seeing a lot more foreigners operating these food carts in the coffee shops.

Chee Cheong Fun

This trade is not only slowly losing its glamour and expertise but the taste, flavour, standard and authenticity of these cuisines have also been compromised. There are fewer and fewer really good traditional coffee shop cuisines that was as good, tasty and flavourful as what could be found in coffee shops in Malaysia several decades ago. I guess there are still some really authentic cuisines around but one really have to know where to dine.

Clay Pot Chicken Rice

Clay Pot Chicken Rice

I remembered there is a back lane clay pot chicken rice stall in Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur where I used to frequent when I was living and working in Kuala Lumpur. At that time, that clay pot chicken rice stall served really good clay pot chicken rice and may even be one of the best in town. Although, the stall was located in one of the many back lanes in Chinatown, it was still a popular destination by the city folks that worked in the area.

Chicken Rice with Dark Soy Sauce

Clay pot chicken rice is a favorite Chinese Malaysian cuisine that is found served predominantly in the Klang Valley. When I was growing up in Penang, I never did come across this chicken rice cuisine except in one coffee shop in Pulau Tikus when the coffee shop introduced the most popular cuisines from Klang Valley and one of the cuisines was this chicken rice cuisine. So, it was rare to find really authentic clay pot chicken rice stall outside Klang Valley.

Clay Pot Chicken

And a few years later, I stumbled upon another stall serving really good and flavourful clay pot chicken rice as the Chinatown clay pot chicken rice stall in the food court of Ipoh's Jusco. Then after, every time I drive through Ipoh, I would stop by to enjoy the clay pot chicken rice served in the food court of Jusco. I learned that the best clay pot chicken rice cuisine depend on the type of dark soy sauce and combination of the right ingredients.

Authentic Baba Nyonya Asam Pedas

Asam Pedas Fish

There is no Asam Pedas cuisine that is more flavourful or taste better than my mom's. I grew up enjoying my grandmother's and mother's Baba Nyonya cuisines. These Baba Nyonya cuisines maybe found in some of the restaurants in Vancouver serving Malaysian cuisines but not all the Malaysian cuisines listed on their menus are any where close to authenticity let alone acquiring the true taste and flavour of a favorite Malaysian cuisine.

Asam Pedas 

And, it so happen that my favorite Baba Nyonya cuisine is my mom's Asam Pedas. Whenever I return to visit my mom in Malaysia, she would not miss cooking up this favorite spicy fish cuisine. Still the best and my favorite cuisine. Mom's recipe is simple and easy to follow. In mom's recipe for Asam Pedas, the main ingredients include 4 fresh chillies, 5 bulb of fresh shallots, 1 stalk of lemon grass, laksa leaves, a bulb of ginger flower, a dozen of okra, a cup of thick turmeric juice, and choice of fish.

Basil Egg Omelette

On that day, mom also cooked basil egg omelette which she wanted me to try. This egg omelette came about from mom's experience in Vietnam where basil is a popular vegetable used in their cuisines. And mom also grew some of this basil in her herbal/vegetable garden for her own consumption. The basil egg omelette actually has medicinal properties that promotes health. Basil has medicinal properties of antioxidant and anti-bacteria.

Some of the most popular Malaysian Breakfast

Nasi Lemak in Banana Leaf Wrap

Number one on the list of the most popular Malaysian breakfast would be the Nasi Lemak.  Mostly eaten in the morning but nowadays, nasi lemak has become so popular that it is even consumed late into the night. Malaysians crave for this fragrant coconut milk rice cuisine. Nasi lemak is so popular that it is sold everywhere and in nearly every coffee shop, even on the side walk of a strip mall, and by the roadside venders.

Roti Chennai with Sambal

Next on the list of the most popular breakfast is the Roti Chennai. Introduced to Malaysia by the Southern Indian immigrants, this crispy pan fried bread (pancake) is best eaten with sambal or curry as a dip. And this is also one of my favorite cuisine. Simple yet flavourful and tasty with sardine sambal that I prefer when eating this roti. In Vancouver, there are only the frozen pancakes that are available in the Asian grocery stores but back in Malaysia, roti Chennai are found everywhere.

Curry Puffs

The curry puff is also another popular Malay cake that is popular during breakfast. The curry puff is filled with potato curry and sometimes there are boiled eggs in the puffs too. During my recent trip back to Malaysia, I had the chance to eat as much of these Malaysian favorites as possible. Still missing out on some but I was happy to have at least eaten all these three simple but popular Malay and Indian cuisines.

Fried Butter Crawfish Meat and Clay Pot Tofu Seafood

Fried Butter Crawfish Cuisine

For dinner last night, we went to a typical Chinese restaurant in a residential area that serves cantonese style cuisines. Because there were only four of us dinning, I ordered just three different cuisines. We ordered the Fried Butter Crawfish Meat, Clay Pot Seafood Tofu and a Steam Barramundi with Ginger and Spring Onions. The meal with four bowls of rice and the three cuisines cost only about twenty dollars Canadian.

Clay Pot Seafood Tofu

It was a real good meal with three cuisines of seafood. I guess, as I was eating, I realized that I could also prepare and cook these three cuisines at home. They were not difficult cuisines to cook. In fact, I have already cooked the fish cuisine at home. But the fried butter Crawfish Meat cuisine would require a little more experience, especially with the butter. Ad the clay pot seafood tofu dish was the easiest of the three.