SPICE N WINE

WHEN AUSTRALIAN WINE EXPERT ROY MOORFIELD was in town recently, I had the honour of arranging a nyonya dinner for him one night. It was hosted by GM of Traders Hotel Karl Karlsson. The whole point was for him to taste the food and try and pair it with wines which would best go with the sort of spicy, very aggressive tastes.

Unfortunately, it was actually on a Monday night, when most of our hard-working restaurateurs take a day off, so there were very few places about to choose from. Finally I settled on the Perut Rumah in Kelawei Road which was open that night, also because I thought would give him an idea of local architecture.

Partner Giannick and his team did quite well, especially the "Nyonya Four Seasons" we started with, which included a bit of everything: Fried Popiah (not Choon Piah), Nasi Ulam, Lor Bak and Nyonya Kerabu. He wanted taste, so I gave him taste - a lot of it was hot and spicy!

It was interesting to hear Roy talk, although he's got rather a low, rumbly voice and I wondered whether the others could hear him. As I was sat next to him it was all right for me! According to him, it's not that difficult to pair wine even with such strong-tasting foods if you treat it like a condiment - rather like a curry goes well with a side dish of pickle which has vinegar, wine can be treated the same way - it's slightly acidic.

Our table consisted of 11 people, including Chef Adam Roy from Feringgi Grill, who although American is quite well-versed with local food, as he spent several years working in Thailand and Indonesia, and has been in Penang for the past 12 months. That's him not taking a night off - serving the food up as usual!

After that we had the main meal with a representative sample of many nyonya dishes: Kiam Chai Ark (Salted Veg with Duck Soup), Fish Assam Tumis (Curry), Heyakay Bak, Tau Eu Bak etc.

The penultimate course was the Nyonya Lam Mee, after which we had what I thought was the best of the lot: the Or Chut Bee or Black Glutinous Rice, cooked with a few slices of dried orange peel - it was perfect: just the correct consistency, not too thick and not too watery; just a touch of salt to offset the creaminess of the santan, and sweet but not too sweet. Unfortunately it went so quickly I couldn't take a photo of it!

I hope it gave Roy, who was there with his lovely Hong Kong wife Selena, a good idea of the kind of food nyonya cooking is, and that he enjoyed it. Thanks Karl for hosting it.

AI YO ....

ALL THAT WEIGHT THAT I SHED whilst ill ... is now back and with interest. That's cos whilst we're in KL we are being feted by friends and relatives, which is all very nice of course. But it does tend to pile on the pounds just a leeetel bit. Ah well, rich man's problem, as my father used to say.

Actually I rather like the food in KL; although I still think Penang hawker food is still better (our Assam Laksa, Hokkien Mee and Nasi Kandar is d best) KL has a lot to shout about too. And their Cantonese restaurants are excellent, not to mention their wantan mee which is darker and fuller-flavoured.

However last night my cousin took us to dinner at their favourite local; a small Italian restaurant tucked away in Jalan Bangkung, Bukit Bandaraya. There was a birthday party going on which was a bit of a shame not for the proprietors nor for the celebrants but for the other patrons as it really was quite noisy.

However the food was really very good; and it's not often I say that. And which makes me wonder why if they can do it, other people can't. The menu isn't large (and quite rightly so), and it isn't TOO expensive (this is KL after all) but what was on offer was quite delicious, especially, as you know, my PASTA.

Dessert was a Cheese Platter, nicely presented with cut celery, carrots and strawberries all neatly laid out although there wasn't really very much cheese at all.

Their Seafood Pasta A La Opus (or something like that; featured above) is apparently what made them famous; it's not tomatoey although that constitutes one of the ingredients, but was very tasty.

In the afternoon I went for a drink and chit chat with a girlfriend at a pleasant newish outlet in Lorong Maarof in Bangsar. It's called Cafe Barbero and is apparently owned by former PM Pak Lah's brother. They do western food and snacks but their prime selling point is the very special Italian coffee which unfortunately I couldn't try because it was already about 5pm and that would have meant me staring at the ceiling the whole night.

And that's not the end of the wining and dining - tonight is the whole point of us being in KL - it's my father's 87th birthday dinner. Happy Birthday Dad!

BACK IN KL AGAIN ...

WE TRAVELLED DOWN TO KL YESTERDAY, leaving early to get here on time for Mac to play golf ... which turned out to be just as well because it was only as we got on the motorway that we realised it was the last day of the local school holidays, and traffic heading back to the capital would be quite heavy!

(That's one good thing about no longer having school-aged kids to ferry back and forth - apart from many others - one doesn't realise nor really care when the school holidays are! However there are other not so good things of course, like missing them and continuously worrying about them wherever in the world they are. A girlfriend of mine asked, "What is it with us? Is it an Asian thing? One of my kids just has to sneeze and I won't be able to sleep all night worrying about how he is!" Yes that's motherhood for you.)

Anyway I digress. We made it on time and Mac duly went off to play golf and in the evening we had dinner at what was our local favourite but closed down for several months for renovation last year: Monte's in Bangsar Shopping Centre, aka "BSC" (yes, it gained a dubious fame as the car park where the unfortunate Canny Ong was abducted).

This steakhouse was incredibly popular, both because it had great steaks and an excellent set dinner: for just RM37 or something (I can't quite remember) you got a choice of two starters (usually a soup or potato gratin), a steak or fish, dessert (usually ice cream) and brewed coffee. Fantastic value.

Last night was our first visit back there and although yes it's nicely decorated inside, I'd have continued going back to the old place. What was another result was that, sad to say the sets have disappeared - rental of the new place is probably too high! As often happens when they get very popular they try and go up-market but misjudge the clientele - the place didn't have half as many people eating there as it used to have, and prices had been "revised".

However their soups were excellent: the Oxtail and French Onion, full-bodied and very oniony, were delicious if a tad salty, but their sirloin steaks, although nice large slices, were gristly and a bit chewy.

My Pasta Marinara (featured at the top) was quite good although a bit more sauce would have been perfect. I was feeling rather saucy that night I guess ...

Service was quite good - it always used to be - but as it wasn't that busy that's how it should be! They also forgot our butter and rolls and we had to ask for it. For the four of us, inclusive of 3 glasses of wine and two beers, the total came to about RM360. Wow, just think of the buffets we could have had with that in Penang!

EAT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT - AT MIRAKU

I FEEL QUITE PRIVILEGED, as I'm now privy to something that not many of the JAPANESE expat population Penang know about, and I can share it with you!: the Miraku Restaurant in g Hotel has a very special "Eat as Much as you Can" offer, available only on WEDNESDAY evenings for the next THREE WEEKS, on all their fresh-as-a-daisy sushi (it's flown in 3 days a week).

According to Deputy Managing Director Mr Hijioka, they are keeping it quite low-profile because (and here I have to whisper ... ) they just want the local community to know about it this time round. They know how popular it will be with the Japanese, especially the businessmen, who will go over there after work for a beer with the first sitting which starts at 6pm. And as it's just available at the main sushi bar which can seat just 22 pax, it is limited to that number of people per sitting. The second one starts at 8 and goes through to 9pm.

There are over 12 items of sushi (squid, cuttlefish, yellow tail, shrimp, tuna, salmon belly, soft and creamy; there's unagi (eel) and roe, and many more) which are skilfully made up and handed over to you on the spot, beautifully presented on a long wooden platter, after which you can just request more of your favourites: for me, it's the salmon of course.

As it just costs RM50++ per person, if a sushi enthusiast were to tuck away say 50, it will cost just a little above RM1 each! That is real value for money, although I was assured that they have not skimped on the quality: it's the same excellent sashimi that Miraku, described to me by another Japanese businessman as "the best in town" has been famous for since they opened their doors to the public a few years ago. And not only that, it's delicious and healthy to boot, the raw protein easily absorbed into our blood stream.

Obviously with such an incredible price they will only entertain bookings so if you are at a loose end as to where to eat tomorrow, do try it. But don't just show up if you're interested - do book in advance 04 229 8702.

IF it proves popular enough they will extend the Wednesday specials further - here's an opportunity to encourage them to do it.

WRITERS UNITE ...

GLAD TO SEE THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE who actually read my blog: people have been stopping me and asking how I am. Actually, except for the slight croakiness still in my voice (which is actually not that bad cos a few people have described it as "sexy" ... hmmm ...!) I am almost back to normal. I hope!

So it was also back to "work" with a vengeance as I met up with fellow freelance food writer American Gayle Keck and her husband on their whistle-stop tour of Penang at the weekend. As I had just over an hour with them, it had to be somewhere which had a bit of everything to offer, so we ended up at New World Park in town.

It's always so interesting to introduce our food to outsiders, because like any other culture, one grew up with this sort of stuff: our laksas, curries, noodles, rojaks and what-nots is second nature to us yet so unique to people who are new to it. However the same is true of us when we land in another country: we too need to learn about other cuisines. Even when you live in a country for a few years it takes a while to get to know it.

Not sure what their stomachs thought of the assault, but as they flew in from Bangkok presumably the tastes weren't too strange: I ordered quite a few different dishes for them to try. Cucuk Udang, Assam Laksa, Hokkien Mee; a bit of Lor Bak (tried to show off how good I was to get both sauces into my mouth without dribbling it all down my front but guess what, they were pretty good at it too!), Chee Cheong Fun (hmmm ... that's the test of a true foodie - whether they are prepared to even try it - our version is so fishy with the black gooey hey ko) etc.

I will say this for them: they were game for anything, and tried EVERYTHING without blanching or turning white, and even went, "Mmmm ... I liked this," or "that". Even got an opportunity to show off my newly-acquired knowledge of how "chang" (zhong) came into being (as I've just written an article for Senses of Malaysia).

UNFORTUNATELY and this is the gospel truth: I charged out without any cash at all so my sincere apologies Gayle that I had to leave you and hubby to pay for everything! Hope you enjoyed it anyway, and look forward to reading your blog about your trip to Penang. If you would like to read Gayle's writing check outwww.GayleKeck.com.

FEELING ILL

A FEW DAYS AGO I WROTE ABOUT HOW I paid for the trip to Singapore, both literally and figuratively. Well, that's 'cos not only did I have to fork out cash for most of the trip (ie the return flights and two nights in a hotel) but until a couple of days I was still suffering the after-effects.

Not sure what it was because it started the last night before I left: a not very nice experience which resulted in me shivering in bed, but suffice it to say that for lunch I had had my THIRD helping of Buah Keluak in 2 days: three different types of Chicken Buah Keluak; they seem to use it for everything, even in the fried rice. Now I'm not sure about this Indonesian fruit which seems indispensable to southern nyonya cooking, which is after all what I was researching and I'm certainly not laying the blame on it, but it does seem rather a bit of a coincidence.

How I made it back to Penang the next day is a miracle; I got to the airport early and slept the whole journey back under a blanket. Luckily my darling husband was there to greet me, and boy, was I glad he was there to take over my burden (bags and all) with his broad shoulders. I spent the rest of the day in bed but it was just too much: I ended up in hospital with a drip in my arm. They wanted to check me in but honestly I feel much happier in my own bed so they let me home reluctantly. Although I got better, I came down with a sore throat and cough. The spate of hot, humid days haven't helped either.

All social events, dinners, lunches, drinks and what nots, had to be cancelled and my weight plummeted rather dramatically which is, as someone who saw me recently said, "Nice, I wish I could," but actually it's not, cos it is very AGEING!! The older one gets the less elastic the skin is, rather like a stretched balloon which has had all the air let out. Yukh, what an image!!

So if you haven't been reading about me doing much lately now you understand why. In fact the Sigi's launch was probably the first thing I'd attended for a long time (a good friend's birthday dinner at Ocean Green was the other but that didn't count cos it was a personal event).

Aah, the things I do in the name of duty ... eat, eat and eat! Anyway enough of the self pity ... I'm okay now except a bit croakey. So look out Penang, I'm back!!!

SIGI's IS LAUNCHED!

IT WAS A NIGHT TO REMEMBER ... not only was it the launch of the new Sigi's Grill and Bar on the Beach at the Golden Sands Resort in Batu Ferringhi, but it was also probably the hottest night ever - in fact the day had averaged some 40 d Centigrade I believe. Penang has been sweltering for the past three months, and it doesn't look set to abate.

However it didn't stop the most happening event of the month (after all we're only in March!) from taking place; in fact, it probably made it go with even more of a bang as all the revellers - and there were hundreds - just HAD to down more beer and wine to cool themselves down, didn't they!

The drinks disappeared the same way the food did: with alacrity, and although the invitation said 730pm, by the time we got there at 745, it was already rocking: ANYONE who was ANYONE had been invited including all the inhouse guests from both resorts it seemed like. The place was PACKED everywhere, and there was nowhere to sit. Massive queues were already forming at the lamb station, barbeque pit and everywhere else. So I just settled for a glass of wine and a strawberry shortcake.

It was however horrendously humid and sticky weather, and I can only pity the poor auld souls who had to WORK rushing around serving drinks and food (there was pizza and fish 'n chips going round); one poor chap's shirt was completely stuck to his back he had been sweating so much. It was interesting as someone there pointed out: all the Msians were huddled in the air-con main dining area and all the Mat Sallehs were outside in the sweltering heat! We are such spoilt ninnies really ... !

The St George's Girls' School Band was there to liven things up, and there were fire dancers and belly dancers etc. It was all very lau juak. GM Mr Bruno Cristol gave a very short (I think, wisely, he knew he didn't stand a chance if he went on for too long) succinct speech to thank everyone for their hard work, and then declared Sigi's open with a BANG when the name lit up. After that it was back to the partying!

Well done Golden Sands, and Chef John BROCK (yes I'm afraid the old slippy and sleepy fingers here added an extra syllable to his name in the Star article about him so he's getting his revenge now by calling me Mrs Smith! Sorry Mr Brockman ... ooops I mean John) for getting it all together so quickly. Look forward to trying your other dishes.

TIAN TIAN - EVERY DAY

IT WAS A REALLY INTERESTING TRIP TO SINGAPORE, even if I ended up paying for it - both literally and figuratively.

As mentioned before, I was invited to attend the San Pellegrino dinner, but also took the opportunity whilst there to do some research about Peranakan food in Singapore, which was quite an experience. But this post isn't about that.

Most of my other trips there I had stayed in hotels along or just off the Orchard Road which is great, it goes without saying, for shopping. Not too far to go back and dump all your spoils before heading out again. However this time round I decided to try a different part of town, and booked myself into a hotel in Chinatown and you know what, it was really quite fun.

The Inn on Temple Street is one of those boutique hotels which seem to be the trend nowadays: entrepreneurs who buy up whole stretches of old shophouses then converting them into retro-style hotels. It's beautifully done but they tend to be rather small with rooms squeezed into niches and nooks and very few facilities. And this one didn't even have a lift so I had to trudge my bag up 3 floors; no fun when you've just travelled all the way there. The room I was in was so tiny I could sit on my single bed and practically touch both walls if I stretched my hands out. But it did have an ensuite bathroom attached.

For the third night I checked into The Peranakan Hotel right on the other side of town, in the Katong District, courtesy of the Singapore Tourism Board who had kindly sponsored some of the activities I was pursuing in the course of my research. Again it's another of those renovated and refurbished buildings but to be frank apart from some lacquered furniture in my room I couldn't really see where the "Peranakan" bit came from. It did however have a lift!

Much of Singapore's Peranakan community lived in the Katong area, which is also famous for a lot of food - everywhere you go around the city state you'll see mention of "Katong Laksa" and "Katong this" and "Katong That" ... rather like stalls all over Malaysia say "Penang Laksa" and "Penang Char Kuey Teow" etc. Whilst there I managed to visit quite a few places - more about them later - but on my way back to the hotel I passed by the Tian Tian Hainan Chicken Rice Shop which had just opened that very day - the bouquets and flowers outside their shop were testimony to that fact. So of course kay poh that I am I had to pop in and try the food.

This shop is the branch of the famous Chicken Rice shop in the Maxwell Food Centre, which has been going for the past couple of decades. It's quite decent value: for SGD5.50 I got a fair bit of silky white chicken and rice, and their chilli sauce (very important) is freshly made every day. It was good, although I do believe some of our stalls are just as good and a few are better.

However, I'll say this for the Singaporeans - they have succeeded in branding their country to the extent that if you say "Singapore" the images that come to mind immediately are Chilli Crab, Chicken Rice, Orchids etc - despite the fact that such things are prevalent all over South East Asia. I think the Penang State Government should take a few lessons from them. After all, we have quite a few things to shout about as well.

EAST OF THE SWEZ

EAST IS EAST AND WEST IS WEST, goes the famous saying, "and ne'er the twain shall meet. Well, maybe not, but I might meet you at the Eastin Hotel near Queensbay Mall which will be officially launched by TYT and CM next Tuesday morning.

HOWEVER me being me, I've already managed a sneak preview of their spacious ground floor coffee house called Swez. Don't ask! It's fantastic for two reasons: one because the food that I tried was really rather good. But that's because of the second reason: it's headed by me old mate Jean Marc Veron, who used to be Executive Chef at Equatorial Penang. Bienvenue encore, mon ami!

And being a true blue Frenchman, he's an exacting taskmaster who keeps an eagle eye on everything that comes out of the kitchen, despite splitting his time between KL and Penang. But he has trained his protege Executive Sous Chef Lim Soon Leong well, and the standard is still pretty high.

There's a reasonably-priced buffet every lunch time (RM45++ adults, RM27++ children), available from noon to 2.30pm. It all looks very clean and presentable, and the food looks authentic and appetising. The theme changes daily, but "We offer 60% western dishes," remarked Jean Marc (there's him there bossing the others about as usual!). There's also a grill bar and action station doing pasta or local. The desserts looked particularly delectable.

At weekends, there's a High Tea Buffet with Japanese on Saturdays and Seafood on Sundays, pricer at RM75++, but Jean Marc promises us "good value" with quality ingredients.

In the evenings there is a la carte or semi-buffet, with some excellent choices, again without breaking the bank: RM45++-RM65++ depending on choice of main course - there's steak, cod, lamb, seafood; the Pasta with home-made Pesto was delicious.

Well whatever it is, I think Swez is going to give the other hotels a run for their money. The only setback as far as I'm concerned is it's not exactly round the corner; one has to physically make the effort to drive all the way out there. But if you're already in the vicinity or want a break from all that retail therapy, then do head there to give them a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed.