Carlsberg doesn't make asian restaurants, but if it did....

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We have only been in Malaysia for three days and already I think it is one of my favourite places we have been so far, and its all down to the food. Steve said about my enthusiasm but he was being polite.
When it comes to quality and freshness Vietnam wins hands down. But when you've been in a place for a while and are eating the same thing day after day you can get bored of anything. This is the advantage Malaysia has. As it is such a culturally diverse country there is loads of different influences food wise.
We headed to a night bazaar which advertised itself as food paradise and they weren't half wrong. Its called Red Garden and we were lucky enough to be here in the middle of their food and beer festival (sponsored by Carlsberg). The surroundings are like a spruced up street restaurant, with the stalls around the outside and you sit in the middle. They have stalls selling food from all over Asia, sushi, Burmese food, Thai, different types of Chinese, Malay, Mcwaffles? You then order from each stand and pay as its brought to the table. Now then, the food...
I could have spent all night picking from each stall and we managed to make it through most of them. We started with Malaysian, chicken satay skewers with a gorgeous satay dipping sauce, fish crackers (like prawn crackers but nicer and fishier) and fresh oysters. I'm not a fan of oysters but Steve said they were lovely and really fresh.
We then moved on to some nasi goreng and a dish I was told by a lovely little woman was a traditional Malay dish called rojak. Possibly the most bizarre dish I have ever eaten it consisted of pineapple, tofu, cucumber, apple, pastry and some other vegetables served cold with a sauce that I can only describe as tasting of fish and chocolate. Wierd but strangley addictive.
When she brought it over to the table she said "you two are smart, some foreigners come and just eat ice cream, you try everything. If I come to your country I no eat Chinese food, I eat pizza". I think she thought we were American but she obviously knows a good customer when she sees one.
To finish with I had wanted to try a Thai green papaya salad. I got to watch him make it which was great and will definitely try at home. The sauce is ground up chili, garlic, dried shrimp, tomato, lemon juice, fish sauce and sugar, thrown in with grated papaya and carrot with ground peanuts. Yum. When asked if I wanted chili I said yes but just a small amount. I'm normally good when it comes to spicy food but I'm ashamed to say I was beaten by this one. It really, really hurt.
All of this came to just under a tenner and it was only that expensive because we had a few Carlsbergs to wash it all down.
The night was added to by a stage set up in the middle with various singers and performers, unfortunately we missed gentlemen's night with the final of a beer drinking competition, and karaoke. Brilliant.

Anyway, that was just one night of eating. We have also munched our way through a curry in little India, followed by a dessert of chocolate cake served on a sizzling hot plate with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top with chocolate sauce and cashew nuts. The trick is to eat it before the ice cream melts and the cake burns. I have not had chocolate in months so this was not a problem for me, even after a curry.
The other dish we have sampled is Hainnan chicken rice. Similar to Peking duck in the way the chicken is cooked but served cold with chicken flavoured rice, cucumber, spring onions and a bowl of soup. So, so good.
These are just the dishes that we've tried. We are in Malaysia for two more weeks so we're planning to get through balacan chicken, char kway teow, mee goreng, loh bak, briyani, rendang, lok lok, curried fish head, sushi....
Yes I will be getting incredibly fat but I don't care, I am a big gluttonous pig and I love it! This is what I came traveling for.

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Comments

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I am about to eat a bowl of crunchy nut cornflakes because I can't be arsed with cooking (plus I'm getting skinny - I'll be fat again by the time you come back so you'll recognise me) but oh my god how jealous am I?! I would eat everything you talked about, minus the chilli and live tiger prawn in the picture. Are you coming back to Malaysia in your trip... it would be nice to see you, it's nothing to do with the food honest. This is what all your entries should be like, never mind teaching kids, we have them in our country as well - boring! Only kidding Steve, very interesting, sounds challenging. x