Bhaijaan Kya Khilau?” the familiar Punjabi tinged Hindi drew me in a foreign land. I was in Malaysia exploring the little-discovered state of Selangor when the hunger pangs struck. I decided to head into one of the bustling restaurants lining the streets of Kuala Kubu Baharu when I heard these words. Inside was a cornucopia of activity as busy Malaysians scooped up platefuls of delicious smelling food while a multitude of servers hustled around. I turned to Amjad, an immigrant from Lahore in Pakistan who had apparently recognized my subcontinent face and called out to me. The initial hesitance of being an Indian passed as I mentioned I am from Delhi and he enveloped me in his arms like a long-lost brother. Here I was, in a foreign land making a friend across the border for the first time that was willing to feed me some of his specialties. I had entered one of the Mamaks, 24-hour restaurants where the strict definition of borders and cuisines had ceased to exist.
What is a Mamak?
The Malaysian way of eating is quite simple: Eat frequently and eat outside. With most of the Malaysians relying on these 24 restaurants to take care of their five to six daily meals, they have become a hotspot of activity. The colonists from an era gone by, the Chinese traders and the immigrants from India have combined their cuisines together to create a unique blend of dishes. As the job opportunities flourished, more people from especially the Indian subcontinent poured in bringing with them their own condiments and techniques. This made the Mamaks a potpourri of cultures and flavours alike.
After the initial surprise of the place resided, I decided to check on the menu and a tightly bound spiral of plastic sheets was plonked down in front of me. The menu extends to more than three hundred items and covered the gamut from Chinese to Indian, from Malaysian to Indonesian, and everything in between. What I mean by everything in between is that the traditional boundaries of the different cuisines have been dissolved to create dishes which borrow heavily from multiple ones at the same time.
Although the physical menu did have me confused on what to order, the visual menu had me pondering even harder. Not a single inch of the restaurant lay unused as dishes upon dishes lay on display, the visual cues causing my salivary glands to activate. Large fish heads, chicken legs covered in marinate, skewered pieces of meat and a multitude of seafood lay in covered containers as the chefs hustled to finish up the orders. Seeing my dilemma and Amjad already having approached our table twice in hope of an order, my host Sharmila Velisamy, Editor of Malindo Air’s in-flight magazine decided to take pity and order.
What should you order at the Mamaks?
A Nasi Goreng and a glass of Cold Tea was ordered for me while she planned to consume a plateful of Roti Canai Curry. As Amjad headed off, happy that his awestruck customer had finally ordered, I ventured out to explore other parts of this 200 seater restaurant. All around I saw people of various ethnicities sitting with their friends, partners, and colleagues devouring on platefuls of noodles, rice and a variety of gravies. The restaurant doubles up as your neighborhood 24*7 store with cigarettes, sweets, and other knick-knacks also available with the cashier.
The Nasi Goreng Paprik Sea Food (RM 9.50=INR 150) in itself is a cornucopia of flavours. The slightly sticky rice has been fried in a typical nutty Indonesian sauce and is covered with chicken and seafood of all kinds, before being topped off by an omelette. A single bowl meal that is quite filling on the stomach. The Roti Canai Curry (RM 8=INR 128) on the other hand is quite reminiscent of my trip to Kerala. The Roti Canai is heavily influenced by the flaky Malabati Parantha which is constructed of multiple layers akin to a filo pastry. The accompanying Mutton Curry could have been found in the bylanes of Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi. There is a warm Umami and heady taste to the mutton curry as it warms me up. A tinge of creamy coconut cream in it adds a typical Malay touch to it. The menu has a litany of other things to keep you occupied; Masakan ala Kampung (Kampung style cuisine) and Nasi Kandar originating from Penang which consists of steamed rice along with a variety of curries
A surprising addition to the Beverage menu is Nestle’s energy drink, Milo. Found all over the country from 5 Star Hotels to roadside stalls, the country seems to be in love with it’s warm, chocolaty taste. Malaysians love their tea too, almost as much as the Indians. But the tea here is used in quite a different avatar. The use of sweetened condensed milk instead of the regular skimmed version gives it a richer, sweeter taste that virtually eliminates the need for a dessert. But being a Bengali it is pretty much sacrilege to let go of any kind of dessert and I absolutely fall in love with the Malaysian Kuih Dadar out of coconut shavings stuffed in a crepe of sticky rice. It is pretty similar to the Paatishaptas I used to roll out in my childhood.
I had gone into the Shaaz Curry House in search of something to assuage my hunger pangs instead, I came out with a discourse in the intertwining of food and culture that defines Malaysia.
