The Adventures of Bruce and Ian

The Asam Laksa is known throughout South East Asia as one of the best noodle soup dishes ever. Penang apparently is THE place to get the real deal.

Now, I had read stories online about Penang Asam Laksa and all its majesty. I desperately tried to find it back home, but the best I could come up with was coconut laksa – and I wasn’t too impressed with it either.

Before I continue, it should be said that I have a high bar set for noodle soups. As I’ve noted before, I myself am Vietnamese – with that I have known the world champion of noodle soups – Pho. I also know the light and middleweight champions: Bun Rue and Bun Bo Hue.

So when I heard that the Asam Laksa is perhaps a worthy challenger, I owed it to myself to see it it was true. In Penang, I finally had a chance to try their acclaimed noodle soup.

It definitely is a very tasty soup dish. Its stock is complex in flavour, not bland by any means, and the combination of ingredients makes for a hearty dish.

The tamarind based broth has a nice tart kick and the whole dish is steeped in a seafood aroma.

The broth isn’t a runny soup, but a slightly thicker sauce.

Thick and chewy rice noodles gave it a nice texture, and toppings of meats, fish, and vegetables provided a nice variety.

Topped off with basil and mint leaves, (as well as a pungent, horrid smelling shrimp paste..ugh…)the Penang Asam Laksa sure earned its title as Penang’s signature dish.

Chowing down on Penang Asam Laksa.

BUT…

It isn’t better than Pho. It’s a bit unfair comparing the two, since they both have very different base stocks, however if we’re talking about pure tastiness it loses out.

I found it actually very similar to Bun Rue, a tomato-based crab noodle soup dish from Vietnam. Both are seafood based and have a tart broth, and so this is probably a better comparison. I still like Bun Rue better =P

Some say I have to eat Penang Asam Laksa from Stall No.11 on Gurney Drive – maybe that’ll turn the tide for me!

And again we find ourselves ready to eat…you guys must think I’m a glutton of sorts.

Anywhoozits, we visited a delightful under-a-canopy food area a little walks away from the night markets at Batu Ferringhi. Hunger was setting in and I was ready for another round of Malaysian food delights – Penang stylez.

The place we ate at was called Cafe Long Beach – imagine a Kopi Tiam, but ALOT bigger… and outside…and under a tent.

So let’s get on with the foodage – appetizers first!

Spring Roll

Nothing too inspiring about this dish. A crispy, cabbage and meat (pork I think) filled roll accompanied with a sweet chilli dipping sauce. The sauce was similar to Vietnamese fish sauce (or ‘Nuoc Mam’ to all the connoisseurs out there).

It got my appetite ready to go though, and I was hankering for some more fried delights.

Fried Oyster

My mommy told me that I probably shouldn’t be eating oyster in any form while overseas. But, I am a BIG fan of that shelled treasure from the sea.

“Fried oyster” is quite a popular dish in Malaysia it seems. Everywhere we went, I saw at least one sign advertising FRIED OYSTER in big bold red letters.

So I had to try it.

Now, it may look unappetizing, but trust me on this – it was delicious!

I was actually confused and thought that whole amalgamation of stuff on the plate was the fried oyster. “That’s a big oyster,” I thought to myself. However, I came to realize that it was a mixture of scrambled egg, spring onions, fried batter (I think?!) and little bits of oyster.

Nice textures in this dish…the softness of the oyster played nicely with the crispiness of the fried batter and spongy scrambled eggs.

MMMmmmmmmm.

Chapati

Bruce ate this one in particular – he wasn’t too impressed by it. Chapati is supposed to be a flat, dense bread of sorts, which makes it kinda dry to eat. The curries served with it were a bit bland, and combined with the already dry chapati it just felt like a chore to finish.

I’m sure there are better versions out there somewhere – or maybe this dish in general is just not for us.

Char Hor Fun

I’ve had *Ipoh* Char Hor Fun back at home, and I thought it was a very tasty dish. However, my definition of “tasty” would be completely obliterated. I ordered a Char Hor Fun – ( different than an IPOH Char Hor Fun) and the difference was clear. Ipoh is a state in Malaysia where a style of Char Hor Fun is made. The one I ate back home had a lot of sauce/gravy, was more lighter in color, and eaten almost like a soup.

This Char Hor Fun was darker in color, was only drizzled in a sauce, and eaten like chow mein. The biggest difference was the flavour.

WOW.

The smokey flavour of the noodles was just so savoury and tasty. It was clear that the cook had a beautifully seasoned wok. This is where the cook only lightly washes the wok so was to just clear light debris from it, allowing all the flavours and aromas of past dishes to permeate any and all dishes cooked from it.

Now my goal is to head on over to Ipoh, have some authentic IPOH Char Hor Fun and compare notes!

The next dish I ate requires it’s OWN blog post…the Penang Asam Laksa.

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