My oh my. It has been a while hasn’t it?
Well, I’m not apologizing. It’s been a busy two months and I’m not quite sure where to start! The logical move would be to start with a very late Christmas post and then move into January, but I’m not always logical. So I’m starting with January.
Ah January. It came and went so quickly, I’m not quite sure it ever existed. Actually, it must have existed because I have hundreds of pictures. I was fortunate enough to have taken a class at Sloan called G-Lab. All during the fall semester I worked with a Company in Kuala Lumpur called JobStreet.com. Then during January, I spent three weeks on-site working with JobStreet. Yes, in Kuala Lumpur. I also managed to spend a weekend in Singapore and five days in Bali. Rough, I know.
The food in KL is amazing. I’m pretty sure I spent three straight weeks eating. Anything you desire is there; Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Thai, Western. Usually the best food is from hawker stands, it’s super cheap (easily under US$5 to eat) and delicious. Also, hopefully I have mastered chopstick eating!
Beverages
Any fruit juice. They are all amazing; watermelon, lychee and soursop were the top ones for me. I’m not quite sure how to describe soursop, it’s sweet and sour and delicious, even if it does sound like something out of the Willy Wonka movie.
Teh Tarik. Pulled tea with condensed milk. It’s refreshing served hot or cold.
Honey lime. I was not a fan. It was a cold beverage that tastes sweet at first but has a bitter after-taste.
Main Meals
Yong Tow Foo. Essentially Yong Tow Foo is vegetables with a large amount of fish paste in them. There were peppers, eggplant, tofu and others that had the similar paste in them. There was also something called, ‘lady fingers,” which I am almost certain is okra (again, stuffed with fish paste).
Rojak. One of my favorite dishes in Malaysia. It is a mixture of fruits, vegetables and spicy, sweet peanut sauce. I wasn’t entirely certain what I was eating all the time, but it was good
Chicken in a paper bag. Not the catchiest of names, but quite good dark meat chicken still on the bone.
Nasi Lemak. The ultimate traditional Malay food. Malaysians will frequently eat this chicken dish soaked in coconut for breakfast from roadside stalls (we had it for dinner).
Kuey Teow. A hawker stall favorite made from stir fried flat noodles, soy sauce and prawns. Also one of my favorite dishes in Malaysia.
Thai. We ate a ton of Thai food includes curries, noodles and spicy Tom Yom seafood soup, a personal favorite.
Korean BBQ. So good. One of my teammates was Korean, so was all made an effort to get Korean food one evening. This was also one of my absolute favorite meals. We had traditional BBQ as well as hot pot. It was amazing and when your Korean teammate approves, you know it’s good!
Starbucks. Errr, how did that get in there? Ok, ok. I’m guilty. A girls gotta get her coffee somehow!
Japanese. Another one of my teammates was Japanese, so we also made sure to get Japanese for dinner. We stuffed ourselves with fresh sushi, mango salad and soba noodles.
Bah kut teh. Oh the bah kut teh. Like many of the meals in Malaysia, I said “What the hell!” and ate away. The name means meat bone tea. I was informed it was pork ribs in broth. It was tasty, so I continued to eat. There are also other ingredients such as mushrooms and tofu. What I was not told is bah kut teh frequently (read: almost always) contains offal. I’m positive I ate stomach lining. I am not positive about what else I ate. I am also positive that is the only day I took Pepto-Bismol while in Kuala Lumpur.
Singapore Road Trip. The food and beverages in Singapore should not be ignored. They were also wonderful.
Fresh coconut juice. Nothing like drinking juice from coconuts opened in front of you with an extremely large knife.
Singapore Sling. I came. I ordered. I drank. No trip to Singapore is complete without a trip to the Raffles Hotel for the original Singapore Sling. While not exactly my favorite beverage, the experience alone was worth the $20 drink. They also have very good Tom Collins.
Fish Porridge. After waiting in line for 25 minutes, the lovely woman in front of me helped me order. She said this porridge from the hawker stand was infamous and she has waited up to an hour for it. They made each dish individually. Even more delicious was the raw fish salad. Win.
Chili and Red Pepper Crab. At the advice of our professor, we sought out these crabs while in Singapore. They did not disappoint. They were messy (I got a crab bib!), huge and flavorful.
And then there was:
DURIAN
Oh man. One of the best parts of being home again is not smelling durian everyday. This fruit, native to Malaysia has an extremely foul odor and an even fouler taste. It was awful. The scent is actually so strong and terrible many hotels do not allow the fruit on premises and they are also banned on the Singapore subway system!
That’s it. As I sit here eating the chicken I roasted for dinner (a bit too soon to return to Asian food), I realized I will now have to find equally delicious Asian foods in the US; preferably in Boston, New York or San Francisco.
