When the heat becomes unbearable in Malaysia, one option is to retreat to an air-conditioned shopping centre.
The Mid Valley Megamall in KL is an immense edifice crammed with shops and food outlets. Connected to it is The Gardens Mall which contains yet more places to spend money, and some good options for food including the Homi Chicken Curry Puff stand.
At the same market where we had the apam balik, there was a stall where vast jackfruit were being dismantled for sale.
If anyone has been reading this blog thoroughly and devotedly, they may have detected my fondness for peanuts.
When I read about the Malaysian treat apam balik I was therefore naturally eager to try it, as it is a thin pancake sprinkled with sugar, sweetcorn and lots of chopped peanuts.
On a previous visit to Malaysia in 2008 I asked a local blogger (boo_licious of masak-masak – I can highly recommend her site) for some restaurant suggestions for a celebratory family meal, and one place that came up was Precious Old China in the Central Market.
We went there and had a very enjoyable time, so much so that we returned there on our recent trip just to have a drink.
In all conversations about what we should eat when in Malaysia, the top of our must-haves list was roti canai (pronounced “rote-ee chan-i”).
I touched on this delectable bread a while ago in a post on the rotee stalls that lurk seductively around Thailand’s streets. Roti canai can be found on similar stalls, but is exceedingly common in the many Indian restaurants that inhabit the Malaysian food scene.
H spent some of his formative years in Malaysia, and fondly remembers breakfast roti with fish curry as a Sunday treat. Served with a frothy mug of teh tarik (tea sweetened with condensed milk and poured at a distance from cup to cup to aerate it), he reckons it is one of the finest ways to start the day.
