Category Archives: Food

Char Kway Teow

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Char Kway Teow is stir-fried ricecake strips with prawns, cockles and bean sprouts. It is a popular local hawker dish, notably from Penang. Think of it as Chinese fettuccine.

Some of the best things in life are not free nor cheap. Such as this delicious Char Kway Teow from Penang One Restaurant. But there is one thing that is still free. If you eat out in the daytime here, there is plenty of available light for food photography.

The trick is in finding the right position. Sit facing the door or window. Most people avoid it because they feel the back light may be too strong. What you want is to let the light skim the food surface and bring out its texture.

There may be a temptation to photograph a dish such as this from the top, try not to. The lower you go, the more three-dimensional the food appears. See how the bean sprouts jump out because there is depth? Let the light skim the shrimps (prawns) to make it succulent. Lai Chiak.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 640, f3.7, 1/30 sec.

Char Kway Teow

Yik Mun’s Chicken Chop

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Tanjung Malim used to be a favourite stopover on the busy trunk road linking the north and south of Peninsular Malaysia. One of the coffee shops serving hungry passers-by was Yik Mun. Opened in 1926, they are known for their paus (steamed buns with fillings).

The chicken chop is uniquely Hainanese-Malaysian and Yik Mun being of Hainanese heritage serves a mean version (photographed here). Usually, it is a piece of chicken thigh drenched in a gravy made of Worcestershire Sauce, green peas, chopped mushrooms and onions, served with fries. Yik Mun’s version comes with canned green peas, mashed potato, coleslaw and a piece of mini mantou (Chinese bread). All for RM 14.

The waitress also recommended their signature Roti Kahwin (didn’t try), signature Mee Hailam (tasted ordinary), Chicken Pau (tasted bad) and Kopi O (tasted horrible). I recommend sticking to the chicken chop which was excellent. There are a couple of things that may be disturbing to some. The shop has sharks fin soup on the menu and it played Michael Learns To Rock continuously.

Yik Mun is halal.  It is now in a newer location; a maroon building at the junction to the old town and Proton City.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 2000, f5, 1/60 sec.

Yik Mun's Chicken Chop

Lasi Lomak

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Lasi Lomak is the crossover Chinese name for the popular Malay dish named Nasi Lemak. It is rice cooked with fragrant coconut milk and served with a choice of different meat or vegetables. The standard condiments include crispy fried anchovies, roasted peanuts, sambal, cucumber and a slice of hard-boiled boiled egg.

At the very popular lasi lomak stall in Peel Road, I opted for soy-sauced chicken drusmstick, curry potato cubes and chopped long beans. Although I didn’t try, the wild boar curry and luncheon meat seemed to be the crowd favourite.

The corner coffee shop has many stalls and is very busy. Apart from the lasi lomak stall, a barbecue chicken wings stall and a Malay satay stall were also big crowd puller.

The coffee shop is at 96 Jalan Peel, opposite the former Carrefour.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 1000, f3.5, 1/30 sec.

Lasi Lomak