Malaysian Food – Not What It Seems!

Malaysian Food Junket – Restaurant Number 1!

After my recent sily interview about Malaysian Food with Adam Liaw, it was time for me to be a shonky food critic and actually road test some South East Asian fare for myself.

Now I must make it clear – I usually classify food into 2 groups – either I like it, or I don’t! I couldn’t be bothered about using wanky food words that include ‘undertones’ and ‘fusion’. If it tastes good, well, then it’s passed the test.

Anyway, I’ve been assigned a cool (and probably weight gaining) junket to visit four Malaysian Restaurants in Brisbane, Australia before the end of September 2011 and reporting back on what it’s all about via a few blog posts!

For my first stop, I went to the Malaya Corner restaurant located in Sunnybank, in the southern suburbs of Brisbane.

The first thing I noticed was that the entire place was packed full of people, which was a good sign. But I was seated straight away, and I started my quest to try something that was a bit unusual.

However, when I asked the waiter for the weirdest food they cooked that necessarily wasn’t on the menu, he looked at me as if I was from another planet.

After all, why would someone ask for something most people don’t eat? Only I would!

Malaysian Food With A Difference

Anyway, that didn’t matter. I scanned the menu for something that sounded like the hottest dish there – and I thought I hit the jackpot when I saw Radish Cake, or Kuih Loh Bak.

Now, I thought ‘Radish Cake‘ would be some kind of red-hot-like-fire dish conjured by the Devil himself that would have burnt out my entire gastro-intestinal tract from the entry and exit points, and thought, well this is  something a bit different.

So I ordered it – here it is below:

Having said that, this dish was a total surprise package.

Radish Cake is made by mixing rice flour with with grated radish and then steaming it. It is later stir fried using eggs. It looks like tofu, but the texture is light and nothing like I’ve tried before. And it’s not even hot! Give it a try next time you try some Malaysian Food and your taste buds might be pleasantly stimulated.

Some other honourable mentions sampled: the Satay Chicken. These were sensational. I could have eaten a whole pallet of these.

And finally, the National Dish of Malaysia – Nasi Lemak – which literally means ‘Fatty Rice’.

The name is derived from the cooking process whereby rice is soaked in coconut cream and then the mixture steamed. Then there is a heap of spicy stuff planted on the side to eat with the rice, like beef, satay chicken, or cuttlefish.

I’m not sure how much my Body Mass Index increased, but hopefully not too much because I have three more Malaysian Restaurants to sample!

More Malaysian Food Stuff

For more Malaysian Food info, see my chat with Malaysia Kitchen Ambassador Adam Liaw and Malaysian Food: A Collection of My Favourite Dishes and the Inspiration Behind Them.