The Malaysian Insider :: Food
The Malaysian Insider :: Food |
| Straits cuisine in Nyonya Land Posted: 27 May 2011 05:53 PM PDT  Nasi Ulam... time consuming to prepare. It's an unpretentious restaurant, with black tables and stools, but it's brightly lit, all the better to read the huge board on the wall detailing the origins of the Nyonyas and Babas or Straits-born Chinese. And it all begins with the journey of Admiral Cheng Ho to these parts 600 years ago. It tells about the food, the different nuances in Malacca, Singapore and Penang, the last with Thai overtones.  The Roti Babi here is the real thing. My sister was looking forward to Nasi Ulam, and we found a great one here, like how our Nyonya aunt used to make it. I remember her with her thick round glasses, her near-sightedness no obstacle to shredding all the leaves and herbs finely; her agak-agak measurements were always perfect. It was similarly spot on with flavours and proportions at Nyonya Breeze. The rice was fluffy, each grain evenly coated with the turmeric, finely pounded salted fish, dried prawns, belacan and kerisik, and exuding all the fragrant aromas of the thin shreds of herbs and leaves. It was amazing.  Kerabu Bok Nee is a Nyonya classic. We had started with the Kiam Chye Ark, a duck and salted vegetable soup with sour plums that was tart and very peppery. It was the perfect opener to our very extensive dinner. Then came the Kerabu Bok Nee with chicken well tossed in sambal, with the oomph of bunga kantan. I would have liked the chicken to be shredded more finely though. The Kari Kapitan had a sour lift from lime juice, which made the usually rich and aromatic chicken curry even more delightful to eat. I had the best Perut Ikan here. The flavours were sensational from the myriad aromatic herbs and roots, toasted belacan, long beans and eggplant, small bits of pickled fish stomach, sweetness from pineapple and shrimps. It had the right balance of sweet and sour, and hotness from chillies. I could eat this over and over again, so good it was. The Asam Pedas Stingray satisfied all my cravings for this curry that had some pineapple in it, and large pieces of stingray. It was right then to go back to the delicate sweetness of Jiu Hu Char, the braised yam bean with cuttlefish, eaten wrapped in lettuce laced with sambal belacan.  Perut Ikan with all the right flavours. We had no room for dessert, which was a shame, having spotted on the menu earlier Apong Berkuah (Nyonya pancakes drizzled with palm sugar), and Seh Liu Chi, pomegranate "jelly" bits made with tapioca flour (making this is a forgotten art now), served with jackfruit in coconut milk. Nyonya Breeze deserves many visits to savour all its very authentic and fine Nyonya specialities. Kiam Hu Kut Gulai (salted fish bone curry), Hong Bak, Nyonya Lam Mee, Pig's Trotters in Dark Vinegar and Huan Chu Keok Masak Lemak (sweet potato leaves curry with sweet potato and shrimps) are what I would like to try on my next visit. The food is reasonably priced — for instance, the Nasi Ulam is RM7, Roti Babi RM4.50 per piece, and for large portions of Kari Kapitan it is RM16.80, Asam Pedas Stingray RM24, Kiam Chye Ark RM24, Kerabu Bok Nee RM12. * Nyonya Breeze is located at 50 Abu Siti Lane, George Town, Penang (Tel: 019-443-7104). Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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