Eight Thirty AM

                                   Malacca-style curry laksa

The sun's warm but not yet scorching. There's still a bit of freshness to the air and, as far as the photographer is concerned, the light is still golden. We've already got an hour and a half of satisfying marketing (and a tasty Nyonya zong) under our belts. Everything seems possible.

Even another breakfast.

Heading up the street from Malacca's Eng Seng market we come upon a food court partially hidden under low eaves. The din issuing from within tells us it's popular. Inside we find spotless marble-topped tables, wooden chairs, and a bossy manager.

'What you want?!' she demands, before we've even had a chance to take in the possibilities. Every stall seems to be doing a roaring business. We ponder the possibility of yong tauhu, Cantonese-style fried noodles, Hokkien mee, chee cheong fun, laksa ....

'Laksa!' she barks, not unpleasantly. It's not a question, it's an order, and we nod. 'Laksa!' she barks again, louder this time, at the laksa vendor on the other side of the room.

After a few minutes of small talk our order arrives. 'Here's your laksa. Carry on.'

Malaccan curry laksa is like KL curry laksa except, well, better. The version served at Tung Fang Food Court is fragrant with coconut milk but not too lemak (fatty rich) or sweet, and it's packed with slices of fish cake, shrimp, lots of crunchy pieces of deep-fried tofu skin, and plump cockles. The mound of finely slivered cucumber mixed with minced daun kesom (Vietnamese coriander) carefully arranged atop the laksa is a splendid touch. The gravy is lip-tinglingly spicy - always a plus for us - and the sambal served alongside, curiously devoid of belacan (as was the sambal we enjoyed with our Nyonya zong), adds another welcome hit of heat.

All morning we've been struck by the easy friendliness of the locals. We exchange smiles and share a table with three elderly ladies who, like everyone else around us, seem to be Tung Fang regulars. They're all eating chee cheong fun, with little saucers of pork dumplings on the side. The chatty-bossy manager is back, wondering if a bowl of laksa shared between the two of us really constitutes a proper breakfast (she doesn't know about the Nyonya zong). She's pushing the chee cheong fun. Now the elderly men at the next table get in on the act, raising their eyebrows at us in what we take to be a challenge:

Hey gwailo, you gonna walk out of here after one measly bowl of laksa, without even trying the chee cheong fun?

You already know how this story ends. We place an order, for chee cheong fun only, and then amend it to include some dumplings. The two women running the stall are probably the busiest of all of Tung Fang's vendors, the chee cheong fun maker in perpetual motion over her steamer trays and cutting board.

It can't possibly be as easy as she makes it look, spooning watery batter onto a cloth spread over the holes of a steamer, sprinkling its surface with shrimp, bits of char siew (barbecued pork), and chopped green onion, pulling the cloth from the steamer after it's spent a couple minutes under cover and then laying it onto an oiled stainless steel surface,

and lifting it up to reveal a rectangle of paper thin rice flour dough.

With a wide spatula and a few flicks of the wrist she maneuvers the rice flour sheet into a loose log,

slices it into chopstick-able chunks, and slides them onto a plate.

It's a wonderful Hong Kong-style chee cheong fun (the chili on the side and fried garlic on top are  Malaysian flourishes) with an impeccably smooth texture. The rustic dumplings are unevenly sized and filled with pork that boasts the nubby texture of hand-chopped meat, rather than the usual machine-processed paste.

The chatty-bossy manager's back, and she nods approvingly as we finish off the chee cheong fun. 'Do you get these in your Chinatown in America?' she asks.

'Not like this,' we say. 'Not made to order three steps from your table, pulled off the steamer, plated, and placed in front of you all in the space of a minute.'

(Malaysians, do you know how good you've got it here?)

Tung Fang Food Court, Egerton Road, Malacca. Mornings. Laksa RM3, chee cheong fun 3.40, 3 dumplings 1.20.

Comments

[Annie]

Do I ever! Which makes it harder to be away for so long. I'm dying for some really good noodles and local Msian fare....DYING I tell you!

[[eatingclub] vancouver]

Wow, great shots of the woman making the rice dough! I've always wondered why those rice rolls are so popular; now I know.

[mk]

Yet another stupendous food write-up. Robyn & Dave, thanks for the wonderful food theme of Malacca and you put some of us Malaccan to shame, me for instant. Your ability to "zero" in on all those delicious hawker's food whilst on a short trip to Malacca. Tung Fang Food Court is definitely on my MUST eat itinerary on my next visit. Await your next blog on Malacca with anticipation. By the way Dave, terrific pictures of the chee cheong fun. You can't get fresher than that.

[Robyn]

Sorry Annie! Hope we're not causing you too much pain. ;-)

Eating club, there's nothing like freshly made chee cheong fun. But I could also say the same about a good bowl of laksa, a perfectly charred ikan bakar, a .... oh well, never mind. You get the point.

Hi mk. Well, we do travel on our stomachs, that's for sure. Would you believe we were in Malacca for less than 24 hours - another post to come and that won't even include 3 meals we ate for an article that we'll link after it's out. Had to do a little detox after that trip. ;-) Thanks for reading...

[shiewie]

A Malaccan nyonya friend says that Malaccan laksa is Nyonya laksa, different from the version that is served in KL :).

Well I guess there is the shrimp (KL takes a short cut with slices of fish cake) and shredded cucumber - she insists that the cucumber be hand shredded. First, peel the skin of the cucumber. Next, peel around the length of the cucumber such that it becomes one large flat sheet of cucumber, omitting the seeds before shredding it.

[Mama BoK]

Yup..!! it's painful alright..! :)

[Nate]

Oh. My. God.

That is the absolute freshest ccf I have ever seen. You're killing us!

(btw, the book arrived in the mail. Thanks again!)

[Renyi]

Nothing like a hot hot bowl of Laksa in the morning, I need to be back to Malaysia soon.

Even though it has been many years, I still remember the texture of a well made cheong fun.

Not until you been away for so long that you realize how much you miss the taste of home (food).

[Marie]

The laksa looks amazing. I've never had laksa, but seeing your photo reminds me that I need to make it a priority!

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[Rona Y]

When in KL a few weeks ago, we took a bus down to Malacca for the day just because of this blog entry! We arrived around 10:30, but even then the Laksa stall was all out. I was so disappointed! But I was able to get some char siu cheung fan--I still dream about it. It was perfect in every way--the noodles were incredibly soft and tender, and the sauce and char siu were flavourful but light. My mother had wonton mee. She enjoyed it, but couldn't finish because we had just had breakfast a few hours earlier...

Because we took the bus, we couldn't get to the kuih keria place (the other reason I really wanted to go to Malacca), but next time I'm in KL, I'm getting a car and driver just so I can get some of those scrumptious-looking palm sugar doughnuts!