Road Food

One measure of a country is how well one can eat on its roads. Italy, with its autostrada pit stops serving toasted panini and espresso (and selling hunks of aged parmesan Reggiano and every sort of salumi under the sun), scores pretty high. So does Thailand. On our last tour up north we rarely drove more than half an hour without encountering a tempting edible, everything from barbecued chicken to ice-cold corn juice (incredibly refreshing).

Our beloved Malaysia disappoints in this department. The main north-south highway is dotted with official rest stops that dish up nothing of worth. Finding eats in the kampung (villages) lining smaller roads is more often a miss than a hit. Most boast a tom yam or ikan bakar shack or two that appear to be after dark-only operations. The daytime driver can travel quite a while without running into a snack. So this laksa lean-to, on highway 58 north to Setiawan, was a pleasant surprise.

The menu here is short - laksa, fried bananas, and kueh (sweets). To drink, air nira nipa and coconut juice. From the table inside, we enjoy a calming view of endless emerald rice paddies and shudder at the sound of unnervingly close high-speed traffic.

The elderly couple running the place is friendly and he, despite protestations to the contrary, speaks excellent English. They've been in business for over a decade and enjoy a steady parade of customers (on a Sunday, at least).

She describes her laksa as Penang-style. It's extremely spicy and very sour a la the northern island, but the broth is uncharacteristically clear. What this bowlful has going for it is big chunks of fish, a pronounced tang that I suspect is derived more from tamarind than from the sour slices known as asam keping, and loads of sliced fresh chilies that tingle our tongues and burn our lips.

Just the thing to recharge the batteries of a tiring driver facing another couple hours behind the wheel.

Laksa shack, highway 58, about 45 minutes from Setiawan. (There are others in the general vicinity.)

Comments

[a]

Excellent point about eating on a given country's roads. In Thailand I have this little saying whenever I am hungry and don't know what, when, or where the next meal or snack will be. "Thailand will provide." Never fails, even in the most remote places.

I have long held a similar idea about how the quality of a country's beverages is also a measure of... something. Some of my very favorite places also happen to have the best beverages. Sometimes it's the beverages themselves, sometimes it's the culture that is associated, sometimes it's both. Or maybe I just like beverages.

[bayi]

It's been some time since I have had the opportunity ti help myself to a good bowl of assam laksa. My mouth is salivating already with your appetising description!

[Rasa Malaysia]

Robyn - you are killing me with this bowl of Assam Laksa. Droool.

I am still in Cannes but I have been missing my Malaysian food. I have gotta cook this as soon as I return back home...even though I still can't bunga kantan.

[Cindy]

You must be traveling along the country roads.

I used to travel between Taiping and KL before the new high-way was in placed. The bus, or our car, would stop along the road side to pick up durians, pateh, and other goodies.

I find it a crying shame that these days all these wonderful stores are hidden from the regular travelers who tear along the high-way (paying incredible tol) and miss all the nice food, OR foreign travelers who do not know Malaysia well to seek out the REAL NUGGETS.

I could murder you (I live away from Malaysia the past 30 years) each time I see those mouth-watering great food where I can looky-looky but not eat! The curse of internet!

[Saida]

You just kill me right there.... aaaahhhhh asam laksa, to die for. Here in the States I have to make do with can sardines and years old asam keping brought back from my last visit to Malaysia. Fortunately the Filipino store in town carry those precious and distinctive daun kesum. I am in heaven whenever I'm in front of a bowl of asam laksa.

[Meng]

The assam laksa looks delicious. It must be sour and spicy. It is great to see the Malay couple living a simple life. When I was kid in the 70s, my parents would take us to Cameron Highlands, Port Dickson and Penang during the school holidays. There was no North-South highway. We took the back roads and saw a lot of these huts (pondoks). Some selling sugar cane water, durians, rambutans and simple food like your assam laksa. I had a great time. Your photos brought those wonderful memories back to me. Unfortunately, we have IHOP, BK, Mickey Ds and hot dog from the gas stations off I-75 highway.

[Mudzaffar]

Well I agree with Rasa Malaysia's comments that tearing along the highway makes travellers miss the lovely food spots. So you really need to know where to leave the highway to refuel, your belly that is. To me the old roads still hold many treasures and need not be a hit and miss affair as long as you hold on to the maxim, where there be a crowd, the food would almost surely be good, especially the bawah pokok or under the tree establishments. Your second photo proves that.

[Kevin]

I'll never forget a stop in the middle of nowhere in Poland. They served scalding coffee in flimsy plastic cups, grounds on the bottom, hunks of sausage on a charcoal grill, and you sat down to free pretty bad bread and pickled this and that to go with your meat. I need to visit Thailand.

[mycookinghut]

This looks like typical Northern Malay Laksa that is so yummy. The hard boil egg makes this dish stands out!

[Robyn]

A-True enough about Thailand. There's food everywhere! One of the things I love about the place.
Beverages ... interesting. I do judge a place based on how easily available a good cup of coffee is (not Starbucks!).

Bayi - sounds like it's time you get up to Penang....

Rasa - this is a much simpler version of Penang-style laksa as it's served on Penang. Not quite as complex ... but still delicious.

Mudzaffar - it's always worth trying these sort of places, I think. The hits are more numerous than the misses.

Well Kevin, I don't think Poland was ever known for its road food. Yes, Thailand - or Italy - is the place to be.

mycookinghut - I think you're right. They called it Penang but it seemed more like laksa Kedah to us. Delicous though.

Cindy - Malaysians in the know will certainly detour to the trunk roads, if necessary, for a good meal. Unfortunately most foreigner visitors don't have the means (transport) to do so. And I haven't met to many foreign residents who drive for food as we do. ;-)

Saida - I think asam laksa is one of Malaysia's most distinctive and tastiest dishes.

Meng - that's very sad indeed. An IHOP couldn't hold a candle to this humble shack next to the hiway, IMO.

Mudzaffar - these sort of places are always worth trying, I think. You'll hit more often than you'll miss.

Kevin - well, Poland has never really been known for its road food...

mycookinghut - right. I think it's more a laksa Kedah than a laksa Penang.

[nova bennett]

Personally i love !!! road food it kinda like your own personal adventure you know .... and most of the stall that i ever ate is beyond believe, specially in Jakarta and across Bandung. Don't forget when you traveling to Jakarta next time Robyn. Love your Blog like always .