On Being a Regular

                  Allaudin pours on the love, in the form of gula Melaka

Since embarking on a our new lives a few months ago Dave and I have become 'regulars'. In Malaysia at least, this is new for us.

Back in our San Francisco Bay Area days the folks at Solano Cellars knew us well. In Bangkok, Fridays were reserved for a certain (now defunct) street side gai yang spot and every Sunday evening our rears were parked on the same two plastic chairs on Soi Suan Pluu's sidewalk as we watched a beloved phat tai vendor pull together our orders. In Saigon too, we had our favorites.

Then we moved to Kuala Lumpur, started this blog and - since Dave spent Mondays through Fridays toiling in a proper office - were obliged to squeeze our foodish explorations into weekends. At the time I was aiming for at least four posts a week. You can do the math; we didn't have much opportunity to  become a regular, anywhere.

Recently we ate lunch at the same place two days in a row. And Dave didn't snap a single photo, either day. He doesn't always have to take photos now.

We're lucky enough to have moved, in January, to a neighborhood with a great morning market, a fine Sunday pasar malam, good hawker-populated coffee shops, and a few street vendors of note. On the mornings that we decide to head out for a caffeine jolt we walk into our favorite coffee shop with two fingers raised and utter not a word. Soon enough a helper arrives at our table bearing two cups just the way we like it: inky and potent, with milk.

Just like magic. Or, like being a regular.

We've also become a familiar sight at the stall of this couple. Allaudin and his wife have been dishing up pasembur (aka Indian-style rojak) and cendol in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, a neighborhood about 20 minutes from KL's Golden Triangle, for over 23 years. She's a tiny woman - the top of her head doesn't even reach my shoulder - with a big voice ('Rojak! Cendol! Boss! Rojak?) and an even bigger smile. He's an amiable guy who shows pride in his work.

I never much liked pasembur until I tasted Allaudin's. It looks a mess (it's pretty difficult to combine shredded cucumber and jicama, hard-boiled egg, deep-fried bean curd, and chopped-up fritters on a paper plate, douse it with brown sauce, and make it look elegant), but it's a perfectly scrumptious mess.

Most pasemburs suffer from a gloppy, saccharine, peanut butter-ish sauce that completely overwhelms the flavors and textures of the dish's other ingredients. Not Allaudin's. His sauce, on the thin side so it mixes easily through the crunchy vegetables and chewy-spongy tofu and fritters, isn't sticky sweet but is barely chili-spicy and rich with dark-roasted, lightly smoky-bitter peanut flavor.

A few days ago he talked us into opting for optional udang (prawns). Crunchy, a little fiery, with a fresh shellfish flavor, they made a great addition.

The couple's cendol's tasty too, with its firmish pandan 'noodles' and good quality gula Melaka. Allaudin will gladly drizzle a little extra gula on your mound of shaved ice if you ask.

A couple days ago Dave and I were sitting in front of Allaudin's ice shaver, sheltering from the sun under a plastic umbrella and sharing a single plate of pasembur. When we finished our rojak I raised a finger to order one cendol.

'Satu pasembur, satu cendol.' Allaudin's wife explained our standing order to another customer. Then she nodded at us and smiled.

We're regulars.

Jayang Super Cendol, in front of the Maybank Building, TTDI, afternoons.

Comments

[J2Kfm]

once a stranger, twice a regular.
you must have certain charm of your own. :)

that's a HUGE serving of pasembur btw.

[Pete]

That's what I liked about food in Malaysia in general, and in KL in this case: the food has a natural colour, because of the "real' ingredients used. In Singapore, our Indian rojak is neon red through liberal use of red food colouring for the sauce, and our chendol has nary a drop of pandan juice in sight but is bright-green through use of bottled green food dye!

[a]

You've summed up pretty well a reason for not always travelling and always being on the move. Don't get me wrong, travelling is fine and good, but you are never able to make the connections and the routines. My favorite thing about living in a place is getting into a new routine and really enjoying it on a deeper level. I suppose for a lot of people travel is what helps break the monotony.

As a side note, my bay area routines have mostly involved my kitchen in some way. This used to make me a little bit frustrated, but now I'm not so sure.

[Annie]

I love being regulars. At the Farmer's Market here in Saratoga, we've become known to several of the vendors and even though it's really far from our home, we go just because we're familiar with all these faces and they know us too. It's wonderful when you can call people by name and they know exactly what you like.

A long time ago, when I was living in Subang Jaya, we were regulars at a coffeeshop and every Sunday, my brother or I would head down there and order breakfast for the whole family. We just had to raise our hands and indicate with our fingers how many, just like you do, and the vendor at the CKT or Wonton Mee store would know exactly what we wanted. That's a great feeling!

[Emmelyn]

hi
I ve been reading your blog now for a week! each food story is tres tres interessant, j'en aime beaucoup!! I am in Paris at the moment so the asian food really brings back good memory of home, home is Indonesia. Thank you! and please keep writing food stories...

[Lips]

our fav cendol stall in taman tun!! :)

[Robyn]

J2kfm - I don't know about charming but we are a novelty, I suppose. I don't know why we don't see more expats eating where we do, but all I can say is -- their loss!

I forgot to mention that Allaudin's pasembur is EXCELLENT value for money. It is a huge mound, you are correct. And he always gives 'extra veggies' on request. :-)

Pete - there' plenty of yicky artificial stuff here too, but we avoid it. I think it's also still pretty easy to find the real deal here.

a - if you have time when you travel you can also get into a routine. But most travelers don't have that luxury. Anyway we've always been more for knowing fewer places better than for knowing many places to a lesser degree. I'd rather spend 1 month in 1 city than hopping from bed to bed so I can tick 8 locals off my list. We've also been known to revisit the same place again and again.

Different strokes for different travelers.

Our routine here in KL very much revolves around our kitchen. When we're in town I prefer dinners at home and evenings at the stove, and I'm happy to say that 98% of the time that's the way it plays out.

Annie - I'm with you on markets. There is one pomelo vendor at the Sunday pasar malam from whom we always buy at least 3, and sometimes as many as 5 fruits - because she smiles 'hello' and from our first purchase she has always picked out nice specimens for us. When she's not there we don't bother, because the other pomelo vendors are pretty sullen and have sold us crap fruit. They don't seem to associate taking care of your customer with the prospect of future steady business!

A smile or even a nod from a familiar vendor or coffee shop staff can really make your day, don't you think? It means you've been noticed and your presence is valued.

Welcome Emmelyn, and thanks for reading! Hopefully we'll have some more Indonesia content for you in the near future...

[Julian Si]

Well done on being a regular :-) Great write up and super photos!

Juliansi.blogspot.com

[amies]

Welcome to the neighbourhood!

It will be very hard to leave TTDI :) I grew up here and I am still here - working and living within its perimeters.

[Preeta]

Hey, I know these folks! My brother lives in TTDI and that's where I've stayed my last few trips home. It's such a great neighbourhood. Yes, that cendol is lovely -- there's also a chap in Damansara Utama right near the mosque who makes a great cendol. And is also happy to add the extra gula melaka once he knows you like it sweet ;-) . That kind of personal interaction with vendors is the best, isn't it?

[gobsmack'd]

Another great post. Even though I have been living in Australia for the last 26 years, I spent the first 17 years of my life in Msia. And to think I have only ever known pasembur as rojak! The shame of it all! Oh well, better late than never, I suppose. If anyone knows where I can find something that looks on par with Robyn/Allaudin's pasembur here in Sydney please please please tell me. Thank you, Gobsmack'd

[^cherie]

ahhh.. the good old days.. but these days, we can hardly find these cendol 'pushcarts' anymore?

there was one if United Garden, old klang rd.. but it's gone now. do u know any other apart from this ttdi's?

p.s : love your blog!

[agnes sim]

hi... nice photos here. Like your photo here.

[Danny]

There's a place beside the school I work at in Korea where we eat lunch every day, the owners there reserve us a table each day and usually know who will order what on any given day.

Back in the UK I bought smokes from the same shop everyday but all i would receive when I walked in was a blank stare!

Some people are petrified of familiarity!

[Saida]

Here in carmel, indiana known for the snobbish attitutes of some of its people, I get warm welcomes all the time in its very nice clay terrace mall, despite me wearing hijab (head covering). I shop there all the time although a closer mall is just 5 minutes away.
It is part of basic human need, satisfied to be acknowledge warmly by fellow human being.

[king]

i call him mamu razlan!!