Coming from Australia, where food was expensive and not exactly haute cuisine, Southeast Asia was a foodie’s paradise. First, food is cheap by world standards and simple meal usually cost under $5. Second, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have a “street food” tradition and numerous hawkers offer local delicacies on the go. Finally, the blend of flavours was simply amazing, from Thai curry to Penang’s Nasi Lemak.
South-East Asian cuisine seems to be strongly influenced by the two giant countries around—China and India. Meals also tend to revolve around “面” and “.米饭” in Singapore, and “mee” and “nasi” in Malaysia, aka noodles or rice. The Indian influence brings some bread into the mix, such as naan, roti or prahta.
In Singapore, we mostly had Chinese food, especially Northern specialties such as 水饺 (boiled dumplings served with soya sauce and vinegar) and 包子(steamed buns with meat and cabbage filling). 拉面 (thick handmade noodles) were also very popular, either in a soup either stir-fried. I was surprised to see that Singapore had some great bakeries—but again, you can find just about anything in S’pore.
Malaysia was a different challenge because I was totally new to the food. However, it turned out to be an enjoyable challenge: I loved everything I ate! It started at the border when we stopped for a bite: I enjoy a fresh roti canai, a very thin pancake (more like a crêpe, really) with onion and eggs. We had a lot of Indian food in Penang, mostly because we were right in the heart of Little Indian in Georgetown. I’m usually a noodle person but I absolutely loved the way rice was cooked here: nasi lemak (rice soaked in coconut cream) quickly became one of my favourite meals.
In Thailand, meals mostly revolved around curry (red, green or yellow) served with rice. Pad thai, stir-fried rice noodles with eggs, fish sauce, tamarind juice, red chilli peppers, chicken, or tofu, garnished with crushed peanuts, was also extremely popular. In Ko Phi Phi, we found a tiny restaurant (literally a hole in the wall, there were four tables!) that supposedly served the best pad thai, backed up by hundreds of handwritten testimonies.
I loved the drinks too. South-East Asia has an astonishing number of 7/11 convenience stores and it’s common to see two stores in front of each other. There were dozens of drinks available, either in cans or in bottles. I loved Milo chocolate milk, and Nescafé latte, both in tall metallic cans.
Oh no! FOOD PORN! 🙂
It looks lovely and yummy!
I miss Milo!
It’s very, very popular in Malaysia!
I started drinking it while I was in my mum’s womb, perhaps! Ha ha…
Thai food is my favourite! I have been to quite a few countries but I have to say Thailand is still my favourite country. Very friendly people. 🙂
Milo!? Interesting!! I must find my way to that pad thai place if it was so good! You really look happy eating that!
Ha! Everything looks great … I’d really like to visit some parts of Asia some day 🙂
You can order milo drinks at those indian food joints in malaysia too. 😉
did you try local penangite chinese food? it’s mainly the noodles and flat rice noodles. 😀
@Nigel – Did I make you drool on your keyboard again? Sorry 😆
@London Caller – Milo is good, especially when it’s hot. Loved these cold “tin”.
@Priyank – I wish I could give you an address but Ko Phi Phi doesn’t really have addresses. It’s more like “walk in the street and try to spot the place”!
@Cynthia – You would like it, it’s a photographer’s paradise!
@kyh – We did have local Chinese food. I can’t remember the name of most dishes but I loved everything!
Wow, those are awesome food! That’s something I usually miss whenever I leave Asia. Even Japan had fantastic street food in Chinatown. You gave me an idea when I head back to Manila this May.
Love Asian food in general…but I am a bit wary to eat from food stalls along the streets…
And yes, you made me drool too !
Making me hungry now and do you enjoy the roti prata in Singapore too?
Wow! I don’t come by for a bit and you’ve gone all over the world practically! I envy your adventures!
All of that food sounds great!
Hi,
Hopped over from linguist-in-waiting’s blog. I’m happy that I visited, as your adventures are sure to captivate me once I read your other entries.
Incidentally, my wife and I have Australia written down as one of the places we have to visit. 😉
What a great local delicacies you had there! I love South-East Asia food, especially the Thai food. The Pai-Thai looks so yummy! it really makes me so hungry now~~
Salut,
I love that last note 🙂
Zhu looks tan and happy! My God, so much has happened during these months!!
I think that you have gotten a lot of peeps hungry during this post. i LOVE Chinese and know so little about Thai or Malay cooking. But, I think that I would eat most of these.
I am suddenly hungry for noodles or really good dim sum…
I could eat noodles day or night(remember, I am part-Asian).
I have been busy but I have enjoyed what I saw. How I wish that I was busy traveling but, that will have to be for much later(sigh).
Thanks for stopping by my website
Bisous xo
@Linguist-in-Waiting – I always miss street food in Canada. All there is here is hot dog trucks!
@Sidney – It really depends on the places. In Singapore, it’s perfectly safe, the country is quite clean. In Malaysia, we did in smaller places but not in KL (too dirty and dusty!).
@shionge – Yes I did! S’pore food is great.
@Pauline – Ah yeah, sorry 😆 But I’m back in Ottawa now.
@Prabster – Hi and welcome! Australia is a great place but it’s sooo expensive right now. We were shocked!
@micki – Taiwan has great food too I’m sure!
@barbara – Ah, so you are a noodle person! I’m too, I don’t mind rice but it’s always noodles (or pasta!) that I crave.
All this food looks gorgeous! I like Asian food but usually prefer Chinese, Japanese, Viet Namese (yum! A Viet Namese friend taught me to cook a couple of dishes, it was delicious) and Thai, to Indian, but im open.
So now I know your birth name 😉
Oh yeah, Milo! I used to looooovvvvvve it! This post makes me hungry 🙂
Ahhhhhhhh I’m so desperate to find great food! One year in the middle of nowhere is terrible when you crave exotic dishes…
I feel for you! I like my exotic food 🙂
Eating different food from different culture have really an exciting feeling.
That´s part of the fun of traveling!
I have to play catch up with all your posts; was following you on your Brazil adventures and now you’re in France. I need to read through these as I will be spending some work time in Malaysia.
Oh, Malaysia, lucky you! The food is awesome over there 🙂 Are you there already?