From New York to George Town

By Helen Ong

Crab croquettes at Goh Huat Seng Teowchew Restaurant... the real thing! — Pictures courtesy of Matrade

GEORGE TOWN, Aug 25 — The Thais have done it well, as have the Singaporeans, who have laid claim to “Chilli Crab” as part of their culinary heritage. So what are the Malaysians doing about telling the rest of the world about our wonderful food? A fair bit, as it turns out. As part of the on-going promotion of Malaysian flavours and cuisines, the Malaysian Trade Commission (Matrade) in New York recently flew in a group of US foodies for a gastronomic tour of the country which started in, I’m proud to say, Penang.
I met up with them on their last morning here, after they had had two full days of gorging on all manner of Penang delights; not just of the hawker variety but also our other famous makan like Nyonya food and, of course, steamboat, nasi kandar and traditional desserts.

Dale Talde (right) is fascinated by the charcoal-fuelled steamboat.

What did they think of Penang? Everyone agreed it had been a unique experience, and it was wonderful to see how closely the different cultures interact with each other. “We didn’t know anything about Penang before,” restaurateur Shaun Hergatt explained. “It was an eye-opening experience. What we do know now is that the representation of Penang food overseas is poor.”
Of course a key question was: “Of all the food that they had sampled so far, which was their favourite?” Interestingly enough, most of their answers were also quite similar. “Roti canai,” was Shaun’s prompt response. He runs the Michelin-starred SHO Shaun Hergatt in New York. “The technique is amazing,” he continued, of course referring to the fascinating way this bread is tossed till it is paper-thin before being cooked on a hot griddle. “I’d like to bring someone with that skill to the US — he’d make a killing!”
Chris Rendell, executive chef of Highland Hospitality which owns two restaurants in New York serving Scottish food, said: “I loved this dish I tried, although I’m not sure how to pronounce it so I keyed in the name.” The two words proudly displayed on his iPhone were “Hokkien Mee.” That, together with curry mee, char kuay teow, belacan, sambal, etc... it was fascinating to hear these names just trip off their tongues. How wonderful that these Mat Sallehs have taken to our local flavours with such enthusiasm.
“I love the ambience of the whole experience,” Chris added, quoting as an example partaking of their al fresco breakfast down a little alley somewhere in Pulau Tikus. Shaun also loved our char kuay teow, although he felt the “quality of the cuisine superseded his first sight of the stalls.”
I think it was a tactful way of saying that although at initial glance the surroundings didn’t look particularly salubrious, the food served there was actually quite tasty. He has, of course, hit the nail on the head: Malaysians will eat anywhere, providing the food tastes good.
It’s all very well tasting and liking our food, but are they going to do something with it which, after all, was the main reason they had been brought here in the first place.
Getting hold of the more exotic ingredients, they were adamant, would not be a problem if they wanted to replicate any of the local recipes as they believed that 99 per cent would be available in the US, particularly New York, although admittedly it would not be as fresh as what we get here.

Chris Rendell, executive chef of Highlands Hospitality, isn’t sure about the taste at all...

An example is bananas, which when shipped to distant shores require treating with ethylene gas to force them to ripen, as they would have been harvested very green. “Here they are so much tastier.” They also loved the fresh mangoes and mangosteens we get here. As for our much-loved durians, sadly, although they had tried it, the experience was not “very positive”. Matt Lambert of Public, a gastropub in Elizabeth Street, said: “I loved the crab croquette we had at the Goh Huat Seng Teowchew Restaurant in Kimberley Street, “and I would like to try to replicate it.”
This, he went on to say, would come under the “Hawker Food” part of his menu. Dale Talde, who is about to open his own Asian-American restaurant in Brooklyn, wants to offer curry mee and Hokkien Mee as soups on his menu.
Interestingly enough, despite the recent listing of assam laksa as one of CNNGo’s Top 50 Foods, which was one of the three dishes they were taught to cook by a local cook, none of them felt inspired to add this to their menus. They did, however, find the Chicken Kari Kapitan and Sambal Prawns quite flavoursome.
Will we see them back here? “In a heart beat!” We look forward to welcoming you back, guys, but in the meantime, please go forth and spread the news; tell America about our wonderful food.