48 hours in KL

There's never enough time to eat.

On this Substack I’ve written frequently about little p politics and capital M Multiculturalism: all through the willing prism that is food. Please don’t live in fear - I intend to keep this up and actually increase the regularity of which it occurs. You can thank me later - maybe via a paid subscription????!!!

For now I did want to attempt a slightly different approach to writing over the next few weeks whilst my family travel from Australia to Malaysia to Turkey to Macedonia… and back again.

What’s this “different approach” you ask? I’m thinking that maybe I’d like to contribute to the hot-take-ification of all fucking possible thought. I’m not about to hop on to the algorithmic highways and front I-Phone camera explain why Capitalism = Mid using Baudrillard and Bourdieu. But I am acknowledging to myself and to you, intrepid readers, that my pieces have in the past contained a demanding momentum which emerges from both a commitment to specificity but also to a sort of academic optimism.

I don’t entirely agree with Orwell and other greats like him who admirably present the writer as one who should strive for clarity and efficiency as if the reader is drowning and they have a duty to provide a life-raft. This is obviously a great thing to work towards BUT I also believe that both writer and reader are in the water: so why not splash about as much as possible? Ironically, I feel like this direct, off-the-cuff-ness is actually a bigger splash for me. It’s an attempt to re-wire my own approach to writing and undo, for a brief moment, the Nietzschean ‘embodied thought’ process that has served my words well but not my mind…and sleep patterns.

And with all that said, here are my passing thoughts on the ‘Strata of Dining in Malaysia’. Please feel free to provide evidenced ripostes, extensions and agreements where you see fit - I want to learn.

Let it be known that I have committed to no broader research during this writing act and have instead decided to let my love for the cuisine and the country inform this current writing practice.

---

Nasi Lemak as “Margherita”

Let’s start with Nasi Lemak. The ubiquitous breakfast feast that feels almost impossible as a concept to the western mind indoctrinated on food pyramids and Kelloggs. Just on the cereal comp - Nasi Lemak is also eaten throughout the night… so there’s that.

(Usually) A boiled egg, cucumber slices, peanuts, dried anchovies, sambal, coconut rice and (not always) a choice of meat (chicken rendang as what could be considered “traditional”) wrapped in a pandan leaf. As a sort of on-the-go brekky it makes pragmatic sense and for me shares an ideological function to the Chinese workers breakfast of fried dough and soymilk or the Japanese Onigiri.

As a hype-driven, scalable business model with social media verticality - “let me show you how crunchy this fried chicken Nasi Lemak is…in my car!”- it makes soooo much fiscal (gross) sense.

And lastly, as religious friendly offering it makes practical sense for both internal ethics and the need to feed as many people as quickly as possible. I have had great Nasi Lemak in both a late night halal offering within a Malay-Muslim district AND after a Sunday morning Malaysian Chinese pentecostal gathering where I was randomly identified as a Macedonian man by a lovely Chinese Auntie.

So to add one final interpretation that perhaps neatly ties up its varied use-function - I see the Nasi Lemak as “Margherita Pizza”: an unavoidable must-have which, no matter what you may think of it, demands to be taken seriously as a cultural, hermeneutic key. For me, any Italian pizzeria MUST have a great Margherita. There’s an argument to be had that Nasi Lemak’s constituent elements distinguish itself from the more “simple” dough, cheese and tomato offering but this is not exactly what I am talking about.

I mean to say that the Nasi Lemak is that rarest of dish which has accumulated such profound intra-national significance so as to become, without question, the national champion and premier global “cuisine” export. And for those who know me and my thoughts on the over-signification of Italian cooking and its accompanying (fascistic) propaganda, the Nasi lemak’s advertising success contains what I believe to be a heretofore unseen purity and accuracy to the diversity that is Malaysia - truly Asia.

Ps. let it be known I think all this AND I haven’t eaten at Village Park yet.

Teh Tarik

The difference between great Teh Tarik is honestly negligible BUT when one hits it really hits. Why? I’m not sure. Obviously the tea, the craft, the condensed milk, the vessel, the environment… all of this contributes of course. But I have found such a striking similarity across my many mouthfuls of Teh Tarik that I can only surmise that the drink is just so loved and so respected that no one dare offer anything less than sublime… and that condensed milk covers over a lot of sins.

---

Malaysia Dining Strata - a brief inquiry.

What follows is an attempt to capture the lay of the land when it comes to dining in KL. So prevalent is the act of eating within Malaysia that it is entirely not uncommon to be planning 1, 2 or even 3 meals ahead whilst in fact… enjoying a meal.

I will build this out in a way that appears to be hierarchical - moving from the “bottom” to the “top” - but know that I have no desire to pass judgement on both the operators and the consumers only to pontificate and provoke. I’d like to have my kuih and eat it.

The tourist trap:

This is usually a Spanish or Mexican restaurant on a main street. Basically anything that is a repackaging of familiarity for European/Australian/North American tourists. It defies belief how often I will see restaurant promoters ensnare a family of four Brits or a tatted man in his younger girlfriend era to come dine at what is sure to be a mediocre simulacrum. Now, if they exist to provide cuisine variance for locals that is a point worth exploring and defending but I am yet to see a venue of this kind bustling with that tangible air of familiarity and comfort. This also says nothing of Malaysian people’s and their desire to use those cuisines as tools for financial viability, cultural expression or for beautiful idolatry.

Michelin Bib:

This one’s for the tourists AND the locals. Why both? Because some are fantastic and deserving of travel blogging hype, international class-washing and regular visits. Whilst others throw the whole system of rating and admiration into question.

Mamak’s, Nasi Kandor and Kopitiam:

These are only really experienced as a “local” - even if you are a tourist. In this way it is interesting to think of them in relation to standpoint theory or what is known as “situated knowledge”. This type of dining is a vibrant and dynamic way to centralise and integrate sociological perspective across class and racial relations. There’s a lot to unpack here and it’s outside the scope of this piece for sure - e.g. the controversy surrounding 24 hour mamak’s labour conditions but also their intersectional revelatory power - but as it relates to “eating”, I’ve always been struck by their universal quality.

Quite often advice is given to those checking out Japan - “just walk into any shop and you’ll have a great time”. I think the same rule can be applied here. Cultural marvels of taste with unrivalled critical depth.

---

Quick fire round. Don’t ask me how these fit into the previous “order”.

Michelin Bib’s & Nyona cuisine

There are also Michelin Bib’s that are without reproach and greatly appreciated by thr tourists and what I call the gourmand class of locals for now - I’m thinking the beef shin noodles in Chinatown KL: epic. I throw in Nyona here because it may be the GOAT cuisine dialect within what may be the GOAT national cuisine. Maybe.

Contemporary Scene

The trickiest of all - the younger generation’s interpolation of western and eastern intrigue smashed through the more pervasive collapse of aesthetic innovation/difference. Think coffee foam and wine bars and “fusion”. Unavoidable, predictable but at times pushing conversation forward…I should know.

Fast Food/Convenience

Literally everything else that resolves hunger/desire. There are SO many chain possibilities and my god is Grab great.

Things (I know) I’ve missed:

More particulars within Malaysian Indian Food

Laksa

The wonders of char kway teow

Desserts

And the best - Ikan Bakar.

---

Up next -

Thoughts on Macedonia and masculine lawlessness.