Yummy food but in yucky places

Malaysia offers world-beating eats, but why is it so hard to combine good taste with good hygiene?

WE finally have validation that our food is better than our noisy neighbour’s.

Kuala Lumpur’s curry laksa has been ranked No. 2 on Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Eatlist of 500 best eating experiences, beating the chilli crab from Singapore (No. 17). More impressively, the humble laksa also trumped gastronomic staples like Tokyo’s sushi (No. 3), Bangkok’s som tum or papaya salad (No. 5) and Seoul’s bibimbap (No. 8) and dim sum from Hong Kong at No. 10.

The result is a setback to marketing-obsessed Singapore, which have long laid claim to many of the region’s food specialities.

The city-state has marketed chicken rice, nasi lemak, bak kut teh, hokkien mee, char kuey teow and even roti canai (known as prata down south) as their own.

Now, every self-respecting foodie would know that these dishes are all Malaysian in terms of origin, popularity and, most importantly, authenticity.

In fact, 10 other Malaysian dishes found their way into this year’s edition of the must-read epicurean bible, as opposed to the republic’s lone entry.

Lonely Planet’s ultimate list is not to be sniffed at, as it surveyed the planet’s top chefs and food writers to name their favourite, most authentic gastronomic encounters – and the result is a must-own bucket list for foodies and those who love to travel.

According to Lonely Planet, the guide lists “the world’s most thrilling and famous culinary experiences, the culture behind each one, what makes them so special, and why the experience is so much more than what’s on the plate, bowl or glass in front of you”.

San Sebastian’s Pintxos (a type of tapas) is at the top of the list.

It is instructive that Lonely Planet chose KL’s curry laksa and not Penang laksa, nyonya laksa or even laksa Johor. All the above have their own distinctive tastes and geographic champions. But the Ultimate Eatlist not only chose KL’s version, but also pinpointed the location – Madras Lane, a narrow alley off Petaling Street, in the heart of Chinatown.

Madras Lane or Lorong Bandar 20 is connected to a wet market and has two rows of hawker stalls. There are three stalls (I think there used to be five) selling the spicy dish, replete with tofu, cockles, vermicelli and noodles in coconut milkbased curry.

Now, I have a confession to make. I am a huge curry laksa fan. My obsession with the dish started as a boy in La Salle school, Klang. Our school canteen served the best laksa. I can still taste it!

Back in the day, we paid 30 sen for a bowl and an extra 50 sen with chicken. Since then, I’ve had, I don’t know, maybe more than a thousand bowls of curry laksa in so many different places – some great, some good and some just plain bad.

And, I’ve tried the Madras Lane version. I don’t remember which particular stall, but it was about 10 years ago and I vowed never to return. Nope, not because the laksa was bad. On the contrary, I enjoyed the meal. It was because of the unhygienic and filthy conditions in that back lane.

There’s an old saying that delicious food can only be found in dirty conditions. Or another one about enjoying your meal but not going to the back of the restaurant to see how the meal is prepared.

Both these sayings illustrate how cavalier Malaysians are when dealing with food hygiene.

And that’s the key difference between Malaysian and Singaporean food court/kopitiam/ hawker food operators.

We pride ourselves in having the best food, but cleanliness (something that Singapore takes very seriously) is only an afterthought.

Despite the recent high-profile closures of a number of KL outlets, there is still a lack of enforcement on the cleanliness of food outlets in the city.

Cooks and food handlers, including locals and not just foreign workers, should be made responsible for good hygiene practices.

The way food is kept and prepared in restaurants is also a concern. City Hall estimates that over 50% of the more than 5,000 food establishments in Kuala Lumpur do not comply with at least one or several of the authority’s food-source guidelines.

They say that the level of awareness among restaurant workers about personal hygiene and food safety is poor and has always been an issue especially in restaurants where there are a big number of foreign workers. And the problem appears to be getting worse each year.

When I eat out, which is often, my main concern is always the hygienic conditions of the kopitiam or food court I patronise. How good a meal is, despite favourable reviews on food blogs or gourmet guides, is secondary.

Now, this really should not be the case because as patrons we should be entitled to both – a quality meal prepared in clean surroundings.

These days, I get my curry laksa fix at a kopitiam in Taman Tun Dr Ismail. Most Sunday mornings would find me enjoying my bowl of meehoon-mee garnished with long beans, bean sprouts, tofu, chicken and plenty of cockles prepared by an elderly couple.

As I relish every mouthful, sipping kopi ais, my mind goes back to my schooldays when life was much simpler and when my comfort food then, and even now, was a simple bowl of curry laksa.

The writer has not returned to Madras Lane for 10 years now, but is hopeful that changes will come with City Hall’s backlane transformation plan for older parts of the city. This is much needed, especially if we want tourists to appreciate our food heritage.