New York Street Food

Fried Chillies videographer Miko Abdullah (right) and friend Syahid Johari at the launch of FriedChillies’ Love Your Street Food Campaign.

Malaysian food media company FriedChillies (www.friedchillies.com) have launched a “Love Your Street Food Campaign” (LYSF) where you can vote for your favorite street food vendor.  As FriedChillies CEO and founder Mohd Adly Rizal points out, it is the least we can do if we love street food. (more…)

CNN International did a colorful feature on Malaysian street food, with it’s varied Chinese, Malay and Indian influences.  The two things they all have in common, as one busy cook said, is “chilis and garlic.”

In addition to chicken satay and some of the usual Malaysian street food dishes, they also tried durian, the “stinky fruit” – comparing it to blue cheese on a bad day after tasting  (and smelling) it.  They say it’s an acquired taste.  Guess that’s because smell has such a strong effect on taste.

From Zain Verjee: “I nibbled a few sticks of meat loaded with spicy peanut sauce and wandered down the street. It felt like I was in the middle of a hot kitchen. I admired the char kuey teow (fried flat rice noodles), the nasi lemak (rice cooked in coconut milk), fish on ice and roti canai (flat bread) cut and fried expertly. It was cheap, very cheap compared to Western standards.”

We don’t usually write about lunch over the weekend, but Saturday was the Eat|Drink|Explore Malaysia Kitchen festival in Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Station.  There was great food, traditional dancers, cooking demonstrations and more.

If you didn’t get a chance to go, click through to see what you missed – but don’t worry, our sources inside the Malaysia Kitchen camp told me this will likely become an annual event.

Chicken betel leaf from Betel

(more…)

Cafe Asean beef rendang from the Night Market

Malaysia Kitchen for the World is hosting a big celebration at Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall this Friday and Saturday, Nov 5th & 6th.

In addition to the Malaysia Kitchen Food Truck being parked on Vanderbilt Avenue with free samples from Bentara (a Malaysian Restaurant in New Haven, CT), there will be several local restaurants selling Malaysian cuisine, cooking demonstrations, cultural dances and more.

(more…)

This is the last week the Malaysia Kitchen food truck will be in Manhattan giving out free samples of Malaysian food from various Malaysian restaurants in the New York area.  Don’t worry – they will be driving around Queens for the next 2 weeks.

Back in May we showed you Part I of a video about street food in Penang, Malaysia.  Here’s Part II for your enjoyment.

It includes a segment on how shrimp paste is made, an essential ingredient in Malaysian cooking.  There is also a feature on a man who makes spring roll wrappers, literally by hand, individually, on a crepe-like cooking surface.  Interesting stuff!

There was also an interesting article in today’s NY Times about Malaysian and Singaporean food called Chasing Stingray All Over Town.  Click here to check it out.