In Malaysia, you’re constantly surrounded by great food,” says Ping Coombes, 2014 MasterChef winner and now Scott Dunn food consultant. “You’ll find delicious, inexpensive food everywhere. So people eat out a lot.”
Malaysia is a country where different ethnic groups – predominantly Malay, Chinese and Indian – have blended together to create a rich and diverse culture. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the country’s world-famous food. Ping, who hails from Ipoh, a town in Malaysia famed for its cuisine, channelled some of this culinary wizardry into the dishes that propelled her to victory in MasterChef.
Eating out in Malaysia, she explains, tends to be a very informal affair. Much of the best food is found in markets, malls or “hawker” food courts – often a covered area with basic seating surrounded by different stalls, each of which serves a particular speciality. “It’s all very casual,” says Ping. “And because it’s so cheap, you want to try everything.”
The kopitiam, which translates as “coffee shop”, is another local institution. And your first port of call when seeking out classic Malaysian dishes such as satay, char kway teow (stir-fried flat noodles with prawns or cockles and eggs) or nasi lemak (coconut rice with anchovies, peanuts, eggs and cucumber) is a Mamak stall. The Mamak are Malaysians of Tamil Muslim origin, whose forefathers mostly migrated from South India to the Malay Peninsula. “There are Mamak stalls all over the country,” says Ping, “They all have rows of different curries and you drink something called teh tarik, which is very strong tea sweetened with condensed milk.
“every year I go back to Malaysia and every year i discover some amazing new food experience”
“Every year I go back to Malaysia with my family to celebrate Chinese New Year,” Ping adds, “and every year I discover some new food experience. So if you’re thinking of going to Malaysia, here are my recommendations for 10 unmissable gastronomic highlights…”