'Roaming: Mamak

Mamak food became a trend some years ago due to it's cheap food, friendly environment & 24/7 operating hours. Even though some conditions have change over time: like they're no longer as cheap & some has even upgraded with hanging television with 'mist fan', it is still popular among Malaysian for casual meet up with friends or a mid-night supper for convenient sake.

What is mamak then? In Malaysia, it refers to the Indian Muslims community. Considering that, no pork is sold. In our context, it is like a local version of fast food restaurants (some McDonald & KFC outlets are operating 24hrs in Malaysia as well), famous with wide variety of flatbreads, noodles, rice with different dishes (nasi kandar in Malay), not to forget its signature strong 'pull' tea with condensed milk.

'Pull tea' or 'teh tarik' in Malay is made from black tea & condensed milk. After the normal tea making process, the liquid will be 'pulled' between 2 mugs (pouring from 1 mug to another with the distance between the mugs gradually increased), hence producing foamy milk tea. The ability to pull a stream of tea over the brewer's head is very amusing (not many can do that though).

Pic: teh tarik

Many go to mamak stall for their nasi kandar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasi_kandar) but I typically go for flatbreads / naan or fried noodles. Here's some pictures of typical mamak food: cheese naan with tandoori chicken and fried noodle with tandoori chicken.