The Legendary Nasi Lemak Ali

When I was younger, my mother used to buy nasi lemak mamak almost every Friday, usually for breakfast, and extended to lunch. In those days, there were a lot of shops with Indian Muslims selling very good and tasty nasi lemak. Once in a while, she will buy from Nasi Lemak Ali as it is located at what today is known as former Pasar Besar Alor Setar, along Jalan Pegawai. There will always be fried chicken, some beef and kuah campur, or mixed gravy.

Despite her parents originally from Alor Setar, my wife was born and raised in Sungai Petani. Even she remembers fondly of Nasi Lemak Ali from her weekend visits to her uncle's in Alor Setar. Every morning during their stay, her uncle (my uncle too) will buy several packets of nasi lemak from Nasi Lemak Ali, with chicken and mixed gravy in together. Her brothers and her just love the breakfast feast.

Times have changed: the rapid development of Alor Setar in the late 70s and early 80s saw many Indian Muslim nasi lemak vendors moving from their original premise to other places. Some, like Yasmeen and Nasi Lemak Royale found new life (and better business) in their new places/names, while others, like Kedai No. 36, the mamak shop in front of Pasar Besar, simply disappeared. In the past, there were many good nasi lemak mamak in Alor Setar, Nasi Lemak Ali was just one of the competitor, today, it stands as one of the cilinary icon in Alor Setar.

People would come from all over the nation to try Nasi Lemak Ali. The latest legend I heard was that a group of Singaporeans, on the way to Hatyai, drove all the way from the island state without stopping at any R&R, just to eat ay Ali's. I normally avoid Nasi Lemak Ali during the holiday seasons. At one point, during Eid-ul-Fitri season, I saw a very long line coming out from the restaurant all the way to the shop building's corner and more.

I was there with my wife and my son, after so many years, to sample the dishes again. Why I haven't been there for a long time? Well, nasi lemak mamak normally is spicy but not hot. Nasi Lemak Ali is the only one that has a hot reddish-brown gravy, and that taste doesn't really appeal to me. However, for the past few months, I have heard some rumours that the rice and dishes have changed, and I was wondering whether it was true.

The setting at the restaurant has sure changed a lot in the many years since I've been there. It is brighter and there are tables and chairs set outside on the pavement as well, along with seating on the 2nd floor. We had nasi lemak, with fried chicken, mixed gravy and some fried strips of beef. We also had some dalcha as well. Each nasi lemak mamak in Alor Setar will always have fried chicken, fresh from the stove and you can find one of the restaurant employees frying the chicken in front of the shop, so you can be assured that the fried chicken is not yesterday's.

I must say that the rumours were just rumours. The rice, fragrant and flavorful, tasted as it was back then. The mixed gravy was nice and the fried chicken, crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. There are many dishes available for your choosing, but I would still recommend the fried chicken and mixed gravy. There's eggs, prawns, beef, mutton prepared in various ways.

The hot gravy, which is red in color is distinguishable, making Nasi Lemak Ali stand out from other nasi lemak mamak of Alor Setar. My cousin and his family from Kuala Lumpur simply love Nasi Lemak Ali because of that distinct difference. I'm not sure what curry it is, but I am not really in favor of it. However, everybody there loves it, so I guess that this is the taste that made Nasi Lemak Ali outstanding. Hey, hot or not, the empty plates on my table explains everything.

Nasi Lemak Ali is located on Persiaran Sultan Abdul Hamid (formerly known as Jalan Pegawai), which is next to the former Pasar Besar Alor Setar, Ice Factory and Rumah Kelahiran Tun Dr Mahathir.

I was told by my friend in Terengganu that his family and him have stopped eating in Penang when they found out Nasi Lemak Haji Ali. If you have the time, make yourself to Nasi Lemak Ali for a plate of culinary legend.

Mee Sham's Roti Dholl, And More

My wife kept telling me of a restaurant in Jalan Alor Setar-Gunung Keriang that is famed for a novelty dish called Roti Dholl. The dish is very popular there. I had no idea what it was all about, so, one nice Saturday, we decided to drive up there and sample it ourselves.

The name of the shop is Restoran Mee Sham, located at a shop house in Jalan Gunung Keriang, about 10-20 minutes drive from Alor Setar city. It occupies the whole ground floor with a choice of sitting inside or outside the shop. Parking, depending on time, is quite a cinch. It is an Indian Muslim, or Mamak restaurant, but most of the employees are Malay.

Roti Dholl, as I was told, originated when the owner of Mee Sham was operating originally behind AMBank in Jalan Putera. With the opening of the restaurant, they shifted their operations to the shophouse, while his nephew still runs the stall in Jalan Putera.

The dish is a piece (or two if you want) of roti canai, shredded, with an egg, fried sunny side up and flooded by the gravy, usually dal with a little sambal. It kinda reminded me of the Roti Bintang back in Satun, but Roti Dholl differs in the making and presentation and even the way to eat it.

At first, I do feel a bit odd having the roti, with the seasoned egg yolk flowing into the gravy. Somehow, it seems to add richness to the gravy and perhaps the best alternative to the plain Roti Telor.

Roti Dholl is available in the morning, until about 11:00am, then starts again at 4:00pm. True to the claim, Roti Dholl is extremely popular with the locals there. According to the owner, about 300 roti dholls are sold during the morning shift. There are several newspaper cuttings which displays media reports on the popularity of Roti Dholl in that area posted on the wall.

There are quite a number of choices that you can find at Mee Sham: they have Nasi Kandar or Nasi Lemak, as it is better known, Nasi Ayam and noodle dishes. I tried the Mee Rebus, while my wife had Mee Goreng.

The Mee Rebus has a rich, thick gravy, with bean sprouts, boiled egg, crunchy fritters, beef and topped with a slice of lime. The taste was excellent, you can taste the beef stock in the gravy and the portion was quite sizable. I dare say that the Mee Rebus can stand to be a fresh alternative to Mee Abu's.

The Mee Goreng too stands up to the mark, albeit being slightly sweetish.

The nasi lemak looks tempting, but by that time, all of us were full.

Scouting around the nasi lemak counter, I noticed that the curries were of old school Mamak style, with an addition of new ones. I might just return to sample these soon.

Restoran Mee Sham is located at Jalan Alor Setar-Gunung Keriang. If you are from Alor Setar heading to wards Gunung Keriang, the shop can clearly be seen on the left after passing by a Petronas station on the right.

Kedah's Food Treasures - Nasi Lemak Royal Pantai Johor

I have nothing against mamak food in Penang. They have established themselves as the prominent nasi kandar producers in Malaysia. However, I must say that, after living in Penang for more than 10 years, things have taken a frightfully different turn. The emergence of the "new school" nasi kandar restaurants where they serve a dizzying array of food, ranging from local to western, may have an effect on their own nasi kandar. I am sure that many people love eating at nasi kandar Pelita, Nasmeer and many more. Their brightly lit restaurants, with a festive-like ambience and big television sets and open 24 hours daily are certainly crowd pullers.

I always prefer what people may say as "old school" mamak food. Instead of the usual roti canai with dhal gravy with sambal, I prefer the one with kuah campur (mix gravy). There's one too many choice to be made at these modern nasi kandar restaurants, I'd prefer a simple one.

Alor Setar never escaped the invasion of these modern nasi kandar restaurants. However, there is one dish that these restaurants could not match up with even until today, the Nasi Lemak.

Historically, the Malay and Chinese version of nasi lemak is made with the basic rice, coconut milk and ginger concoction, eaten with the traditional sambal tumis ikan bilis, cucumber and hard-boiled egg. The mamak nasi lemak is different as they have more herbs/scpices and less or never use santan in their rice at all. I recognize the smell of karapolay, or curry leaf, pandan, cinnamon, cloves and even serai in the rice, but nobody can confirm whether there's coconut milk is used or not. The rice is eaten with a selection of curry and meat you can choose from. What makes it even rarer is, nasi lemak is only available in Alor Setar, then and now.

In the 1970s, there were many mamak outlets with their own nasi lemak menu. With the rapid development of Alor Setar town, many old shops were torn down and these shops make way for new buildings. Many of the legendary mamak shops such as No. 36., Nasi Lemak Royal and Nasi Lemak Empire disappeared from the legends of Alor Setar's mamak cuisines. In the late 1990s, there was quite a resurgence of these nasi lemak mamak where they reappeared in numerous places.

I would say that Nasi Lemak Mamak is one of Alor Setar's treasure trove where they have been luring tourists and visitors from outside of Kedah, and even locals to visit them again and again, as it is a taste that they always remember.

Just like any restaurant, nasi lemak mamak's taste differs from one place to another. The legendary Nasi Lemak Ali at Tanjung Chalee is quite known for being very spicy, while Nasi Lemak Mi Abu has little selection for curry but heavenly. One thing in common that all of them have is, their curries are "old school." I'll try to explain this old school curry when I am done studying the cooking method of it. 

One of my favorite mamak haunt for nasi lemak will be "Nasi Lemak Royal Pantai Johor", located in Pantai Johor, about 10km from Alor Setar City, and about 500-800 meters from Istana Anak Bukit, the DYMM Tuanku Sultan Kedah's palace. There are about 4 or 5 other stalls who are selling other type of food in that area. From my observation on my nights there, I can safely say that about 75% of the patrons there go for the nasi lemak.

They have quite a spread of nice side-dishes to go with the nasi lemak. I would recommend the fried chicken. The spices which they use to marinate the chicken penetrates into the flesh and each bite is full of flavor. My selection for the night? Nasi lemak with fried chicken, lady's fingers and "kuah campur"(mixed gravy).

One thing we need to know is that, as a rule of thumb, never tell the mamak what gravy you want, always tell him "kuah campur". For this, the mamak knows which and how much of each gravy to mix into the rice. It's his personal touch that enhances the eating experience at any mamak shop.

As I was saying before, there are quite a number of side dishes. There's chicken, beef, egg, liver in different types of curries and gravy. Strangely, there's not much choice on vegetables though. There were some cucumber acar (pickle) and boiled lady's finger or ochra.

I would say that the food is quite family-friendly. It's not that hot in taste, just slightly spicy. I think maybe that's why there were a lot of families eating there that night. The rice is always hot, and there's always a line. The price is quite standard and you can choose whether you want to eat there or take out.

So, if you are in Alor Setar and looking for a place to eat, I'd recommend Nasi Lemak Royal Pantai Johor for a nice sumptuous treat. See you there.