Breaking Bread

Just when you think Malaysia has few atas foods or ingredients, in swoops Malaysian caviar! Yes, tucked away in a little farm in Tanjung Malim, Perak, is Malaysia's very first caviar farm, and possibly the world's first 'tropical' caviar! AJ Lim and Shaun Kenneth Simon from T'Lur Caviar speak to us about caviar farming, debate the shifting trends of the caviar industry, and teaches us how to taste caviar!

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As Malaysians, we might be familiar with our chillies and rendangs, know the aromas of our ulams and seloms, and be able to tell apart halias and kunyits. But how about buah kepayang, temu pauh, and cendawan kukur? The ingredients of our land are so wild and varied, but we've barely scratched the surface of them all in our everyday Malaysian food. Andrew Wong from Open House restaurant shares some of the little-known local ingredients and sambals he's serving at his restaurant, and we discuss the evolution of Malaysian dining too.

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We're nearing the end of the Ramadan period, and over the past month, there have been bazaars popping up in the evenings all across the country. So in this two-part episode, we explore a few classic bazaar dishes with Haniff Baharudin, and speak to Nik & Stephanie from Mean Mince, who recently set up their very first burger stall at the TTDI Ramadan bazaar, to learn more about the bazaar experience.

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I Love KL Ramadhan Episode

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The soy bean is a versatile crop that holds mighty importance in Malaysia and many parts of Asia. We use it to make tofu, soy milk, tempeh, miso, and a variety of silky, funky foods. So this week, we talk to Carmen and Joe Lau, siblings and owners of Dáo, a dessert shop in Subang Jaya that focuses on the soy bean. We discuss soy desserts, talk about the differences in soy milk in KL and their hometown of Ipoh, and how they tread the fine line between modern and traditional tau foo fah.

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While matcha, or green tea, is a common flavour in many modern desserts and drinks, most of the commercial matcha available actually taste worlds apart from the true, artisanal matchas of Japan. Long steeped in rituals and traditions, these Japanese teas can be rich, nutty and overflowing with umami. Lucky for us in Malaysia, we have Syun Hattori and Izzat Iskandar, who are trying to educate and awaken us to these better, bolder matchas. We speak to them about their business—Niko Neko Matcha, and learn all about the identity and tradition behind this tea.

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Soy sauce plays a major part in our cooking, whether it's in soy braises, seasoning for stir-fries, or even just as a condiment for the half-boiled eggs we have for breakfast. But little has been said about the lengthy, laborious process behind it. To shed light on this humble sauce, Shirley Chia from Musees Soy Sauce shares about the intricacies of making soy sauce, her family's soy business, and how she's taking it into a modern, more artisanal direction.

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Let's face it, we're pretty vocal when it comes to defending our food and culture. Sometimes, adding a foreign ingredient to a well known Malaysian dish is all it takes to rally a passionate group of angry Malaysians. Dr. Eric Olmedo, sociologist and food anthropologist at UKM, joins us on our quest to discover what being authentic really means. 

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Local ice cream mainstays Inside Scoop have joined in on the White Rabbit Ice Cream craze that broke the internet, serving up a spoonful of sweet childhood nostalgia.  

Founders Edmund Tan and Lim Shiew Li share with us their tale of experimentation, visiting the White Rabbit factory, and a whole load of ice cream tasting. 

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This week, we're putting the spotlight on chocolates - everybody's favourite form of confectionary. Local chocolatier, Chocolate Concierge, shares with us their passion and love for chocolate-making catered for chocolate lovers. Indulging the tastebuds of locals, Ong Ning Geng from Chocolate Concierge tells us more about their special chocolate collections that fuses chocolate with various Malaysian traditional desserts, amongst their wide selection of the traditional and customisable chocolate.

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With the aspiration to bridge urban and rural communities, Langit Collective promotes heirloom agricultural produce by smallholder farmers in rural communities – assisting them in every way possible by marketing the products to larger markets and creating farmer-centric solutions. We discuss the different types of rice available and how it differs from our usual white rice. 

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