Gotta Work For Your Food

Ordering food in Malaysia is not like ordering food in the U.S.  If you want to eat, you kind of have to work for it.  Entering a restaurant to sit down and look at a menu while you wait for service isn't going to cut it.  You will be waiting F-O-R-E-V-E-R.  Half these places don't even have menus.  You have to go up to the vendor and tell him/her what you want.  Don't know what you want, or how to say it?  Then just point at the array of colorful dishes on display.  You will pay by plate.  And don't be afraid to order as many things as you like, because I can guarantee you will go away with a happy stomach for less than $10 USD. 

Just point at what you want - you pay by plate.

We learned this quickly.  So here we were at a Chinese-Malay-run mom and pop shop on Jalan Penang called Ho Ping Cafe.  Minutes before we had just settled into our hotel and were now starving.  We didn't know what we wanted or where we were going  -- we didn't care, we were just hungry and wanted to eat right then and there.  Ho Ping Cafe just so happened to be right there at the right time.  There was indoor seating, lots of ceiling fans, and it looked decent (clean).  Despite a few stares and whispers from the locals inside, we made ourselves as comfortable as possible.  We sat and waited ... and waited ... and waited.  Umm ...?  Just when we were about to get up to leave, an Indian man asked if we wanted anything to drink.  YES, please!!  We decided on four iced coffees.  At that point anything cold sounded like heaven.  He brought us our drinks and left.  We weren't sure if he was selling food, or if the Chinese man up front near the entrance was, but the Indian guy didn't even ask.  Turns out it was a coffee shop and restaurant, two separate operations sharing one dining space. 

My mom got up and approached the Chinese man handling the variety of food up front.  This was easy.  We speak Indonesian, which is very similar to Bahasa Malay, so we always know what we're eating when we order.  We ended up getting four plates of steamed rice and a combination of dishes such as fish curry, fried chicken, sweet & sour chicken, sauteed water spinach in garlic, and fried eggs.  All this with our four iced coffees ended up costing a whopping total of 20 Ringgit, or about $6 USD!!  And boy were we satisfied!

Our very first Malaysian meal!

As we were finishing our meal, a white couple sat down and waited ... and waited with a big question mark on their faces.  They looked around and then saw us.  They looked completely lost, so my mom and I told them, "Just go up there and order.  They will not come to your table."  They said thanks and made their way up to the front, but unfortunately for them by that time the Chinese man was busy tending to other guests in the dining room.  There was no attendant up front.  Hopeless, the couple left.  They probably figured, if this establishment won't feed us, someone else will.  True.  But not if they sit around waiting for service. 

So the moral of the story?  Be assertive, or you go hungry. 

Chicken feet, anyone?