Malsingmaps Forum

... and the interesting thing is that what we understand as "hamburger" apparently is very different from what people in Hamburg, Germany, understand to be a "Hamburg steak."

BTW, nice to see this tasty thread revived after 2.5 years!

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Hmm.... It is the other way round in Penang. In my whole life in Penang, when we want to say we want to go and eat Laksa, we never say "Penang Laksa". It is only "let's go and eat Laksa".

In Penang, I have never heard (so far) any reference to "Singapore Laksa" or any other Laksa. There is only "Laksa" and the "Lemak Laksa".

The "Lemak Laksa" is lemak version of the normal "Laksa" with all the strip cucumbers and even the fish soup, but instead of being sour, it has lemak taste added.

I suspect that with the openning of so many shopping malls and restaurants in Penang, by now, there may be "Singapore Laksa" or some other "... Laksa" available, but so far I have not yet seen or heard.

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Regards,
Francis T Lim.

Well, that is due to human creativity, I guess. To take the Laksa example again, to my experinece, what people outside of Penang understand as "Penang Laksa" apparently is very different from what people in Penang understand to be Laksa.

I my personal experience, it is so different that I have never (yet) found any "Penang Laksa" outside of Penang that qualifies as the Laksa in Penang.

Similarly with Penang Hokkien Mee. Same problem as the Laska above.

At least for Char Koay Teow, many years ago, I tasted some authentic "Penang Char Koay Teow" in Lorong Marzuki in Singapore. Not sure if it is still there (more than 10 years ago), but the person who did the cooking was from Pulau Tikus in Penang. Hehe!!

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Regards,
Francis T Lim.

That is the beauty of localised specialties. A taste evolved in-situ using ingredients that are available
locally. Having said that, the ppl who eats the food also need to evolve to appreciate the local taste.
I tried the Penang Laksa just recently - while I appreciate the the effort put in, I didn't quite like the
fishy aftertaste of the soup base. Same with the keropok lekoh of Terengganu. To a guy from Sandakan
where fresh seafood means a live fish or one that has not been put into a fridge, the fishy smell suggests
the fish is not fresh. Actually as far as "laksa" is concern, I still like the Penang one only if it is less fishy
smell. Other laksa I tried in Sabah contains a lot of coconut cream. Some ppl even add extra idea milk.

Another laksa is Asam Laksa, Sarawak Laksa ( I believe drier gravy) and curry laksa

Back to the hamburger: there are now bun-less (Low Carbo) burgers where the meat and veg are place
between 2 pieces of lettuce. A macho steak sandwich is almost like a burger expect it uses bread rather
than buns - so how do we classify what is a burger and what is a sandwich?

I wonder if the Japanese will come up with a salmon sashimi + wasabi burger with Tamago as buns?