When I think back on my time in Malaysia, the people are what come to mind first. Then the durians. I went on a late-night trip outside Kuala Lumpur to find the sweetest (and, of course, stinkiest) fruit with my new buddies that defined my trip. The next day, another new friend, Cheng Seow Peng, took me to a restaurant called Ali, Muthu & Ah Hock for the noodle soup known as laksa.
That was my first kopitiam experience–a coffeehouse serving fare from all of Malaysia’s many international influences. I had my most recent kopitiam experience last week in Centreville.
Though I tend to think of Malaysian food as meat-heavy, that’s not the end of the story. At Malaysian Kopitiam, there’s a whole page of the menu devoted to vegetarian dishes like mock duck and meat-free curry. But I was craving laksa, and that, too, is available in vegetarian form. Better yet, so is the roti canai.
Malaysian-style roti is one of my favorite foods. At home, I use the flaky bread as a croissant-like tortilla for breakfast tacos. But those come frozen from Lotte Plaza. Eating a fresh one, like the buttery, soft version at Malaysian Kopitiam, is a thrill of its own. The curry that comes on the side for dipping is thinner than I was hoping for, but still a satisfying companion.
This could have been a meal unto itself, but there was still laksa to consume. The vegetarian version of the dish comes filled with bobbing cubes of fried tofu, slices of eggplant and okra, carrot, bean sprouts, and a shower of mint and scallion on top. The coconut-based curry broth at Malaysian Kopitiam is lighter in flavor than the spicy versions I ate in the soup’s homeland. The noodles (I chose thick, flat hor fun, the closest to what I had in Kuala Lumpur) were overcooked and broke into short pieces when I picked them up with chopsticks. As a laksa, it wasn’t much of a success. As a veggie-filled noodle soup, it was satisfying but low-impact.
But that wouldn’t stop me from returning to Malaysian Kopitiam when skipping animal protein. As long as I can tear off a piece or two of roti canai, I’ll be willing to try other dishes–or just sate myself on bread.
5085 Westfields Blvd., Centreville
Feature image by Alice Levitt
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