Chef enjoying a taste of Penang

BRITISH celebrity chef Rick Stein thinks Penang is the best place to appreciate South-East Asian food.

Shooting in Penang recently for the Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey programme for BBC, Stein and his crew have found their stop in Penang very fruitful after earlier visits to other cities in Thailand and Cambodia.

Penang simplified the variety of food in this region, Stein said, adding that the island was the right choice for the programme.

“We did consider Kuala Lumpur and Malacca, but we decided on Penang because it is an island and its sea view would be great to shoot. We also believed Penang food would be better, if not as good as food in Kuala Lumpur.

Stein (second left) chatting with (from right) programme assistant producer Arezoo Farizad, Maggi Territt and Davina Dunn of Food Friends.

“The hospitality shown by the locals has also been wonderful,” he said at a cocktail reception jointly organised by Eastern and Oriental (E & O) Hotel and Food Friends at the hotel in George Town recently.

Stein, an award-winning chef who has cooked for Queen Elizabeth II, is known for his mastery of seafood cuisine. He cooked fish head curry during his stay in Penang.

“We went to a local market and some stores. I was so impressed that I could get everything fresh, including spices and herbs.

“Fresh pounded spices and herbs just give depth and subtleness to food. Bottled ones do not do that so well,” Stein said.

He said he watched local chefs in action and he was most struck by Nyonya cuisine.

“It is so sophisticated. The food has flavours I have never tasted. It was just wonderful for our programme,” he added.

Stein’s favourite local food is laksa.

“I never realised how wonderful it really was. I went to a roadside stall, ordered a bowl and was knocked out,” he said.

He said that the local flavours would be appealing to many Europeans and could easily cause an addiction.

“For instance, when we were filming the rojak cooking, we thought it was disgusting that fruits were thrown together with squid and shrimp paste. To us, shrimp paste is weird.

“But the rojak was simply great and we could not get enough,” he said.

Stein and his crew headed for Langkawi on Friday in search of more good food after their short stay in Penang.