Page 92 - Cuisine & Wine Asia 2020 - Mar/Apr 2020 Issue

马 We arrive in Penang, surrounded by
historic architecture and modern buildings. Our
国 first stop is The Malaya Dining Room in George
Town. We show the address of The Malaya
Dining Room to the taxi driver and a conversation
风 about the restaurant and its popularity among
both locals and tourists immediately strikes up.
味 The Malaya Dining Room was relaunched in

early 2019 by George Town Heritage & Hotels
with dishes inspired by traditional Indian,
Malay and British cuisine. A young Chef Tong
Yuan Shen helms the kitchen of this historical
restaurant, and serves up savoury dishes
that showcase the rich culture of Penang.

When stepping into the Malaya Dining
Room, it was truly a blast from the past. The
restaurant boasts a colonial-inspired design,
with ornate colonial windows, wooden
board flooring, and matte marble tables.

Complementing the design of the restaurant is the
Malaya Dining’s Room array of authentic ‘colonial’
dishes, as Chef Tong explains “It is a mix of
cultures: Indian, British and Malay”.
The mains are also served
with rice, vegetable salad
and other delights.
Each dish is also
heavily spiced,
contributing to a
flavourful dining
e xp er i en ce.
The Malaya Dining Room 153F Jalan Hutton, 10050 George
When asked what Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia | Tel: (60) 19-589 3938
he hopes diners
of The Malaya
Dining Room would
understand about 走进老房子享受传统的佳肴
Penang cuisine, Chef
Tong says “Penang has 城乔治市里的旧建筑，很多都已
many ethnicities due to its 被列入世界文化遗产里。来到这
history and there is no set ‘cuisine’ when it comes 里，你真的可以找到小时候回外婆
to our food. What we serve here at The Malaya 槟家吃饭的用餐环境。殖民地的老店
Dining Room is a fusion of it all – and we offer 屋，加上古时候的木框窗户，老木地板和大理
progressive flavours by taking the traditional 石桌，这就是马来亚餐厅了。年轻的主厨唐元
flavours and bringing it to the next level.” 申为了让食客能吃到传统的味道，花了许多的
心思去揣摩料理中的原味。土生华人的食物，
The Malaya Dining Room offers visitors a 所花费的时间确实比较多，香料也成了主要的
different perspective of its local cuisine – 调味，这也是师傅所说娘惹餐的特色。师傅笑
with familiar but new flavours in its dishes. 说没有所谓“正宗”的娘惹餐，因为每位峇峇
和娘惹的结合都有他们的祖传食谱，可能甲家
pg 088-089 1. crab meat salad by The Gulai House 的比较甜，乙家的比较咸，丙家的比较辣，几
pg 090, left, top image 2. Chef Tong Yuan Shen 十年下来，大家都跟着老祖宗留下来的食谱来
right image 3. proteins and sides from the Malaya
Dining Room 煮，若甲家吃到乙家的娘惹料理，可以说他不
是正宗吗？这问题，我还是留给读者想想呗。