Malaysia Kopitiam

After having such a great meal at Penang, I came to the conclusion that I must have more Malaysian food. I heard through some other buds that Malaysian Kopitiam also serves up some delicious authentic Malaysian, so when the living social deal appeared magically one morning, it was a quick and easy purchase. Best Buddy of BOOF, Hugdoll and I, would sadly be parting ways at the end of the month with her moving to Boston for her PhD (she's a Harvard smarty) and me moving to PA for med school, so we knew that we needed to have one last dinner before our respective departures. I threw out the idea of Malaysian and she was all for it, so we met up at MK for dinner.

MK is located just south of dupont circle right around the corner (literally) from Penang and a slew of other tasty restaurants. the exterior and interior both don't look like much of anything with its red block letter awning at its exterior and it's basement interior. there is a very unique smell that the restaurant features and it is not pleasant but it is also not repulsive to the point that you want to leave or vom...it's just there. it is located in a basement, which i mentioned earlier and it is not necessarily a bad thing but it is weird because you feel like you are going into basement. For example, in other restaurants such as Vidalia, you go below ground in what would technically be a "basement" but you don't necessarily feel like it when you get inside. nevertheless, the interior is just simple and nothing to annoying or spectacular.


the couple that owns MK has a special place in my heart simply for the fact that they are originally from Ipok Perah, Malaysia but then moved to Melbourne! Australia for a significant amount of time before heading to DC. they are also super friendly and sweet and when you are seated not only do you have a simple paper menu with all of the dishes, but you are also handed a three ring binder with pictures of all of their item menus. kinda genius. pick the prettiest.

after falling in love with this stuff at Penang, I insisted that we start off with Roti Canai which is a flat layer Indian bread served with a bowl of Malaysian Curry Chicken. Clearly, I didn't eat the Curry Chicken sauce that it is served with it but I didn't need it because the deliciously flakiness of the bread with that buttery taste is just so delicious, it didn't need any accompaniment, in my opinion. however, hugdoll mentioned that the sauce was super delicious and one of the tastiest parts of the meal, if not the tastiest.

we also started with the Satay Tofu (pictured at the top) which are grilled triangular tofu marinated in various spices served with cucumber and fresh. onion. This had a very interesting flavor because the sauce that it was marinated in was sweet, with an almost honey flavor but the tofu itself was quite salty. I guess some would call this balance very good, which I guess in some aspects it is but it didn't really work as well as I would have liked. I think it was a little too sweet and sticky and the saltiness tried to balance it out but then it was too salty. I ate it all but Hugdoll wasn't that big of a fan; nevertheless, I enjoyed them decently enough to polish them off. I like the vision just not the execution.

Hugdoll ordered the Vegetarian Stir Fried Mix Noodle which is a Stir fried long thin rice noodle and egg noodle with cabbage, Chinese mushroom, Chinese spinach and crispy tofu sheet. This had good flavor but nothing too special. the balance of the dish was really on point with the sweet, salty, sour and then texture all in nice harmony but there was no unique kick to the dish or a wow factor. we both agreed that it was good, just not great.

I ordered the Mamak Mee Goreng which is a stir-fried spicy egg noodle with shrimp, tofu, bean sprout, egg, tomatoes and potatoes top with lettuce and crispy shallot. This spoke both to the vegetarian and pescatarian in me but I was pretty unimpressed by this dish. The dish did have good flavor but I did consider topping it with lettuce was almost an afterthought and really not needed, in my opinion. The main thing I felt was missing from this dish was a good sauce. If there was sauce present, it was pretty absent to me because I didn't really have throughout my dish at all. It is a little sad because the ingredients are good but it just didn't have the flavor that I was looking for and was accustomed to after my trip to Penang.

Overall, I had a decent experience at MK and I would be willing to try it again, but maybe try a dish where Curry is the main ingredient because then I would be sure to have some sort of seasoned sauce throughout the dish. The ingredients were good and some dishes were a success, just not as much of a success that I wanted this Washingtonian Top Cheap Eats and Top 100 Restaurant to be.

Grade: B-

Penang

After not seeing close buddy to BOOF, ea, for a while we decidedly made plans for dinner last Wednesday. Realizing that i need to start actually using my groupons, i threw out the idea of trying Penang, and EA agreed on the choice for the evening.

Penang is located on the south end of Dupont Circle/West End/Foggy Bottom area. It sits above the Chipotle at 19 & M and close by to other good eats such as Nooshi, Luigis, and Smith & Wollensky. Penang is a Malaysian restaurant and it was a cuisine that I neither EA or I had ever tried before. I heard that it is almost a cross between Thai and Indian, so I definitely knew that it could be something that I would thoroughly enjoy. Then again, restaurants that are very veggie friendly always get a plus in my book.

Walking into Penang, you take note of the very modern decor filled with reds, low lighting, hardwood floors and a nicely open restaurant. You are met with the bar when you walk in and then you proceed to a "two" level restaurant but more like 1 1/4 level. It appears to really only be a restaurant suited for an older crowd, you don't really get a lot of college kids or anyone younger for that matter.

For starters, I opted to get a soup so I tried the Seafood Tomyan Soup which had Shrimp, squid, scallops and mushrooms in a spicy tomyam broth. It had a really good and well seasoned flavor and definitely helped warm me up on a cool rainy evening.

We then ordered the Roti Canai which is a Crispy Indian style pancake served with a curry chicken dipping sauce. This came out with our entrees (we ordered it late), so I did not actually eat it with the dipping sauce. EA tried it with the dipping sauce and said it was quite tasty and I actually fell in love with this little bite of heaven. Although this wasn't actually Malaysian and it was Indian, Penang does an outstanding job with this bread. Surprisingly, I had never had it before (I say this because I am a BIG fan of Indian food/restaurants), but I guess because I am so used to automatically ordering the typical delicious Naan bread, I had always overlooked the Roti. Trust me, I won't make that mistake again.



We both opted to order some of the "Fried Noodle" entrees but this is a term used to just illustrate that they were pan-fried at some point but they are not actually "fried". EA ordered the Penang Char Mee Hoon which is a Rice vermicelli with chicken, egg, bean sprouts, julienned red and green peppers, lemon grass, and dried red pepper.

She really enjoyed it and said the flavor was really great and seasoned just right. I went for the Penang Char Koay Teow which is their famous flat rice noodles with shrimp, squid, eggs, chives and bean sprouts in a spicy black soya chili sauce. I was really impressed with how flavorful this dish was and how it had the perfect amount of spicy kick that I was still able to enjoy it while my sinuses were definitely being cleared out. Sorry if that was too many details.

Because she didn't get an appetizer, EA opted to order a desert to go, the Peanut Pancake which is a crispy pancakes stuffed with ground peanuts, Crispy outside, moist inside. After talking to her later that week and asking her how it was, she said it wasgood and definitely something that she had never tried before and pretty unique.

All in all, we had a really great experience at Penang. After reading other reviews, I take it that your experience can be pretty hit or miss with the restaurant but for us, the flavors and seasoning was well balanced and decently complex. I've also heard that apparently on thursday-saturday, Penang turns into a dance club, so if you plan on going one of those nights, I recommend you go earlier lest you want a dance party to break out during your meal. however, that may be exactly what you want. I recommend Penang for both a date with your significant other or unformal dinner with friends after work. The vibe is very relaxed and apparently, they also serve up some great happy hour cocktails. If going on a weekend, I would pair this with maybe a trip to the National Geographic Museum a few blocks over.

Grade: B+