Selection of Peranakan dishes at 7Terraces, Lorong stewart, Penang, Malaysia
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At the risk of being declared ignorant, I am willing to confess that Peranakan is a new word to me. Along with my wife, I came to Penang out of curiosity having discovered that George Town is a Unesco world heritage site. From a personal perspective, I have long harboured a yearning to visit the Malaysian peninsula because I recall my father's tales of his years spent here on National service just after the second world war. The British Army were involved in a kind of police action, resisting a burgeoning independence movement. It was, as usual, futile and a new nation eventually emerged and became a stable country, a federal constitutional monarchy with a unique structure based on 13 separate states. 9 of these states, known as The Malay States have a royal family, or Sultanate. Each 5 years, the 9 Sultans get together to form a committee to elect the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who is the head of state and appoints the prime minister following democratic elections. With an average annual growth rate of 6.5% for almost 50 years since independence, it has been a story of relentless success. Singapore was briefly part of this federation but was expelled and is now very much the rich brother next door.
Malaysia is a mostly Muslim country but there seems to be little of the fervour of the Arab Spring here. It is a liberal country where Malaysians and westerners walk freely in shorts and t-shirts without fear, though there is a small minority of Islamists who mostly seem to export their terrorist intentions to Indonesia or the Phillpines. In my old home town of Swansea in South Wales there are hoards of Malaysian youths all bent on improving their life prospects by obtaining a foreign degree. This is an intenseley aspirational culture. In Penang we witnessed groups of youths all wearing matching "leadership camp" t-shirts being put through their paces. We also heard youth orchestras rehearsing all Saturday morning. Local marques of automobile like Proton are improving all the time and the broadband speeds here are lightning fast compared to Europe
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At the risk of being declared ignorant, I am willing to confess that Peranakan is a new word to me. Along with my wife, I came to Penang out of curiosity having discovered that George Town is a Unesco world heritage site. From a personal perspective, I have long harboured a yearning to visit the Malaysian peninsula because I recall my father's tales of his years spent here on National service just after the second world war. The British Army were involved in a kind of police action, resisting a burgeoning independence movement. It was, as usual, futile and a new nation eventually emerged and became a stable country, a federal constitutional monarchy with a unique structure based on 13 separate states. 9 of these states, known as The Malay States have a royal family, or Sultanate. Each 5 years, the 9 Sultans get together to form a committee to elect the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who is the head of state and appoints the prime minister following democratic elections. With an average annual growth rate of 6.5% for almost 50 years since independence, it has been a story of relentless success. Singapore was briefly part of this federation but was expelled and is now very much the rich brother next door.
Malaysia is a mostly Muslim country but there seems to be little of the fervour of the Arab Spring here. It is a liberal country where Malaysians and westerners walk freely in shorts and t-shirts without fear, though there is a small minority of Islamists who mostly seem to export their terrorist intentions to Indonesia or the Phillpines. In my old home town of Swansea in South Wales there are hoards of Malaysian youths all bent on improving their life prospects by obtaining a foreign degree. This is an intenseley aspirational culture. In Penang we witnessed groups of youths all wearing matching "leadership camp" t-shirts being put through their paces. We also heard youth orchestras rehearsing all Saturday morning. Local marques of automobile like Proton are improving all the time and the broadband speeds here are lightning fast compared to Europe
Downtown Penang is buzzing, but such a contrast to modern Kuala Lumpur
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So much for modern Malaysia. Penang is something else. Whether because it is an island or because it's in the north well away from the capital, or because it was the first bastion of the British Empire in the far east, Penang is an extraordinarily diverse city. Here you can see all the major influences in Asian culture overlapping, blending, cross-breeding and producing fantastic flavourful results. Nowhere more so than in the cuisine.
China has always been a giant of a trading nation and The Straits of Malacca have long been important to long distance traders as they provide a number of sheltered harbours. Everything that passed between China and Japan to the East and India, Arabia and the Greco-Roman world to the west passed through the straits, since long before the Christian era. As always with trade, politicians used marriage to secure alliances and in the Ming Dynasty ( C14-C17) the Emperor's daughter Hang li Po was betrothed to The Sultan of Malacca. There followed several centuries of Chinese migration to the straits area, with many Chinese traders taking local brides and thus giving rise to the Peranakan with their distinctive cuisine blending traditional Chinese cooking with the warm earthy spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and turmeric commonly available here.
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So much for modern Malaysia. Penang is something else. Whether because it is an island or because it's in the north well away from the capital, or because it was the first bastion of the British Empire in the far east, Penang is an extraordinarily diverse city. Here you can see all the major influences in Asian culture overlapping, blending, cross-breeding and producing fantastic flavourful results. Nowhere more so than in the cuisine.
China has always been a giant of a trading nation and The Straits of Malacca have long been important to long distance traders as they provide a number of sheltered harbours. Everything that passed between China and Japan to the East and India, Arabia and the Greco-Roman world to the west passed through the straits, since long before the Christian era. As always with trade, politicians used marriage to secure alliances and in the Ming Dynasty ( C14-C17) the Emperor's daughter Hang li Po was betrothed to The Sultan of Malacca. There followed several centuries of Chinese migration to the straits area, with many Chinese traders taking local brides and thus giving rise to the Peranakan with their distinctive cuisine blending traditional Chinese cooking with the warm earthy spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and turmeric commonly available here.
Hong Bak Lamb - as served at 7Terraces, Lorong Stewart, Penang
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This wonderful development (for us foodies) reaches its zenith in modern Penang. When the sophisticated urbanites of Kuala Lumpur want to indulge in their passion for their own cuisine, they head up north for the colour and the scents of Little India and Penang's own Chinatown. Seen from a Malaysian perspective, Chinese cuisine is mild, even bland. Traditional Malay food by contrast is strongly flavoured and quite spicy (hot). Peranakan is a compromise or a blend. So, not so hot but strongly flavoured. Tucked away in a back street in Penang (our taxi driver did not recognise the name of the street and had never heard of the hotel/restaurant) is an absolute gem of ancient and modern fusion culture, the Seven Terraces hotel and restaurant. It gets its name from the nine (yes I said nine, but seven is a more propitious number in Chinese mythology) terraces of the nine shop-houses it is housed in. The shop house is the traditional unit of commerce and dwelling in this part of the world but it is dying out rapidly being replaced by high-rise condominiums (why is it not condominia?) which are the stepping stone from poverty to semi-detached affluence the world over.
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This wonderful development (for us foodies) reaches its zenith in modern Penang. When the sophisticated urbanites of Kuala Lumpur want to indulge in their passion for their own cuisine, they head up north for the colour and the scents of Little India and Penang's own Chinatown. Seen from a Malaysian perspective, Chinese cuisine is mild, even bland. Traditional Malay food by contrast is strongly flavoured and quite spicy (hot). Peranakan is a compromise or a blend. So, not so hot but strongly flavoured. Tucked away in a back street in Penang (our taxi driver did not recognise the name of the street and had never heard of the hotel/restaurant) is an absolute gem of ancient and modern fusion culture, the Seven Terraces hotel and restaurant. It gets its name from the nine (yes I said nine, but seven is a more propitious number in Chinese mythology) terraces of the nine shop-houses it is housed in. The shop house is the traditional unit of commerce and dwelling in this part of the world but it is dying out rapidly being replaced by high-rise condominiums (why is it not condominia?) which are the stepping stone from poverty to semi-detached affluence the world over.
Central courtyard at 7Terraces, more Zen than Feng Shui
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The owner of this beautiful property and its cullinary emporium is none other than the previous owner of Galle Fort in Sri Lanka (near Amangalla, and a UNESCO award-winning site). Here, he is coming home as a member of the Peranakan tradition with the intention of establishing a fine dining tradition in his native cuisine. For me he is already home and dried. The Chao Tom (minced prawn, spiced and wrapped round sugar cane then grilled) was light, succulent and slightly sweet. The Hong Bak lamb was one of the highlights of my gustatory life. Never has a lamb shank been so tender or so subtly augmented with herbs and spices. Even the rice, simply steamed was so fragrant I felt I was in a spa, being cosseted in a hot flannel. Nothing can prepare you for the delights of the dessert course and I almost don't want to tell you, because the surprise is such an important part of the experience. All I will tell you is that when you get over the shock of the bright blue colour and bite into those balls of Onde Onde you will be rewarded with such rich pleasure of cloying texture and sweetness you will think you are a god, atop Olympus.
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The owner of this beautiful property and its cullinary emporium is none other than the previous owner of Galle Fort in Sri Lanka (near Amangalla, and a UNESCO award-winning site). Here, he is coming home as a member of the Peranakan tradition with the intention of establishing a fine dining tradition in his native cuisine. For me he is already home and dried. The Chao Tom (minced prawn, spiced and wrapped round sugar cane then grilled) was light, succulent and slightly sweet. The Hong Bak lamb was one of the highlights of my gustatory life. Never has a lamb shank been so tender or so subtly augmented with herbs and spices. Even the rice, simply steamed was so fragrant I felt I was in a spa, being cosseted in a hot flannel. Nothing can prepare you for the delights of the dessert course and I almost don't want to tell you, because the surprise is such an important part of the experience. All I will tell you is that when you get over the shock of the bright blue colour and bite into those balls of Onde Onde you will be rewarded with such rich pleasure of cloying texture and sweetness you will think you are a god, atop Olympus.