First things first.

I'm not sure if it's the denseness of the air or the neon signs above the mamak restaurants or the smell of roti canai at 4 in the morning - but something definitely tells you you're home. After an extended journey home, we arrived a tired, rumpled bunch, hungry for supper. I hit the mamak place closest to where was was to spend the night, eager for the much-awaited roti canai. Bliss.

Anyway, the days after were a flurry of food excursions - it was a bit like getting reaquainted with old friends. You take for granted the familiarity of a good old plate of char kuey teow, or a bowl of curry noodles.



Char kuey teow and yong tau foo from the coffee shop we know only as "blue roof" in Petaling Jaya. I'm not sure why we came to calling it that since the roof isn't blue. Anyway, the stall with the fried all-kinds-of-everything is probably the most popular one there. My grandmother likes the fried glass noodles and they do a pretty good char kuey teow. The only thing amiss about it was that it lacked garlic chives, something I never knew to appreciate when I was younger. I have to admit now though, that char kuey teow seems incomplete without the customary "ku chai".

The yong tau foo was the best I've had in ages - but then again, that doesn't come as a surprise since it's been ages since I've even come close to yong tau foo. I've always preferred the soup version to the dry version, mainly because the dry version can go terribly wrong if they don't get the gravy right. Must haves in my bowl of yong tau foo - stuffed okra, stuffed fried brinjal and those deliciously crispy beancurd sheets.

Something tells me I should probably find out the name of the coffee shop but that's the way it's always been here - we know only the locations and refer to the shop any way we please.