I SPENT the last weekend on tour with Indonesian singer-songwriter Rull Darwis and his talented guitarist Stanly Bactian on the northern leg of their Kembali Malaysia Tour 2023

Since we were covering the three northern states of Kedah, Perlis and Penang first, as his de facto tour manager, I recommended that the two of them fly directly to Penang from Jakarta.

In fact, Rull had been to Penang in 2017 to perform two shows. He recollected being shocked to see people lining up at 1am for the famous Nasi Kandar Beratur.

I told him Penang follk take their food seriously – too seriously, I joked. But as someone from the Klang Valley, Penang food rocks my boat any day.

After our Penang gig at Ruas Store (the cafe-cum-events venue that was raided earlier in the year) on Sunday, we brought Rull and Stanly to Nasi Kandar Beratur, only to find that it wasn’t open yet. So we ate at the nasi kandar outlet next to it.

And guess what? It tasted fantastic to Stanly (Rull and I had eaten already at Ruas Store) and our local non-Penang musician friends Azlan, Syakir (of Azlan Ramli Quartet) and Shahid (whose stage name is Sounds of Kites).

Naturally, any Malaysian journey is also a culinary one and our visiting Indonesian troubadours certainly enjoyed sampling our gastronomical delights.

I believe their first taste of Kulim was the house specialty of chicken chop of the cafe where we played, called MMU Lepak Haus.  It was a charming venue with walls beautifully decorated with posters, paintings and of memorabilia of international and local rock and roll legends. Who would have thought that such a place would exist in the quaint centre of Kulim town.

I didn’t join the others for breakfast the next day. Instead I got them to “tapau” me a sambal udang nasi lemak and kopi susu ikat tepi, which were yummy, so I assumed Rull and Stanly also had a good hearty taste of our local breakfast fare.

We had to rush to Perlis for our next stop on the tour. We were to perform at Balbuk Haus in Kampung Balik Bukit Chuping, set amid the padi fields against a backdrop of the said limestone hill.

Upon checking into our homestay right next to the venue, Syakir proceeded to browse his Foodpanda app and ordered a late lunch from a local warung called Warung Pak Daq.

Everyone dug into their meals, which were of generous portions. I had ordered a nasi ikan keli goreng, which consisted of a big catfish that was perfectly crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, and sambal and ulam on the side.

When we rolled into Penang, of course, we had to sample the state’s famous dishes. 

However, if you ever find yourself at Ruas, you must try the coffee there. Tell the barista that Azmyl recommended that you go there. – June 16, 2023.

* Azmyl Yunor is a touring underground recording artiste, and an academic in media and cultural studies. He has published articles on pop culture, subcultures and Malaysian cultural politics. He adheres to the three-chords-and-the-truth school of songwriting, and Woody Guthrie’s maxim “All you can write is what you see”. He is @azmyl on Twitter.