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Nyonya Heritage Food at KUEH by Bibik’s Kitchen, Penang

Posted on December 29, 2021December 29, 2021 By Alexandra Wong 2 Comments on Nyonya Heritage Food at KUEH by Bibik’s Kitchen, Penang

Our discovery of KUEH by Bibik’s Kitchen – a hidden gem serving some of Penang’s best nyonya heritage food – began with a frustrating search for old-fashioned kaya.

To be exact, pleasing hubby’s craving for the kind of traditional kaya he grew up with in Penang.

From famous brands to owner-operated cafes to roadside stalls, I bought many versions, but the only response ever elicited was a slight frown.

“Hmm. It’s just not like the kaya I ate in my childhood. It’s missing something.”

“What’s it missing?” I persisted.

“The type of kaya we ate was a little more crumbly, more grainy. It’s not smooth or puree-like in consistency, or overly sweet. There’s more … body”

I knew what he meant … kind of. I had heard an almost similar description from the lips of a Hainanese cook – whose fastidious repute is only equalled by the Nyonyas – running a kopitiam in downtown KL. She described the process of making kaya as “a laborious process that takes hours of continuous monitoring and hand stirring.”

In other words, that never-quite-100% smooth consistency is actually not a flaw, but the hallmark of a kaya made by love’s labour. Alas, the one kaya-maker in KL that would have passed hubby’s muster shuttered a few months ago.

Our quest for kaya continued in vain until we recently ended up at the first place he tasted kaya as a kid: Penang.

KUEH by Bibik’s Kitchen was an unpretentious modest cafe tucked into a long shophouse in a quieter part of Penang. The menu was compact, serving all the hard-to-find Nyonya delicacies I craved.

While waiting for our nasi ulam, we decided to order a kuih appetizer.

When the saucer of kuih bingka and pulut tai tai arrived, my eyes fell onto the kaya atop a rectangle of blue-tinted glutinous rice. The colour of the kaya was neither too green nor too brown, and it had that telltale coarse, grainy texture.

My heartbeat quickened as I cut into it and took a small bite.

I almost cried with relief, but first: I studied my husband’s face. His eyes lifted in surprise, followed by a slow nod of approval. “Now this is the kaya I grew up with.”

The kuih bingka too was a delight. You could still discern the bits of tapioca inside, and it was beautifully browned on the edges, while retaining that golden yellow hue and buttery fragrance missing from other popular commercial versions.

The other dishes we ordered took a while to arrive, the last being my nasi ulam. It was, bar none, the best nasi ulam I’ve ever eaten in my life. The generous heapful of crispy hae bee (dried prawns) was almost obscene, compared to the minuscule amounts I’d encountered in other versions, while the herbs still retained their fresh aroma.

“I start chopping the herbs from scratch and mixing with the rice only when you order. I know I have to make you wait a bit longer but that’s the way you are supposed to eat it,” says Girlie Chua, the owner-operator who runs Kueh.

A fifth-generation Peranakan, Girlie exudes the passion and intensity of other home cooks who take great pride in their culinary heritage.

She is meticulous to a fault about the processes and steps that go into making her food; no short cuts please. “Even grilling belacan is an art and a skill. Of course you have to buy the best quality one but the way you prepare it is also important or else you won’t bring out the flavour of the belacan.”

Strange as it may sound, listening to this Penang nyonya reminded me of Italy. The best food we ate were not at the most popular restaurants in Florence and Rome, but prepared by a nonna in a farm up in Tuscany.

Like the peranakan matriarchs, the Italian nonna is the female line who hands down recipes from generation to generation. She views her food as more than just food; they are an anchor to a precious cultural heritage that represents cultural pride, social identity and family connections. Like the nyonya, too many of the nonna’s time-honoured recipes are in danger of dying because the new generation isn’t interested in learning them.

Savouring the last morsels of our meals, I mourned the generations of youngsters who might bypass KUEH by Bibik’s Kitchen in favour of instagrammable cafes. And wannabe chefs who eschew their family’s traditional recipes in favour of viral Tiktok recipes.

I was once in the latter category.

After coming full circle, I have started to take interest in my mum’s recipes, which are handed down from her mother, and her mother’s mother. Starting with the kuih bingka.

I was positive Mum would approve of Girlie’s version.

PS
After I wrote that, I dropped off Girlie’s goodies when we passed by Ipoh.

Mum said Kueh by Bibik’s kuih bingka, pulut tai tai and otak2 were very good 🙂 I still think Mum’s kuih bingka is the best, but the point is, her words carry weight.

I’ll let you try and be the judge 🙂

Contact details:

KUEH by Bibik’s Kitchen
No 2, Lebuh Clarke, George Town,
10050 George Town, Pulau Pinang
www.facebook.com/kueh.bibiks

Post Views: 1,941
Food review, Nyonya Tags:Nyonya cuisine, Penang food, Peranakan

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Comments (2) on “Nyonya Heritage Food at KUEH by Bibik’s Kitchen, Penang”

  1. beejin says:
    December 29, 2021 at 9:56 pm

    Thank you for sharing this gem. Shall definitely swing by for the nasi ulam and the grainy kaya.

    Reply
    1. Alexandra Wong says:
      January 1, 2022 at 9:42 pm

      You’re most welcome Bee Jin! Taste is very personal, but my husband and I really enjoyed it and I hope you like it too 🙂

      Reply

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Who’s Ipohbunny, lah?

Welcome!

I’m Alexandra Wong, a self-taught Malaysian home cook on a mission to simplify and healthify recipes using affordable quality ingredients. I am a writer by profession, mostly known for my feelgood stories about people, travel and food.

ipohbunny

Mee goreng on a banana leaf  😍😍😍 After Mee goreng on a banana leaf  😍😍😍

After a big feast at lunch with friends, Mum and I decided to take it easy for dinner and share a mee goreng from a stall in our neighbourhood.

Wahhh, I can see why this stall has become mum's favourite.

Generous in portion and sauce, which is more savoury (I like!) than sweet, and cukup wok hei. I must have walloped 2/3 of the portion and left only a bit for Mum #baddaughter 

Nice chap too. Do support if you are in the neighbourhood :) Located along a stretch of food stalls on the busiest street in Tmn Merdeka, the gerai also has mee rebus and pasembor. 😊

📍Mee Goreng Penang Classic Maimoon
Jalan Labrooy
Taman Merdeka
5.30-10.30pm daily ("kecuali kalau saya ada hal")
RM6 per serving

#supportlocalbusinesses #Ipohhiddengem
#meegoreng #meegorengmamak #friednoodles #Malaysiablogger #Malaysianfoodblogger #eatwithipohbunny #Ipohfood #Ipohfoodie #Ipoh #Ipohawesomecity #Muslimfriendly #jommakan #Malaysianstreetfood #hawkerfood #Malaysianhawkerfood #foodreels #igreels
Look at that beauty of a sourdough loaf! Came acr Look at that beauty of a sourdough loaf!

Came across @danishbydanishbakery in some food channels so I dragged hubs to check it out last weekend.

Lucky me! Seconds after walking out of the bakery, I bumped into Erik, the father of the baker. Seconds later, as we were driving off, the baker-son turned up! Snap!

Danish's version is authentic, proper European style sourdough, meaning it's more dense and tangy than the localised/Malaysianised version of sourdough. Some people prefer the latter, but hubby and I are hardcore, so the more sour and denser the better 😎

Honestly, it was easier to find European style sourdough in KL so hubs and I have been missing it, until we found The Baking Garage, except that's all the way in Tjg Bungah. Then news of a new Danish bakery in Georgetown surfaced.... Hurrah!!

Generously coated with seeds and grains on the outside, the bread is good enough on its own. I had just made gochujang-miso butter, inspired by another channel I started following recently, @thomas_straker

The little bakery is very new and only has a few other pastries so far, but they all look Yumcious. Next time.

#sourdough #Europeansoursough #Penangbakery #Penangbakeries #Georgetown #malaysiablogger #Penangfood #bread #bakery #smallbusinesses #eatwithipohbunny #Danishbakery #healthybread
A chronological carousel of my journey as a writer A chronological carousel of my journey as a writer, just because 😀

1 - 2008. As a freelancer, I was super lucky to be selected to represent The Star on an 8 day trip around Noosa & Gold Coast. Feasted like royalty!
2 - @francischeah00 Remember this?? I wrote about your fusion Western stall and playfully called you the fierce headmaster haha! The story appeared in The Star.
3 - Interviewing Nelson Kwok founder of the Nelson's corn franchise. This came out as part of a series of interviews with entrepreneurs for MBA Postgraduate.
4 - Writing for Going Places. Travelled to Slim River to spend half a day with the founder of Roti Babu Mokhtar, a bakery institute in SR.
5 - for Scoot magazine. With one of the most talented chefs I've ever met, Sam Lau of @Artisanhandmadebread It was so educational shadowing him at the market, and later observing him at work in the kitchen
6 - Spent a fun day with Clarissa Chong, one of the sunnniest people I've ever met, of healthy food producer @cottage_farm for The Star
7- Catching up with Mr Sambad whom I've covered for Fireflyz and The Star. He is as sweet as his Apam Balik 😍
8 - In 2019 with @anisnabilah . I still remember her memorable words, which I included in the Going Places article, “Our ancestors have been using pandan for centuries and all of a sudden, Nigella Lawson says pandan is the next it ingredient, only then we are raving about it! Why are we waiting for other people to popularise our food? Malaysians like to say our food is the greatest but we don’t support our industry with action. We are willing to pay through our noses for Western food, yet we don’t want to spend more for a local dish that has undergone hours of labour and utilizes scores of ingredients to prepare.”
I'll probably get into trouble for saying this. My I'll probably get into trouble for saying this. My favourite kai si hor fun (chicken hor fun) stall is not in Ipoh, but at @queensbaymall 's food court upstairs.

I know, I'll get a lot of flak for this, but hear me out.

I'm an objective person and my reviews are not influenced by popular public opinion. I would not say a place has the best this or that just because it got a million awards, or a hundred blogs say so.

The only benchmark I use is my own tongue. And my mum's.

Now it was my hubby who first told me about the Souper Chef stall in Qbay. He told me the kai si hor fun was very good, which I Ipohmali girl listened with disbelief. How can..?

But one day, I felt like a kshf fix and tried it out. Omg. The soup was so rich.. So robust with flavour and BODY, like it'd been boiled with a hundred chicken's bones and collagen and shells from a thousand prawns. Okok you get my point.

Anyway, the staff told me that the founder is from Ipoh. I suspect he has tweaked it slightly to suit Penang palates, because its more intense and richer than the Ipoh version, which I've always found too mild.

So where my mum's tongue come in? 😂 She is probably the fussiest eater I know, partly because she's such an excellent cook herself. So I actually bungkus two packets and took then all the way to Ipoh,just to see their reaction.

They were gobsmacked. Both Mum and Dad agreed the soup was very good (hoe kau mei), the chicken too was exceptionally moist and the noodles tender and silky. Yes. Better than the ones we've had in Ipoh. But taste is personal, so I'll let you be the judge of that. 

In the meantime, let you see the photos for yourself :)

Psst the chicken rice is also very good. Their version is a bit different, it's oil rice generously flavoured with garlic. 

#kaisihorfun #chickenhorfun #Queensbay #foodcourt #chickennoodles #eatwithipohbunny #porkfree #Malaysianfood #Penanghiddengem #horfun #malaysianstreetfood #malaysiablogger
Look at this thing of beauty. Wat tan hor, char ho Look at this thing of beauty. Wat tan hor, char hor fun, sar hor fun ....it all refers to silky egg flat rice noodles.

It is not hard to make at all, but it does involve a few components. Personally, I prepare some of them ahead of time so I don't feel so pressured and rushed when I'm assembling everything before serving it up for dinner.

1. There are three stages to the whole process which I practise: i) prepare gravy ii) fry noodles iii) finish off gravy with vegetables, cornstarch and egg. Then assemble everything.
2. There are two components to the dish: the base gravy, and the noodles. I make the gravy ahead of time because if you're inexperienced, you might need to adjust the taste until it's just right. In fact you can bottle the gravy up and freeze it for future use. (PRO TIP: Make the gravy just a little bit salty because when it is eventually absorbed by the noodles, the salty balance will be just right - thank you Martin!) 
3. To make things even easier, I always prepare chicken stock ahead of time. Every weekend, I buy 3-4 chicken carcasses from a Halal chicken stall in the new Lip Sin market (their carcasses are cleaned well, and compared to other vendors, relatively free from yucky skin and fatty attachments). Then I'd boil them up to make 2-3 bottles of stock which I can use for all types of dishes throughout the week.
4. Instead of traditional prawns, chicken and pork, my version uses fish cutlets as the protein. I ate this in KL and loved it so much!

Here's the whole recipe.
1. Prepare base gravy. In a pot, heat up oil and add in aromatics: chopped whites of spring onions, garlic and a few slices of ginger. Fry until fragrant, then add oyster sauce, light soy sauce and dark soy sauce (2:1:1/2 ratio - I find ratios more helpful than actually quantity)
2. Cook for a minute or too, then add chicken stock. Boil for 10 minutes at least to develop the flavours. Set aside.

(continue in comments)

#kuayteow #wattanhor #charhorfun #ricenoodles #Malaysiancooking #Malaysianrecipes #cookwithipohbunny #Malaysianhomecook #foodstagram #Malaysianfoodie #cookathome #homecooking #homecook #glutenfreerecipes #
Lately, I keep making these Dutch baby pancakes. T Lately, I keep making these Dutch baby pancakes. They are freaking delicious and soo easy to make. Just mix egg, flour and milk together into a batter, then pour it over hot butter in a cast iron skillet and bake it in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

The sky is the limit when it comes to the toppings. So far, I’ve tried pairing them with cheese, creamy mushrooms, rocket, egg. You can also add berries and cream and turn it into a dessert. Honestly, these are the most unscrew-up-able pancakes you can ever make!

Full recipe:
https://www.cookwithipohbunny.com/recipe-dutch-baby-pancakes/

#Dutchbabypancake #Dutchbabypancakes #pancakesforbreakfast #pancakes #easyrecipes #unscrewupable #cookwithipohbunny #Malaysianhomecook #Malaysiancook #breakfastideas #madeathome #instafood #foodstagram #familyfriendlyrecipes
OK, call it tourist trap or whatever you like, but OK, call it tourist trap or whatever you like, but I couldnt leave Langkawi without doing this. And I loved it!

One tip: To get to the climactic experience i.e. the sky bridge, you need to take the Skyglide (a mini tram) or walk through a nature trail

if you're not fit, don't be a macho-ass. Pay extra for the Skyglide.

Becauae the alternative is to walk down the 324 stepped nature trail (which isn't hard) but the return trip (you have to climb UP) is no joke. The steps are damn high. I might or might not be huffing and puffing when I got to the top. 

#langkawi #cuticutilangkawi #langkawiskycab #langkawiSkybridge #cuticutimalaysia #vacay #getaway #travelMalaysia #cablecar
Foodwise, we had some hits and misses in Langkawi Foodwise, we had some hits and misses in Langkawi but we were absolutely charmed by this little French creperie on Jalan Pantai Cenang!

Opened by a French couple, @myfrenchfactory has made quite a name for itself, judging by the rave reviews on Google.

They specialise in galette bretonne or French buckwheat galette, a thin pancake made with buckwheat flour, water, and salt and served with a savory filling, and is a specialty of the Bretagne or Brittany, a beautiful region in France's northwest.

It's quite a small place, so I sat next to the chef and had a front row view of him making our order, Galette No 9.

Big mistake.

Seeing Chef drizzle the hotplate with the galette batter and watching it crisp up into an appetizing golden brown at the edges, then stuff it to overflowing with caramelised onions, blue cheese and potatoes, only to realise that the order was not for me, but earlier customers who also ordered no 9 - omg, this was torture in the first degree.

By the time it arrived, I was ready to chew my knuckles off in hunger.

But I didn't, thank goodness, because every morsel was a delicious umami bomb. The combination of crispy-edged batter and creamy potatoes and intense hit of funky blue cheese ...ooo la la!

My ravenous state MIGHT have a wee bit to do with the fact that we'd walked all the way from our hotel to Pantai Cenang (we chalked up 20K steps that night), but the delectable galette was the perfect reward at the end of the road.

PS they do both sweet and savoury crepes.. I happened to order the savoury one.

#langkawi #pantaicenang #langkawidesserts #langkawicafe #frenchcrepes #frenchcrepeslangkawi #frenchfoodlangkawi #francemalaisie #langkawifood #langkawiyummy #dessertparlour #musttry #cuticutilangkawi #cuticutimalaysia #sedapgila #crêperie #brittany #bretagne #chocolate #chocolateandbanana #francaisenmalaisie #bestdessertslangkawi #homemade #frenchchefmalaysia #frenchcafe #buckwheat #galettesbretonnes #frenchcrepes #frenchfoodmalaysia #creperie
So proud of myself. I cleaned and cooked this salt So proud of myself. I cleaned and cooked this salted egg squid, all by myself!

Tasty or not?

"Better than the one we had in that Langkawi restaurant last week."

😀😀😀

Wahhh but I have to agree. (The restaurant one - squid was very chewy and sauce was too sweet.) 

And its all thanks to @shersonlian 's fantastic recipe!!

Tq Sherson, your recipes never never fail - and I love your tip of uisng the salted egg white itself (instead of salt) as the marinade for the sotong. No food wastage! 

This is how I did it, just slightly different from Sherson's method, because I had abalone juices on hand:

1. Clean squid. Cut tubes into ¼ in rings
2. Mince garlic, slice up red chilli, and strip curry leaves
3. Crack salted duck egg. Reserve the white.
4. Steam the yolk and then mash. 
5. Marinate squid in salted duck egg white and some curry powder.
6. Coat with rice flour. Shake off excess.
7. Heat up enough oil to double-fry coated squid.
8. Heat up a bit of oil. Add garlic, egg yolk, curry leaves and a little butter. 
9. When foamy and fragrant, add sliced red chilli, liquid (milk, chicken stock) to make it saucy and umami agents (oyster sauce, abalone juice from can, etc).
10. Add a touch of sugar. Taste for seasoning. 
11. Add back deep fried sotong, toss and serve.

Sherson's recipe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o4dywPQtzA

How to clean squid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf0BvXTvahg

#Malaysianhomecook #Malaysiancooking #saltedegg #saltedeggyolksauce #squid #saltedeggsquid #cookwithipohbunny #homecooking #sotong #sotongtelurmasin #sedapgiler #umamibomb #seafoodrecipes #squidrecipes
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