SUNGAI Petani. Next stop Sungai Petani. The reminder over the Komuter train’s public announcement system prompts me to head towards the nearest exit and impatiently wait for the doors to open.
The tinge of excitement from within is understandable. This quick day trip is a homecoming of sorts for me as Sungai Petani is where the paternal side of my family hails from. My father was born there just a week shy of the day the Japanese Imperial Army swept into Kedah.
He grew up during difficult times when food, let alone milk powder, and other basic necessities were scarce. His family lived in a rented room on the first floor of a shophouse in Jalan Pengkalan, which is located right in the heart of town. My grandfather commuted daily on foot or by bicycle to the nearby Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, where he worked as a clerk until the day he retired.
My grandmother passed away several years after the Japanese Occupation and my father was sent away to live with relatives in Kuala Lipis when my grandfather remarried. During his time in Pahang, my father was gracious enough not to harbour any ill feelings towards his father and maintained good relations with his step siblings.
My father returned to Kedah at the end of his schooling days and underwent training to be a teacher in Alor Star. That was when he met, fell in love and married my mother.
Back in the 1970s, our family would drive down from Alor Star during the school holidays and spend a few days with grandfather, who had also outlived his second wife, as well as visit my uncles and aunts who lived around the vicinity of that small town.
To my younger sister and me, the most memorable moments came in the form of time spent walking around town and enjoying the best of Sungai Petani’s hawker delights with our father’s stepbrothers and sisters. Those moments cemented our ties that have remain strong until this very day, long after grandfather passed on in 1987.
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
“Excuse me,” a lady murmurs as she squeezes past and exits through the gaping door. Her words and sudden presence jolt me out of my reverie. Tracing her footsteps, I manage to step onto the platform seconds before the train doors close behind me.
The strategically located Sungai Petani KTM station is just a short walk from all the places I used to visit as a child and teenager. With lunch hour fast approaching, I instinctively head towards the beef noodle stall located at a rudimentary food centre adjacent to the town’s taxi stand along Jalan Petri.
Operated almost singlehandedly by octogenarian Tan Choo Geap, the stall has been in existence at this present location since 1974. According to my uncles, Tan stopped going to school when he was 15 and began learning the trade when his father decided to open a beef noodle stall in 1950. At that time, the Tans were operating from another place further down Jalan Petri.
Well-known among locals as well as beef noodle lovers from as far away as Penang and Kuala Lumpur, Tan’s Stall No.11 at the food centre offers delicious mixed beef soup filled with choice cuts of tender beef, tripe, brisket and tendon as well as a hearty helping of beef balls served with either noodles or white rice.
While watching the maestro at work after placing my order, I strike up a conversation with his wife who was taking a breather from delivering bowls of piping hot noodles to several customers who had arrived earlier.
Beaming with pride after learning how I used to enjoy her husband’s fruits of labour, she reveals that Tan’s dedication to his craft has not gone unnoticed. She promptly guides me to a prominently displayed certificate by a pillar and comments: “Martin Yan dropped by at our stall four years ago during his Taste of Malaysia tour and liked our beef noodle so much that he presented us with this appreciative memento.”
CELEBRITY CHEF
The name strikes a chord with me. The Chinese-American celebrity chef made his mark in the culinary world through his highly popular Chinese-oriented cooking show, Yan Can Cook, back in the 1980s. Western audiences loved the way he highlighted recipes for stir-fried dishes and an assortment of various other traditional Chinese meals while displaying showmanship-styled cooking techniques.
Born in Canton (now Guangzhou) to a restaurateur father and a grocer mother, Yan moved to Hong Kong at the age of 13, where he attended Munsang College while learning the finer points of cooking at his uncle’s restaurant. He later furthered his culinary education in Canada.
During the Taste of Malaysia tour in 2015, Yan and his team crisscrossed the country on both sides of the South China Sea and embarked on a quest for cuisines that represented the rich ethnic diversity of Malaysia. He acknowledged the harmonious co-existence of the various groups that form the foundation and weave the social fabric of Malaysia’s success story as a multiracial nation.
Local media gave Yan wide coverage when he sampled Penang hawker fare and declared the city as the street food capital of the world. When Melaka played host, Yan paid tribute to mouthwatering Portuguese, Dutch and British culinary heritage.
Tan’s certificate bears testimony that although all 26-episodes of Taste of Malaysia were filmed at locations like Klang, Ipoh, Penang, Melaka, Terengganu, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak, Yan managed to take time off during the 67 days of shooting to visit other unfeatured places in the series, like Sungai Petani.
COMFORT FOOD
“Eat slowly. The soup is very hot,” Tan’s wife quips while setting a large bowl of beef noodles on my table. “My husband has made an extra special version for you that is quite similar to that sampled by Yan in 2015 at no extra charge,” she adds.
Overwhelmed by the honour, I turn to Tan with a wide grin and give him the thumbs up before settling down to enjoy the delicious meal painstakingly made with the same recipe and preparation technique like the first bowl dished out by Tan’s father some 69 years ago.
One sip is all it takes for all the fond memories of this superb dish to come flooding back. The thick broth is flavourful but not overpowering. The slices of beef have been cooked to perfection while the tendon is exactly the way it is supposed to be served, soft but chewy.
Coupled with generous garnishing and the accompanying chilli dip, Tan’s creation sends me to seventh heaven in no time at all. The dip is all important as most beef noodle connoisseur swear by its ability to make or break the dish. Like his peers, Tan jealously guards the recipe and personally prepares the condiment fresh daily.
Tan’s wife beams with pride when I proudly demonstrate that not a single drop of the tantalising soup has gone to waste when I overturn the bowl on her approach about half an hour later. “You enjoyed it? Good! Good! Please come again,” she quips as I get up and leave.
On the way out, I walk past Tan who is busy blanching a fresh batch of beef slices. He looks up momentarily with slight smile before resuming work. At 84, Tan is still at the top of his game but clearly, time is not on his side.
A day will come when he decides to throw in the towel. When that inevitable moment arrives, I truly hope that there is someone waiting in the wings to take over the reins of this key Sungai Petani culinary institution.
OLD WORLD CHARM
The taxi stand is now noticeably busier with people sitting on benches in the shade waiting for rides to their destination. Leaving the crowd behind, I cross Jalan Petri and head down Jalan Dewa which is flanked on both sides with pre-war shophouses.
Despite the presence of a growing number of outlets selling electronic gadgets and mobile phones, decades-old coffee and sundry shops can still be found here. These reminders of our distant past offer a glimpse into a fast disappearing culture where families of three or four generations can be seen working together and going through the same routine every day.
These establishments have managed to withstand the test of time thanks to their strategic location right at the heart of the town as well as close proprietor-customer relationships that have been carefully nurtured over the years.
Furthermore, lower prices and undivided attention to niche market segments have allowed these old-school businesses to successfully stave off fierce competition from modern cafes and hypermarkets.
A little further down, a food truck selling cendol and ice kacang by the roadside comes into sight. This is a heaven-sent opportunity for me to enjoy a nice dessert as well as seek temporary relief from the sweltering heat.
While enjoying the delicious mixture of green rice flour jelly, coconut milk and palm sugar syrup in my bowl of cendol, I become aware of numerous people making a beeline for a narrow side lane. Curiosity gets a better of me and I start tracing their footsteps a few minutes later.
ARTISTIC MURALS
I am pleasantly surprised to see the walls surrounding the narrow side street, known simply as Lorong Dua, filled with beautiful and creative mural artwork. The themes are varied and they all tell different stories that transcend the various cultures and people that have helped make this central Kedah town a success.
Judging from the crowds of people patiently waiting in line for their turn to pose with the individual murals, it is clear that location in an obscure alley doesn’t diminish the importance of these works of art as one of the “sights to see” in Sungai Petani.
This artistic ensemble was completed in September 2015 by various local talents as well as their peers from all over Malaysia. Created to coincide with that year’s Mid-Autumn festival and Visit Kedah Year 2016, these colourful creations have been receiving a steady stream of appreciative visitors until this very day.
Among the ones that receive the most attention are the murals that feature local food and a hauntingly beautiful dancing Indian girl. Set against a white background, the former features favourites like nasi lemak, ais kacang, teh tarik, kuih lapis, ondeh-ondeh as well as my all-time favourite snack, apam balik.
A turnover pancake with a texture similar to a crumpet with crisp edges, apam balik is made from a flour-based batter. Best enjoyed fresh, it’s typically cooked on a griddle and filled with castor sugar, ground peanut, creamed corn and grated coconut. As it exists as part of the culinary repertoire of Malay, Chinese, Peranakan and ethnic Bornean communities, this popular snack is also known by various other names.
INDIAN COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTES
The second mural highlights the presence of a sizeable Indian community in Sungai Petani and brings to mind the efforts made by local Indian leaders in 1950 to establish a common place for their people to congregate and convene social, cultural and public activities.
At that time, the unfortunate assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, which occurred in 1948, was still fresh in the minds of the people. The idea to perpetuate Gandhi’s revered memory by naming a building after him received widespread support and a series of fundraising drives were initiated.
A charity football match between the visiting Indian team Aryan Gymkhana, and a local Kedah squad comprising Indians and Malays, was organised on June 27, 1952. The event, which saw a sold-out crowd, netted more than RM4,000, a princely sum in those days.
Although many building aid events like the football match were organised, it cannot be denied that a major part of the building fund came from Indian rubber tappers and manual labourers employed in rubber estates around Sungai Petani.
Knowing that the building project was for the greater good of their community, these selfless people willingly sacrificed their hard-earned wages to make sure it was a success. The building in Jalan Sekerat was completed in July 1955 and was officially declared open four months later by the-then Sultan of Kedah, Sultan Badlishah Ibni al-Marhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Shah.
FIRST BANK IN KEDAH
The remainder of my time in Sungai Petani is spent visiting the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building located at Jalan Ibrahim, between Jalan Bank and Jalan Padang. Considered one of the most beautiful buildings in Sungai Petani and all of Kedah, its Indo-Saracenic design which features striking Mughal architectural influences is reminiscent of the former Kuala Lumpur Railway Station.
Opened in 1922 as one of the first financial institutions in Kedah, this Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank branch bears testimony to the importance of the booming rubber trade in central Kedah at that time. I’m sure my grandfather must have handled quite a number of transactions relating to this commodity during his service there.
On the way back to the train station, I take time to reflect on my visit. Although Sungai Petani has progressed much in terms of development, there still exists areas that have managed to resist change and have indirectly taken on the role of guardians of the town’s rich heritage.
Personally, I hope nostalgic places like the beef noodle stall and the old shops can keep going for as long as possible because they serve as reminders of my childhood and remain the primary impetus for me to keep coming back to Sungai Petani to relive memories, over and over again.