MEME: FAVOURITE FOOD

Was tagged by Babybooner & it's a 'delicious' meme too! Finally I got tagged for a food related meme, but can it cure my blogstipation or not? Who knows. I for the love of God, don't know it myself.

1) Proposition: What is your favorite food in your state or country?

2) Requirements: Find some info about the food and show delicious pictures of it?

3) Quantity: FIVE PEOPLE.

4) Tag Mode: You leave their blog and post link and add to the list below.

I'm a Penangite, so it's logical if I talk about the food that Penang is famous for, right? I mean, people from as far as Singapore come in droves to Penang (yeah, and clog up our Penang bridge!) to sample the authentic penang laksa, nasi kandar, pasembor, char keow teau & other chinese delicacies lined up along the Jalan Kota Lama and Baru that I cannot spell.

Alas, I don't favour them much.

What makes me weak in the knees is this....



The magnificent Ramly Burger, without chili sauce of course.
Why? Err... refer yang pelik tetapi benar 1

I remember one particular incident relating to Ramly Burger. Something sad happened to me a couple of years back when I was in uni. It was convocation season, and all hostel cafes were closed down for a week to give way to the plethora of food stalls set up at the convo ground/field.

One night, walking back to the hostel from a study session at the library, whether I like it or not, I gotta get my dinner from the food stalls (which had the reputation to be utterly overpriced & tasteless). So I thought of playing it safe and opted for a burger. I mean, you can't go wrong with a Ramly burger, really. In my entire life, I've never tasted a bad one.

So I kept my patience is check although the burger stall was swarmed with customers. When my turn finally came, I remember clearly instructing the burgerman to skip the ketchup. I waited for the longest time for my burger, and from time to time, repeating the same instruction. NO KETCHUP.

At long last, he handed me my order & I asked him again, "Betul takde sos (ketchup) ni eh, bang?" He nodded, "Ye, ye".

So I made the long walk back to the hostel with my tummy growling mercilessly, looking forward to devouring my dinner. At the comfort of my room, I unfolded the wrappers, ready to pounce on it's moist flesh & be transported on a gastronomical heaven.

To my dismay, (by this time, you could have guessed what the story is all about) I saw the whole burger was covered by ICKY RED YUCKY RUNNY KETCHUP!!!

Bl*rdy f***! I cried my heart then & there. I was so emotional & frustrated at the unfairness of it all. I sobbed & screamed all my might (I think the boys at the hostel opposite could hear my banshee cry) because I didn't have the energy and guts to walk all the way back to the stall & demand a new one (or sekeh that burgerman's kepala cukup2!)

After the demonstrative outburst, I marched down to my a friend's room & gave that burger to her. I asked whether she had some maggi mee because I was so damn hungry, but she didn't have any, so I sucked up my pride and went begging to buy a packet from anyone who had any, door to door.

Crazily enough, that incident never made me hate Ramly. It just made me into a more persistent customer, pressing & reminding the burger man countless times, NO KETCHUP! And I always check before leaving.



Here's a better photo taken by from the old geezer formerly known as Moby (now prefers to go by the name Woggle), snitched from here. I remember he wrote a helluva funny & terribly obscene tribute to his beloved Ramly. Yeah, you can expect him romancing with his food even ;p

I dare to say that there isn't a burger loving soul in this country who doesn't love their hawker-style Ramlys, and if you're a true-blue fan, you have a favourite stall & even know it's operating schedule, and you and the 'abang burger' might even share a pretty chummy relationship.

It's not difficult at all searching for info about the much-loved burger. Here's what I got from wiki alone (cut & paste ah, yeah... my mental condition & inarticulacy it THAT bad! hurhur)

The first stall was founded by the Ramly family way back in 1979 (wah heyyy... the burger's history is as old as I am!) situated at the Lorong Haji Hussin in KL. The popularity of the burger caught on very fast throughout the country, and the business expanded into halal meat processing.

But we're talking about the special burger here...

The Ramly Burger is distinctive from most other hamburgers due to the unique way in which the ingredients are served. Rather than the usual method of stacking the ingredients within the bun, the patty in the Ramly Burger is first covered with the desired condiments, then wrapped in a thin layer of egg. The end result is packet-like and enhances the texture of the burger while simultaneously reducing mess from the condiments (beautifully described!).

Despite its popularity among Singaporeans, the import of Ramly Burger into Singapore is prohibited (a strange fact as frozen Ramly Burger patties are approved for sale there) , along with all other Malaysian beef products (eh apedah, anal sungguh!). However, several stalls have smuggled the burger, albeit illegally, into the country (hah! contraband stuff!). In particular, Ramly Burger stalls are rampant in pasar malams, which are harder to track due to their itinerant nature.

Some have expressed health concerns over the Ramly burger, due to the liberal amounts of condiments typically lathered on the burger (oh please! spare me the drone)

For the uninitiated, this is how a typical Ramly Burger is prepared, and this minah got it all covered! There is even a Ramly Burger Flickr group!

Okay, I think that does it. I'm tagging kroni2 semua : Zalin (you talk about some exotic arabic cuisine hokay), Nadia (you too! since you've been to the ceruk2 5 continents all), Moby/Woggle (I want you to get horny okay), Dybb (I know this is easy for you!) and lastly, Ann (Alesha's mommy), something foreign that I haven't heard of, can or not?