Tell-A-Tale (Part 35): Hot, Hot FriedChillies’ AFA, Pannaz and Om.

Pannaz was buzzing with journalists, guests, awards recipients and food enthusiasts when Lyrical Lemongrass and I arrived. Looking at the meticulous coordination; from the elegant decorative pieces to the menu cards to the goodie bags to the projector, I knew it was going to be a night to remember.

It was FriedChillies’s first Annual Foodster’s Awards where foodies get to vote for their favourite local stalls and restaurants of different food categories. It was an appreciation towards the existence of tastes that are close to us and the people behind these delicious, local fares. And that, to me, is already a celebration itself. I mean, how often do we see an awards party of this magnitude and grandeur that acknowledges the hours of hardwork put in by the cooks just to earn your few ringgits (or lesser, even) from, say a bowl of appetizing assam laksa? To me, they are undoubtedly the unsung heroes of the city’s foodscape.

The programs for the night included an impressive opening speech by Adly (FriedChillies’ CEO) which almost had me dashing to Nam Chuan for a bowl of Sarawak laksa, creative video presentations, a groovy acoustic performance by SlowJaxx and of course, a taste of Pannaz.

There were hors d'oeuvres (including an interesting duet of watermelon and sun-dried tomatoes), bowls of full-bodied mushroom soup, mains (I had a fantastic piece of lamb with brown sauce) and desserts consisted of sweet bread-alike, ice cream and chocolate cake.

Here is the list of winners with their respective addresses and GPS coordinates (taken from FriedChillies’ website):

For Best Roti Canai :Raju Restaurant
No. 27, Jalan Cantik, Petaling Jaya
N 03.10159 E101.65385

For Best Assam Laksa : O & S Laksa
39, Jalan 20/14, Paramount Gardens Petaling Jaya
N 3.10783 E101.62499

For Best Banana Leaf Rice : Kanna Curry House
No. 29 Jalan 17/45, Petaling Jaya
N 3.11974 E101.62978

For Best Chicken Rice :Hainanese Chicken Rice
73, Jln. SS22/23, Damansara Jaya, Petaling Jaya
N 3.12595 E101.61618

For Best Crabs : Fatty Crab
No 2, Jln SS 24/13 , Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya
N 3.11482 E101.61254

For Best Char Koay Teow : Aunty Gemok
Restoran Jamal Mohamed No. 24, Jalan SS5A/9 Petaling Jaya
N 3.09526 E101.60546

For Best Satay : Satay Samuri Taman Melawati
Jalan Melati Utama 4, Melati Utama, Setapak
N 3.13505 E101.62370

For Best Nasi Lemak : Village Park
5, Jalan SS21/37, Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya
N 3.13774 E101.62318

For Best Street Burger : Burger OM
In Front of 7-11, Off Lorong Kolam Air Lama, Ampang
N 3.16063 E101.78560

For Best Kopitiam : Yut Kee Coffeeshop
35, Jalan Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur
N 3.15705 E101.70001

Going through the winner’s list, I realized that I have only tried the satay. Yes, I have committed a huge food crime. Kuala Lumpur’s supreme foodcourt should imprison me for life! I should be barred from entering the city! The winners should throw rotten eggs at me!

Okay, food dramas aside, something interesting did happen.

“Let’s have a burger crawl tonight,” said the excited Boolicious, as we watched the video of the making of a piece of culinary art by OM Burger (winner of the best street burger).

"Very good idea lah!"

It was somewhere before midnight when we reached OM Burger. Thanks to Riz (FriedChillies’ creative director), we managed to get there within approximately twenty minutes as opposed to days if we were unguided.

We had company that night. Lots of it, to be precise. They were the ancient meteorologists. And by their staggering number, a heavy downpour was to be expected later that night.

The stall was unlit. This was to prevent the flying ants from fluttering anywhere near the food. But the convenient store behind it was not so lucky. The ants had already built a kingdom in it. Many died along the way, in search of light and warmth. If I may say, the flying ants added to the whole local makan experience.

They called it the Sloppy Burger. Despite the name, it was everything flavourful and fun. Take a bite to understand that the egg wrapping the piece of meat is cooked to moist perfection while the molten cheddar and sauces add to the euphoric burst of flavours. Sloppy? I call this modern art.

Too bad the crawl came to an unexpectedly early end as the second stop (burger with apple slices!) was closed that day. Nevertheless, we all went home happy and full.

Today, I looked at my calendar and realised that the last few days of Week 15 were spent celebrating all things local. I managed to catch the incredible Talentime, had a fantastic plate of fatty char siew at a wet market, went for an amazing awards party honouring local food (thank you, FriedChillies!) followed by a superb street burger and was caught in the jam from Sungai Wang all the way to Jalan Tun Razak (and beyond).


Definitely a cool weekend to remember.


Links:

Do check out FriedChillies’ excellent website here.

Lyrical Lemongrass wrote about the event here.

Click here for Cumi & Ciki’s take.

More details on Pannaz the restaurant here.

Information on Talentime, the local movie directed by the awesome Yasmin Ahmad can be found here.

There's a song called Pergi from Talentime which I thought was fantastic. Click here for a listen.

And here is the English version, sung by Pete Teo.

Coming soon:

Posts from Kenny Mah, Boolicious and thenomadGourmand.