PETALING JAYA, Oct 27 — Of all the cold, sweet treats this short life promises us, cendol is easily my favourite.
Sure, like any other kid, I loved ice cream, but I hated having to wait for it to melt – because the best way to eat it, as any sane child knows, is when it turns into a sweet, soupy mess.
No brain freeze, you see.
Cendol, with its use of shaved ice, presented an elegant solution to my young brain.
Just hack away and soon you’ll be rewarded with a cold, chunky, sweet liquid – much like bingsu and kakigori, which have recently exploded in popularity while offering a similar experience.
Still, I struggle to justify paying close to RM30 for a mountain of ice with artificially flavoured syrup drooling down the sides, so I remain firmly in the cendol camp.
With this in mind, I find myself at Auntie Ling’s Nyonya Cendol, a stall in the Medan Selera Wawasan in SS3.
First glance: this is a popular spot. We arrived a little late into the lunch hour on a Friday and it was swarming with people eating nasi lemak, downing bowls of Nyonya laksa and of course, the titular cendol.
Seats were at a premium, partly due to the spillover crowd from Pandian’s Indian food a few stalls down.
Despite the crowd of young and old alike, we didn’t wait long for our cendol (RM6). Fluffy ice, soft and smooth strands of pandan-flavoured rice flour jelly and a thick helping of gula Melaka – happiness has never been simpler.
I like mine free of red beans, but between the deep, complex flavour of the gula Melaka that goes far beyond any word for “sweet” and superb strands of cendol that stay supple in the ice, Auntie Ling’s cendol isn’t lacking in anything.
The strands of rice jelly stay soft and supple, and their irregular shape suggests that they are made from scratch. — Picture by Ethan Lau
One older gentleman, clearly a regular, stood off to the side with a cigarette in hand, waiting for his cendol to arrive – a smoky aperitif of sorts.
I watched, both amused and amazed, as he then finished his cendol with half the cigarette still to spare, which now served as his digestif – all without once lifting his elbow from the ledge.
Now that is peak performance.
I wouldn’t be any good at this job if one bowl of cendol was enough to get me full, so we decided to give the nasi lemak (RM11.50) and Nyonya laksa (RM10) each a try.
The former was a lot better than initially expected. The rice, while fluffy and fragrant, wasn’t as lemak as some might expect, and the sambal was on the sweeter side.
Auntie Ling’s ‘nasi lemak’ is a good version, with slightly sweet ‘sambal’ and tasty ‘ayam rendang’. — Picture by Ethan Lau
But the ayam rendang was excellent, thick, bright orange and teeming with the flavour of lemongrass, galangal and so on.
The other option of lauk for your nasi lemak is sambal sotong (RM4.50), which we decided to add to our laksa.
The squid was tender rather than rubbery, and the sambal leaned more savoury than sweet.
I should preface this by saying that I am not the biggest fan of Nyonya laksa; I tend to prefer more curry-tinged oomph in my noodles.
Nyonya ‘laksa’ isn’t usually my favourite variety of ‘laksa’, but Auntie Ling’s version packs plenty of punch. — Picture by Ethan Lau
That being said, Auntie Ling’s Nyonya laksa is textbook – a complex, fragrant and very creamy broth that hints at many aromatics, not the least of which was daun kesum, the laksa leaf itself.
The whole concoction is enveloped in the richness of santan, a key characteristic of any proper Nyonya laksa.
Auntie Ling’s is the first stall, located at the far left of the food court. — Picture by Ethan Lau
Auntie Ling’s Nyonya Cendol, Medan Selera Wawasan SS3
Stall 1, Medan Selera Wawasan, 1, Jalan SS 3/33, Taman Universiti, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 9am-4.30pm. Closed on Monday.
Tel: 012-366 3555
Facebook: @AuntieLingsNyonyaCendol
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
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