The Kopitiam Pasta

The Kopitiam Pasta: Italian food at a Chinese coffee shop

I think it was Alisan coffee shop in the Masjid India area that pioneered the food court within a kopitiam. That was in the early 1980s and the concept has since been adopted by many Chinese coffee shops. The big and popular ones may squeeze as many as two or three dozen food stalls into a single shop lot.

Currently, one of the less common types of food served at such places is pasta. With the new burden of GST and the Shringgit (a term attributed to my friend Sidek Kamiso), the poor man’s Italian dining should become more popular.

If you are not a snob, this Seafood Pasta is good value as the portion and ingredients are generous at RM 9 nett. Of course, it won’t taste as good as that from an Italian chef who hand craft his pasta and blend the sauce from some time-tested family recipe.

Nevertheless, I like that I can customise it in whatever way I want at the kopitiam. No snooty chef or maitre d’ protesting because it is heresy to even suggest.

The fat Chinese cook here nodded his head happily when I requested a tomato-based sauce even though it is served dry.

I also like that I can order a barley drink to go with it and have dessert of Nyonya Kuih Lapis bought from another stall outside.

The coffee shop is at one corner of Jalan SJ6, Selayang.

Sony Alpha a7R, ISO 320, f6.3, 1/250 sec.

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