What to eat in Kuantan: Nasi Dagang & Laksam from Midnight 'til Morning

I'm finally starting a new series on food to eat in Kuantan! Yeah, it took me a while to get this started as last week was a really busy one for me.

Kuantan has quite a variety of food at almost every corner of the town. When it comes to taste, it all boils down to preference & choices. I can't say that a certain stalls/restaurants here is the best (unless the majority of people agree with me!), but I'll dare say that some stalls/restaurants are worth giving it a try & recommending to others :)

Today, I would like to share with you one of my latest discoveries in the many years that I've been here (regularly).

Here's introducing one of the most fragrant nasi dagang that I've ever had in my life...seriously! I may not have eaten A LOT of nasi dagang since uni days, when I was first introduced to this rice dish, but this is by far the best I've eaten. The rice is slightly chewy (what the Cantonese will say as "yat lap yat lap mai" i.e. 'satu biji, satu biji beras'/'grain by grain rice'), has the pleasant, light fragrance of the spices & the best part was the fish curry that comes with the rice; rich, bursting in flavors, yet not cloying nor over-powering in taste 'til you can't taste the subtle flavors of the rice. I can't remember how much we paid for the plate of nasi dagang, but it's the standard price here in Kuantan, I think.

Oh, one thing about this nasi dagang, it's only available from 12:00a.m. - 7:00a.m. (I think daily). I know, it's crazy to have rice for supper! But mind you, we were there around 12:00a.m. on Sunday (Saturday night-lah) & the place was slowly filling up with people. It's just a typical Malay stall that opens for dinner at night, but the nasi dagang & the laksam are only available from midnight 'til the morning.

Yup, you read it right, it's laksaM, ending with the letter "m".

What's laksam? Most Chinese may not know what laksam is as we often eat curry/Penang laksa & not laksam. It's far from the curry laksa & the acidic Penang laksa, but it's more similar to the Siamese laksa.

Laksam is apparently a rice noodles dish from Terengganu. I find that it's alike a fusion of "chee cheong fun
 + siamese laksa fish soup + ulam (raw vegetables).

The rice noodles are very soft & smooth & it actually goes well with the milky coconut-fish-base soup! The topping of this simple noodles dish is just shredded raw vegetables like beansprouts, long beans & some other leafy vegetables that you commonly find in the nasi ulam/nasi kerabu PLUS a dollop of SPICY fresh ground chilli with lime.

This is a dish where you will either like it or won't like it at all. AP doesn't fancy this dish, so he ordered for me to try, which of course I finished the whole bowl of noodles on my own :P It's a rather small bowl of noodles, fit for supper (since it's so fattening!). A bowl of laksam here costs RM4.00. I find it somewhat expensive for such a small serving of noodles, but it was certainly worth the 'education' & introduction of what laksam is all about :D

As you can see, the stall is a very simple, not fanciful Malay food stall with pots all over the table.

As everything is freshly cooked, warm & so inviting, any supper-lovers will find themselves satisfied.

Before the crowd arrived!

When we left, almost 80% of the tables were occupied.

So where's the stall/gerai? Tadaaaa...Haji Lidah Tom Yam & Seafood! It's near the Super Cowboy supermarket at the intersection of Jalan Wong Ah Jang & Jalan Penjara.

When you feel like having some delicious nasi dagang at 'ungodly hours', you know where to get your fix ;)

Map to your next supper hangout spot

Gerai Haji Lidah Tom Yam & Seafood

Lorong Seri Teruntum 134

25100 Kuantan

Pahang Darul Makmur

Malaysia.

GPS: 3.80732, 103.31963
Business hours: 12:00a.m. - 7:00a.m. (nasi dagang & laksam only); the stall is opened at usual dinner hours, serving other dishes as well.


Looking forward to be back there again,