Meals on Wheels - Malaysian version

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Comment by Faith Wesstrom on February 25, 2009 at 12:33am

Here’s a very short video highlighting my day in Malaysia ending with the ‘lol lok’ dinner.
I went with my friends on a day trip to Malacca, Malaysia while I was in Singapore for a visit in December and as night falls, it was time for dinner and we wanted something light. They suggested ‘lok lok’. Searching my memory and found it to be lacking, I couldn’t remember eating ‘lok lok’ before. It’s a do-it-yourself cooking at the back of an open truck. The truck is stacked with a wide variety of raw/semi cooked food on color coded skewers; there are 2 medium size pots of boiling broth situated on both sides of the van. The van is parked at the intersection of 2 roads.

Since it’s a mobile “restaurant”, we had to drive and look for it but not for long...

We pick as much or as little as we want - after dipping the skewers in the hot boiling pot for a few minutes, the food is cooked and we eat them off the skewers with 2 types of chilli sauces - red and/or green. Strangers share the “dunking” pot as this is communal cooking. I was told not to throw away the skewers as that is how the owner/driver of the truck determines our bill - depending on the colors which ranges from blue to red, they cost anywhere from RM2.50 to RM$4 (USD1= RM$3.66). While we were eating, a lady drove up and parked her car just behind the truck, came over and picked out 2 skewers, cooked it, ate and left - all in about 15 mins or so..she must be in a hurry. I was cautioned to hang on to my purse, especially if one is on the side of the truck facing the road as there have been thefts from cars/bikes who snatches an unsuspecting customer’s valuables and drive off. When I asked for a drink, the owner told me to take it from the passenger side of the truck! It was really fun and dinner was very inexpensive.

This kind of communal cooking where strangers come together and share a common cooking is very common in Eastern cultures and I’ve yet to see anything close to this here in the States, especially at night! I doubt I would’ve stopped at the intersection of an unfamiliar street in Malaysia and ate while standing and watching the traffic! I remember thinking distinctly of some of my friends back here in the States would admonish “no double dipping”!