My late and endearing foodie Papa, bless his soul (he had a really bad impression of the western trained public hospital dieticians in the 70’s, who once prescribed diets like he was born comfortable to stuff like cottage cheese, unsalted green salads and even grapefruit. Bold decision, but he chose ikan assam pedas instead – I doubt he regretted it.), once told me about what poverty was like in his native Guangzhou in China, “We would steal up to the neighbour’s kitchen and eat our bowl of rice with deep sniffs of the sharp and fragrant pungency of salted fish searing in garlic oil, off their woks. Pleasure!”

So extreme win concept yet appealing -
bittergourd stir-fried with salted egg yolk mash on a bed of prawns.

I know exactly how that feels like. A late night cze cha stall, whose kitchen is a mere 80m from my bedroom, has jolted me off my deep slumber on many occasions whenever some hungry insomniac orders their supremely fragrant “hum yue chow fan”- salted fish fried rice. By the second breath of that smoky, salty and earthy smell emanating from the wok to my nose, all my senses light up in maximum class 4 security alert. I get truly awake and picture a whole wok of salted fish bits crisping over garlic oils and some eggs thrown over and scrambled for flavour before a whole plate of dry overnight rice, all taut and absorbent is released onto the wok to soak in all that goodness. I can picture the cook going, toss, toss, then flambé, flambé before more ingredients like char siew bits, bean sprouts and chopped carrots are sprinkled on for more tossing. I wished, for just a while, that I was that blessed insomniac, before the smells evaporate. Then I go back to sleep, satisfied.

Salted fish on its own, and I especially love the Mergui brand from Penang, has an indescribable appeal. To the uninitiated, it’s like a compressed dusty salty dirt ball but to me and the enlightened, it’s a sliver of fishy ocean salt made by earth, wind and fire (as they salt bake or sun dry the fishes.). You never chomp on a whole piece, that’s suicidal, but instead, nibble at the edges and work your way in a millimeter at a time. Last week, a makan buddy in Kuala Lumpur told me about a nondescript no-frills eatery that cooks literally everything with…salted fish and it’s called “something-Salted Fish Delicacy”. I zipped by for meal just before my afternoon flight back, at 11.30am. The shutters were down but that same smell was up in the air. I knocked and boss George Lai shooed us in and apologized as “I was shorthanded and had spent too much time at the fish market today, so open a bit late lah.”

George decides to set-up a food stall after being threaten to be kicked out by his wife and forced to sleep at the neighbourhood wet market.

I cruised by the formalities and quickly asked what his specialties was and to serve it up el-pronto. The place has no menu and George is the menu board and it comes with interesting tales. After a quick story about how he was a odd jobber drifting from one good job to another, before his wife threatened to kick him out and force him to sleep at their neighbourhood wet market, he decided to set up food stall, with no experience in cooking whatsoever. He just winged it with relative’s recipes and cookbooks. That was some 15 years ago. Then the fresh pomfret, steamed with salted fish arrived. It was such a nice twist to this Teochew classic. The salted fish did not hijack the flavour and enhanced the sweetness of the fish. I could barely hear George talking about his Cantonese heritage and love for the dried fish. Next up, a soulful little plate of comfort food – steamed minced meat cake with salted fish – was the one of the best I’ve had and it beats even that good rendition at Joo Heng in Joo Chiat Road. Beside it was the highlight of the meal – bittergourd stir fried with salted egg yolk mash on a bed of prawns. Aiyo, so extreme in concept yet appealing, so easy in, like playing football underwater. Even the simple cabbage with dried scallop and salted fish was memorable.

George was still ranting about something in the fish market that morning as I made my way to the airport.