Mamak Stall - Malay Tomyam Stall

Malay Tomyam Stall

Recently, in order to attract more customers, some Mamak restaurants have added an extra stall in their restaurant. The stall, which is operated individually by either an ethnic Malay from the North East Peninsular Malaysia or an ethnic Malay from Southern Thailand, is known as Malay Tom yam stall. Customers therefore have more choice, such as:

• Tom Yam
• Nasi paprik
• Nasi Goreng Kampung (Village fried rice)
• Nasi Goreng Cina (Chinese fried rice)
• Nasi Goreng USA (USA fried rice)
• Nasi Masak Merah (Cooked red rice)
• Nasi Pattaya
• Telur Bistik
• Sayur Campur ('Mixed' vegetables)
• Ikan Pedas (Spicy fish)
• Nasi LaLa (LaLa rice)

Tom Yam stalls can also be found by the street or at designated areas such as car parks at night. These stalls tend to be popular. Many tom yam stalls are built illegally, usually on land reserved for public roads. Attempts to remove these illegal stalls have been fairly successful but such attempts can have a political price. One local politician who was a town councilor was put to shame when illegal traders whose stalls were demolished made known to the public that the politician's son himself was running a nearby stall built illegally on public road reserve land. His stall had been spared while others were demolished.

The tomyam stalls first appeared in Peninsular Malaysia circa late 1970s and early 1980s. Unlike local Malay food, the food is basically Thai based and somewhat similar to the cuisine in the state of Kelantan. The Tom Yam dishes have a mix of typically sweet, hot and sour flavours. Basically the choice of dishes available at Tom Yam stalls are similar. As the dishes are cooked immediately and quickly when the customer wants it, Tom Yam stalls are the Malay equivalent of the fastfood outlets albeit the Thai based cuisine.