[Penang] Breakfast at Mdm Aminah's, Queen Street, Little India

klyeoh · November 13, 2023, 4:39am

It’s Diwali, better known by its local Tamil moniker, Deepavali, today, and I had a friend visiting from Singapore. So, we decided to go down to Little India for breakfast, and to catch some of the Deepavali spirit in town.

Bursts of colour and sound in Little India, as Hindus started Deepavali with prayers at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple (built 1833), George Town’s oldest Hindu temple.

For breakfast, we chose Mdm Aminah Majid’s 28-year-old appam kiosk on Queen Street, a Little India icon of sorts. It’s been featured in numerous programs on TV, including Episode 8 of the BBC series “Ainsley Harriott’s Street Food”.

Septuagenarian Mdm Aminah, is currently just back from a 3-year hiatus, when she had to nurse a leg problem. She certainly looked fit as a fiddle and happy to be back now.

Her appams were light, meltingly-soft and moist - eating them was like swallowing delicious puffs of clouds.

Her food kiosk was ever-busy, with an endless train of customers coming and going non-stop.

Address
Mdm Aminah’s De’Queen Apom stall
Corner of Lebuh Queen (Queen St) and Lebuh Pasar (Market St), 10200 Penang, Malaysia
Opening hours: 7am till 12 noon. Days-off unannounced.

Harters · November 13, 2023, 9:45am

Enough to put me off going regardless of how good it might be. I cannot abide Harriott.

klyeoh · November 13, 2023, 11:35am

That bad, eh?

klyeoh · November 15, 2023, 8:05am

Back to Mdm Aminah Majid’s legendary appam stall on Queen Street this morning for breakfast. And this time, I had a surprise guest for her: Penang’s Queen of Nyonya Cuisine, Pearly Kee, who’s an old friend of the Queen of Appams in Little India.

The normally stoic, no-nonsense Mdm Aminah burst into tears of joy as she was reunited with her old friend - they’d not seen each other for three years as Mdm Aminah stopped selling during the COVID lockdown, and had just resumed recently.