Argyll Road Roti Canai is one of the oldest surviving eateries still managed by the same founding family in George Town. It was started back in 1955 by Sheikh Usman as a small roti canai stall along Argyll Road. Nowadays, it occupies a shoplot at 67 Argyll Road. For the past decade, it was Sheikh Usmanโs son-in-law, Shahul Hameed, who managed the restaurant. Sheikh Usman himself had passed away in 2008 at the age of 79.
Shahul Hameed, whoโs in his 70s, have just retired recently, having handed the reins over to Abdul Mutalib, whoโs Sheikh Usmanโs son.
Abdul Mutalib is a retired government civil servant, but has now taken on the management the eatery his own father had started. He shared that all the curries were cooked by the womenfolk of their family, according to family heirloom recipes handed down the generations.
One of Argyll Road Roti Canaiโs signature dish is the roti canai slathered with an aromatic beef curry which had been simmered overnight, to ensure optimum flavours and a melt-in-the-mouth texture when the curry is served for breakfast the next morning.
Their house signature: Roti Canai with Beef Curry. The beef chunks were slow-cooked overnight, and were infused with the spices and melt-in-the-mouth tender the next morning. The roti canai flatbread would be shredded, then slathered with a mix of the deeply-flavorsome beef curry sauce, and a lighter dhal (yellow lentil) curry gravy.
One of my breakfast companions opted for the Roti Canai with Chicken Curry. The whole concoction was a bit lighter than the beef one, but also spicy-hot and practically exploded with strong flavors:
Penang excels in street food. Its rich, multi-cultural heritage, due to the British East India Company which built it, resulted in two-and-a-half centuries of the Achehnese, Malays, Chinese, Indians, Thais, Burmese, Arabs and many others living together, cross-influencing, absorbing and adapting each othersโ food and cooking techniques - resulting in a vast culinary emporium unlike any found elsewhere.
For fine dining or Continental cuisine in this region, go to Singapore or Bangkok. But for street food, Penangโs the best.
Iโve never come across beef roti canai in the US - though whatโs served here is a poor approximation of your pictures: usually a roti and a tiny bowl of chicken gravy. Still delicious, though!
Iโm not surprised that the method you describe sounds just like the way specialty muslim dishes are cooked overnight in india - dishes that are never made at home, only purchased from specific vendors who have them going over a low wood or charcoal fire all night. Nihari, paya, bara handi, and so on. Yum.
Same here in Malaysia and Singapore - the reason being that meat-eating Hindu-Indians here make up a very sizable clientele for roti canai - they will eat curried mutton or chicken, but will draw the line on beef.
Argyll Road Roti Canai, in fact, is the onlyroti canai spot I know of in George Town touting beef curry to go with their roti canai.
Oh yes, like the nihari, which I think is the breakfast to end all breakfasts!
I was in Lahore, Pakistan, on a business trip a few years ago - a Pakistani colleague took me to one of the cityโs best-known spot for the dish: Muhammadi Nihari. They cooked their nihari for 7 hours overnight, in time to serve for breakfast.