[Penang, Malaysia] Lunch at Bhai Biryani, King Street

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Lunch yesterday at 𝗕𝗵𝗮𝗶 𝗕𝗶𝗿𝘆𝗮𝗻𝗶 on King Street. The relatively new Penang outpost of a popular KL eatery (the original is located in OUG Parklane, Kuala Lumpur) started operating in early-January this year.

Penang’s Little India is pretty busy this time of the year, as the Deepavali, or Festival of Lights, approaches (it falls on 24 Oct this year). For the Indian diaspora in Penang, as with their brethren around the world, it’s their biggest festival of the year. Pop-up shops selling all kinds of clothing, decoratives and Deepavalli-related paraphernalia add to the burst of colours and noise in the jam-packed Little India district.

Very good service here at Bhai Biryani, but one needs to go early as the restaurant gets pretty busy at peak meal-times, and one may need to wait quite a while for one’s food.

Our lunch spread today:

𝙋𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝙏𝙞𝙠𝙠𝙖 - skewered and grilled pieces of spice-marinated paneer (Indian cheese), capsicum, onion and tomatoes.

𝙇𝙖𝙢𝙗 𝘿𝙪𝙢 𝘽𝙞𝙧𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙞 - mutton chunks, marinated in aromatic spices, ginger, and shallots, then cooked with basmati rice in a sealed, heavy-bottomed “dum” pot.

𝘽𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝘽𝙞𝙧𝙮𝙖𝙣𝙞 - spiced, boneless chicken chunks, cooked atop basmati rice.

Dessert:
𝙂𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙗 𝙅𝙖𝙢𝙪𝙣 - spheres of syrup-soaked spongey milk pudding. I have a love-hate relationship with this dessert: I simply cannot stop eating these sinful little orbs where one can almost sense the fizz of one’s teeth enamel dissolving from the sugar syrup.

𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙞 - one of the best spiced milk tea around: thick, milky-rich, sweet and aromatic.

The food is amazingly chili-spicy, but full of flavour.

Address
Bhai Biryani
119, Lebuh King (King Street), 10200 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +6017-788 7243
Operating hours: 11am to 11pm daily

[ZivBnd (Ziv)]

As always, a feast for both the eyes and the mind. Thank you, Peter!
I was thinking of one of the most memorable dishes I have ever had and I think it was served in Penang. It was a biryani dish, I believe, but the rice was covered with a pinkish red curry and served on a huge green leaf (banana?) that was just delicious. I was kind of non-plussed at first since they didn’t give me spoons or forks so I tucked in with my hand and I ended up wearing a good bit of it, but it was phenomenal. I think it was at Dawood but I may be giving credit to the wrong place, because I think I had a red mutton curry there, not the pinkish red dish.
Sorry to ramble but every time I see one of your posts I think about how great the food was the last time I was in Penang, long, long ago. LOL!

[klyeoh (Peter)]

@ZivBnd

I think it was at Dawood but I may be giving credit to the wrong place, because I think I had a red mutton curry there, not the pinkish red dish.

Dawood was one of the classic eateries which dominated the Indian restaurant scene in Penang from the 50s, 60s through to the 70s. Its competitors included Ghani, Meerah and Hameediyah.

Only Hameediyah (Est. 1907) remained today, although its offerings have now turned to nasi kandar - the popular one-dish lunch plates which Malaysians from other states travel to Penang to eat.

You need to come back to Penang. Call me if you do.

[ZivBnd (Ziv)]

Will do! I am in the process of selling my house and as soon as the deal settles I am taking off on a culinary tour of the world. Or at least the parts I am interested in. LOL!
First up it will be Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia for ceviche, chifa and saltenas. Then I have no idea which country comes next. But when I get close to Malaysia I will touch base with you!

[klyeoh (Peter)]

@ZivBnd

Will do! I am in the process of selling my house and as soon as the deal settles I am taking off on a culinary tour of the world. Or at least the parts I am interested in. LOL!

Wow, that sounds amazing. The ultimate gastronaut.

@ZivBnd

But when I get close to Malaysia I will touch base with you!

That’s cool! Look forward to seeing you then.

[Saregama]

Chai and gulab jamun are calling my name!

Lamb biryani looks on point, but chicken biryani looks like curry atop rice, I wonder why, unless it’s expected? (Did you see the biryani thread?)

[klyeoh (Peter)]

@Saregama

Lamb biryani looks on point, but chicken biryani looks like curry atop rice, I wonder why, unless it’s expected?

We certainly did not expect that - but I reckon they did it in order to offer customers a wide choice of “toppings”.
Quite an unusual approach. A look at a part of their menu here:

A friend commented that the place is like a McBiryani.

[Saregama]

This is interesting: “layered on top of biryani” — is the local understanding / expectation that “biryani” is just the rice, and the type means that kind of meat curry on top of said rice? Very interesting.

I had biryani as 2 or 3 of my 5 meals on singapore airlines earlier this year, including what they called Nasi biryani, and it was all as I would have expected - meaning cooked/finished together, not curry over rice.

But now that I look at a NYT recipe for Nasi biryani, I see it’s served as curry over biryani rice.

[klyeoh (Peter)]

@Saregama

This is interesting: “layered on top of biryani” — is the local understanding / expectation that “biryani” is just the rice, and the type means that kind of meat curry on top of said rice? Very interesting.

Only at this place!

The other biryani places in town would cook/serve their biryani the usual way, i.e. cooking the meats with the rice.