There were plenty of warning signs walking through the Petaling Street Market in Chinatown, on our way to find a grilled fish stall that had piqued our interest on Google Maps. Tourists, cheap massages and fake Gucci bags: none of these are usually indicators of good local street food, let alone a place to go hunting for some of the best seafood in Kuala Lumpur.
So it was almost a relief when couldn’t find the place itself, despite standing on the location shown in Google Maps. It was comically hard to spot from the street, so much so that we ended up having to ask one of the stall-owners if they had heard of it. His enthusiastic reaction settled our nerves, and he led us through the smallest gap in the row of stalls. Here, wedged between the contrast of the grubby back-ends of the merchants’ stalls and a crisp-clean glass bank, was our prize – a blazing charcoal grill and line of locals engrossed in their steaming foil bags.
Why are they serving Portuguese food in KL?
Ikan Panggang is, in essence, an Ikan Bakar stall. Ikan Bakar is a fairly broad collection of dishes eaten across Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. They all contain some sort of sambal sauce and grilled fish (Ikan means ‘fish’ and bakar means ‘grilled’ in Bahasa), although the exact ingredients and preparation vary.
Ikan Panggang is different from all other Ikan Bakar stalls I have visited to date. This is because they seal the seafood in a foil parcel, before grilling it over a charcoal flame.
The top of the menu proudly states ‘Portuguese grilled fish’. There is a well-understood link between Portuguese and Malaysian cuisines, originating from the early days of the spice trade, when the Portuguese were the first Western traders to arrive in the country. From what I can gather however, there is fairly little about the dish itself that is actually Portuguese aside from cooking over charcoal, which is a common way to grill fish in Portugal (see Nelson Carvalheiro’s article for a beautiful foodie’s take on that).
In summary, ‘Portuguese grilled fish’ is a Malaysian dish that should be celebrated in its own right and, in my opinion, one of the most delicious (and cheapest!) ways to sample seafood in Kuala Lumpur.
Building the parcel (and how to grill ‘Portuguese-style’)
One of my favourite things about this place was that the set-up was completely open, allowing you to see exactly how the owners worked their magic.
Firstly, one man constructed the parcels. To do this, he would lay a banana leaf on some foil, followed by a generous ladle of your chosen sambal (choices ranging from super spicy to mild ginger). Then your seafood of choice (raw) would enter the party, before it was quickly submerged by another layer of sambal. Finally, a handful of raw green beans and okra were sprinkled on top.
At this point, the parcel would be tightly sealed and handed to the man on the grill. His job was to tend to the charcoal at his station so that there was always a roaring flame. Your parcel would be grilled for around 10 minutes or so before being served to your table, with a slit on top so that you could get into it.
This was the first time I had seen Ikan Bakar where the fish had not been placed directly on the grill. Sealing the ingredients in the foil parcel meant that the final dish was effectively steamed – a bit like a classic French ‘en papillote’. The fiery sambal and the charring on the bottom from the blazing hot charcoal grill however, were decidedly un-French.
The Food Itself – clams, baby squid and stingray
Given that this was a one-dish kind of place, your menu choices were limited to what sort of sea creature you wanted to slather in sambal. Not to fear though – the best places almost invariably have small menus and are excellent at what they do, and Ikan Panggang is no exception.
In any case, there were plenty of options when it came to seafood. We went for a mixture of squid, clams and stingray. I had been particularly keen to try the stingray, which is the classic choice when grilling the ‘Portuguese’ way (there is still in Singapore that has made a name for itself by serving this).
If you can brave getting your fingers into the tear to open the thing (in doing so running a very real risk that they might be severed by a vicious jet of steam) then you will be rewarded with a beautiful sight. A gleaming mound of deep-red sambal, dense with chilli seeds and dotted with steamed okra and green bean. Clam shells, squid tentacles and the bright white flesh of the stingray would emerge from this mound at various positions, betraying the fishy goodness that lay within.
It tasted as good as it looked. The standout bit of the dish was the seafood itself, which was incredibly soft and moist thanks to the way it had been steamed in the bag. Although the sweet clams and whole baby squid were delicious, the stingray benefitted the most from this cooking method. Its flesh was beautifully soft and delicate – a bit like plaice or sole, yet much ‘meatier’.
Although outshone by the seafood, the sauce was also delicious (a relief given how much was in each parcel). We had gone for the classic spicy sambal. Salty and spicy, the predominant flavour was certainly chllli and slight fishiness from belacan (shrimp paste). A hint of ginger bud was perhaps the only other flavour that could be directly picked out. However, the depth of the sauce suggested that other ingredients (e.g. a garlic, chilli and ginger base) were at play.
I really appreciated the simplicity of the sauce. It did not try to compete with the seafood itself, which was beautifully cooked and more than justified being the focus point of the dish.
Before I forget, the cherry on top of the cake was in fact provided by the banana leaf and cooking method. The intense heat flaming charcoal had heated up the bottom of the parcel so much that parts of the banana leaf had started to blacken and crumble. This gave a final smoky flavour to the sauce which was absolutely delicious. My guess is that this is one of the reasons Ikan P`anggang continues to cook these parcels in such an old-school way.
Summary – possibly the best budget seafood in Kuala Lumpur?
I had been desperate to fit in an Ikan Bakar before leaving Malaysia, and Ikan Panggang more that satisfied. In fact delivered an undiscovered-to-us variation of the dish: Portuguese grilled fish. Without a doubt this is the best variation I have eaten to date and, for me, some of the best available seafood in Kuala Lumpur. Once you have tasted it you can see exactly why they still use the cooking method they do – from the soft fish to the charred flavour of the banana leaf, it was a plate that had to be licked clean.
Many a traveller will find themselves in and around the Petaling Street market at some point and may be tempted to eat some of the more generic offerings. However, pin this spot on your map and seek it out. I challenge anyone to find any better value, more exciting and most importantly lip-smackingly tasty parcel of seafood in Kuala Lumpur.
Price and location
Price
Total bill = 17 MYR (= £3.29 = $4.06)
Stingray, clam and squid parcel – 13 MYR
Nasi Putih (plain white rice) x2 – 4 MYR
Location
Located in Petaling street – the busy souvenir market walking street in Chinatown. The spot on Google maps is correct but the entrance is hard to spot. Stand as close as you can to the marker on maps and then go behind the row of market stalls in front of the Hong Leong bank. Ikan Panggang is wedged between the bank and the stalls.
Address: Jalan Hang Lekir, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia