You are not a true blue Penang Islander if you haven’t tasted and enjoyed Roti Benggali, Penang’s own unique heritage bread, exclusively baked and sold by a few historical bakeries!
The special taste and texture of Roti Benggali will make a Penangite like me be willing to travel in search for it. I love the bread! Really, really love it.
Whenever I returned to Penang before this during my trips to my herbalist, Phang Oo Lang, at Kepala Batas on the mainland side of Penang, I would cross over by ferry and look for the Roti Benggali bread sellers. I would buy a whole row of the Roti Benggali’s to bring back to my home here in KL.
But going back to Penang is costly especially when we drive from KL. As we @ my wife and I have our own special needs like staying at a proper hotel and its amenities, we do have to put aside at least a thousand plus ringgits to take care of our hotel bill, fuel, toll charges, food and drinks plus some extra cash for our miscellaneous expenses and gifts to our family members who are living in Penang.
We can’t be putting up at relatives homes for we need our freedom to come and go as we please. Staying at relatives homes would inconvenience them and we do not like to impose on anyone.
Back to the topic, all these while, Roti Benggali was only available exclusively in Penang Island until I came across this food truck selling my favorite bread just a couple of weeks ago!
Imagine my pleasant surprise when I came across this food truck with the words ‘PENANG HERITAGE ROTI BENGGALI‘ emblazoned across its roof when I went to Jalan Masjid India in the heart of Old KL recently!
I just couldn’t believe my eyes! I stood there for a moment trying to fathom what I was seeing? Is it really true? Am I before my desired bread from my home island?
I gingerly walked up to the truck and behold! Right there before me was my favorite special home island delicacy! My favorite good old tasty delicious Roti Benggali!
I closed my eyes and took a sniff. The aroma of Roti Benggali slowly wafted into my yearning nostrils and hit a home run on my senses! It was true. It was not a mirage that I was seeing! It was real. Not my imagination!
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| Myself wth Muhammad Ridhuan |
Yabba! Dabba! Doo! Syukur Alhamdulillah! Dear Lord, it was really there, right before me, inviting me to have a taste to fulfill my yearning for it all these months and years.
I bought 5 loaves of Roti Benggali there and then and had one loaf sliced and toasted right there and had coconut jam @ Sekaya spread on it. I opted to have the Roti Benggali for my lunch right there. It was scorching hot at the time but I shielded myself with my Petronas Golf Umbrella.
Made friends with the two bread sellers who were both named Muhammad. The younger guy was Muhammad Ridhuan.
I gave them some business marketing tips that will draw the passerby’s attention. Since Roti Benggali is a special bread from Penang, they could play some Penang landmark songs such as the Boria and also the iconic M.Shariff, Pi’ee and Maidin local blockbusters from their ‘Hijau Kuning Album.
I leave it to these fellows to capitalize on my free marketing tips. They just have to spend a hundred or so ringgits to buy a simple radio-set that can play CD’s or MP3. To save money, they could hook it up with a solar panel in order to get free energy to operate the audio set.
To Penangites like me, these songs definitely entertain and reminds me of home. So, to those who love Penang and all it’s hallmarks such as Roti Benggali, Rojak Pasembur, Nasi Kandar, Char Koay Teow, Nyonya Food, Boria, etc. it will be a very good pulling factor to the breadtruck. All these are part and parcel of the Penang Identity.
Back home with my favorite Roti Benggali’s, the next few days, I was literally in food heaven, enjoying my much desired breads. Toasted and then dipped in delicious Dalca, another exquisite Penang dish. Accompanied by steaming hot black Coffee @ Kopi O kaw! What more could a Penangite want?
Today, I drove back to Jalan Masjid India and bought 8 loaves of Roti Benggali for me to enjoy over the next few days with my darling!
Syukur Alhamdulillah!
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Dok ada lagi dak depa ni niaga tang tu.. tiba2 rindu roti benggali
Saya tak tahu, tuan. Belum berkesempatan ke kawasan Masjid India sejak PKP ni. Pada hemat saya, dengan sekatan merentasi sempadan negeri, dah tentu mereka tak dapat bekalan roti. Saya tak nampak pun, penjual roti serupa depan Lotuss [Tesco] Ampang bila saya pergi ke pasaraya tersebut sekali sekala.