Friday, February 14, 2014

'Naked' nasi lemak strikes again


Since MAS has attributed its "naked" nasi lemak to a one-off logistical mistake, can passengers now expect a complete set of the popular dish on the national carrier?

Not so, based on the experience of social activist Josh Hong, who took the airline's flight from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur this morning and found that the nasi lemak is still missing its customary peanuts and anchovies.

"It is cold in the air because (it is) still 'naked'," he captioned on a photo of the dish posted on his Facebook page.

The dish had some rice, half a hard-boiled egg, and some sambal mixed with prawns, but the tightly cropped photograph makes it difficult to ascertain what else was served alongside.

When a commentator pointed out that at least he has prawns, Hong retorted, "But nasi lemak is incomplete without peanuts and anchovies!"

The Malaysiakini columnist also accused MAS of lying when news broke that MAS had explained that an earlier complaint of incomplete nasi lemak was because its condiments were stale and contaminated.

The issue started on Jan 29 when celebrity chef Redzuawan Ismail took issue with MAS' nasi lemak during a flight to Bangkok and uploaded a photo of it on his account on the social networking site Instagram.

"The fact that our national carrier doesn't take pride in providing our so-called most famous Malaysian breakfast that we boast about (agong-agongkan), being proud of it all over the world.

"To showcase this on an international flight without the proper cucumber and kacang as well as anchovies makes this Malaysian breakfast look really poor.

"We, Malaysians, surely know the quality of nasi lemak, with its choices of lauk-lauk (dishes) that go along with it, but hey... What about all the international travellers?" wrote the chef popularly known by his moniker Chef Wan (right).

The post apparently struck a chord with many netizens and garnered some 1,000 'Likes' in a week.

MAS later explained that the peanuts and anchovies are normally served alongside the nasi lemak in a separate packet, but had to be removed from all flights that day when small stones were found in the packets and the peanuts were rancid.

"We could not replace the condiments because our suppliers had closed their business to celebrate Chinese New Year," MAS Food and Beverage manager and executive chef Zahiddin Dris was quoted as saying in The Star today.

As of writing, Malaysiakini has been unable to reach Hong for details.

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