Pelita Nasi Kandar is the largest chain nasi kandar restaurant in Malaysia that came a long way from a small stall in a coffee shop at Chai Leng Park, Perai. It is amazing how fast and furious a business can grow. In less than 20 years Pelita Nasi Kandar has 26 branches spanning over 5 states, plus an international one at Chennai, India too.

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You would think that Pelita serves the same curry dishes throughout their chain of restaurants but that is not true. Just curry mutton alone I have tasted a few styles and the best one so far for me can be found at Pelita Giant Hypermarket at Bayan Baru.
The mutton is cut into smaller pieces instead of being served in one large chunk hence able to absorb more flavor from the spices and gravy when cooked. Simply delicious and addictive with 'kuah campur'. It was my favorite Pelita restaurant when I was still in Penang.


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And of course I am curious about the standard of first Pelita at Chai Leng Park. You know, being the first and original stall it must have that extra edge in their dishes to maintain the special status. Surprisingly they had fewer selections of curry dishes compared to the other branches when I last went, half of the usual maybe?

nasi-kandar-pelita

Anyway, I picked some squids, mutton and a hard boiled egg with 'kuah campur' and it cost me about RM12. Not exactly cheap for a normal meal but that's the thing with nasi kandar.. pricey because of the spices they use couple with the extra cost for operating 24 hours.

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To experience authentic nasi kandar, not limited to Pelita's but any nasi kandar, you got to try the real thing in Penang due to its somehow sweet tasting water. Believe it or not, some restaurant owners actually ship barrels of water from Penang to their nasi kandar outlets aimed to replicate the original taste of Penang Nasi Kandar. I feel this may have some facts to it considering all the nasi kandar I had out of Penang just aren't as good.

Nasi Kandar Pelita,
Chai Leng Park, Perai
GPS Coordinates: N05 23.416 E100 23.420

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