I am a viking.

The right context, I have always argued, is an important element to any eating experience. So it would stand to reason that the best place to eat Malaysian street food is on a Malaysian street, and the best food to eat during a cold British winter are the old British classics… right? As I discovered through the Malaysia Kitchen Street Food tour, something close to the inverse may be true.

I love British food and the UK food scene in general, but I must say street food is something I’ve sorely missed since I moved here three years ago. Ever since my college days in Los Angeles, I’ve lived off street food. Back then it was tacos, burritos, and quesadillas sold out of trucks, on perfectly breezy nights both sober and less so. The issue of which taco truck was the best on the boulevard was debated with passion and jingoistic loyalty. We loved our trucks, so much so that we thought nothing of waiting nearly an hour to get our food and didn’t mind that snarky Beverly Hills types ignorantly referred to them as “roach coaches.”

When I moved to Japan, I lived in Fukuoka, which is on the island of Kyushu, Japan’s dirty south. Aside from murderous late summer humidity and the occasional typhoon, the weather on Kyushu is warmer and more conducive to outdoor eating than other parts of the country, and so I took many of my evening meals at yatai, the red-lanterned street stalls that lit up the backstreets and banksides of Fukuoka city. Hearty pork ramen and gyoza dumplings, or simply grilled meat on a stick were the perfect pick-me-ups before or after a big night out.

And of course, all my travels around east Asia were fuelled by street food. In South Korea, it was spicy rice cakes, blood sausage, and waffles; in Hong Kong, stinky tofu and tea-stained eggs; in Taiwan, beef noodles and dumplings; and in Burma, there was grilled squid, fried chicken, and samosas. If memory serves me correctly, on my first trip to Thailand I don’t think I had a single meal within four walls; everything I ate came from a stall, a cart, a truck, a bicycle, or just a basket balanced on someone’s head. And I ate well – very, very well. The only reason I deviated from the street food path on my second trip to Thailand was because I was a travel agent, and I was forced to evaluate hotel restaurants. Dreadfully boring, that.

In 6 years of travelling and eating, I’d developed a love and appreciation for the food of the street, so I was dismayed to discover that such a culture doesn’t really exist here in Britain. The basic units for casual, inexpensive eating in Britain are the pub, the cafe, and the home – all of which I love, but they don’t replace the experience of a hot meal enjoyed in the air of a cool night. But then that’s just the problem – British nights (and days) aren’t really cool, they’re downright cold, even in the summertime. Couple the weather issue with a beloved pub culture that dates back for centuries, and it’s not surprising that street food never really took off here.

That is, until now.

The recession, while in many ways tragic and dispiriting, has had in my opinion a positive impact on the way people dine out in the UK. Increasingly, people want value for money, so we’ve seen a thrilling boom of eateries that are unique and delicious, but still affordable, with the creativity and skill of fine dining applied to casual scenarios. In 2011 counter service trumped table service as the country devoured exciting and exotic food at prices that make eating out a day-to-day activity. And at the center of this activity was an exaltation of street food.

But what of the weather? The British have always been admirably defiant in the face of terrible weather, almost going so far as to celebrate it. And while a cold and damp climate may not seem suitable for dining out doors, there may be no better context for enjoying something hot, spicy, and aromatic. Malaysian food fits the bill perfectly – when we took to the streets with the Malaysia Kitchen Street Food Tour truck in late November, it was a joy to see how our nasi goreng, chicken satay, and char kway teow brought visible warmth to the cheeks of all who tried them.

London, Nottingham, and Manchester are a world away from Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, and Sandakan, but that may be precisely why our Malaysian street food went down such a treat. Who couldn’t use a little exotic escapism during these bitter winter months? With its lively aromats, sweet sauces, and fiery chillies, Malaysian cooking can transport you, if only for an instant, to a more equatorial state of mind. Yes, we had the occasional confused shopper trying to order burgers. But after one bite of our food, their faces lit up – the thought of burgers vanished, and all they wanted was more Malaysian food.

Luckily, you don’t have to wait for the Malaysia Kitchen truck to roll into your town to get your spicy street food fix, because these days there are more Malaysian restaurants in the UK than you may realize. To find the Malaysian restaurant nearest to you, visit the Restaurant Finder at MalaysiaKitchen.co.uk. And if there isn’t a restaurant nearby, don’t forget that Malaysian food is easy to cook at home, and the right ingredients are readily available on the internet!

It’s all too easy to get stuck in a rut. I’ve always been the kind of person who bores easily, so I’m constantly trying new things, pushing myself to have new experiences and encounter new flavors. Even so, I find myself too readily falling back on what I already know: going to the same pubs and restaurants, watching the same TV shows, cooking with the same ingredients. When you’re busy you don’t have time to mess around. You slip into a mindless complacency and forget that the world is yours to explore, and it’s far too big and diverse to get bored in.

What do you do on a Friday night? Maybe you relax at home with a takeaway (there’s no shame in that), watch a movie and generally zonk out. Or maybe you hit the pub, the one roughly halfway between your office and the train station, and stay there for a few hours until somebody suggests you all go to Pizza Express or something. Or maybe you go to the cinema, which can so often be a surprisingly stressful ordeal, what with all the monstrously overpriced snacks, 20 minutes of advertising, and the inevitable person who persists in talking throughout the film. (Or maybe you are that person, in which case: shame on you!)

We go out on Friday night to relax and have fun, and yet so regularly we end up doing things that are neither relaxing nor particularly fun. One of the best Friday nights I’ve had in recent memory was Malaysia Night, a massive takeover of Trafalgar Square in celebration of all things Malaysian. To my knowledge, there’s nothing quite like it in London, and it was amazing to walk around the square and experience the palpable happiness and pride exuded by the exhibitors, vendors, and visitors alike. Traditional dance, arts and crafts, and travel info were all on colorful, enthusiastic display, but of course, I came for the food.

And what food it was. More than 20 Malaysian restaurants had set up shop, which was great to see, because in honesty I didn’t even know there were that many Malaysian restaurants in London! It opened my eyes to a whole new food culture on my doorstep that I hardly knew existed. I am not ashamed to say I stuffed my face, which I have a tendency to do when surrounded by delicious food. First up was rendang with roti canai from Pelangi – incredibly tender beef, braised for hours in a sauce of coconut, lemongrass, and ginger, served with traditional flatbread. Succulent and aromatic, it’s no wonder this is considered one of Malaysia’s national dishes.

Next, I sampled some specialities of the Terengganu region, keropok, a delicious sort of fish sausage, and some fish crackers which were absolutely amazing. Imagine prawn crackers made with mackerel and less grease; they’re exceptionally moreish and make a great snack or accompaniment to a variety of other dishes. I then moved on to the Tukdin stall, where I devoured a few of their delectable curry puffs: flaky pastries concealing a lush, satisfying potato curry, like a sort of refined Malaysian pasty. The kind of food I could happily eat several times a week, simple yet undeniably tasty.

As my internal fuel gage approached full, I settled on a final dish, sambal sotong from Delima: tender chunks of cuttlefish smothered in a brick-red, fiery hot sauce. It was so good I greedily snarfed the entire plate, even though I was full to the point of discomfort.

Like I usually do at good food festivals, I was disappointed with myself for getting too full to carry on eating, because there was so much more I wanted to try. But I left with an understanding of the British Malaysian food scene that I didn’t have before; the sheer amount of restaurants there excited me, and the the food was revelatory. With so much good food available, there’s no need (and no excuse) to settle for bland, boring, and safe! I am determined to shake up my Friday night routine every now and then with a visit to my local Malaysian. Malaysia Night comes just once a year, but with so many great Malaysian restaurants around, there’s no reason every night can’t be Malaysia Night.

Fancy a Malaysia night in? Don’t forget that Malaysian food is cheap and easy to make at home! See my first Malaysia Kitchen blog for more info.

The second most frequently asked question coming my way these days (after “aren’t you that guy?”) is “now what are you up to?” Usually, I just give a bewilderingly vague and shamefully unsatisfying reply, like “cooking” or “this and that,” but I’m not trying to be flippant. The reason my answers are so unspecific is because to get into specifics would take an awful lot of time. There is so very much going on. I’m leaving the Euston Tap in a matter of days so I can finally take the time I need to sit down and sort through it all. But I’m sure you’ll still find me there, just on the other side of the bar from now on. It is London’s best pub, after all.

First and foremost: cooking. I will be working as a stagiaire in some of the country’s best restaurants, the names of which I cannot reveal, but rest assured they are led by some of my culinary idols. They are unpaid gigs, and I’m sure I will be on the very bottom rung of the kitchen ladder, but to have opportunities like these is a real dream come true and I am beside myself with excitement. I’m also scared out of my mind.

Additionally, I will be establishing myself as a caterer and consultant for private and corporate events. I’m doing a few parties and pop-ups in the near future, but the catering business won’t really get going until the end of the summer, when I’ve finished most of my stages and have more time to focus on setting it up properly. I intend for this to be my bread and butter for the next year, so I want to do it right.

Meanwhile, I am appearing in the MasterChef Experience at the Good Food Show in Birmingham, this June 15-19, along with my contemporaries Tom and Sara, as well as John, Gregg, Dhruv, Mat, and other MC alumni. Stop by to watch us cook and say hello!

At the end of June I’ll be heading up to Scotland to do something I’ve always wanted to do: brewing. And I’m going to go nuts with it. I’ll be spending three days with BrewDog producing one of the most insane lagers the world has ever seen, then cooking a beer dinner at their restaurant Musa in Aberdeen (details to follow). After that I’m trucking up to Black Isle Brewery to make another properly bonkers beer, and I have been discussing the possibility to brew with yet another respected Scottish brewery while I’m up there to make a neat little hat trick.

On top of all this, I plan to doing a bit of writing and recipe development for various companies, new digital media projects, a few appearances here and there, and I may also have a hand in curating an art exhibit and even making music. The people who I have met through my newfound notoriety have generally been lovely, and I’m thrilled about my upcoming collaborations.

Finally: the restaurant. There is a restaurant in the works, though it’s all quite nebulous right now. It would be disastrously foolish of me to think that I could immediately open up shop with virtually no experience, so while I am starting to meet with potential backers, I am going to take my time and build up my understanding of kitchen mechanics and restaurant management before I begin to solidify any plans. But the goal is to get the ball rolling early next year, for an opening late next year.

It’s all happening now. I am grateful for the continuing support I’ve had from my family, friends, and fans. It’s such a lovely feeling when people tell me they’d love to try my food, and I promise that soon enough, they can!