Nazlina Spice Station

I visited Nazlina during one of her cooking classes (19 March 2016)

Nazlina Spice Station (GPS: 5.41713, 100.3358) is a cooking class in George Town, Penang. Located at a townhouse at the junction of Campbell Street and Carnarvon Street, the classes are conducted by the Nazlina Hussin, inner George Town's Julia Child.

The location of Nazlina Spice Station is perfect, just across the road is the Campbell Street Market. Therefore, Nazlina is able to provide a holistic introduction to local cooking. Class starts very early, at 7:30 am in the morning, in order to be on time for the wet market tour, which runs from 8:00 am to 9:30 am. This gives students an upclose view of the ingredients that go into the dishes. The tours are usually conducted by Nazlina's business partner, Peter. After the tour, the students return to Nazlina Spice Station, where the class is held upstairs.

Depending on the class available on that day, or based on the student's preference, they will be taught a selection of dishes which may involve the proper steps for preparing as well as the actual cooking, stir-frying, steaming and so on, depending on the item prepared. This ends with a lunch for Nazlina and the students of the dishes prepared on that day.

Together with Peter, Nazlina has a number of helpers both upstairs and downstairs, to help her maintain the smooth flow of the class, and get the items ready for the students.

Lately, Nazlina has also started selling nasi lemak at her outlet, so she invited my wife and me over for a treat. The packet nasi lemak has ikan bilis, boiled egg, ground nut and sliced cucumber. When we arrived, there were only four packets left. She has also started selling pandan kaya, and she gave us a bottle of her beautifully bottled kaya to take home as souvenir.