PETALING JAYA, June 19 -- Nasi Lemak Pak Man is the latest contender to enter Damansara Utama's nasi lemak scene, throwing their hat into the ring with the likes of Village Park, Say Yes Cafe, a branch of Tanglin and many other roadside stalls in the area.

The scene is a hotly contested one: on weekday mornings, it is not uncommon to see groups of working folks gathering around car boots and makeshift stalls to grab breakfast before heading into the office; on weekends, the line at Village Park stretches around the block, filled with people for whom our national dish starts and ends with only that shop.

It's not hard to see why the ground is so fiercely contested: there really isn't a single dish more universal in its availability than ...