Cokeworld Citizen

Penang Farlim Laksa - 红灯角十七层老字号叻沙

2011-06-18T22:42:00.002+08:00

Weekend's here and I like riding my motorcycle to places nearby for a roadside fare. Doesn't matter if its for a drink or visiting some packed with people roadside stall. I just felt fun doing so. Provided the sun is half way down the hill XD

It's been a while since discovering rare hawker stalls like Penang Road Ais Tingkap and Hai Choo Temple Curry Mee. Now comes another underdog.

The Farlim road side laksa or better known as 红灯角十七层老字号叻沙. This uncle has been selling at this area for about 2 years now and is well received by local Farlim people. An aunty claimed that her son must have his laksa whenever he comes back from KL. Well, that's what I heard from the aunty when she tapao-ed for her son.

A very friendly uncle and he allowed me to snap a photo of him. We chatted a bit and he told me that he use only the freshest fish available. If not mistaken, he uses some other fish instead of ikan kembung and cleans the fish thoroughly. Everytime I visit the stall, the vegetables and pineapples used are always fresh. He only cut bits of bunga kantan (ginger flower) separately when there is an order.

Not much space at the stall, so I had to tapao on a separate day to take photo of the Laksa. When I took my first slurp of the soup, I felt regret. Regret on why I'd only visited the stall after 2 years since he starts selling there. I just love it. No fishy smell. No over-boiled fish broth. The whole bowl of laksa is just fragrant. Just like how a kocha-bi laksa would taste. Not overly sweet. The spiciness was just right.

Verdict? Forget about massly produced Air Itam laksa and Penang Teochew Chendol laksa. This uncle only prepares 2 huge pots of laksa broth.

He gave me a namecard with his contacts.

阿辉 012-476 3311 / 016-441 3311
"Superdelicious laksa for any caterings, any time"

View 红灯角十七层老字号叻沙 in a larger map

Happy weekend~

Penang Jade Palace Lunch Promotion

2011-05-21T18:02:00.000+08:00

Please click to enlarge image below.

Price for each dishes in first column: RM8

Price for each dishes in second column: RM10

Price for each dishes in third column: RM18

** Promotion valid from 1st April 2011 to 30th June 2011

Penang Jade Palace Table Course Sets

2011-05-21T18:01:00.000+08:00

Seems like the place is renovated and has cooler air con. No more stinky smell...lol

Please click to enlarge image below.

Set A RM888++
Lobster Salad with 3 Combination
Monk Jumps Over the Wall
Barbeque Suckling Piglet
Fried Deep Sea Grouper Slices with Celery and Sweet Beans
Fried Hor Fun with Seafood
Deep Fried Glutinous Ball

Set B RM350++
Four Seasons Special Hot & Cold Combination
Double Boiled Chicken Soup with Wan Tan
Peking Duck in Two Ways
Fried Red Snapper in Two Variety
Braised Pork Tendons, Black Mushroom, Bean Curd Skin, Escargot Slice and Vegetable in Brown Sauce
Fried Hor Fun with Seafood
Sweetened Water Chestnut with White Fungus
Home Made Dessert

Set C RM418++
Four Seasons Special Hot Combination
Double Boiled Farm Chicken Soup with Escargot
Steamed Cod Fish ala Jade Palace
Fried Rice Vermicelli
Sweetened Pumpkin and Sago Cream
Home Made Dessert

Penang Hameer's Bay Ikan Bakar Revisit

2011-03-25T23:38:00.003+08:00

The last time I went there was with my uni coursemates and it was almost 2 years ago. Not exactly a happy ending meal if you judge solely on the food :P

2 years later only I realized that I have been ordering from the wrong stall! >< Not sure if Hameer's Bay is a restaurant name or the place name but the stall I visited today is worth a mention. I am giving a 5 star for today's dinner.

Note: We visited the stall on our right, located at the very end. There is only one entrance to this place so you would know what I am talking about once you get there ;)

6.15pm is the time where my office colleague will be fleeing this week otherwise we would be drenched like 'soup chicken'. Fortunately, it rained earlier today, leaving the rest of the evening dry and cooling clean air :)

Nice place to have your dinner. But I would recommend to visit places like this during high tides so the 'smell' would be...uhm...less strong. LOL I would still give 1 star for location. Being at the seaside with unlimited view of Penang bridge. Where to get??

Waiters will come over to ask for your orders. We chosed 1 jug of Watermelon Juice kurang manis, RM8. Normal drinks in jug is RM6. Either way, it is very important that you say kurang manis :P

First off...Sotong Goreng or what westerners like to call, Deep Fried Calamari. However there is a difference. Our local Sotong Goreng is smaller in size, thus cook faster and less chewy. RM10 for 2 pax.

Absolutely fresh and we can actually 'see' the sotong in Sotong Goreng haha! The batter taste not bad itself either. I think I did get hints of egg smell while munching. Maybe more eggs will make the fried batter less hard :P Needless to say...its sedap. 1 star.

We ordered Koay Teow Kung Fu for 3 pax (RM4.50 per pax). When it was served, we were literally shocked and jaws dropped all the way to the sea...haha kidding. Anyway, never in our minds that it would be that 'huge'! OMG...The portion's definitely worth 1 star LOL

I love this dish to bits :D Packed with vege, sotong, prawns, chicken meat chunks and loads of EGGS. Koay teow was very fresh too and smooth. The flat rice noodle would be panfried with eggs until golden brown and served with the egg-y clear sauce cooked with all the ingredients mentioned above.

My colleague saw a patron sitting next to our table ordered satay. We were amazed by the size of the satay so we ordered too. When the satay arrived, I was also shocked to hear RM6 for 10 sticks. Damn cheap!

The color looks great. Everything is fresh. Meat was tasty, sticky-sweet, flavourful and not too hard. Although some of them were uncooked, the old couple gladly re-grill the satays and replaced the one I found uncooked. So we give 1 star for this good service haha!

Total damage, RM31.50(drinks,noodle,sotong) + RM6 (satay) and all 5 of us were bloated.

Location:
Near Queensbay Mall roundabout.
12 o'clock direction if you are coming from Sungai Dua, USM.
3 o'clock direction if you are leaving Queensbay.
9 o'clock direction if you are taking the highway.

View Hammer Bay Ikan Bakar @ Penang in a larger map

Shock-T

2011-02-28T21:40:00.002+08:00

Special dedicated drink to my 'dear' customer who email-shot me this morning.

Recipe:
Some lemon slice
Some lemon juice
Some Lipton Tea 'kao kao' (thick thick)
Lots of Cointreau (if you like it sweet)
And of course let's not forget lots of 'LOVE' for my 'dear' customer.

Cheers~ *Hicks*

Penang Ritz Bakery Green Tea Cake

2011-01-23T15:51:00.001+08:00

For the record, a lot of people have been asking if there is any cake worth trying. I say green tea's gotta be on top of the list. Hands down, the best green tea cake I'd tried so far. Pack with REAL green tea flavour in the cream and its so so delicious! What's more? The price is really reasonable. Just RM32 for 1/2kg and that is only RM4 more expensive than Bread History's cake. One piece of the green tea cake cost RM6.20 but quickly solds out.

My friend bought it to celebrate my birthday and we were having dinner at Ajinoren Japanese Restaurant. Ritz Bakery is just behind Ajinoren (on the other side of the Prima Tanjung building). Strategic place to celebrate birthday right? LOL

I myself chomped 2 piece even I was already full. Japanese dinner with Japanese Green Tea cake. Perfecto!

Note: The cake melts quite fast so either you finish it or get home quickly and shove it into the fridge :P

Ritz Bakery
Prima Tanjung (Opposite Island Plaza)
Tel: 04-8991254

Equatorial Hotel Christmas and New Year Buffets

2010-12-13T17:18:00.002+08:00

Equatorial Themed Buffets - Countdown to Christmas and Celebrating Good Times.

Note: Please click on the picture to view in its original size.

Countdown to Christmas (Please click on picture above to view clearly)

Celebrating Good Times (Please click on picture above to view clearly)

Penang Tan Jetty Thai Food

2010-11-21T18:55:00.008+08:00

Better known as Lang Sae Lee Thai Food among bloggers. This home based Thai Restaurant is strongly recommended by Lingzie and Allie. My first visit was a couple of months ago, when I brought my colleagues to Lang Sae Lee for dinner. All of us enjoyed the food alot despite the long wait.

This time I made early reservations by booking 2 days ahead to avoid super long wait. Although early reservation, I think Madam Lee must have scolded behind the phone for calling another 2 times to add the number of people. From 6, it became 9 then 11 :P

It was low tide on that day so the mud smell can be quite tough on the nose. After some time we all got used to it.

Try to be there early so you can pick wherever you want to sit :D The diners in the picture above were the only customers there at that time (about 7.30pm). I never knew the back area is so huge haha!

This is where they prepare the drinks and kitchen is behind. We placed our orders first while waiting for the others to arrive. Shortly after the uncle who took our orders left, 2 huge groups of people walked in. Timing is so important LOL

I like the fact that they provide photo albums as their menu. Made everything straight to the point. Either you like the dish or move on to the next. No fancy words or descriptions.
Dinner starts off with Fish Cakes. We ordered 10 pieces.

I never tried fish cakes with kaffir lime leaves in it. Definitely something new for me.

Thai Fish Cakes cannot go without Thai Chilli sauce...We all enjoyed munching the fish cake and to my surprise, next dish was served. Service was pretty swift that day...

Ok...I need to clarify something here. This plate of Belacan Fried Rice (above) is for 2 person O.o

I skipped the cili padi of course. Sambal belacan was packed with belacan flavour and chilli but too spicy for me. One small dot on my tongue was enough to make me finish half glass of ice cold herbal tea.

I just love the braised meat which came with the fried rice. Slightly sweetish savoury and soft. Not sure what herbs or spices they add while braising the meat. All I know, it just keeps you shoving the rice and meat into your mouth. So hard to find good Belacan Fried Rice these days...

Then came the Fried Kangkung and Enoki Mushrooms. A bit oily for me but it sure goes well with rice. Crispy all the way....

Sotong Kerabu is my favourite item and I order it whenever its available on the menu. Lang Sae Lee's Sotong Kerabu is not overly sour and served with tons of onions and Chinese Parsley leaves. Fish sauce provides just the right amount of saltiness. Squid was nicely cooked and not rubbery. Good for me as I love onions :D *burps...*opps...If you didn't realise, they give out generous portions of fresh sliced onions for other dishes.

Sambal Asparagus was surprisingly good. Seriously. That day, the asparagus served was tender and had no bitter aftertaste. Also, the sambal was not too spicy. Goes really well with white rice...

Next up, Green Curry. I personally find the green curry was quite salty and the herbs used in making the green curry paste wasn't sufficient. In addition to that, curry's texture was slightly watery. I would prefer Siam Express' Green Curry as its thicker, more lemak and has stronger herbs taste.

Otak was not bad but another dish which is considered spicy for me. Strong thai basil and kaffir lime leaves flavour. I would give it an A if the whole thing is filled with what you see in the picture above. FYI, the bottom layer was cabbage. There could only be 2 reasons for this. Either to keep the cost balanced or to make the dish less lemak with the greens.

We ordered 10 pieces of Pandan Chicken too. The fried pandan leaves certainly smells great when it was served. While opening the chicken wrapping, I find the leaves sticks to the chicken and its quite dry. I haven't eaten Pandan Chicken for a very long time. Are they suppose to be like that? Anyway, nothing spectacular about this dish. Thinking back on their menu, I am actually looking forward to try their Stuffed Chicken Wing.

We ordered Red Tom Yam since everyone is more used to this version. Flavourful, sour and spicy. The tom yam was spicier than the one I had previously. Spicy but I love it ;) The tom yam served in Lang Sae Lee is definitely similar to the one I had in Phuket many years ago.

We ordered alot right? We ordered an extra portion for some of the dishes since its 11 people. Total damage, RM190.50 and whatever the receipt has on it, I think we can trust them. Cheap? Not really as the portions are small. Expensive? I don't think we can get authentic Thai Food at that price with that kind of sea view.

Lang Sae Lee Thai Food
Tan Jetty, Weld Quay, Penang
97A, Tan Jetty, Weld Quay, 10300 Penang, Malaysia.
GPS: 5.411565, 100.339195
Tel: 014-907 1808 (Madam Lee)

Note by Malaysia Most Wanted: 11am-10pm (It’s better to call Mdm Lee ahead of time to check if she’s open or to book a table and pre-order some items to avoid the long wait). Closed on Tuesdays.

View Lang Sae Lee Thai Food in a larger map

For more parking space (according to Criz) is just further down the road from Tan Jetty entrance. Look out for Xer Teck Cafe or a shop selling birds with a small temple beside. Turn in immediately once you see the temple. Drive to the end and you will see an empty space for carpark. The back area is much better now.

Happy trying!

Viva Dim Sum 東城點心

2010-11-06T17:05:00.003+08:00

Finally another long weekend and although it sounds kiddish, I admit that I am happy because today is only Saturday :D

I saw Cariso's post quite sometime ago and was super delighted to find out that Viva serves custard buns!

特制流沙包 (Steamed Bun With Butter Cream & Salted Egg Yolk) RM4.80 per basket.
The bun was great. I love it :D The custard filling inside was so much that it spills all over the place on your first bite. Buttery taste with hints of salted egg yolk. Perfect.

上海小笼包 (Shanghainese Meat Dumpling (Xiao Long Bao) RM4.80
Another recommended item to be tried. My friend loved it the moment she sets her mouth on it. She actually prefer this siu long bao over Dragon-i's. I can't remember how Dragon-i's taste like but I like Viva's. The last time I had a siu long bao was back in S'pore Din Tai Fung. Viva's siu long bao has more soup compared to theirs. Fresh meat, juicy and more thumbs up for being priced at RM4.80.

Other items we had was siu mai,香脆升笼卷 (Crispy Dragon Roll),古法糯米鸡 (Traditional Steamed Glutinous Rice), har gao, some porridge, yam cake and egg tarts. All those with tea for 4 person total up: RM50.

Quite pricey but with the food standard its forgive-able. Okay maybe I am bias because they have my favourite custard buns :P

During our meal, we happen to chat with an uncle next to our table and later got to know that he came all the way from Sungai Petani to try out the dim sum. He told us that he got to know it from the net. LOL When we are about to leave, we saw boxes of dim sum (lots of it too) on the table. He likes the egg tart there.

Taste is a very subjective matter. Either you like it or you don't. So just pick your favourite and enjoy ;)

Location:
東城點心 (Viva Dim Sum Delight)
Add : Lot 303, Jalan Tanjung Tokong, 10470 Pulau Pinang.
Tel: 04-890 2459
Opening Hours : 6am to 2pm daily
GPS: 5.462813, 100.305056

View Viva Dim Sum in a larger map

For those who are not familiar with the area, just go towards Tanjung Tokong from Gurney (following the road) without turning anywhere. The outlet is on your right, so you would have to make a u-turn some where further down the road.

Milk?

2010-08-31T23:30:00.006+08:00

I love milk but it is only when I traveled to Singapore that I learned there are actually a whole lot more options. Recently I found Sky Fresh Milk. Don't get me wrong. I just want to share with the you all what I like :D Anyway, the milk brand has appeared on the chiller shelves (Gurney Cold Storage) for quite a long time already.

Verdict? Pura (too expensive, RM15+ for 2 litre), Greenfield (not available in local stores but Coffee Bean Gurney Plaza is using it) and Farm House (also good but getting more expensive).

Can you imagine Farm House started at RM3.30 many many years ago and now they are priced at RM7.50. That's more than 100% increase!

What about local brand? Forget it lah...

Sky Fresh taste just as good as Farm House (perhaps even better) but cost cheaper. RM11 for 2 litre.

And mind you, its produce de la Aussie. If only I saw this much much earlier on. Why the heck didn't they put that word bigger???

Cheers...*with milk*

Tree Monkey @ Teluk Bahang - Invited Review

2010-08-24T21:08:00.015+08:00

Happy...happy weekend :D So many people to thank to...

Thanks to Warren Tan & William Tan for organising a review at Tree Monkey.
Thanks to Emily for extending the invitation to me ;)
Thanks to Waco for the super SPEED ride!
Thanks to Criz and Cariso for sharing review informations.

Great job to CK Lam (Criz too!) in co-organising the event. Haven't visited this corner of the island for ages. Time to have some good food and good fun!

Tree Monkey is located at Teluk Bahang (Penang), sharing the same area with Tropical Spice Garden (which have recently been chosen as the 'Speed Bump' place for Amazing Race).

Tree Monkey claims to be a "Back to Nature" Alfresco Restaurant. Below are some random nature shots. FYI, we have to pay for entering the Tropical Spice Garden. There is an entrail to the garden through the back door of the restaurant.

There is also a boutique for visitors to get some souvenirs. Those Sandalwood Soaps looked really classic eh?

Below are my snapshots of the restaurant. According to Mr. Patt, the furnitures were imported all the way from Chiang Mai. From what I've seen, there is a particular table that is made of whole wood. Also there are many items salvaged from old torn down pre-war houses such as the wooden doors, granite steps at the backyard and the tiles at the entrance of the boutique.

No nails were used at time of building the place. The whole area is build using the timber-framing way.

It was great to know the boss, Mr. Patt Khor and person-in-charge Ms. Wisakha has taken great care in setting up the review area. I believe any customers who walks in would be treated similarly ;)

Those glasses of drinks served on the table were our welcome drink, Sunset Paradise - RM10.00 (only available from 6.00pm-7.00pm) Interesting isn't it? Drink with a time frame? First time hearing it. Sun was setting while we had our drinks, feels great. I did not capture the sunset view because my camera will not do justice to the beautiful scene.

Judging from the deco, Sunset Paradise should be a mixture of pineapple juice and orange juice? Anyway, the sweetness was just nice and a cooling drink.

First off...

Thai Tapas (choose any types of appetizers served with sweet chili sauce)

8pcs - RM30

12 pcs - RM45

16 pcs - RM60 (max 4 pcs on each item)

There are 12 choices for the appetizers listed in the menu:

Thai Toast, Money Bag, Herbs Chicken, Spring Roll, Pandan Chicken, Otak-otak, Mussels Salsa, Lemongrass Stick, Prawn Sarong, Prawn Sabai, Thai Fish Cake & Darling Crab.

On that day, only 11 pieces were served to us as Darling Crab was not available.

The owner had mentioned that all of their 4 chefs came from North-east Thailand. Their food are well known to be less oily than their southern counterpart. This applies on their fried finger food too. Not greasy at all.

Their Otak-Otak was different from what you would get at other places. The taste emphasized more on the coconut cream rather than eggs. Its not very herb-by because they do not use Daun kaduk (Wild Pepper / Piper Sarmentosum). They used sotong for this Otak-Otak and its not rubbery at all.

My personal favourite appetizer would be Mussels Salsa. So appetizing! I can't really stomach mussels without seasoning. There would be this fishy kind of smell to it. However, the addition of salsa to the mussel makes it a whole new different story. On the first bite, you can definitely taste the strong Thai Basil leaves. Then along the way, some garlic bits and ending with a medium-spicy note to it. Lovely...

It certainly increased my appetite for next dish :D

Before I forget, it seems that every plate of tapas that were served to us had a different fruit/vege carving to it ;) Pretty...

Let's move on to the next meal...

Asian Tapas (Choose any dishes, served with 2 Tumeric Rice)

8 dishes @ RM60, 12 dishes @ RM90 (max 2 dishes on each item)

Again, there are 12 choices for the Asian Tapas listed in the menu:
Mango Salad, Satay, Nam Tok, Crispy Herbs Fish, Chili Paste Prawn, Sweet Bean Curd, Kang Kung Belacan, Son In Law Egg, Masaman Curry, Panaeng Curry, Tomyum Soup & Tomkha Soup

Not overly sour and I think there were hints of papaya?

Ms. Wisakha mentioned that the fresh herbs used in all their dishes came from Tropical Spice Garden. They have one of the best gardens in Penang as their backyard. I don't see why shouldn't they do so ;)

Among my favourites are Nam Tok (Grilled beef) and Panaeng Curry (the one that taste like Otak. if wrong please someone correct me :P) The beef are simply great. None of the beef slices were tough and dry! Nam Tok's beef has a light smokey flavour to it, seasoned minimally with ground peanuts and onions. That allowed us to taste the beef's natural taste.

Panaeng Curry on the other hand was flavourful. Imagine eating Otak made of beef. The meat was soft, smooth and tender. Cariso, Lingzie and I were happily chomping up all the beef (both Nam Tok and Panaeng Curry) from the other tables :D

Tomyum Soup was nice. Pretty close to the Tomyum I had back at Phuket. Sourish spicy but not too spicy. Very flavourful. The prawns, sotong and oyster mushroom were all cooked just nice. No signs of rubbery carved squid or shrinked prawns. I actually finished my plate of tumeric rice with just the soup alone.

Tomkha on the otherhand was much milder in terms of spiciness. The coconut milk added, cuts the spiciness to a minimum level. The chicken was definitely the highlight of Tomkha Soup. It was so damn smooth and soft that Waco would believe it's fish if we told him so :P

I am a fan of herb rice. I've tried Nasi Ulam, Nasi Kerabu and our local style Nasi Kunyit. But never Nasi Kunyit added with Coriander. Fortunately they only added a little bit to the rice giving it a different depth of flavour. Something I never thought of. The rice goes really well with Tom Yam :D

Finally the Thai Coconut Ice Cream (RM8.80) dessert was served to save us from all the heat and flavours that went on. Super smooth indeed. Topped with my favourite fruits, jackfruit and attap chee (attap palm seeds/buah nipah/Nypa fruticans). Jackfruit used was slightly overripe thus heightens the overall flavour of the ice cream.

To wrap things up, Spice Tea/Coffee with Condensed Milk (Hot or Cold) - RM8.00 were served.

Brewed with spices, thus the strong Cardamom seed flavour in both drinks. As for coffee, the Cardamom taste hits first then the coffee flavour seeps in. All in all, the hot spiced drinks did a great job in removing my bad breath after having a number of dishes with garlic.

Great outing indeed. It was like a gathering with a lot of catching up. Absolutely great way to end my weekend.

For those who are planning to have a meal at Tree Monkey, its best to call up to make reservation.

Tree Monkey @ Tropical Spice Garden

Lone Craig Villa, Lot 595,

Mukim 2, Jalan Teluk Bahang,

11100 Penang.

Telefax: 604-881 3494

Website: http://www.treemonkey.com.my/ (not up yet - refer to http://www.tropicalspicegarden.com/tree-monkey-restaurant.php)

GPS: 5.463599, 100.229199

Additional info:

Business hours: 9.00am - 12.00 midnight daily
80 pax capacity
WiFi available
Pork Free
Vegetarian available
Alcoholic beverages available (RM30 per bottle corkage charges)
10% service charge would be applicable

Penang Caffe Strada Invited Review

2010-08-15T02:26:00.004+08:00

It has been a while since the last invited review. I was MIA till the point where Alan thought I have just graduated :P The last time I met him and most of other bloggers was LAST YEAR's August. Thanks to Caffe Strada and Alan for making the arrangements.

Cosy area with clean modern furnishing. A nice place to gather with friends for a chat and have a drink :) I like the water windows. Not sure why but I do feel less glare from it.

Some random shots while waiting for others to arrive.

Review was kicked off by serving appetizers.

Green Garden Salad (RM8.90)

Served with lettuce, capsicum, onion, croutons, sun flower, seed, egg and smoked chicken, served with house salad dressing.

Seafood Chowder in Bread Bowl (RM15.90)
Chunks of seafood (prawns & squid) are simmered with potatos, onions, celery, real heavy cream and a touch of butter. Served in bread bowl.

For main course meal, we had Asian Delights first followed by Western dishes.

Asian Delights
Kung Pao Chicken (RM9.90)

Stir fried with kung pao sauce, served with cashew nuts, fried egg, prawn crackers and rice.
Kam Heong Seafood Combo (RM8.90)

Stir fried with kam heong sauce, served with prawn crackers, fried egg and rice.
Salted Fish and Chicken Fried Rice (RM8.90)
Served with prawn crackers, fried egg and chicken wing.
Bao Zhiang Mien (RM11.90)
Noodle in house-blended gravy, with minced chicken and 3-colored vegetables.
Tomyam Seafood (RM8.90)
A choice of bee hoon or instant noodles.

Western
Spaghetti Bolognese (RM9.90) - Grinded chicken with tomato based sauce.
Club Sandwich (RM12.90)
Caffe Strada Roast Chicken (RM13.90)
Mongolian Chicken (RM15.90)
Cheezy Grilled Chicken (RM17.90)
Grilled Butter Fish (RM19.90)
Fish and Chip (RM8.90)
Grilled Lamb Shoulder (RM19.90)

House drinks were served. Among all the cold drinks, I personally prefer Ice Bear. Fizzy blue soda with hints of fresh lemon. As for the hot variety, I must give credits for the Coffee art. Not many people serves cappuccino or coffee latte like that in Penang.

Drinks
Fluffy Hot Chocolate (RM6.90)
Strawberry Kiss Frappes (RM8.90)
Choco Banana Frappes (RM8.90)
Chocolate Chips Frappes (RM8.90)
Mango Frappes (RM8.90)
Orange Jewel Milk Shake (RM7.90)
Ice Bear (RM6.90)
Italian Lime Soda Float (RM6.90)

Espresso Drinks
Espresso (Caffe= single shot espresso RM4.90, Caffe Doppio =double shot espresso RM5.90)
Cappucino (RM6.90 hot, RM7.90 cold)
Caffe Latte (RM6.90 hot, RM7.90 cold)

I have turned into a dessert person lately without even knowing when :P Caffe Strada offers a few selection of cakes which are kept in the chiller near beside the cafe's main entrance. Caffe Strada's Ice Coffee Slush is actually like Affogato, an italian dessert made of fresh brewed espresso topped with a scoop of ice cream.

Just when you thought the cakes wrapped up the whole review, Boss Micheal add in another snack for us, Caffe Strada's BBQ Chicken Wings. The cafe has a few tv screens for customers to watch football matches. Chicken wings seems to be the international choice of snack isn't it?

Caffe Strada BBQ Chicken Wing, served with house chicken wing sauce (2pcs RM5.90, 4pcs RM9.90)

Happy reading~

Penang Chowrasta Wet Market - Kuih Ketayap

2010-08-07T00:36:00.009+08:00

I saw VKeong's post on Chowrasta Kuih Ketayap and I think I should share my past sightings of the stall when the original person was still around. I do feel like kicking myself for such crappy video shots of the uncle. Just doesn't do the justice.

I always love to get Kuih Ketayap from this stall. Apart from the slightly chewy and burnt skin (which adds texture and flavor), juicy desiccated coconut and just the right amount of sweetness from added sugar-peanut mixture.

I can't find my orignal photos because my old hard disk had crashed :( All these photos and video were retrieved from my abandoned Xanga account. Fortunately its still there.

Back to Kuih Ketayap, uncle would have to prepare everything from scratch and I do mean everything. The skin and filling. The green metal stove you see in the picture below uses kerosene and you can smell it by standing next to it.

Such classic kuih is loved by many people as every time I was there, I had to wait quite sometime before he reaches my order. I am glad the wife and family still continue the business. Hands down, their Kuih Ketayap should be listed as part of Penang's Herritage Food.

Many years have passed but Penang will always remember him not only because of his delicious Kuih Ketayap but also his hard work, effort & dedication. Cheers!

Homemade McLeftover Burger

2010-07-19T23:16:00.004+08:00

At last, I have the mood to scribble something here although today is the bloody first day of the week.

I have been wanting to flip burgers (for my meals, not as an occupation) since I started watching Rachael Ray Morning Show. After receiving a small bag of Paprika, flown all the way from Hungary, I have no excuse to not to flip some.

Paprika is a very foreign spice for me because I'd never incorporate it into any of my experiments be it failed or successful ones. Rachael Ray is damn right in one thing. It makes people go wonder what's in your burger.

Seriously, that bag of Paprika, once opened, it smelled exactly like wolf berries (Kei Chi) minus the tanginess. I SWEAR! But of course, Paprika smells more intense than Kei Chi . On first taste of the raw powder...hmmm it has no taste? It's like having super fine wood dust on your tongue LOL

As I'd said, I flipped some burgers, 6 mini ones in total because I am not like Rachael Ray who prepares food for giants. Literally :P

The process of making the burgers was too gruesome to be photographed so I just show the final outcome :D Absolutely no greens because I think it will alter the taste.

Recipe:
(Patty)
Minced chicken thigh
Some Paprika
Some Coriander seed powder
Salt + Pepper McD
1 egg yolk

1-2 chopped red onions

Mix and shape the patties with your hands. Make sure the middle is thinner than the sides. Otherwise, hard to cook. Pan fry them until its well cooked. How to know? The patty is firm when you nudge it with your wok-chan (cooking spatula). Took a while for it to cook. I didn't note down the time though :P Anyway, just agak-agak. That's what cooking is all about anyway. Just make sure they don't turn out to be cardboards :)

Haven't try but I am sure beef would be a great chicken substitute :D

(Burger setup)
Left over dinner roll - grilled
Left over egg white - pan fried
Left over tomato slice (thickly slice)
Left over cheddar cheese (thickly slice)

(Step)
Cook, stack and squirt some leftover McD tomato sauce (from sachet).

No brainer right? Bon Appetito~

Homemade V8 Juice

2010-06-19T18:07:00.004+08:00

Heading out for Father's Day dinner in a moment. But it's not going to stop me from breaking my long hiatus from the blogging world ;) I am quite surprise there's still readers coming in haha! Thanks for your support ya...

Anyway, I just bought my new juicer, Moulinex Vitae Plus from a local electrical appliance store. Yes! Finally! With my current workload and the "toxic" I gathered during eat out, I am afraid I might die young :P Touch wood!

People always give me the YUCK face when I told them the vegetables I used for the juice below. Does carrot, celery, tomato and beetroot sounds that bad?

Anyway here's what I used:

1 large aussie carrot

2-3 stalks of aussie celery

1 tomato

1/3 beetroot (peeled)

I drink it before dinner during weekdays. Its best to have it in the morning tho...

Happy detoxifying weekend!

Singapore - Bakin Cow Green Tea Tofu Cheese Cake

2010-03-27T12:18:00.003+08:00

Lots of work lately and the only thing I would want to do after reaching home is eat, watch tv and sleep like any typical working people :P On a typical weekend, I would either stay home or head over to typical malls. The next thing I might realize after 30 years is I'd lead a typical life all these while...LOL It's just a thought...no worries.

Anyway, I was flicking through my Singapore trip photos and many of them are not posted up yet. Thinking back, one of my special experience was celebrating my aunt's birthday together with her family. For that we got her a cake and not just any cake but a vegetarian one.

We searched many places in Singapore but nil vegetarian cakes. Of course we can get those vegetarian cakes from vegetarian shops but we wanted something different. In short, googling for the cake saves us tons of time instead of scouring the streets. Order online and transfer through ATM...sounds simple but we had to pick the cake all the way at Yishun MRT...Delivery charges is half of the cake's price so go figure.

I can't remember if the decoration is free but the candles cost 60 cents each as they claimed it could give off sparks when lighted. Finally, the person who blows the candle thinks its a prank candle because the flame doesn't go off after every hard blow XD

"d' Avocado is specially created to commemorate BakinCow's 1st year anniversary - combining both the goodness of avocado and green tea, it expressed our heart-felt gratitude & peace seeking aspiration.." - Bakin Cow

Not bad, I quite like the biscuit layer at the bottom and definitely not as heavy as original cheese cakes. The tofu blends well with the cheese and doesn't taste weird at all. However, one wouldn't notice if there is any avocado added. So it would be great if the avocado comes as an additional layer or something. Green tea taste was on the lighter side. Another point I need to mention is the cheese flavor would be less compare to cakes entirely made of cheese.

It doesn't really matter to me. As long as the fat that goes to my spare tyre is halved, no complains.

A really really late birthday post for my aunt XD Happy Birthday!

Happy reading~

Penang - Edoichi Japanese Cuisine

2010-01-28T02:24:00.005+08:00

**Update on Edo Ichi 2nd Round:
Below is the list of food I had on a Saturday night with my parents ;) Sorry ya no pictures. Not in a mood to take recently.

Sashimi & Tempura Set - RM48
Hotate Carpaccio - RM45
Seafood Fried Rice - RM12
Nameko Fried Rice - RM8
Tsukimi Udon - RM14
Soft Shell Crab & Salmon Skin Salad - RM18
Salmon Sushi - RM10
Yaki Gyuza - RM8

It was our 2nd visit to the restaurant and we had to wait for our seats. About 1/2 hour wait since they were full. They were attentive enough to get our numbers and call us when there is a vacant table. I don't know about others but we liked their service and we're served by the same Captain (Alson) for the second time.

Anyway about the food, Sashimi Tempura Set comprises of a tempura (2 large prawns with some vege) and sashimi. No complains about the freshness but somehow the sashimi was served in smaller slices compare to my first visit. And we were not lucky enough to get a good cut of Shiro Maguro thus the slightly rough texture. They run out of Tako so they replaced one of the sashimi with a fish called "Kampachi"? Can't remember but the fish has a tiny bit firmer texture and bite-feel. The 3rd type of sashimi given with the set was salmon. Salmon was good. Smooth and glides down your throat. You get the idea. Overall, I think I would go back to my first choice which is the Yakiniku & Sashimi Set.

Hotate Carpaccio was served with avocado cubes, Ikura, fried garlic slices and drizzled with some dressing. Not bad but I personally won't order this due to the price. With additional RM15, I could have gotten a live shell fish sashimi (similar to scallops but better). The hotate we had was frozen scallops from US thus no taste to it other than the dressing. But its really smooth and the taste blends well together because of the scallop.

Seafood and Nameko fried rice both had different fragrance for sure but they are equally delicious. Seafood fried rice comes with a large shelled prawn and some sotong. Nameko comes with nameko lor (mushroom). LOL

Tsukimi Udon is worth a try for those who are looking for handmade noodles. Yupz, the udon noodle is made by the restaurant itself which I hardly find restaurants who does that. I never tried handmade udon before. The texture was chewy, firm and smooth. Glides down my throat in no time. Other than that the seaweed soup is very light compare to super salty Miso. A good item to share among a group while waiting for the main dish to arrive.

One MUST order item would be the Soft Shell Crab and Salmon Skin Salad. It's really good! Crabs were fresh and fried to perfection. Crispy outer layer but soft on the inside. Paired together with the paper thin but super crispy salmon skin, drizzled with their special sauce...good ah! Most importantly the crabs are fresh else it would be geli to swallow.

Salmon sushi was normal but their rice is sweet. Just like the sushi I had back at Singapore. The salmon slice was thicker than the ones served with the set but some parts were fibrous.

Yaki Gyuza was as good as usual but we did feel it shrunk a little.

Regardless what I say, the place is always full house during the weekend :P

I manage to get the number of the restaurant. They actually run out of name cards...can you believe that?

Tel: 04-890 3199
___________________________________________

A break from Singapore's posts, today I want to write about the dinner I had just now before I forget the details.

When I saw this restaurant last week, I was amazed at the crowd in it despite being in an almost deserted Island Plaza. Good food sign LOL... Finally I get to visit this place with my parents.

Opened not very long ago, about a month and the owner is Azuma Japanese Restaurant's owner (the one at Queensbay Mall). I was surprise to hear that because I did not think Azuma is all that great but this restaurant certainly opened my eyes.

Love the beer and Sake bottle display. Lots of smiles from the friendly waiter and waitresses too. Although the restaurant is not very big, I quite like the table placement at the main hall. There were 2 big fish tanks with live corals and colourful fishies :D Not many customers around so we get to sit beside the fish tank.

Next to my table is the sashimi bar. As you can see there are 2 chefs in the picture. One is Executive Chef in black and the sashimi chef in white behind the counter. Busy busy busy ain't they? I also manage to kaypo a bit about the chef in black. It seems that the boss of the restaurant "invited" the chef trained in Japan more than 20 years with a handsome pay to lead the restaurant...hmmmm...Restaurant's menu is written by that chef as well.

Anyway, kaypo stuff aside. We had to decide and order quick as last order is 10pm :P

Not missing the drinks as well but very pricey...fresh/pure fruit juice cost a bomb O.o I ordered Mango Tango, RM14.

Obviously, the tea came first. Three of us each had a glass of Ocha, RM1 per glass, unlimited refill. And a thick one too. Feels good.

The juice came. No ice added but its cold. Wonder they blend together with the ice or freeze the mango then blend. The glass is quite big, definitely needs a couple of mangoes to fill it up :P

便喝便看鱼游来游去. Probably I should have ordered Kawaii Hawaii to have more feel LOL

Appetizers came one after another continuously. Kitchen was pretty quick I would say. Not very long waiting time. Means good food comes fast right? Hehe... First off, Yasai Kakiage Tempura, RM13. This mix vege tempura was crispy and not oily at all.

And it feels so light when you bite on it. Just the right amount of flour batter sticking on the vege. The tempura colour was yellow golden brown which should be the standard tempura colour.

We ordered 2 plates of Yaki Gyuza, RM 8 per plate (5 pieces). After snapping photos for sometime, the dumpling skin remains crispy. Ok lah maybe not as crispy as when it was served hot.

Not bad and it doesn't have that greeny uncooked like Kuchai smell. Not sure what meat they put in but vege was more than meat. Actually I did prefer it to be slightly more juicy.

Beef Enoki Roll, RM20 is a MUST ORDER. Seriously, I can swallow a bowl of rice with just this plate of beef roll. No extra flavouring (maybe a pinch of salt or dash of shoyu?) and all you could taste is the fresh beef taste with its juice and oil absorbed into the crunchy enoki mushrooms. Good ah! Another thing, the roll was really jam packed with enoki mushrooms. The juice leftover was poured into my rice and even the rice turned fragrant. Haha!

More mushrooms to come because we ordered Nameko Fried Rice RM8. Super nice egg fragrance with a hint of mushroom smell. We savoured every spoon of it.

I chose this fried rice because its the very last picture I saw after flipping the menu and it looks special. In fact, I never tried mushroom fried rice before so order lah!

My Sashimi & Yakiniku Set RM46 arrived. I think the price is pretty reasonable. Considering the generous portions. I forgot to mention that so far they did not skimped on anything and what you see is what you get.

The main character was of course the sashimi and they have my favourite Shiro Maguro! I was shocked when I saw such thick slices. Told you they were generous. Fresh, no fishy smell and thick fish slices served with freshly grated wasabi. Thumbs up :DDD

Speaking of sashimi, all fishes like salmon, tuna, shiro maguro and etc are freshly flown in every Tuesday and Friday. So today is wednesday, thus the sashimi is really fresh. Barely a day in the chiller.

Next is of course the stir fried beef with onion. Its good too but may be salty to some people. Salty sweet, flavourful dish and goes well with rice. As you can see, beef slices was more than the onions. Wahahaha...

The rest that came with the set is soup, chawanmushi, salad and some unagi appetizer. Soup was packed with seaweeds (not the dried nori) and tofu cubes. I find it ok but mom thinks its too salty for her. Salad was good. The sauce consists of mayonaise and some garlic mixture. Not very sour but appetizing due to the unusual salad taste. Chawanmushi was of course cottony soft...warm to my stomach...

This is the unagi appetizer with seaweed and a slice of cucumber. I haven't ate such appetizer before. Salt-ish sweet, quite special.

Because we didn't have enough of the sashimi, we decided to order a plate of sashimi with just tuna, salmon and shiro maguro. Its put under Special Order RM35 We were awed by the presentation of the sashimi. First time we had it presented this way haha! Thick and fresh fish slices served on a bed of ice decorated with some greens...ahh...so class...so Japanese...

This is how thick the salmon and shiro maguro was. Butter tuna fish was so smooth and firm, really made me feel like eating cold butter. If you could see, the salmon slices is different from those we normally see from other Jap restaurant. This should be the real salmon reddish orange, not orange. All these fish (including live oysters and scallops) are air flown direct from Japan weekly.

I heard that oysters are priced at RM30 each and its the size of your palm. Live oysters leh...must try one day...All seafood is ensured fresh because after 3 days they would get rid of them. Oysters won't be alive too long either.

They told me that there will be many more variety of sashimi grade fish flown in this coming Friday (29 Jan 2010).

Macha ice cream was a complimentary dessert for all diners as a way of promotion. Yumz...smooth real green tea flavour with heavier milk taste. ~.~ chill....

By the way, free Macha ice cream promotion is only until end of January. So siapa cepat dia dapat lah...

I thought this whole feast is going to be a bomb until the bill came and stated RM170. What you guys think???

Singapore - The good Old Chinatown and the bad experience at Din Tai Fung

2010-01-23T22:48:00.008+08:00

Another back dated post I know LOL Anyway...I was on the way to somewhere and my cousin bro told the taxi to take PIE. Never passed this expressway before so the ride itself was pretty interesting.

Manage to catch Eye of Singapore. Almost missed the shot because there were several trucks blocking the view. Didn't go for a ride as its really expensive. About SGD100 per person? I would rather ride on the Carlsberg Sky Tower at Sentosa if I really want to see the city from above.

After settling our things at Raffles Place, we visited Chinatown or rather I insisted to go there to have a look hehe...Chinatown was not really that far and so we walked. Soon, we reached People's Court or Hong Lim Complex (right side of below's picture) as the sign stated.

Many hawker stalls and bicycles considering this is the city centre.

Hong Lim Complex is a huge area and this place is filled with dried seafood stores and Chinese medicine halls. We stopped by this store to get China Barley. Not that we couldn't get it from other place but I decided to get it from this store so I can kaypo around the place to see what they have hahaha.

As what I expected, fresh products and the price depends on what you are getting. Although same product but Singapore's is always a level better. At least Grade 2. Needless to say, Grade 1 products will always belong to Hong Kong. More variety too.

I didn't know we can still get durians in October :P I guess durians are also GM-ed (genetically modified).

Speaking of durians, I saw this along the way. The picture stated "Durian Puree with Pomelo Sago" O.o ...Haven't heard about it but I didn't want to get my breath stinky, so didn't try.

From Chinatown, we headed to Orchard Road for dinner at Din Tai Fung in Wisma Atria. I have been yearning to eat there after my first try.

If not because we need to fulfill the vegetable quota, I don't think I would order this. Forgot what vege is it but it was pretty fibrous. Nevertheless, the wok hei was there and not too oily.

Beef Tendon noodles...Every bowl comes with 3 chunks of beef + tendon sticking at the sides. The soup was alright but the beef chunks were a little disappointment because its not like what I had previously, the melt in the mouth kind of thing??? No more :(((( In fact I find the beef a bit tough. My jaws became tired after chewing the meat. It's that tough...

Cousin bro said he is very thirsty after eating the noodles...I think you get the point.

Hehe I have a soft spot for desserts so I rather forgo xiao long bao for desserts. Quite a number of customers ordered this. I had this last time too. There are only 2 flavours available, Mango Pudding and Green Tea Pudding with Red Beans.

Mango pudding was definitely nicer this time with mango cubes in it. I think they didn't use condensed milk anymore. No more the milky intense flavour :(

Green tea pudding flavour has changed to those 'mooncake' green tea flavour :((((( I think they no longer use real macha for this. How sad! I remember when I first tried the pudding, it was a tiny bit bitter because of the macha but original flavour at least. Another thing was the milk wasn't enough for me. The dessert turned out watery-er than I expected.

A time to search for better beef noodles...too bad.

Location: Din Tai Fung, Wisma Atria, Orchard Road.

Singapore - The Central Marutama Ramen

2009-12-19T23:08:00.006+08:00

Sorry peeps for the lack of updates. Had been busy looking for jobs after I got back from Singapore and now that I'd secured a job, I got even busier with the company's work =.= So much happened within these 2 months and I don't know which to post anymore :P

Anyway, after 2 years (?) I can't afford to give it a miss. It's the only place (so far) where I could get my freshly prepared Tamago.

Of course in big cities, please be early else you would have to stand in line. For how long? That I don't know. Everywhere just seems to be filled with people and they come out of no where. Haha!
The words on the board means "Business in operation". I wonder in Japan, they do this as well hehe.

On my previous visit, I sat in front of the kitchen area where you can see all the action going on. This time we tried the tables. I manage to snap back shot of the lady boss (I think) of the restaurant.

One thing I love about Marutama is the free flow of water and tissue! Wahaha! I don't mind self service for such things LOL

On the table, there was also fried garlic slices. Looking all crispy-licious, I took one and popped into my mouth. Immediately after that, my face just scrunched up as it was SO BITTER. Too bad...else I would enjoy it as a side snack LOL

First arrived was the Dashimaki (Tamago with dashi) SGD 8.00 Not exactly cheap but its really nice to have piping hot tamago with dashi flavour. And not to mention, JUICY. However, I did feel they added more dashi to the eggs last time compare to the ones I had recently.

Since I came with my cousin bro, we ordered Char Siu Gohan (Char Siu Rice) SGD5.00 Unbelievable isn't it??? The egg is more expensive than the bowl of rice packed with pork! The char siu was great. With a bit of burnt like smell and sweetness from the onions together with fresh pork, thumbs up. Pickled vege that comes with it taste good too. Makes you even wanna gobble up the whole bowl.

The main character arrived at last, Aka Ramen SGD15.00 According to the menu, the soup is made of 7 kinds of ground nuts mixture with chicken soup (mild spicy). Well to me its not spicy at all. The noodles came with generous amount of spring onions, some Chinese parsley, 3 Tori Dango (chicken meatballs) and a lemon wedge. Yes we squeeze the lemon into the noodle for extra flavor.

Yumz...Springy ramen with thick soup but still not as flavorful as last time. Or is it because its a new soup base which had been brought to stove not long before we arrived? Could it be the recession that hit Singapore so hard that restaurant operators had to cut cost some how? But regardless how they cut, it still taste good and I can never get such food back in Penang.

Cousin bro and I both agree that Char Siu Gohan kind of over shadowed the noodles LOL

Total damage was SGD32.95 for 2 person. It was pretty filling although we only ordered those three items.

Location: #03-90/91 The Central, Singapore.
Contact: (Tel) 6534 8090 (Fax) 6534 8077

Happy reading~

Singapore - City Walk

2009-11-20T03:55:00.006+08:00

This has got to be my most extensive walk in a city so far.

On the way from Novena to City Hall. I don't know why my cousin brother insist getting off at this station. During the ride, I saw an ang moh family beside me. Quite picture perfect isn't it?

Alighted the train at City Hall and walked through a series of malls such as City Link. I wasn't sure where I was until I saw these art displays. It means I am near Esplanade and I didn't even walked under the hot sun for a tiny bit.

While we were heading towards Esplanade Mall, there were several series of art displays along the way. Seriously, I don't get what is this :P

Although an art person, I gotta admit that I don't know what a toilet seat with a plastic apple and pineapple being put together means. Somehow its entertaining to us in a strange way LOL

Another series of display call 'Celebration of Life III' by David Joe Lim.

Metal sheets with patterns created using acrylic paint. Quote: "...Reflect the gleam of colours and energy before a viewer's eye as the dancers move into the rhythm and tempo of music."
Pretty cool. I wonder what music did he referred to when he created this artwork.

Out from the Tunnel, we hang out at Esplanade Mall and continued walking, passing by the 'Durian' Theater of Singapore hahaha!

From Esplanade to Fullerton One. Formula One race just ended about a month before I traveled to the island nation. It must have been quite an experience driving on the streets.

I was blessed with great weather for the first 2 weeks of my stay there. Weird. The sky would get very cloudy but somehow they clear off or there's no rain at all.

Behind Fullerton Hotel is the business district of Singapore or what my cousin bro calls it, "Singapore Wall Street". And he went on mimicking the morning business newscaster XD This is also the place where Flashmob performed (different day)...Haih...sadly I missed it. I didn't even know about it!

After much persuasion, cousin bro was reluctant to agree having dinner at Marutama Ramen until I said the word "my treat" =.=

With a map and good navigational skills, we walked from Raffles Place (Business District) to Clark Quay. I never seen this part of the city before and I never thought these buildings are still standing today. The place in the picture below is Hong Kong Street and by the time we were there, the area was quite deserted. Most of the shops were closed and called it a day. Pretty similar to Campbell Street in Penang except that the buildings are 3 storey high.

Headache from lack of sleep and almost died of thirst @.@ Saw a canned drink vending machine with imaginary hands luring me towards it. SGD 1.40 for a can of 100 Plus! I simply would not give in.

Central Mall at last...but I wasn't even sure if Marutama Ramen is in the mall.

Singapore's ERP gantry...Fortunately, they do not charge people who walk under it LOL

We checked the mall's directory and confirmed it there. About time because we were already half dead and would certainly die if we had to continue searching.

To be continue - Marutama Ramen

Happy reading~

Singapore - Novena QQ Rice

2009-11-15T02:47:00.007+08:00

Don't get me wrong here. I am not promoting Tan Tock Seng Hospital or whatsoever. But the fact that I am so katak di bawah tempurung, I can't skip through this place. LOL

The hospital was really huge and once you are in there, you weren't even sure if you had just stepped into a hospital. NO Dettol smell!

There is Delifrance and Subway too! Eeks >,< onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hr3acwTEpOo/SwAWonRCSLI/AAAAAAAADF0/dJ2imaDn4Sw/s1600-h/Inside+Tan+Tock+Seng.jpg">I left with awe. LOL Of course, to come up a building with top notch facilities, a lot of money is needed and I don't think I want to discuss it here :P

That day, me and cousin bro planned to get to Esplanade. So to get there, we need to pass through Novena Medical Center (Novena Square) and head to the MRT. Till my cousin bro complained he was hungry and I did not want to give in when he suggested to have lunch at TTSH Food Court :P

We somehow agree to try QQ Rice despite the outlet looks deserted.

There were a few choices of rice to pick such as purple rice, 5 grain rice, brown rice and so on. They were all kept warm using these wooden buckets. Pretty interesting.

QQ Rice also offers a wide choice of fillings for the rice. These are vegetarian fillings (e.g. mushrooms, vege, beans, seaweed etc)

If you don't like vege and prefer to have your rice packed with meat, there are also an equally wide array of fillings (e.g. seafood tofu, crabstick, bacon, even Ngoh Hiang!)

Many choice but no time to think what fillings to go with. So we quickly pick purple rice to go with mushroom, cheese and turkey bacon...LOL!

The rice ain't cheap though...if not mistaken SGD4.50 or sumthing...

Pizza kind of topping wrapped in rice =.= We didn't eat it immediately after we bought it. As a result, the rice smell of plastic :S Other than that, the taste was fine although a bit tasteless :P

Hot rice wrapped with plastic doesn't seems to be a good idea because plastic smell was strong. We finished it anyway. Kind of defeat the purpose of being a healthy food. They should find an alternate material to wrap the rice or something.

Happy reading~

Singapore - Kovan Hougang Wet Market

2009-11-10T16:21:00.010+08:00

Geee...Seriously I don't know what to say about wet market. Although I like to hang out in malls particularly air-conditioned ones, wet markets would always come across my mind regardless where I travel to. We can see lots of things there be it "tersurat" or "tersirat" LOL

Types of fresh produce, the quality and pricing says a lot about the locals as well as their lifestyle. Kovan Hougang Wet Market is only one of the MANY wet markets in Singapore.

There are a couple of stalls selling fish but this stall has the widest variety. Really fresh and they have grouper too. I saw a 东星班 at the another stall. Don't know what's the price though...

Halal poultry stall with some frozen beef in the chiller. Because they are kept in the chiller, the chicken seems to be pinkish and fresher too. Halal chickens are smaller compared to the normal ones. Don't know why.

Here comes a stall that caught my attention. The aunty sells 生鱼肉 (fish) and 活田鸡 (paddy frogs).

Super fresh and those frogs were plump too. Reminds me of the man who slaughters frogs back at Taman Connaught Pasar Malam. You wouldn't want to see how they do it.

I never seen such huge 生鱼 before. The aunty would slice them based on how much the customer wants. If not mistaken, half slab of it cost about SGD14.

In Penang, an uncle would normally sit beside a huge blue plastic tub with nets covering it. The small 生鱼 would then be slaughtered upon order.

One of the vegetable stalls in the market. Hardly see people selling asparagus in wet markets. Vegetables here are not bad.

Standard sizes...even the leeks are plump.

And clean too! Don't recall seeing any dirt on the vegetable and bad leaves were removed before they are bundled together. How I know? The uncle was just sitting beside these bunch of vegetables, carefully picking the leaves XD

Beautifully roasted items :DDD

But despite so many items, my aunt went for the other stall instead :S The old couple's stall located just beside the stall in the picture above. The old uncle reminds me of my grandfather LOL Hair style, Pagoda brand shirt and those shorts...just can't miss it ;)

Not as many items, and the char siew is red. However the roast pork was not bad. I was more curious on how the duck would taste like. They don't sell only drumstick, so we took a quarter of it and of course the lower part with the drumstick...hehe

I never thought the duck would be tasty! LOL The skin wasn't crispy but smells good. Must be the maltose syrup (麥芽糖 ) the uncle added when marinating the duck. The maltose syrup also contributed to the roast duck's colour :D Duck meat wasn't dried out. Still soft and juicy. Things got even better when the duck sauce was poured over it. It was great! Not too salty or watery. It doesn't have the strong bean paste smell with a tiny hint of wine. Probably the bean paste brand they get in Singapore are the better ones and also it all boils down to the uncle's/aunty's skills.

Hong Kong style roast duck? Should be. This is only an ordinary stall in a wet market. Those famous ones must be even better.

One thing is for sure...Never judge the outlook of a stall :P I almost finished the duck in one sitting LOL leaving only bones (with a bit of meat attached) for my poor cousin brother...wahahaha!

Happy reading~

Singapore - Koay Teow Tng at Kovan Food Court

2009-11-09T00:52:00.002+08:00

I have been wanting to visit Singapore's wet market but wasn't able to do so until recently. It's either I don't have the time or I couldn't wake up :P Come on...where would you choose to go if you only have a few days time in Singapore? Ochard Road or wet market flocked with aunties?

Aunt and I decided to have some breakfast before making our way to the wet market section which is just next door.

Something we were very aware of was the Sunday crowd. Lots of people, lots of car and lots of stalls with long queues!

發記 is a stall selling fish ball noodles with a variety of noodles like mee poh(flat noodles), mee kia (yellow noodles), koay teow and bee hun. The uncle was very fast in whipping up super hot bowls of fish ball noodle soup.

Finally he prepared mine. By the way, its all self service here.

This bowl of regular Koay Teow Tng was priced at SGD3. I would say the pricing is similar to KL. The slightly higher pricing is quite reasonable because you can practically share this HUGE bowl of noodle with another medium eater.

The koay teow noodles is quite thick and the uncle gave A LOT =.= I would prefer to have thinner and less thick strands of koay teow :P Anyway, the soup was pretty good. Although a bit oily but the soup was boiled with lots of meat and LOTS of pork liver. Pork liver was very fresh and powdery. The fish balls were very bouncy and no fridge smell.

Aih...needless to say, this bowl of ordinary koay teow tng warmed my stomach pretty well. It rained a little that morning.

The stall also serves curry chicken noodles and dried style noodles. I haven't try dried style noodles from this stall but I do love the taste of Singapore style konlo as they add ketchup to the noodles. Hahaha weird but I like it :D

Of course I couldn't finish the noodles so I had to pack the other half home :S What more its super hot. So hot that I have a hard time snapping photos of it and also eating it :P

Happy reading~

Location: Kovan Hougang Wet Market (Morning-Evening)

Singapore - Hougang Mall Ichiban Sushi

2009-11-07T03:06:00.004+08:00

I haven't been to Ichiban for a few years now. Although Ichiban is not some high class Japanese food outlet, it's a place where I use to have my meals with my cousins when they are still in Singapore. So I make it a point to visit this place whenever I travel down south :) Still the food has to be good too right?

Haha I sat at the exact same place when I last came here with my aunt. The only difference was that the chef was cutting up piles of fresh salmon fillets.

We went to Ichiban Sushi on a Saturday so we had to wait for a while before our food was served. The restaurant was pretty packed.

Cousin bro ordered Nikutofu Wazen Set SGD 16.90

There would be the usual vegetable tempura...

A small bowl of teriyaki chicken with rice.

And of course the egg, tofu and beef hotpot...Just the bubbling sight of it already makes you hungry.

Sweetish flavourful broth with soft beef slices and silky tofu...The egg was really good too because it soaks up the broth while heating above the small flame. Good stuff~

Beef hotpot aside, my order arrived. Chasoba and Katsudon Set SGD 13.90

Ice chilled soba noodles were very springy but to some point it becomes hard after awhile. Anyway, one thing I realised was that the chasoba didn't come with raw egg anymore :( So much for the Avian Flu...The chasoba was really a lot and unfortunately my cousin bro weren't able to share this with me. His set was already filling enough.

Just to make things clear...I seriously saw the word there MINI on the menu. Suddenly my set came with a medium sized bowl filled with rice, egg, onion and a thick slab of fried chicken fillet on top =.=

Although full, I manage to stomach this bowl of Katsudon. It pretty good. The egg was cooked together with some onions and the slab of chicken chop. Similar to the Unagidon at Sushi King but Ichiban's Katsudon taste way better... hands down. The rice wasn't too wet or sweet. Just nice ;)

After the meal, I could barely walk :P And not to mention, we have groceries to buy as well...

Happy reading~

Location: #02-23 Hougang Mall
Tel: +6563867836

Singapore - Tiong Bahru Pau in Toa Payoh

2009-11-06T20:33:00.009+08:00

It was my first time heading over to Toa Payoh if I exclude the trip of sending my friend home a few years back :P Only after I went back to Penang, my mom told me about the curry mee at Toa Payoh =.=

Me and my cousin bro were heading over to Toa Payoh Community Centre to settle some applications. The cab dropped us in front of Toa Payoh's community library. Such a huge building...which I am very sure there are tons of books in there...But it doesn't matter now. I can enter USM library and borrow books any time any day LOL...

It was almost 6pm when we were done with our errand. Clear sky and pretty hot. This is when a lady came by and asked us, "Do you know where is XXX shop?" with a look on her face hoping we could answer her. Too bad we couldn't as we are not local.

Not much things here except for ordinary shops.

At the end of the open air mall, we walked to this area. This is where high rise buildings starts to dot the other half of the place and I did feel as if I was transported to another part of the island or something.

On the way to Toa Payoh MRT station, a teenage girl holding a music phone walked to us and asked, "Excuse me, do you know any cinemas around here?" Again, we were not able to answer her. Singapore doesn't seem to be that small after all.

Judging the sun ray, you would have guess that me and my cousin bro were probably roasted by then...and that was when I saw a row of shops on my right side particularly the one I am going to feature...

Tiong Bahru Pau & Cake Shop. Toa Payoh area but Tiong Bahru Pau Shop... Anyway, people were queuing up in front of the shop, so we joined the crowd too LOL!

With a number of items on the price list, I didn't hesitate to ask a customer queuing behind me on what are the shop's famous items :) She told me their all their items were good especially the pau. She didn't say what pau so I decided to order 鸡肉大包 SGD1.50 and 鸡球大肉包 SGD1.50 since I never heard of them before.

Fried items looked good but we were heading off to Ang Mo Kio to have our dinner, so I gave it a miss.

However, I saw this basket of siu mai-s which looks really good. Pricing at SGD 0.70 per piece, I only asked for 1 :P

The siu mai-s are the largest I'd seen so far. It looks as if the meat were bursting out of the siu mai wrappings LOL...At least double the size of our Malaysian siu mai.

The taste? It was great. Fresh meat taste. No fridge or weird smell whatsoever, not overly minced, has some bite to it and juicy. Worth every cent I paid for it.

We didn't eat the pau on the spot. Instead, I put them into freezer once we get home like after 4 hours? :P Pau will last longer and maintain its flavour if you freeze them. And that's what happen to the pau below.

After 2-3 days of rock solid freezing, they still come out delicious and juicy as if we just bought it.
I think the pau below is 鸡球大肉包. Its really good. Fragrant with wine smell and juices were flowing from the pau.

鸡肉大包 on the other hand wasn't as good as 鸡球大肉包. It lacks something which makes it less tasty comparing to 鸡球大肉包. Dad says it's important that they add ginger juice to balance off the wine in 鸡球大肉包.

Anyway, I am happy to be able to try regular food like these :D

Singapore - Air Asia and Hospital Chicken Chop

2009-11-03T16:49:00.004+08:00

Finally back in Penang in one piece :P Haha...October was surely a super busy month packed with travels be it near or far. After a review trip to Kulim and touring around Georgetown with friends on separate days of a weekend, I continued my journey down south to the Singapore.

I haven't taken Air Asia to Singapore before and they gave me a 45 minute flight delay as a "welcome gift" for a start :S

Weather was pretty bad throughout that week in Penang. If the plane arrived early, I would have boarded the plane in the midst of a heavy downpour. And no, I never thought I would need an umbrella prior boarding a plane :P

Fortunately the clouds cleared after the rain. The only thing I enjoyed throughout the flight was the aerial view. Not to mention, it is also the only thing free from them :S Back then when I flew with SIA, there was not much to see. In short, I quite enjoy the journey up in the air. If not mistaken the island in the picture below is Pulau Jerejak.
My enjoyable moment only lasted for a while before my head felt like its going to explode...until I landed...

This is also my first time at Changi Airport Terminal 1. Not much difference from Terminal 2 except the length which would take forever for you to reach the end.

At the imigration counter...
Me: Excuse me, could you tell me where to extend my social visit pass?
Officer: You are here for how many days? Would you be going anywhere else?
Me: 21 days. No I am not going anywhere.
Officer: There I give you 30 days already. You don't want is it?

Okay...blur me. I thought I would have to extend my stay on my own at some remote office building hahaha...Why didn't they do the same thing for me previously???

Went to the hospital to visit my uncle after touching down. This is the cafetria of Ang Mo Kio Rehab Center. The rehab center is something like a smaller hospital for patient to recuperate. So the place has lots of greens around and much more quiet.

Environment was clean and no 'hospital smell' at all.

My first food in Singapore would be a plate of Black Pepper Chicken Chop, SGD4+ Sauce was okay but the chicken was pretty tough and dry. A pile of fries was given as if its free. Took me some time to finish it. Well at least they have chicken chop here. I wonder other hospital cafeteria serves Chicken Chop?

Just wait till I get to Tan Tock Seng Hospital at Novena...

Happy reading~

Kulim Kelang Lama Laksa

2009-10-27T12:49:00.004+08:00

Woohoo~ So much have been said about Kelang Lama laksa but not many post about it. I guess people would be flocking to the place after so many of us wrote about it. I came back from Kuala Sepetang the week before and tried their laksa but the taste wasn't really to my liking.

I wonder how would this stall fare?

Foods like this are always isolated right? Keeps making you so curious about it!

Too bad the 'chai kuih' is not opened on that day :(

Anyway, laksa stall opened was what matters most!

Cariso was very amazed by the laksa's stall innovation LOL Kulim is not only famous for laksa but also their flies :P

There is also a huge container of Laksa crackers which they called "laksa peah"... They just leave it there and customers would help themselves with it. Talking about trust in 21st century...

Each piece of this costs 20 sen ...so dip in!

The crackers were pretty fragrant with some ikan bilis (local dried anchovies) added in because the flavour is very subtle. Now the main character, the laksa...Despite coming from an island where the laksa is famous throughout Malaysia and even abroad, I actually like this laksa more. Yes...you read it right. Not as vibrant looking as the ones on the island but it taste good. The broth doesn't smell too fishy and not too sweet. The slight sourish taste makes you want to slurp more hahaha...Very appetizing and moderately light.

Another major thing is the noodles. I have never come across laksa noodles this springy! Judging the non even surface of the noodles, I believe its self made.

Laksa from Penang (sweetish, jelak and too spicy sometimes) while Kuala Sepetang (salty, sour and moderately spicy).

A bowl of this would cost RM2.40 (small) and RM2.80 (big) and RM1.20 for only a bowl of soup :D

After slurping off a bowl of laksa, you can chill down with a bowl of ais kacang. Ice shaving was very fine which literally melts before its even in your mouth LOL. Pretty similar to Malay ais kacang because they add in shreds of dried nutmeg and used condensed milk.

We continue our journey heading to our next stop, Ki Xiang Bak Kut Teh back at Seberang Perai...Told ya..the laksa was light XD Joking! 4 of us shared a bowl, so go figure!

Happy reading~

Laksa Kelang Lama
Behind SJK Kelang Lama, Kulim.
Business Hour: 11.00am -6.00pm (Closed on Monday)
Tel: 04-4904935

Bukit Mertajam Branch
Taman Jaya,
(人安藥房旁边)
Tel: 012-460 8866

Kulim Noodle Station - Food

2009-10-25T13:10:00.008+08:00

Here comes their standard noodle...prepared the classic way, 'kon lo' style...

Springy Noodle With Fried Chicken Dumpling (No. 7) RM 6.50

I would prefer it to be a little bit saltier though. I quite like the fried chicken dumpling.

Hahaha! The chicken thigh and drumstick definitely looks alluring to me. It almost covered the whole bowl! I would love to chomp it down the caveman style but I think as a cha bo gina kia, its better to chop it down to smaller pieces. You wouldn't want people staring at you right? The noodle taste is the same as the above, dry style.

Springy Noodle With BBQ Honey Whole Leg Chicken (No. 15) RM 8.00

Fried Springy Noodle With Prawn - Non Spicy (No. 39) RM6.50

I quite like the taste of the dish as its very egg-gy and fragrant. Too bad its soft for my liking and it would be great with a little more 'wok hei'.

Fried Springy Noodle With Thai Style - Spicy (No. 40) RM6.50

The noodles are dryer thus not as soft as the previous noodle but the chilli seems to overcome the egg smell. Not very spicy too. Can try if you prefer more kick for your noodle.

Below are:
Front - Curry Springy Noodle With Prawn & Fish Ball (No. 25) RM 7.50

Curry mee was ok but some thinks its salty...hahaha...You don't have to slurp the soup and just eat the noodles :P

Back - Springy Noodle Soup With Tom Yam Seafood (No. 32) RM 7.50

Tom Yam was pretty power. The soup was very flavourful but a little too sweet. I suspect they added milk which softens the tom yam original bursting flavours. According to the owners, this Tom Yam noodle is the top seller at Penang E-Gate outlet.

Fried Yellow Noodle Hokkien Style- Kicap Hitam (No. 49) RM6.50

Not bad actually. But again would like it to have more 'wok hei'. The taste was just right. Not too salty. The lye water taste is inevitable because its a Hokkien Char signature taste lol!

Well as I have mentioned in my previous post about char koay teow..."no charcoal, no char koay teow" right? Its obviouly cooked using gas stove. So its unfair for me to comment on this :)

Spicy Fried Kuey Teow (No. 44) RM6.00

Tom Yam Fried Rice With Prawn (No. 54) RM6.50

The rice tasted ok but a little too wet for my liking. Again Tom Yam power and kaffir lime leaves helps to ellavate the fragrance alot.

Fried Rice With Prawn (No. 53) RM6.00

This has got to be the healthiest dish of the restaurant. Less oil, Less salt and Less cooked vegetable. Don't get me wrong here. The fried rice bears resemblance to kerabu fried rice but minus the fresh herbs used. The vege in the fried rice would usually be slightly undercooked to retain crunchyness.

For those who wants some extra bites, Noodle Station offers an array of side dishes you can order.

Honey BBQ Chicken Wing- 6PCS (No. 72) RM14.50

Hmmm...I still prefer my own chicken wing :D

Fried Chicken Dumpling- 10PCS (No. 73) RM5.00

For those who are tham jiak like me and would like lots of fried wantan (but the ones came with noodle, not enough)... You can always order extra and have the whole plate to yourself :D
Nicely fried but they can use a paper or 2 to soak up the oil a bit.

Suppose to be 10 in a plate but some were munched up...*ahem ahem*...by me...

For those who really really dun like noodles and die die also must have western food regardless where you are....

Chicken Chop With Brown Sauce (No. 57) RM10.90

I prefer oriental style chicken chop. This chicken chop uses brown sauce. But nevertheless, the chicken is very crispy.

Super Sandwich With Smoke Turkey (No. 67) RM7.50

Sandwich was crispy with thick toast, smokey turkey ham flavour and vege. For those who just want a quick bite, this should be the one.

A new outlet thus lots of room for improvement especially the food. However, its a decent halal place for everyone to get together. With their extensive drinks menu, now I have another place to suggest when meeting up with my Muslim friends hehehe...

Location:
G 7, Ground Floor, Landmark Central Shopping Centre
No.1, Jalan KLC Satu (1),
09000 Kulim, Kedah Darul Aman.

Tel/Fax : 04-4954168
Business Hours : 10.30am - 10pm

Kulim Noodle Station - Beverage

2009-10-21T14:51:00.010+08:00

Thanks to Cariso for the arrangement and also Mr. Khoh for the invitation :D

I was quite excited about the trip to Kulim as I have not been there. Many of us were not familiar with the place too.

For those who knows where is Kulim's Giant Hypermarket (a.k.a Kulim Landmark Central), you should be able to know where Noodle Station is.
Easy to spot and you can enter the premise through the front door or back door (from carpark).

Little did I know Noodle Station originates from Kelantan. Yupz...It's the same outlet as the one at E-Gate, Penang Island. Kulim outlet just open this year.

GPS location: N 05°23.155' E 100°32.783'

Good news for Muslim friends as the restaurant is halal!

When I stepped in I saw tons of cordials at the bar area.

We had a NUMBER of drinks...the colourfuls...

Sunrise (No. 209) - RM 8.00 (blended mango juice, orange juice, strawberry & yogurt)
Mango Sorbet (No.201) - RM6.00
Kiwi Sorbet (No. 202) - RM6.00
Mango Snow (No. 208) - RM7.50 (blended fresh mango with sago)
I Love You Lemonade (No. 223) - RM 3.50 (Blue Curacao & passion fruit)
Raspberry Truffle Italian Soda (No. 226) - RM 4.50 (soda & raspberry syrup)
Angel Face (No. 230) - RM8.00 (lemon, Blue Curacao & lychee with soda)

Recently my taste buds switched to non-adventurous mode LOL...I actually preferred ...

Iced Ceylon Lemon Tea (No. 156) - RM4.00

and also....
Iced Honey Peach Fruit Tea (No. 164) - RM7.50

I like the above 2 drinks as they are not too sweet and refreshing~

Besides, Honey Peach Fruit Tea is a value drink because of the serving size. Two people can certainly share this.

Ice Age (No. 212) - RM 8.00 (blended vanilla, Blue Curacao, blackcurrant juice and yogurt)
Au Natural (No. 181) - RM 6.00 (iced raspberry & lemon)

The tastes of each mocktail concoction really depends on the person herself. Some likes the ice blended, some prefers smoothies. Ice Age was pretty interesting but a little too sweet for my liking.

Next came the earthy drinks...

Iced Teh Tarik (No. 150) - RM4.00

I didn't quite like the teh tarik as the tea flavour wasn't strong enough but it was smooth and milky.

Iced Cream Cappuccino (No.115) - RM8.00
Mocha Iced Blended (No.120) - RM8.00
Snowflake Americano (No.96) - RM 6.00
Havana Holiday (No.95) - RM7.00
Teh Tarik Hazelnut (No.140) - RM3.50
After Dinner Mint Cappuccino (No.80) - RM7.00

The Teh Tarik had some vanilla aftertaste, probably due to the hazelnut syrup. There is an error in the picture. The Pure Choc is supposed to be Mocha Iced Blended. Anyway, ice blended Mocha was smooth and tasted softer than other coffee based drinks.

Green Tea Honey Latte (No. 172) RM6.50

This drink has gotta be the weirdest drink combination in my life LOL! We are talking about mixing green tea with coffee XD Unfortunately, I couldn't accept the flavour. Haha...its too much for me...

Pure Chocolate Iced Blended (No.190) - RM8.50

Pure chocolate was not bad. Taste like thicker version of Milo lol...But I wasn't in the mood of having coffee or chocolate during the review :P

Kulim Noodle Station - Food coming up soon!

Penang Reservoir Garden - Char Koay Teow

2009-09-30T09:31:00.000+08:00

Many people talk about where we can have the best char koay teow and etc. Some say stall X is good, some say stall Y is good. Well, I just cannot understand why people flock to Sisters Char Koay Teow, Sin Hwa and Lorong Selamat.

The unconventional choice for me would be Padang Tembak Market and Reservoir Garden. Reservoir Garden has 3 coffeeshops. This char koay teow stall I am about to mention is at Golden City Coffeeshop (opposite Keat Seng Coffeeshop). The area is just located beside Ayer Itam Road Shell petrol station, near a traffic light junction.

This aunty still uses charcoal to fry her koay teow. Oohhh firing hot...

The char koay teow was full of wok hei and delicious. Very difficult to find stall which uses charcoal these days and gas stoves can never replace charcoal ones. I guess my personal conclusion is "no use charcoal, no eat char koay teow" :P

Happy reading~

Kuala Sepetang Trip: Prawn Glorious Prawn

2009-09-29T01:22:00.000+08:00

I tell you, I haven't had that much prawns in my life O.o After all the walking and trips, time for DINNER! If you recall the picture of an uncle squatting at the back of the house cutting mantis prawns...yupz its there on the table all ready to be munched by us :D :D :D

I can't remember the names of the meat balls but it has a powdery texture (yam?) to it with some 5 spices powder scent and wrapped together in beancurd sheets. I didn't see the process of making it because we were still out...somewhere in the forest haha...By the way, the aunty is a Teochew (as well as the rest of the villagers) so its a Teochew appetizer?

Here is one of the main characters...yummy yummy~ Boiled freshly caught prawns. How fresh? They were hauled up at that very evening :D Bouncy meat with no weird 'water' smell. For that I could only think of these words... 鲜味 I walloped half of the tray :)

This, I also walloped half of them :D We were lucky to have them :D During the week (few days before we get there) there were no sign of the mantis prawns but fortunately B's dad manage to catch them on the day we arrived.

It was also very fresh. When we peel the shells off, the flesh was intact (as a whole) and FIRM. All of us enjoyed sucking and biting the meat off. The curry mantis prawns was B's mother's special and she had mercy on us by making it less spicy... Hahaha!

I wasn't planning to stop until YC told me that her friend turned allergic to prawns due to prawn overdose :S So much for telling me that...I dropped my prawn immediately after hearing that LOL!

It was a cooling night and fortunately no rain. We decided to ride around the small pekan. Some were on bicycles, some rode the motorcycle. We stopped over at the market area for some ais kacang and there were so many people.

I saw a stall selling prawn noodles and the other sells curry mee. My friend told me the curry mee there's famous but I was more curious about prawn noodles. I could only stomach 1 bowl of noodle so I picked prawn noodles instead :)

Well, I didn't regret. The prawn noodle soup wasn't as murky as the ones in Penang and my mouth doesn't stink after having them. It's like having a slightly diluted version of my friend's prawn noodle. Interestingly, they don't use fried shallots. Instead they add in fried 'tim chok' (甜竹) and the owner was pretty generous with the prawns. Although tiny, but every bite of the noodle has a prawn or two stuck on it. Haha. The prawns didn't seem to be fried with chilli like the ones in Penang but they are good on their own. Before I forgot, their soup wasn't sweet base but 鲜甜 and more to the savory side :) I slurped the bowl dry. After that, I realised there wasn't any sediments beneath the bowl which you would normally find when having Penang prawn noodles.

All that was washed down with a bowl of ais kacang....I was extremely satisfyingly bloated ~ *burp*

Happy reading~

Kuala Sepetang Trip: Matang Mangrove Reserve

2009-09-28T14:17:00.008+08:00

I think it's a coincidence that the trip was arranged in a chain manner LOL! We spent less than 20 minutes at the charcoal factory and headed over to the Matang Forest Reserve, the place where Green Wood/Bakau Minyak grows. The ride took no more than 5 minutes to reach there. We were a bit in a rush because the day's getting darker.

After we took a form (some survey form required to fill in when we enter the area) from the office, we were immediately greeted by these trees :)

Visitors can either choose to park near the entrance and walk in; or ...

drive further more until you see the structure below. This is the starting point of the forest walk. Pretty long distance. If not mistaken, we spent around an hour and half which includes stopping a while, sight seeing and most important of all...taking pictures!

Visitors can choose to rent the chalets and stay over for the night. Not sure of the price though and at this point my friends were feeling mosquitoes wheezing all over them. Perhaps less mosquitoes during high tide?

I haven't been on a long walk for quite some time so I was sweating beads haha!

At some point of the walk, you would see the river...

and a docking area where the boats (for fire fly trips) parked. Yupz...there are fire flies at Kuala Sepetang too, besides Nibong Tebal. But no one was there and we forgot to ask the officers about it before we left.

More trees... I say evening was the best time to visit the park as its not so hot.

Another place which I'd seen only through television so it felt really good for me to be there finally :)

Let's head home for dinner!

Happy reading!

Kuala Sepetang Trip - Charcoal Factory

2009-09-25T22:31:00.004+08:00

Whenever you are visiting kampung areas, its not unusual that you see people riding motorcycle without helmet and driving around without putting on seat belts :P How else you gonna squeeze in more than 3 people at the back of the car eh?

A couple of minutes driving and we are standing at the one of Kuala Sepetang's famous charcoal factory. I am pretty sure this site is talking about the one I visited. Anyway, when we were there the area was dead silent. Probably you would hear cars passing by or dogs barking. Other than that, the place looked as if it'd been abandoned LOL...

Baking process had started and transporting logs only takes place during early morning, when the tide is high. The place below is where the boats carrying logs come in. The water level was very low when we were there.

So I guess no point having so many workers around right? Only saw the lady boss there and she was kind enough to let us in ;)

Not a single part of the tree is wasted because leftover of the chopped trees were used to fire up the kiln and they are neatly placed outside the factory (near the entrance).

It was my first time visiting a charcoal factory :D Previously I onlyget to watch it from television. The moment you reach the place, you wouldbe able to smell the charcoal. You can sniff out the difference betweenthe charcoal there and the regular ones back in Penang.Yeah la, still smokey smell but it doesn't smell 'choking'. No wonder the charcoals produced at Kuala Sepetang can make it all the way to Japan.

Lucky to be able to see some remaining logs outside the kiln. I am only a head taller than the logs hahaha!

I think one of the food to look out for should be satay. Obviously they would be using locally produced charcoal right? Aih...I only thought about it at time of writing this post. My brains are getting slower these days...

Happy reading~

Kuala Sepetang Trip: Kuala Sepetang Town, A Town-ful of Flavours

2009-09-20T14:14:00.009+08:00

Moving on from Taiping, we quickly head over to Kuala Sepetang, my friends hometown. Not exactly great weather but at least there was no rain. Before reaching Kuala Sepetang Town, one has to drive past this road. On the left side of the picture is the famous Matang Mangrove Forest or to some "红树林". A long straight road with dense mangrove forest on the side, very scenic indeed.

A couple of minutes later, we reach the town. It was an interesting experience to me because I have never been to this part of Perak before. I could only see hills and rubber trees back at my father's hometown.

My friends and I were very excited. One of them thinks this place is 'photogenic'. Hahaha...I have to agree with him. 这地方很有味道...

The bustling Kuala Sepetang Town roads are much more narrow compare to Pekan Lenggong. Thus not having a feel that its a pekan. Hahaha. It felt more like a housing area with mini grocery stores and coffee shops instead XD By the way, a quick check on wikipedia, this place was previously known as Port Weld. So there is a history behind this town but I guess my friend didn't know about it LOL...

We were just in time to catch the scene below. The workers were gathering dried prawns after sun drying them on cement floor for the whole day. The premise next to my friend's home is a small factory producing dried prawns and salted fish. That's why when we got off the car, the area smells of dried seafood. 海的味道... LOL!

We hanged out here for a while to take some air. Light breeze swifts by with swallows chirping.

My friend's dad was cleaning the Mantis Prawns for our dinner later in the evening! I think there's a kilo of it in there! Wahahaha...I shall leave it for the next post.

It only took my dad's friend awhile to finish up what he was doing. And he threw us a surprise by telling us we are getting a short boat ride along the river! Woohoo! The jetty was a stones throw away from my friend's home.

Houses in Kuala Sepetang were built closely together. They remind me of my previous visit to Penang's Mixed Surname Jetty.

Walk through the alley and here we were.

The jetty faces the mangrove swamp. Pretty much like Nibong Tebal but I think the Kuala Sepetang's river view was much nicer.

Somehow the sky cleared a little but it wasn't hot. It's been a while since I hop onto a boat.

Sorry for the blur picture. Haha this is the best my (lousy) camera could take in maximum zoom mode. Unfortunately it got maximum-ly blurred too :P

Spent several good minutes on the boat taking in the view and a sky full of eagles. Very happy :D The day was getting late. Already 5 pm when we returned from the boat ride.

Not to waste time, we quickly change our transportation mode to car and head off to our next destination, Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve :D

Happy reading~

Selamat Hari Raya!!!

2009-09-19T20:19:00.005+08:00

I am dedicating this Nescafe Raya card to all my Muslim friends and fellow readers~ Wishing you guys a safe journey back to kampung and ber-Happy Raya!

Kuala Sepetang Trip: First stop - Taiping Famous Cendol

2009-09-16T19:33:00.006+08:00

Finally a trip with my friends! That's about time...No pre-plans because the trip was decided the night before. That is how crazy my friends can be :P

The day started out cloudy followed by heavy rain for an hour or two but after that, the sky cleared when we wanted to head over to Weld Quay.

Bright sun + blue sky = smooth trip :D

We had to take ferry over to mainland Penang's bus terminal because there were no bus (to Kamunting, Taiping) available at Sungai Nibong Bus Terminal. Its been ages since I'd been on a ferry...5 years?

The bus arrived at 1.30pm. Fortunately there was still some time to spare because we are unsure of the bus schedule. We happily hopped into the bus, snored for 1.5 hours and there we were...Kamunting, Taiping.

And guess what? I our first stop was actually Taiping's Tesco not cendol stall... LOL! But of course we didn't simply drop by the hypermarket for fun. We had to pick up some stuff to BBQ at my friend's place later when night falls.

Later on, we tried our luck to see if Bismillah Cendol was still open. My friend said it finishes early and it was 4++pm already. The stall was located at Jalan Barrack (Taiping) behind a secondary school. Indeed, the stall was still open when we reached.

Because we were late, they had run out of red beans and 'pulut' (Malay term for glutinous rice).

This was the uncle behind the stall that day. He was packing several packets of cendol. I noticed that take-away cendol's portion was huge. The mug he used was a standard container to contain shaved ice and other condiments before pouring them into a huge plastic bag.

A cooling bowl of cendol... It was a bit to my disappointment because the santan was not as thick as I thought. The santan did not have the slight salty after taste. I guess the coconut milk was freshly prepared daily as they don't last very long without salt. The black sugar syrup had sharp but light taste compare to Penang's. The cendol strands was interesting because it has a distinctive pandan flavor to it, not just the color. Too bad they were too soft for my liking.

After eating, I asked if I could visit the back to see the place they prepared the cendol. They gladly allowed :)

They had already made the cendol so we only get to see the finish product, one huge container of it. The machine below was the machine they used to cook the cendol.

How I know about the place? I clearly remember an episode of Ho Chiak (8TV) aired about 3 years ago. They introduced this place towards the end of the show. Hehe...

Okay...Taiping famous cendol, checked. More post coming up :D

Happy reading~

Invited Review: Gelatissimo at Gurney Plaza

2009-09-10T15:32:00.022+08:00

Soorrryyy peeps for the long hiatus. Had a really bad backache and the only thing I could think of was 'PAIN' >.< Jason and Gill for the little 'field trip' and making us feeling like kids again :D Having tried gelato by another gelato vendor, now I can make a fair comparison between the two.

This is the only Gelatissimo outlet in Penang. One can easily spot it along Gurney Plaza's Alfresco area. Originating from Australia (Italian owners) and has reached our shores for quite some time. Now, they made it to Penang.

It was a joy looking into the gelato chiller...So colourful and there were all sorts of flavor :D The gelatos are all made using imported natural ingredients. These were the flavours of the day and would change frequently as Gelatissimo has over 90+ flavors. However only portion of them were made available in Malaysia as not all of of the flavor suits our local taste buds.

They really live up to their tagline, 'The Real Taste of Italia". The gelatos (ranging from premium sorbets to premium dairies) were very smooth, fresh and not too sweet. Each has their distinctive taste and I kinda like the idea of having cake flavors in gelato version such as Profiterole, Tiramisu and Strawberry Cheese XD

But the top seller gelatos would be Belgium Chocolate and Mango. Truly, they taste great. Belgium Chocolate flavor was super intense and the super smooth mango sorbet gave made me feel as if I was munching on a frozen real mango.

It doesn't matter what I say here actually because you can taste of the gelato of your choice before buying except for Chocolate with Chili. Not spicy and the chili flavor only appear as a subtle aftertaste.

The Passion Fruit Blood Orange sorbet were good too but the seeds were a bit annoying.

Currently they are serving those gelatos in paper cups and small wafer cone. Soon large wafer cones would be available at the store. Actually, its much fun to have gelato with wafer cones. One bite gelato, one bite wafer. Everything ends up in your stomach...very environmental friendly LOL!

Below are the pricing for cups and cones:

1 Flavour Cup RM 8.90
2 Flavours Cup RM 12.90
3 Flavours Cup RM 16.90

1 Flavour Cone RM 9.90
2 Flavours Cone RM 13.90
3 Flavours Cone RM 17.90

As for take aways, Gelatissimo offers 2 types of packing:

Regular 650cc 2 flavors RM35.90
Large 1300cc 3 flavors RM65.90

Blogger's Gelato Choice: Belgium Choc and Mango?
Many of us pack 650cc of the mentioned gelato tho...

While waiting for the other group to finish their field trip, we get to taste some Mango Shakes. One word...Good :D I just love the Mango taste...

Below are the pricing for the shakes:

Regular - RM14.90
Extra thick - RM16.90

If one prefers something more 'adult', there's Affogato (Italian word for 'drown'). The management thinks its best to source the espresso premix from Illy for convenience.

The item that was drowned would be a scoop of Biscottino.

The espresso was rich and aromatic. Although it came in powdered form, the taste was pleasant and smooth. Probably the Biscottino gelato soften its taste a little. I gulp down the rest after some of us tasted. Hehe...

This is Mei Yi's cup of gelato, consisting Green Tea and Belgium Choc. Good choice as Green Tea was one of my favorite too :)

Thanks again to Mr. Hong the Marketing Manager who was willing to patiently explain to us the process of making those lip smacking gelato.

Another great day meeting the blogger geng....

Happy slurping~

Add: G-45A Gurney Plaza, Penang.
Contact: +604 2280822

Exabytes Refer and Win campaign

2009-08-27T23:06:00.003+08:00

Source: Exabytes

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This year is Malaysia's 52nd Independence Day! Yay! As always, we will be running a few special campaigns to commemorate this special day.

Stand a flag in front of the house,.. check.
Stick a flag on the car rooftop,.. check.
Put an iLoveMalaysia logo on website to win iPhone 3GS,.. REALLY?

YES! This is a chance for you to win yourself one fancy, must-have smartphone - iPhone 3GS worth RM 2500 each! That's not all. The best part is, you can also refer someone to join this campaign, and if they are selected as winner, you as the referer will win the exact same prize! - all while expressing your love to the country!

Don't be disheartened if you fail to get the grand prize. We still have other cool and expensive consolation prizes waiting for you. We hereby kick off this campaign today!

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*Remember to write my email (jianmy@gmail.com) in the referrer's email field!

Winners would be picked randomly. So good luck to everyone!

Penang Food Blogger 4th Gathering - Vintage Bulgaria

2009-08-23T14:54:00.020+08:00

Here comes again the special occasion of Penang Food Bloggers Gathering where not only Penang Bloggers were attending but also a few bloggers from outstation, met up with us that night.

About 2 months ago during one of our meet ups, we elected Alan and Allie to be our organizer. Later on, we were given a month's worth of time to cast our votes to decide our gathering location.

Based on the scoreboard, apparently almost everyone happily said "Aye" to the little Vintage Bulgaria Restaurant which is located at the hillsides of Tanjung Bungah :D Our last count on the invitation list was 42 people. What a feat!

Here we are...the restaurant is just in between the shops.

To reach this place, you just need to be more aware when you are about to reach Copthorne Hotel/Toy Museum. There is a traffic light junction and Medan Selera Food Court. Turn in and you would be able to spot the shop lot immediately. I haven't been there, so it was a good experience.

I like the deco a lot. The restaurant did live up to its name 'Vintage' Bulgaria. Haha!

Peering through the windows, I could already see the lovely restaurant setting and cannot wait to go in! Hehe...

The restaurant has 3 levels. The area I saw when peering through the windows was slightly below ground level.

At level 2, there was the bar area. Tastefully decorated with rows of empty wine bottles and some Bulgarian decoration items.

Pretty isn't it? Skillfully woven Bulgarian Rugs.

On my way to the top floor, I saw these cute dolls below the stairs. Never knew their national clothes are so colorful.

Yupz, this should be the way XD

The restaurant were caring enough to print out a banner for us LOL! Kudos to them~

The whole concept of the top floor was to make the diners feel as if they are eating in a restaurant veranda located on top of hills overlooking a small typical Bulgarian village.

Thus the outdoor elements such as lamp post and windows were placed in there together with some flowers. All tables were placed with real flowers.

Cordial drinks were served while orders were taken.

We had the menu with us more than a month ago but eventually we made our decision by having all of the dishes on the menu. With 6 of us, we ordered 3 mushroom soup, 3 seafood soup, 2 Plovdiv Pork Ribs, 1 Djolan Pork Knuckle, 1 Bulgarian Platter, 1 Cod Fish, 1 Chicken Stroganov, 3 Chocolate Creme Brulee and 3 Chocolate Soup XD

I believe if we were to put all these together on the table, it would be very scenic feast LOL!

The soup in front was Mushroom Soup with 'Vintage' Garlic Bread. Tasty. It had the right thickness and not overly flavorful or too much cream. They are only starters, so no need to be so heavily flavored right? Besides, we were having the soup with garlic bread. It was just nice.

However, their Seafood Soup caught my attention. It was really good. I never had seafood soups as good as this. Fresh and savory, no weird fishy smell. Subtle taste of seafood. I think the soup was made primarily using fish and crab meat. Good ah :D

We tried the Baked Cod Fish with Creamy Mushroom Sauce first. The fish was soft and feels almost like jelly. We must have been given the tummy area of the fish. The sauce was good. Creamy but it did not overwhelmed the fish. We wiped the plate clean.

Next, Chicken Stroganov. Since they use chicken drumstick, the meat was bouncy and smooth. The sauce was also cream based but with the addition of bell peppers, it has a different fragrance to it which encouraged us to continue having more of it. The mash potatoes were quite special. Herbs and spices were mixed in it yet we do not know what are they. Cariso mentioned it reminds her of an Indian dish. Haha!

Next, Bulgarian Platter (mix grill of kebapche, kyofte and karnatche) According to the menu, they are traditionally home made Bulgarian sausages and pork fillet. Certainly home made sausages when take note of the sausage texture. The herbs in meatball (kyofte) were a bit heavy for me. Maybe others would like it more.

Yeah! Plovdiv Ribs! Thumbs up :D Honey glazed outer surface and well marinated. Some find it a bit salty but it was alright for me. The meat easily comes of the bone and I was surprised at the rib's tenderness.

We can forget about roasted pork ribs from other chain restaurants. Haha This is the taste I was actually looking foward to if I have pork ribs. Maybe because I like things sweet haha!

Here comes the star of the restaurant, Bulgarian Pork Djolan or traditional roasted pork knuckle. Not only thumbs up, our fists were up as well XD wahaha!

We barbaric-ly tore the meat from the roasted kunckle. We absolutely enjoy it! Cariso was happily sucking the bones while I chew on the perfectly honey glazed skin...good ah! The pork knuckle was really huge. I think 2-3 normal eaters might be able to finish it off :D

Here are the in house desserts. Chocolate Creme Brulee.

Creamy smooth and rich. Not overly sweet... well if don't count the burnt sugar layer on top :P

That was my first time trying Chocolate Soup with Vanilla Ice Cream. Hard to resist myself from trying eventhough I know its heaty :P

It comes in a HUGE mug. An scoop of vanilla ice cream inside with some chocolate flakes as a finishing touch. The chocolate soup wasn't too sweet and not overly thick with chocolate. When you sip it, it smoothly flows down your throat, NOT stick there lol! I think the ice cream plays an important role of softening the chocolate taste.

Hohoho after this meal and the lunch, I was cholesterol and meat overdosed : P Aiks...its not over yet...

PS: Please be aware that the set menu was tailored to our occasion. But somehow there were so many of us, so other patrons had the same food as us on that day.

Vintage Bulgaria Restaurant & Bar

(Next to Ingolf’s Kneipe German Restaurant)
Add : 1-E, Jalan Sg Kelian, Tanjung Bungah, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: 04-8981890
Business Hour : 12 pm - 12 am (last order at 10pm)

Penang Food Blogger 4th Gathering - Dessert Sponsors

2009-08-23T13:20:00.009+08:00

Just as we thought we are done with our dinner, the cakes and fresh made gelatos showed up O.o Definitely eating to the fullest :P

Those extra desserts were fully sponsored by Gelatissimo and Winter Butterfly Homemade Cake. many thanks to the them for bringing over the desserts personally :D

First off would be Cream Cheese Mousse Cake.

Next, Oreo Cheese Cake.

And lastly, Chocolate Brownie.

The chocolate flavor of the brownie was strong and it wasn't too sweet. However, I think the cake was stored in the restaurant's chiller together with other cakes, so it was a bit dry. We should have asked the restaurant to microwave it for us before serving haha XD

The rich cream cheese layer was sandwiched in between crushed Oreo cookie bits. Slightly messy when cutting but it didn't really matter. Oreo and cheese cake was an interesting combo. I have never tried although I often see it in bakeries. Oreo biscuit seems to be the best choice as they are still crispy when eaten together with the cream cheese. Good stuff.

My favorite has to be the Cream Cheese Mousse Cake. A simple layer of fresh cream was spread on top decorated with fresh strawberries. Probably because of the heavy dinner (and not to mention lunch too) the light tasting mouse cake seems nicer.

The spread on top was only fresh cream. In fact, the cheese had been mixed into the cake mixture beforehand and when I ate, it gave out the subtle cheese flavor in my mouth. Most importantly, its not sweet :P Else it would be difficult for us to stomach it.

Of course no one would forget the gelatos which Mr. Hong brought over from his Gelatissimo outlet in Gurney Plaza. There were Green Tea, Rum n Raisin, Belgium Chocolate, Mango and Banana.

A great finish to our gathering dinner that night :D

Cake Sponsor
Winter Butterfly Homemade Cake
Add: 46, Taylor Road, 11600 Penang.
Tel: 016-4455667
Email: im@dennieyeap.com

Gelato Sponsor
Gelatissimo (Gurney Plaza Outlet)
Add: g-45a, Gurney Plaza, Penang.
Tel: +604-2280822

Invited Review - Gurney Drive 75 Celsius (Environment)

2009-08-23T04:01:00.000+08:00

*More about their drinks and food...

Sorry peeps for not updating recently. The past week was convo week, so go figure :P From picking up robe down to photo shooting, a food review (Thanks Ken!) and Penang Food Blogger 4th Gathering (post coming soon)...All in a week's time! >.<
The dining area of the restaurant is located outdoor as pictured below. Thus, I agree with CK Lam that it could be pretty hot to dine there in the afternoon. Night time would be better to hang out with friends especially the loud speaking ones since its outdoor LOL

You can always opt to sit at the large sofas if you're not so keen with metal chairs and tables.

At first I thought someone sketched on the tarpaulin using pen but it turns out to be printed hehe...

The bar area is just at the corner of the restaurant and the kitchen is behind.

This place used to be occupied by Cubar then Chasers. So do look out for the sign when you drive pass Gurney Drive. They are located just beside Island Cafe ;) They do not provide parking lots but one can park at public parking lots opposite the restaurant.

Coming up next...the drinks...
**(More about their drinks and food...)**

75 Celcius Restaurant & Bar
75 Persiaran Gurney, 10250 Penang.

Business Hours - 11am to 2am

Invited Review - Gurney Drive 75 Celsius (Drinks)

2009-08-23T04:00:00.000+08:00

Super hot weather calls for icy cold drinks right? I lost count of the glasses of iced water I had when I was there :P

Since 75 Celsius is a a bar too, there are a number of drinks to order ranging from coffee / cordial juices to alcoholic beverages (cocktails, beers and liquors). No worries to families who are bringing kids to dine there as they also serve soft drinks and milkshakes.

The restaurant was generous to serve most of the drink available on the menu. Anyway, there were 20+ of us. Each one of us ordered a drink and it was already sufficient to cover a huge portion of the drinks menu haha! Too bad I had to stay away from drinks like coffee :P

Below is 75 Celsius' top drink, Dawn of the Beauty (pale orange and red in color) RM7 and Philadelphia (3 mix top up with soda) RM7.50.

Below - Wild Fruit (Orange, mango, strawberry, pineapple cordials blended with crushed ice) RM9.50

Below - Ice Espresso (Black color) RM7 and Michael Jackson (white color) RM10

Below - Cappuccino RM5 , Hazelnut Cappuccino RM5.50 and Caffe Mocha RM6

From front - Tequila Sunrise RM13 , Screwdriver RM13 and AK47 RM18

Staying away from coffee was one thing but eventually I ordered an alcohol based drink for the 'sake of trying' XD Thanks to Steven who robbed my drink, I had to go to the bar and order another shot of it.

Didn't know that Lemon Drop is made of Lemon Bacardi. At this point I wasn't sure if I should drop the shot glass into the glass of ice water or just drink it and bite on the lemon :P The more curious side of me wanted to taste the liquor so I just emptied the shot glass. Hahaha...I wonder if it was me or the weather...it tasted a bit sweet and quite smooth :P

If none of the drinks I mentioned interests you, you can just pick Lemon Temptation (lemon with Sprite) RM7. Simple and refreshing :D

My personal choice would be any refreshing drinks that came with ice LOL

Moving on to REAL food...

75 Celcius Restaurant & Bar
75 Persiaran Gurney, 10250 Penang.

Business Hours - 11am to 2am

Invited Review - Gurney Drive 75 Celsius (Food)

2009-08-23T01:32:00.010+08:00

A bunch of appetizers and snacks were served. Chezzy Garlic Bread RM6.90 was first to arrive. The crispy slices of baguette were toasted with some garlic spread and topped with cheese. It would be nice to pair it with the soup.

2 salads were available on the menu - Crispy Chicken Salad RM12.90 and Chef's Salad RM11.90 The portions were not bad actually and can be shared between 2 person.

Then came the soups :D First off...the sourish Creamy Tomato and Bacon Soup RM6.90

Herby Oxtail Soup RM8.50

My personal vote goes to Creamy Mushroom Soup RM6.90 3 types of mushrooms were used to cook the soup. Pretty thick and flavourful.

Some fried snacks were served as well such as Tempura Calamari RM8.50 The Calamaris were nicely fried as they did not have the rubbery texture. The thousand island sauce provided some flavor to the calamari. The batter coating the calamari wasn't thick either.

Below - Fish Cocktail RM8.50

Lamb Brushetta RM8.90 was pretty good. The lamb was well cooked and flavourful. It matches those garlic bread prettu well.

Mushroom Brushetta RM7.90 Yupz I think my personal preference would be both brushetta like some of the bloggers.

Below - Tuna Supreme RM12.90

Turkey Fresco RM12.90 :D these sandwich pictures reminded me of burger pictures on some ads.

There were also spaghettis . Below was the classic Marinara Seafood Pasta RM16.90...

Then Aglio Olio RM15.90 A bit too pepper-ish for my taste buds. But overall its a flavorful dish .

Below - Alla Carbonara RM10.90

Below - Baked Cheezy Seafood RM16.90

Below - Chicken Chop RM10.90 Sadly I didn't manage to try this. I couldn't track where the dish went : P

Below - Ribeye Steak RM17.90

Below - Lemon Butter Fish RM12.90

Below - Tagarashi Salmon RM17.90

Below - Spice Lamb Leg RM18.90 The lamb was nicely grilled and smells good too.

Another lamb dish, Lamb Cutlet RM22.90 The grilled lamb cutlet was not as fragrant as the lamb dish above. However, we can always drizzle some sourish mint yogurt sauce. I did prefer the sauce to be a bit sweet. Some restaurants serve it in jelly/jam form. The patch of cooked vegetable was actually ratatouille. Sourish and pretty appetizing actually.

The next few dishes would be beef dishes so beef people would be glad to know this...haha
Below - Jacuzzi Beef RM17.90
Below - Cheezy Beef RM15.90

Finally, Hamburger Delight RM16.90 which was my favourite item among all.

The beef patty was about slightly more than 1/2 an inch thick yet its cooked to perfection with its juiciness maintained. Not only that, the spread of sweet thousand island sauce (or was it mayo?) made me wanna sink my teeth into the burger even more :D This is a huge burger so I think sharing with another person would be ideal so you can try other food.

Overall its was nice to be able to meet 20+ bloggers and enjoy a meal together. Although only a bite of here and there, I was quite bloated. Another gathering was only about 3 hours away :S and more meat would be coming our way :P

75 Celcius Restaurant & Bar
75 Persiaran Gurney, 10250 Penang.

Business Hours - 11am to 2am

Convocation Coming to Town!

2009-08-13T10:35:00.009+08:00

In another 3 days, I would be in a hall filled with people from all over Malaysia :D and perhaps abroad too. The feeling was just indescribable. Taking family photos after our first shoot back at 1988 :P and those 3 years in campus was over...just like that :(

Convocation Week started from yesterday onwards until Sunday. The island would definitely be seeing more visitors than usual (school holidays are just around the corner). My graduating friends who were from other states had made hotel reservation in advance...somewhere like 2 months ago. Nearby hotels would be fully booked super early for sure. Some even mentioned hotels I haven't heard of LOL!

Recently I have been told about HotelsCombined.com. I hopped over and checkout the website. Clean looking site, NO blinking ads all over the place and fast results. I simply searched for Penang and it lists out all participating hotels. To my surprise, it showed hotels (near USM) mentioned by my friends. Although Hotels Combined doesn't do reservations, at least we could get hold of important information about the hotels we would like to stay in, right? Another click on the 'Price' tab, the cheapest hotel appears on top of the list *thumbs up*. Price does matter to me and I believe others as well. Those who are graduating next year, the website would be a great place to start looking for accommodation. Searching for a hotel at/near a food street is a good idea too.

The site doesn't only cover Penang. HotelsCombined was established in Australia (2005), so they cover other hotels around the globe too. Good news for travellers :D Many travel sites like Travelocity (USA) and AsiaRooms (Asia) are their partners. This means we would be conveniently directed to those sites and check out the neccessary details.

Happy searching~

Penang Ayer Itam - Curry Mee & See Kuo T'ng (四果汤)

2009-08-10T08:22:00.000+08:00

Hot hot hot! These days, the weather is unpredictable. Just looking outside the window, its enough to make you feel as if your skin is searing under the sun. But the moment you step out, you might be drenched with rain water =.= Scarry. However, it did not stop me from having a bowl of Ayer Itam Curry Mee. The last time I had this bowl of curry mee was many years ago.

When I first tried them, I did not like the taste. The curry smell was pungent. Nevertheless, droves of customers still flock to this stall every evening about 3-4pm onwards.

You have to be early else they would be sold out.

I was skeptical about it at the begining but I tried anyway. Indeed, the soup was different. Instead of those curry powder smell, the current one is much fresher with the use of lemongrass and ginger flower.

The texture of the coagulated blood is a bit different to other stalls. Its like eating duck's blood but just that this one is chunkier and slightly firmer.

Since its was a hot day, we had some See Kuo T'ng (四果汤) as well. The stall has always been located at this tiny lane beside the Ayer Itam Food Court.

There are regular stuff like red kidney beans, white fungus, dried longan, sago balls, jelly strips and barli.

I like it as its chilling and not too sweet. Great way to wash down all the curry mee I telan just now.

This is only one of the curry mee stalls at Pekan Ayer Itam. Lol...

Location:
Beside Air Itam Food Court (Curry Mee stall at the entrance of the alley while See Kuo T'ng is in the alley)
Pekan Ayer Itam, Penang.

Operating Hours:
3pm - 6pm (Close earlier if Curry Mee is sold out)

Happy reading~

Invited Review at Young Heart Part 2: Food

2009-08-04T12:50:00.000+08:00

*Click here to download an exclusive 10% discount e-voucher for dining at Young Heart Restaurant.

After snapping photos for quite sometime, we finally get to settle down and have dinner! :D
We started off by sipping some hot Ginseng Oolong Tea (人生乌龙茶) RM15 per pot which is one of the chef recommended teas besides Tie Luo Han Tea (铁罗汉) RM19 per pot. A very nice tea with a smooth aftertaste (甘味). Good kickstart. First time I had this kind of tea. The ginseng is wrapped in the oolong tea leaves. When we pour in hot water, tea leaves expand and they simultaneously release ginseng and oolong flavour. Thus both flavours are infused and goes down the throat smoothly.

If you think Chinese tea is not your type, there is an array of Natural Flower Tea Mixture to choose from the menu. That night, Ann served Rosehip, Hibiscus and Green Apple Tea RM9 per pot.
I think it would be more interesting to add Stevia Rebaudiana (甜菊叶) leaves (additional RM1) which could give the tea a sweet-like aftertaste. The sweet-like aftertaste would complement the sourish taste and refrain the need of rock sugar syrup provided by the restaurant.

The tea started off very sour because we left the tea mixture in the water for too long. Haha so many people taking photo, can't help it. But its okay, a couple rounds of adding water, the taste was just right. Actually this tea is suitable for a large group of people because the flavour is released fast and wouldn't be diluted easily.

I can't remember if the sourish taste is from rosehips or hibiscus. But the red colour certainly came from the hibiscus. Refreshing tea indeed.

Let's move on to real food! We were served with a bowl of Soup of the Day, 贴心滋补靚湯 RM6 for medium (2-3 pax) / RM9 for large (4-6 pax).

Just looking at the soup, we already know its a perfectly cooked soup. No oily surface and the flavor was rich. Saying rich doesn't mean the soup has to be super thick. If you look closely, the soup is not cloudy. I believe all these can only be achieved by boiling the soup under slow consistent charcoal fire. The ingredients are still intact and soft. The chicken feet was cleaned properly and feels soft.

Another additional ingredient to the lotus root soup is the Ipoh grown raw ground nuts. Slightly bigger than our Cap Tangan peanuts but it remains in shape even after 2 hours plus of boiling under charcoal fire. Certainly fulfills the home cooked soup criteria. Cariso slurped every single drop of it lol...

Next up, Stir Fry Choyote Leaves with Roast Duck Meat (龙须菜炒燒鴨肉) RM5 (Medium) + RM4 (with duck meat) and RM9 (Large). The duck meat overpowered the natural vegetable taste a bit but overall its a good dish as its crunchy, rich in fibre and the gravy was slightly to the sweet side. The plant wasn't too old either. The leaves belongs to Buddha Palm Gourd. I have only seen another version type of 龙须 which is the fern variety. This vege does not require the chef to peel away the fibrous skin.

I agree with the others that light stir fry version (清炒) would be nicer. Be aware that light stir fry is without garlic.

The following dish was an appetizer. Deep Fried Prawn Dumpling, 虾仁炸饺 (4pcs, RM6) The wrappings and prawn shell was crispy enough to be munched all together XD Everything goes into my tummy :D It was surprising to find the fillings were juicy. Fresh prawns were used in this dish so no 'water/fridge' smell.

Drizzle some sweet sourish Thai style chilli, perfect.

Very quickly, Hearty Pumkin Fried Rice (爱心金瓜炒饭) RM7.80 per plate. The dish is placed under Young Heart Hassle Free Rice section in the menu. So cute~ hahaha....

The fried rice would be moulded into a heart shape. I say its highly recommended for Valentines Day and Father/Mom's Day hahaha. Its very clear that the shallots were self fried and the addition of pumpkin cubes is a nice touch. Fried rice wasn't oily and tasted just nice with a hint of sweetness from crunchy pumpkin cubes. Rice grains were not lumped together (a pre-requirement for good fried rice).

A whole fried chicken wing was served together with the rice. Not overly salty and the flesh remains juicy. Good :) According to Ann, the wings were marinated based on her mother's secret recipe.
However the wing I had (from 2nd batch) was slightly oily. Not really a huge problem. What matters is the oil used to fry the chicken. Simple, black oil = black chicken, clean oil = golden brown chicken. Hahaha...

I love to eat this plate of stir fried cabbage. Naturally sweet, crunchy and not oily. I also like the fact that they cut the vege into long strips. It helps when the vege needs only a quick stirfry. You can see that the vege is not limp. The strips of blackwood fungus adds more crunchyness to the dish's texture.

Then comes another fried rice, Lotus Root and Wax Sausage Fried Rice (莲藕腊肠炒饭) RM8.80 Looks plain isn't it? Do not be deceived as every spoon of it was packful of wax sausage taste. They did not add large quantity of the wax sausage into the fried rice but it was still very fragrant! From there, we can also taste that the wax sausage is of good quality and fresh. Wax sausage would have a certain smell if kept too long.

Since we were served with fried rice already, noodles was served to balance up. 3+1 Cup Chicken Noodles , 3+1 杯鸡面 (RM8.80) as the original set (RM7.80) was paired with white rice. All Personal Meal consist of meat, vege and white rice. Additional RM1 will be charged to change the white rice to handmade noodle or fried rice :)

Based on Ann's explaination, the chicken dish was called 3+1 Cup Chicken because the sauce comprised 1 cup of sesame oil (麻油), 1 cup of Hua Diao Wine (花雕酒), 1 cup of soy sauce (酱油) and 1 portion of chillies (辣椒). Thus the Taiwanese dish is Malaysianised hahaha...

This chicken tasted so different from other 3 Cup Chicken. No signs of Thai Basil and the flavour was much milder (of course still tasty). Chicken was tender and meaty. Handmade noodles were smooth and bouncy (probably they added slightly more eggs than water). Another surprise because the noodles were left on the table for some time (photo shoot) before consumption. I think the portion was just nice. To add value, maybe an extra chunk of meat or extra noodle or a glass of tea would be nice.

Time for some fish. Pan Fried Salmon Head (豉油王煎三文魚頭) RM15 for half fish head. Probably because we ate it slightly cold again, it tasted a bit more fishy than it should be. Normally grilled salmon would taste really good with crispy skin. Soy sauce is normally used in steaming fishes to bring out the fresh taste (鲜味), I am not too sure about grill dishes though. Maybe everyone is too used to pair teriyaki sauce with grilled salmon.

Maybe the soy sauce can be modified a little by adding some brown sugar and slather it on the fish before removing the fish from the pan. It would give a nicer colour to the fish and adds crisp to it. A few slices of lemon wedges could be thrown in as well. Sweet, sourish and fresh. I think it helps to reduce the fishy smell too. Yeah. Lemon was what's missing in the dish.

I have tried Preserved Spinach with Roasted Pork but not the dish below. Pickled vegetable Stuffed Chicken (梅菜鸡) RM28 whole bird (一只), pre-book only (須預定). This whole bird can feed about 4-6 person :P So you can imagine how stuffed we were at this point.

The chicken was well braised with the even chicken skin colour. Chicken thigh was good. Tender and smooth. The dish was fragrant and tasted more to the sweet side. Gravy was delicious and great to be eaten with rice. The essential ingredient of this chicken dish is the soy sauce. A good quality local Penang produced soy sauce was used. Well brewed soy sauce brings a hint of natural sweetness and not only plain salty. That contributes to the smooth tasting gravy and nice even colour for the chicken.

The chicken gravy pairs well with rice ahaha...I had some white rice drenched with the gravy. Good~

Additional dishes served for us to try was Braised Duck with Special Bean Paste (狗仔鸭) RM20 (half bird/半只), RM38 (whole bird/一只). A dish with strong galangal ginger (南姜) flavour and tender braised duck. Not overly salty but I felt the ginger over powered the duck. Perhaps its the nature of the dish. Another dish good for rice :) Only duck is the most suitable meat type to be cooked in this manner.

Ann also scooped some Braised Sweet & Sour Black Trotter (炭煮猪手醋) for us to try. RM9 (Medium) and RM16 (Large) Just like Cariso mentioned, the gravy was a bit too sweet and I would prefer the meat to have some fatty layer because the lean meat served was a bit tough. I think they would have to adjust the vinegar ratio a little. Not sure if they added water as some don't.

This Old School Pan Fried Waterchestnut Cake (花香馬蹄糕) RM5 (4 pcs/块) was something new to me. I had the deepfried version ones at another restaurant before this.

Just right amount of sweetness and osmanthus flower smell wasn't overwhelming at all. Steven and Cariso was improvising the dish by squeezing lemon juice on to the cake. Wahahaha! You should look at their face after the first bite on that improvised cake. Later on they find that its better to just sweep the lemon slices on the cake surface before eating. That step would make the cakes taste more refreshing and less oily. The were still bits of waterchestnut in the cake for us to bite on. The cakes were not too soft either and the texture was just nice.

Later on, we moved on to smoothies, juices and more desserts :D yay~

The Honey Lemon Sea Coconut (蜂蜜檸檬海椰) RM6 tasted like fermented coconut sap (tuak in Malay)! It really did! Hahaha Cariso claimed to be 'high' after drinking it. LOL The drink does not contain any alcohol but somehow the mixture created a familiar aftertaste.

2nd drink served was Pumpkin Soya Bean Milk (黃金豆漿) RM6 was good. Thick and if not mistaken, no sugar was added. Mild natural sweetness came from raw pumpkin. I never thought they can be a combination lol...

The next drink was Banana, Black Sesame and Soya Bean Milk (無間道) RM6.80 Another special drink. Black sesame wasn't overpowering at all and the rest of the ingredient really blend well together.

I have a feeling if they were to replace soya milk with cow's milk, the ingredients would not come together well. The soya milk sort of tied all of them together. I wonder if the black sesame used was imported from Japan.

Anyway thumbs up for all the drinks except for Ice Blended Mixed Berry Vanilla (香草綜合莓果) RM6. Everyone agreed it was too sweet and ontop of that its normal compare to the other drinks presented to us. This drink is a chef recomendation probably because of the patern produced by pulling the mix berry cordial in the drink. It suppose to look like clouds. Haha..

Mango Puree and Sago Pudding (芒果花園) RM 4.50 per bowl. Good dessert in terms of presentation and taste. Natural striking colors of the fruits had already attracted our attentions and the natural sweetness of the mango puree was a great ending to our dinner. Mango was blended with some fresh young coconut water. Red dragon fruit cubes, sago and young coconut flesh was added as the final touch. The Chinese name of the dessert was certainly spot on as it looks like a fruit garden. Haha!

My head was throbbing towards the night (actually midnight when dinner ended =.=) due to lack of sleep. Ann was kind enough to serve one more drink for me and Cariso (tumpang-ed).

Chamomile & Chrysanthemum Tea (消暑双菊茶) RM5 with aloevera (芦荟，additional RM2)

Chrysanthemum flavour is more than Chamomile and I like the fact that they did not add any syrup into it. It was generous of Ann to add in aloevera as well. Refreshing and a great drink to wash my palate after eating so much that night.

The aloevera required a bit of work for clean up process. The aloe cubes had slightly sourish taste to it. Apple vinegar was added to remove the aloe's slimy substance. In short, they were cleaned thoroughly :)

Chamomile has a soothing effect and my head did feel better (at least can tahan until I reach home to snooze off :P) Thanks alot!

Very satisfying indeed. *Burps*~

View Larger Map

Location:
Young Heart Restaurant
No. 44A, Jalan Cantonment,
10250 Georgetown, Penang.

GPS coordinates - 5.430291, 100.311275

Tel: 04-2288084

Business hours: 12pm - 10pm (Closed on Mondays)

Invited Review at Young Heart Part 1: Environment

2009-07-30T14:40:00.017+08:00

*Click here to download an exclusive 10% discount e-voucher for dining at Young Heart Restaurant.

Thanks to Ann, Young Heart Restaurant owner and a lovely lady, for making this happen. I get to try out Young Heart's new menu :D I haven't been there before and it was only after I left SGGS (about 3 years ago), Young Heart Restaurant opened. Anyway, it was fun to join Cariso, Steven and Criz that night for a healthy-licious dinner.

Great weather and the sky was beautiful. However, it was not so beautiful in the morning where the sky pours like mad and I was caught in the middle of it =.= Yes...soaking wet. One of the down side of riding motorcycle. Luckily at the later part of the day, I was nourished with healthy good food.

Young Heart Restaurant can be spotted when one passes by Cantonment Road, Pulau Tikus. According to Ann (the restaurant owner), doctors from nearby hospitals like to frequent her place. So, I guess that statement speaks for itself.

I reached there quite early and the others had not arrived. At that moment, I did feel the surrounding's serenity. Helps a lot as I was out all day :P Its like everything came to a sudden halt lol...

Quite a lot of tables placed in this restaurant. There are 2 types of dining area which is the regular table-chairs and floor area. I would prefer the latter as its more special. Previous review was held in this room but due to some circumstances, we have to care for the elders. So this time, we had our dinner in a newly set up area. Hehehe...

If you are like me who loves the sun, you can opt to sit near the window. Cool right? Nice lazy chair and you can sit at the window area with pillows too...something similar to the westerners. You can feel the warm sun and chilling air-con together.

If not mistaken this is the Sweetheart Hoya haha. I spotted this in the shelf. RM18 for a pot. These are planted by Ann herself and there are many more for sale outside. She definitely has green hands.

Haha being at the restaurant for the first time, anything captures my attention XD I spotted some transparent glassware sets for making tea. I always prefer transparent glasswares somehow. Probably because I like to see what's in the teapot or mug.

Hahaha! Ain't the toilet sign cute? These woodplates easily cost about RM24. I'd seen them in one of the shops at Gurney Plaza.

This is the newly set up place which I'd mentioned earlier....

VIP rooms! Hahaha! Its like we're going to have some sort of a secret meeting with such an exclusive place. There's even a large TV and a dvd player with a couple of sofas to plop yourselves on. The room is decorated with Chinese paintings, plants and some decorative items on the shelf. Cozy room :D

Since its still early, I went downstairs and head out to the backyard. I was amazed with so many pots of plants out there and they are green! Reminds me of the conversation I had with Ann. Anything plants or pets come into my hands will die...lol!

One of the workers were watering the pots of Aloevera's.

Well grown right? Two of the Aloevera plant even have flowers on them. When I stood at the backyard, I felt like I was standing in a mini Aloevera farm XD All Aloeveras are organically grown and absolutely no pesticides are allowed in the course of growing. Good for the workers and good for us! Can u imagine everyday, we are swallowing down vegetables where workers have to don a yellow suit before spraying pesticides on the crops? :P

The flower really looks like an asparagus doesn't it? Ann mentioned that her father took a leaf of Aloevera per day for a year and his hair started to grow back (about an inch). I guess its good news for Steven wahahaha!

Aloevera plants are for sale too. RM18 per pot. So anyone who wants to grow aloe for self consumption, this is a good start.

More to come...stay tuned...

Location:
Young Heart Restaurant
No. 44A, Jalan Cantonment,
10250 Georgetown, Penang.

Tel: 04-2288084

Business hours: 12pm - 10pm (Closed on Mondays)

Penang Perak Road Pasar Malam - Hong Kong Tong Yuen (香港汤圆)

2009-07-22T13:30:00.009+08:00

I always have soft spot for roadside hawker stalls. Don't know why but I like to stand at some lorong eating my bowl of Chendol or seating at the road side slurping down a cooling bowl of Ooh Geok while watching people and cars pass by. I also really like to visit road side drink stalls for sugarcane juice or Leong Fun during a hot day :D I would be sad if such stalls are not around anymore. That would make the place less 'Penang' right?

Its Friday again, most people would either be gathering with friends or chilling out at clubs and so on. Many of my friends are not around except for SM so we decided to lepak at Perak Road Pasar Malam a place where all the hawker stall gathers...lol... Cheap, lots of things to see and lots of good food to choose from :D

In this post, I would be featuring a stall which was originally from Perak Road. Previously, they sell somewhere near the Bomba Station. Now they had moved to New Lane Cafe. I think many people had lost track of them :P

And that stall would be the Hong Kong Tong Yuen (香港汤圆) stall. Below is the stall owner boiling water to cook the glutinous rice balls. The stall's location in this pasar malam should be the same. Well everytime you can find it along the main road without hassle. Unless... you visit the pasar malam at a later hour and you might need to fight through the crowds :P Difficult to walk as people come in droves.

He pre-boils some of it so he could serve his customers faster. The huge ones are filled with either grinded peanut or black sesame. Small ones are regular tong yuen (without fillings). Both varieties are equally good. Another equally good tong yuen stall would be the one located opposite Traders Hotel (beside Komtar), Magazine Road. That would be another story to tell :)

They have a few choices of soups to go with the tong yuen. Below are the menus which I'd snapped:

Dumpling in Ginger Soup (清香姜味汤圆) - RM3
Dumpling in Osmanthus Flower Soup (芳香桂花汤圆) - RM3

Dumplings in Soya Bean Soup (浓郁豆奶汤圆) - RM3.00
Traditional Dumplings (传统柔韧汤圆) - RM2.60

Dumplings in Red Bean Soup (香滑红豆汤圆) - RM3.00
Konyaku Jelly (冰凉水果冻) - RM1.70 per piece

Each regular serving would have 2 glutinous rice balls with filling (peanut and black sesame) and 4 small glutinous rice balls without filling.

To change 2 glutinous rice balls with black sesame filling - additional RM1.00
To add 4 small glutinous rice balls without filling - additional 50 sen

I always prefer black sesame filling tong yuen with soya milk / (black syrup) ginger soup. The soya bean milk served was good :D But I have a feeling it was thicker last time. Anyway, the soup was fragrant and had just the right amount of sweetness. Those black sesame filling was very smooth and not overly sweet. When I had it, it was already lukewarm. If you have it when its piping hot, the black sesame would flow out of the rice ball :) The rice balls do not stick to my teeth as well. Thats a basic requirement for a good tong yuen, they should NOT stick to our teeths.

Good ah! Ain't it a heart warming dessert?

Location:
Hong Kong Tong Yuen (香港汤圆)
New Lane Cafe (opposite Sunway Hotel)
40, New Lane, Penang.

Business Hour:
7.00pm to 10.00pm (Close on Monday)

Pasar Malam Location:
Jalan Van Praagh, Off Jalan Perak, Penang.
Available 6.00pm onwards.

Contact no:
Mr. Toh - 019 4763618
Mr. Ch'ng - 012 5949892

Penang Perak Road Hokkien Mee (槟岛虾面)

2009-07-21T09:31:00.011+08:00

Yeah another weekend breakfast with W :) I haven't been to the stall lately because:
1. Cannot wake up early.
2. No teman.
3. Back then no transport :P

The stall is basically located directly opposite Perak Road Wet Market entrance. Quite hidden and many wouldn't realise the stall's location if you ain't local :P On top of that, I think the coffee shop has no name LOL Anyway...

*Click on the picture to view better

Judging from the photo, the place looks very meriah right? Indeed. There are so many people there in the early morning. Either they go there for the market or have some breakfast before heading off to work. I would say Perak Road is a place you should walk around and experience the not so developed part of Penang.

Although, the place might smell a bit, quite chaotic and difficult to find parking. Me and W rode our motorcycle there so it wasn't a problem. For car owners, please look around the shoplot fronts and behind Mekio building.

Thanks to my friend's mom (the hokkien mee stall owner), me and W get free Hokkien Mee (prawn mee / 虾面) to eat :D Almost the whole family were there...

It made me think of something. With so many 风云 (fung wan) TVB drama these days and recently there is 巴刹风云(Pasar Fung Wan), a Malaysian production. Maybe I should start 虾面风云 (Har Mee Fung Wan) production LOL!!! Hokkien Mee business a prominent business in Penang too right? Hahaha

The soup was great. Full of prawn flavour minus the weird prawny smell and natural sweetness. None. All the prawn natural goodness :D I don't think there is another stall selling prawn noodle with similar quality as this. Good ah *2 thumbs up* Your mouth would not have the stinky prawn aftersmell and they fry the shallots themselves.

The chilli they used contains alot of Galangal Ginger and adds in a slight kick to it. But personally, I don't want to add too much of it, else I couldn't taste the prawn soup. Before you mix in the chilli, remember to savour the soup first :D

Pricing:
Small - RM2.20
Big - RM2.50
Extra Big - RM3.00
Extra ingredients (加料) - Additional RM1.00
Extra fish ball (4 balls) - Additional 60sen
Extra soup - 20 sen (Depending on availability. No charges if not many customers)

I'd been to my friend's house. I saw trays of freshly fried shallots. They pick up fresh ingredients everyday from the market nearby. Pork knuckles, prawns, herbs...loads of stuff. The preparation method is slightly different (involves steaming, lots of work) and besides the prawn is only available in Penang. They are using local Penang prawn if not mistaken.

As you can see the hokkien mee's portion is a bit small but I think good stuff do not have to be alot. I rather have a bowl of Hokkien Mee packed with prawn flavour than a bowl of diluted prawn noodles. There was another reason I asked W to come along. He is mildly allergic to prawns. When he consumes them, he starts scratching and having rashes :P However, lately he always have prawn noodles from other stalls but no rashes were develop. This shows my friend's Hokkien Mee is power... LOL!

Location:
Ah Keong Hokkien Mee (阿强福建面, 卤面)
Perak Road Wet Market, Off Jalan Perak.
The market is in between Perak Road Bomba and the first traffic light junction. (from town)
From Bayan Lepas, just look for Bee Cheng Hiang at stretch of new shophouses.
*The place is difficult to describe and even Google Maps drew it wrongly :P *

Contact number:
016-4989922
(Cater for buffet as well. ONLY equipment and food provided.)

Happy reading~

Penang New Lane - Pig Intestine Porridge (猪肠粥)

2009-07-20T10:35:00.000+08:00

Previously I had blogged about Ayer Itam's pork intestine porridge. However I haven't really blogged about this stall in New Lane individually. Not many are selling pork intestine porridge and I believe these are the only 2 stalls worth frequenting.

This pork intestine porridge operates at 4pm onwards until they run out of porridge :)

I love those crispy fried pig intestine. I wished I could just munch on it XD

Everytime I would ask the aunty to add fried intestine. Original price is RM4 perbowl. Adding extra ingredients would make it RM5 per bowl.

The porridge was delicious but not as delicious as it used to be. Last time the porridge was sweeter. Probably the pig bones price has increase quite a lot, so they had to cut down the amount.

No worries when eating the porridge. No foul smelling instestines as they cleaned it properly. Hehehe. Otherwise it would be 'jiak sai' liao!

Location:
New Lane (Lorong Baru),
Off Macalister Road,
Adjacent to Sunway Hotel, Georgetown.

Operating Hours:
Everyday (Closed on Wednesdays)
3pm - 11pm (Closes early if porridge is sold out)

View Larger Map

Happy reading~

Georgetown Food Trail - Little India Samosa (Part 3)

2009-07-10T15:54:00.001+08:00

Although W and me already had pancakes and nasi lemak, there was still some space left for our next stop, Little India which was also just off Beach Street. We vroomed our ways there for a quick stop as the day was getting hotter :P

Kedai Kuih-muih Rawther is my favourite stall to get those samosa-s.

As it was a quick stop, we just slot our motocycles into some empty spaces in front of the shop opposite the Indian kuih stall :D Very difficult to find carpark at this area unless you park at other nearby streets and walk to the stall.

Yupz, the stall is opposite Sri Ganga Store, King Street.

If kuihs are not enough, you can get some snacks from Vickram Sweets and Snacks beside Kedai Kuih-muih Rawther.

Both stalls are located at the corner of the King Street and Market Street cross junction, so its quite easy to spot them.

The kuihs are so cheap right? 50 sen each (Ulundhu Vadai, Masaal Vadai, Kuih Bawang, Kek Suji) except for the Halwa (RM2 each). And they are all vegetarian.

Great Indian fried items here.

I believe this is the Indian's fried Suji Cake. I'd tried once when I was in KL's Little India. It was slightly sweetish and very crunchy.

I am not sure if the orange looking kuih is halwa. Anyone?
*Thanks to Trypanosoma :) now I know the orange looking kuih is Kehsari (probably wrong spelling).

Again, when I reached the stall, the stall owner was preparing the samosa.

Before...

After...Tada! Hahaha

The whole tray of samosa seems to be calling "buy me...buy me lah" LOL Well, sorry lah I can't. Ever since uni finished, I gained 4kg :P

Freshly made Samosa (50 sen each). Absolutely not spicy but the smell and taste was good~ Skin was crispy but not overfried till it becomes hard. Potato filling with green beans was smooth and nicely done. Flavourful yet not too much use of spices.

Location:
Corner of King Street and Market Street cross junction.
Opposite Sri Ganga Store.

View Larger Map

Operating Hours:
Everyday?
Morning to 7pm (until everything sold out)