The husband and wife team, Lau Lian Kee and Lai Tsuey Ngoh, started this food business a few years back. Their signature dish which comprises of steam freshwater fish head had attracted many people due to its freshness, non-muddy taste and lastly its cheap pricing. Instead of the usage of Tilapia (非洲魚) as served by many restaurants within the KL/Selangor regions, they used another fish species known as the Chinese Carp (Tongsan/Song Yu). Thus, you have their signature Steamed Carp with Salted Black Beans (RM20 for a 10” long fish head). I have a phobia in taking muddy-taste fish but this dish turned out to be fine. Mr. Lau sure knows how to get rid of the earthy smell in the flesh. The dish had some salted black beans (douchi/豆豉), lots of ginger strips, sliced red chilies, mildly sprinkled with some quality soy sauce and shaoxing wine, followed with chopped coriander and spring onions as garnishing.

Another of the home cooked dishes that I like was their Steamed Pork with Salted Fish (RM16). The balance in the fatty and lean parts of the pork slices, mildly marinated in some pepper, soy sauce and corn starch, mixed with some quality salt fish slices and topped with some ginger strips and red chilies did impress me. Each bite just melted into my mouth. It was delicious indeed.

With such a big fish head and a pork dish, we needed some vegetables. We tried out their Fried Sambal Belacan Kangkung (RM9). The kangkung (water spinach/water morning glory/空心菜) were young and crunchy. The sambal belacan had the right combination of pounded chilies and toasted shrimp paste and it was not too spicy for us. I found some dried shrimps being used in this dish too. It was a refreshing dish for us.

We also had some Stir Fry Bean Sprouts with Salted Fish (RM9). I found this dish to be a bit pricey since bean sprouts were supposed to be dirt cheap but I’m not complaining. The bean sprouts were stir fried just right while maintaining their crunchiness and the usage of deep fried salted fish was just right.

On top of the above dishes, we also did order the Steamed Tofu with Garlic (RM5). It was just one of those boxed tofu you can get easily at the supermarket. I could easily cook that at home with the exact amount of fried chopped garlic, soy sauce and chopped spring onion garnishing but I was again fooled by the chef as there were some deep fried dried shrimps added too. This was another of those simple and yet delicious dish to go with our rice.

Overall, the total bill came out to RM70 for the 6 of us, excluding the special tea leaves we brought in for our beverages. I expected the meal to hit the RM100 mark for such a big fish head and dining in the central region where the cost of living is higher but it ended up so cheap. Unbelievable! No wonder The StarMetro and Dong Fan Ri Bao (東方日報) wrote about them in 2009 and 2008 respectively.

For those without a GPS or are not familiar with the Rawang area, you might get lost. But no worries, you could always ask those around the area how to get to Kampung Dato’ Lee Kim Sai. From there it would be real easy to find the food stall. If you are using the North-South Highway, turn into the Rawang Interchange. Drive all the way until a T-junction and turn right into Jalan Bakar Arang. Drive on all the way passed Jalan Ciku (right) and Jalan Kuala Garing (left) until you see a sign leading to Stesen KTM Rawang. Ignore that and drive straight until you see a cross junction below a flyover. Turn right into Jalan Rawang and take the first right turn into Jalan Batu 18. The food stall is just on the right, diagonally opposite Jalan Batu 18/3 (leading to Kampung Dato’ Lee Kim Sai). You can see a big Hino signboard at the left corner shop lot of the small lane and Poh Huat Auto Air Cond Service/Yik Lee Motor at the right side.

Name: GERAI MAKAN FEI KEE
Address:
No. 1C, Batu 18, Jalan Besar Rawang/Ipoh, 48000 Rawang, Selangor, West Malaysia.
Contact: 012-203 1938, 016-694 7309
Business Hours: 11.30am-8.30pm (Closed Wednesday)
GPS: 3.314804, 101.577191

RATING:
Ambience: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 6/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7.5/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

I guess you would be curious to find out what’s inside each and every mantou (steamed buns) here. From the look of Snoopy’s ears, you would know it had chocolate in it. As for Hello Kitty, it was filled with lotus seed paste. Porky Pig would come with red bean paste. The Halloween pumpkin, Jack O’Lantern had lotus seed paste. That would leave two Pokemon characters, Sandslash (beigh – kaya/coconut jam) and Tyranitar (green – pandan kaya/screwpine coconut jam).

Overall, I found the mantou to be cute and reasonably good for consumption but it would be best if the filling were a bit more. It would be best to consume when they are steaming hot or they would be stale hard. There are also many food stalls within the market area. Some of the food you might get here are Pan Mee (RM3.50), Pork Noodle (RM3.50), Hainan Chicken (RM12) and so on. The hawker dishes here were just the market style standard and average in taste.

Those people staying the surrounding Kepong area would be familiar with the morning market but for those from the outskirt of the area, a GPS would be quite handy to locate this place. Find your way to Jalan Kepong and drive towards KL City (Jalan Kuching). As you pass the junction leading to Taman Fadason, keep to your left. Drive on until you see the Petronas petrol kiosk on your left. Slow down and watch out for the DBKL Toll Vehicles Reserve Depot and turn left into Jalan Jinjang Utama. You would find the market a short distance away on your left. Finding a parking space could be quite hard here, so try to be there earlier to avoid any disappointment.

Name: JINJANG UTARA MORNING WET MARKET (KEPONG)
Address: Jalan Jinjang Aman, Jinjang Utara, 52000 Kuala Lumpur, West Malaysia.
Business Hours: 7.00am-9.30am
GPS: 3.210867, 101.658584

RATING:
Ambience: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 6/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 6/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 9/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Barely a few weeks old, Kopitiam Yue Lai has some light breakfast and meals without you having to worry about paying the additional taxes. All items are priced nett. You could always enjoy a hot cup of Kopi “O” (local black coffee – 90sen) or a glass of Iced Penang White Coffee (RM1.90) while escaping from the burning heat of the humid weather.

Do you want to have some toasts to go with your beverage? You could try out their Yue Lai Kaya Butter Toast (RM1.20). From the first look, I thought it would be another extremely sweet caramelized coconut jam that you would get from the mamak roti man. It turned out just like what I always wanted to have – a mildly sweetened with fragrant eggy taste kaya. This order was not bad at all.

There are also savory version of toasts and sandwiches for you to choose from ranging from mayo egg to mayo tuna. Here’s how the Triangle Toasted Mayo Tuna Set (RM2.20) would look like.

Not enough still for your breakfast? Well, there’s always the Half Boiled Eggs (RM1.40 for 2) with a dash or two of soy sauce and pepper to your liking.

There are also some heavier dishes for your lunch such as the nasi lemak (steamed coconut rice), spaghetti and noodles. You could try out the Yue Lai Nasi Lemak with Fried Chicken (RM5.00). This dish would be served with a bowl of rice, some cucumber pieces, half a hard-boiled egg, some deep fried anchovies with peanuts, curry potato and of course with a juicy yet well marinated piece of fried chicken drumstick. This was quite a good bargain for the price paid.

There goes the same for the Yue Lai Nasi Lemak with Curry Chicken (RM5.00). Every side dish would be the same except for the chicken drumstick curry.

They do serve Hokkien Prawn Mee (RM4.00) too. I was quite surprise to find this local hawker dish here as it would involve a lot of preparation to get a great bowl such as the Hokkien Prawn Noodle recipe I had earlier. Although the bowl of noodle (instant noodle used here) looked quite simple with only two halves of a hard-boiled egg, 3 medium sized prawns with a few strands of water spinach and garnished with some fried shallots, it tasted quite good. It would be better if the kopitiam were to add in a few pieces of chicken shreds or pork slices for more bites.

Other than those few dishes mentioned above, there’s also the Yue Lai Mee Soup (RM3.50) which was basically your home cooked version of instant noodles. The bowl of noodles came with some cabbages, egg, half a ham and two halves of a sausage. This is another great bargain for all the ingredients given.

Since this kopitiam is still quite new, more delicious dishes and snacks would be added next month onwards. Do check them out for some simple break time food. It would not be hard to find this kopitiam as it is strategically located just behind the Island Girl’s School along Jalan Argyll, Penang. As you pass the Jalan Argyll/Jalan Transfer junction, drive all the way towards the end of Jalan Argyll and you would see a newly constructed building on your left. Kopitiam Yue Lai is at the ground floor.

Name: KOPITIAM YUE LAI
Address: 203-G, Jalan Argyll, 10050 Penang, West Malaysia.
Contact: 604-226 0181
Business Hours: 8.00am-6.00pm (Closed on Sunday)
GPS: 5.422347, 100.328613

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 6/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 9/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

INGREDIENTS:
250gms red sweet sauce (紅甜醬/tim zheong)
1 thumb size young ginger (slice thinly and cut into strips)
100gms chicken fat/skin/lard (cut into 2” strips)
oil

PREPARATION:
1. Heat up 4 tablespoon of oil in a wok in high fire.
2. Lower the fire to medium and put the chicken fat. Slowly sauté the fat until crispy brown. Scoop up and place on a kitchen towel to seep the excess oil. When cool, cut into smaller chunks.
3. Heat up the remaining oil and sauté the ginger strips until golden brown.
4. Put in the sweet sauce and sauté for about 3 minutes under low fire.
5. Put in the chunks of fat and stir evenly.
6. Scoop and serve.

Note: You can scoop up some of the oil if there is too much. It’s advisable to prepare this sauce 2-3 hours before serving as the oil would harden (due to the fat/lard) and turn white under cold environment. If this happen, just microwave the sauce in high mode for 30 seconds. Best consume within 2-3 days without needing to refrigerate.

(Serves: 10 and above)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

The amazing part of brewing this stock would be that it’s concentrated. You could easily store in small containers and deep freeze it for your future cooking. The stock would be almost gelatin like with no preservative or seasoning. All you need to do is to add half a container of water to a container of stock and put in some pepper and salt to taste. It’s just as simple as that. Let me show you how you could create this HERBAL STOCK for your favorite hot pot. It’s mild anyway for the consumption of all ages.

INGREDIENTS:

Stock:
2kg pork bones (big bones/tua kut)
3 whole chicken bones
50gms ginseng roots (人參鬚/Panax schinseng roots)
20 sweetened dates
10 liter water

Serving:
Dried Chinese wolfberry (枸杞/kay chee/gouci/goji berry)
Pepper
Salt

PREPARATION:
1. Bring to boil 12 liters of water in a 20L pot.
2. Wash all the bones clean with salt and slowly put all of them into the big pot of boiling water. Add in the ginseng roots and dates. Lower the fire, close the pot partly with a lid and let it simmer for about 6-8 hours. Filter out all the bones and you would get about 6-7 liters of stock left.
3. Scoop the required amount of stock for your hot pot into a new pot. Add in half that amount of hot water (2:1). Add in some dried Chinese wolfberry (about less than 1 tablespoon will do as too much will make the soup turn sour). Bring to boil and sprinkle some pepper and salt to taste. NOTE: Try to be lighter in salt usage as some of the hot pot ingredients such as the meatballs and fish balls have salt in them. Thus the longer the hot pot boils, the saltier it will get. Anyway, I will be sharing the dipping sauce recipe next to allow you to adjust to your taste bud.

Recommended Vegetables for Hot Pot:
Crown daisy chrysanthemum leaves (tang oh/茼蒿) and other vegetables such as Chinese Cabbage (菜心/choy sum), cabbage, spring onions (tied up), young corn, mushrooms, etc. Please take note that the usage of too much Enoki mushrooms might cause the soup base to be sour.

Recommended Add-in for Hot Pot:
All types of meat and fish balls which would be available at your location, either fresh or frozen, chicken fillet slices and seafood of any kind such as crab, clam, mussel, squid, cuttlefish, prawn or fish.

Simple Alternative Soup with the stock:
- Chicken fillet slices, white fungus and ginkgo nuts.
- Chicken fillet slices, lotus seed and lily bulb (百合/bai he/ pak hup).
- Chicken with chopped water chestnut balls, cabbage and rice vermicelli.
- Pork dumpling (sui kow/水餃), Chinese cabbage (菜心/choy sum) and wonton noodles.

(Serves: 10 and above)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

This year was one of the rarest celebration moments in my family as it so happen that the Chinese New Year which fell on 14 February 2010 coincided with Valentine’s Day. It’s a FIVE-IN-ONE CELEBRATION for the Lai Family! The celebration included the reunion dinner to usher in the Tiger year, my brother’s birthday on the eve, Valentine’s Day, my brother’s lunar birthday as well as his wedding anniversary which fell on Valentine’s Day. It was indeed a fun-filled celebration.

This year’s reunion dinner dishes were somewhat unique compared to the previous ones. In fact, other than the purchases of different types of meat and fish balls, the steamboat stock was another new creation for the family. It was ginseng roots based herbal stock for the first time in our steamboat reunion dinner history. Simple as it may look but it took more than 8 hours of low fire simmering and tedious filtering just to cook this up. Our steamboat side dishes this year was rather simple as we had other extra dishes as well. They included lots of crown daisy chrysanthemum leaves (tang oh/茼蒿), cabbages, wolfberry, prawns, silver pomfret (tao tay fish), chicken drumstick fillet, hair moss fish balls, vegetable fish balls, squid balls, large meatballs, 3 different types of wolf herring (sai to/ikan parang/西刀) fish balls, prawn & pork dumpling (sui kow/水餃), seafood tofu, Fuzhou fish balls (福州魚丸/Hock Chew fish ball – stuffed with minced meat), fish dumplings (魚餃/hoo keow/thin fish batter skin stuffed with minced meat) and fried chopped garlic as garnishing. The whole experience was rejuvenating after so many days of tiring preparations.

What would be new to most families would be our unique dipping sauce. It’s definitely not any hoisin sauce, chopped garlic with bird’s eyes chilies in soy sauce or bottled chili sauce but a concoction of red sweet sauce (甜醬), ginger and chicken fat. The fragrant gingery sauce with each bite of meat, seafood or balls would surely make you yearn for more.

As it was rare to have my brother’s birthday on such an auspicious gathering, we totally ignored on the fat and cholesterol intakes. LOL! I ordered one of my favorite Korean food – Jokbal (족발 – RM77), glazed pig feet meat slices. I believed that Sa Rang Chae Korean Restaurant is the sole restaurant in Penang to have this wonderfully cooked dish. It caught my brother’s attention immediately as I saw him applying nonstop the accompanied sweet and/or salty sauces onto the accompanied lettuce endlessly. Cool! At least he’s happy. Err… what happened to your diet plan bro?

Now comes the interesting part of the suspense since my last post on reserving some of my home cooked Hokkien Mee stock and chili paste for this new recipe. What would a birthday be without any birthday noodles? Let me introduce you to my latest fusion recipe – Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles! The delicious dish had yellow noodles carefully stir fried in thick prawn stock, dried shrimps, meat, prawns, fish cake and flowering Chinese cabbage (chye sim/chai sim/菜心) with deep fried crab stick strips and fried shallots as garnishing. You can adjust your level of spiciness by adding more of the chili paste. Everybody, inclusive my two teenage nieces could not stop having this dish as it had a unique seafood fragrant. The more you take this, the more you want it for every meal!

I will not touch on the recipes here but I will share the recipes in the next few posts. Wishing everyone one a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year! Do drive carefully if you are traveling! Check out for more update here soon.

INGREDIENTS:

Chili Paste:
10 tbsp chili boh (about 35 deseeded, soaked dried chilies – blended in 3-4 tbsp water)
15 shallots (blended)
6 cloves garlic (blended)

Stock:
2kg pork bones (big bones/tua kut)
2-3kg prawn shells (blended)
2pc rock sugar (ping pong ball size)

Garnishing:
500gms pork
1kg prawns
6 eggs (hard boiled)
300gms bean sprouts (remove roots if possible)
Some fried shallots
5-6 stalks of morning glory (kangkung – optional)
300gms pork ribs/trotters (optional)
150gms pork fat (cubed & fried until crunchy – optional)

Others:
1kg yellow noodles (chow mien)
1pkt rice vermicelli (bee hoon)
1pkt instant noodles (optional)
Water
Salt
Pepper
Rock sugar
Soy sauce
Oil

PREPARATION:

1. Wash all the bones clean with salt and slowly put all of them into a big pot of boiling water (about 20 cups). Lower the fire, close the pot with a lid and let it simmer for about 2 hours. Filter out all the bones and you would get about 15 cups of stock.
2. Heat up about 7-8 tablespoon of oil in a wok and sauté the blended garlic and shallots (do leave 1 tbsp of the blended shallots for the cooking of stock) for about 5 minutes under low fire. Add in the chili boh and sauté until fragrant. Add in a pinch of salt. It would take about 15 minutes. Scoop and put aside the chili paste while leaving about half a tablespoon in the wok.
3. Heat up the wok again with additional 1 tablespoon of oil and put in all the prawns. Stir fry until all the prawns are curled up beautifully. Scoop and leave aside. You may slice these prawns into halves or leave it as it is. I left a few of the prawns with the tails intact just for photography presentation purposes.
4. Using the same wok again, heat up 4 tablespoon of oil. Put in the blended prawn shells (drain the shells as dry as possible while keeping the remaining juice for the stock). Saute the shells until you get that thick aromatic prawn smell. By then, the shells would be in bright crystal orange color. Pour in the remaining juice from earlier plus another 3-4 cups of water. Let it simmer under low fire for about 2 hours.
5. While waiting for the prawn stock to be ready, heat up 2 tablespoon of oil in a soup pot and sauté the reserved 1 tablespoon of blended shallots for about a minute. Put in about half to one tablespoon of the cooked chili paste (depends on your spicy level). Mixed well and add in the bone stock. Bring to boil and add in the pork pieces/pork ribs/trotters. Lower the fire to simmer further.
6. By then, your prawn stock would be almost ready. Slowly and carefully sieve the prawn stock (leaving out all the shells) into the pork stock pot. Bring to boil while adding in 2-3 tablespoon of soy sauce, rock sugar, a sprinkle or two of pepper and salt to taste. Remove the foam on the surface while retaining some of the floating oil. The oil would keep the soup at a high boiling point.
7. Lower the fire and check if the pork ribs/trotters and cooked meat are tender. Scoop up in separate bowls. Sliced the meat thinly. Leave all aside for garnishing later.
8. Cut the hard boiled eggs into halves, quarters or rings to your liking.
9. Heat up a wok of water and blanch the bean sprouts and morning glory (1.5” length) separately. Make sure you drain the excess water well. Set both aside.
10. Soak the rice vermicelli (bee hoon) for about half an hour (or according to the directions on the pack). Blanch to soften it. Drain well. Do the same for the yellow noodles (if possible get the higher quality ones which would be thinner and would not have the “lye water” after taste). Instant noodles too can be an option.
11. To serve, place some bean sprouts and morning glory at the base of a deep and roomy bowl. Add in your preferred noodles then top with some prawns, sliced meat, pork ribs and egg. Pour some boiling soup over the noodles and garnish with some fried shallots and chili paste for that extra spiciness. Some may even want to garnish the noodles with some crunchy pork lard but I opted that out for health reasons.

Secret Notes:
1. The secret for a good tasting bowl of Hokkien Mee stock lies in the species of prawns used in the cooking. There are hundreds of species in the world and the most suitable one would be the Green Shell Prawns (Cheh Kak Hae, almost similar to the Australian Fenneropenaeus indicus species but with a slightly darker grey-green body) found commonly in the water of this region. Tiger prawns (Marsupenaeus japonicus, Penaeus esculentus or P. semisulcatus depending on your region) should not be used as these species have an overpowering shellfish taste which would not be suitable for the stock.
2. Some people may use a small piece of shrimp paste (belacan to pep up the taste of the stock). I did not use it due to the product being not easily obtainable internationally. Moreover, the raw ingredients used for my home cooked version of the stock were already sufficient enough.
3. For the sweetness and color of the stock, most people would use palm sugar (gula Melaka). For my case, I prefer the usage of rock sugar for a more natural and milder sweetness. After all, the soy sauce would have the required faded brown color for the stock
4. Another secret to thicken the stock would be by using some finely pounded bread rusk, a sort of unsweetened dry bread normally used with meat to bind them well. I did not use this method as my stock was already almost gelatin-like with the large amount of bones used.
5. Chicken bones may be use to substitute the pork bones but it would not give you the thick and meaty flavor required for the stock.
6. Roasted pork pieces, fish cakes, fish balls, pork intestine (粉腸), pork skin and baby kailan (Chinese broccoli or kale) may be added if you need a richer bowl of Hokkien Mee.

(Serves: 10 and above)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

We started out by gathering at the newly constructed Swettenham Pier check-in building and by 8.30am, we were already on our way, leaving behind the scenic view of the Penang island. Some of us did recharge our energy during the journey by having some siesta to get the best out of the package. We finally arrived at Langkawi Coral Reef Platform (100m from the shore of Pulau Payar) about 2 hours later.

Pulau Payar, being the largest and 3 other smaller islands, namely Pulau Kaca (northeast of Pulau Payar), Pulau Lembu (northeast of Pulau Payar and just next to Pulau Kaca) and Pulau Segantang (southwest of Pulau Payar) and have been collectively gazetted as the Pulau Payar Marine Park. These islands are the sanctuary for extensive range of marine organisms and fishes. Stretching 1.75km x 500m with an area of 31.2 hectres, Pulau Payar is rich in flora and fauna on top of the magnificent coral reefs. The island has small stretches of white sandy beaches for those who love sunbathing and casual strolling. Don’t forget to bring more sun-block lotion if you intend to do so, unless you are those who would want to be as tan as the Africans… LOL! If you are lucky, you might even catch some live actions of creatures on the shore during daylight.

There are also a few trekking trails for those nature shutterbugs. You can expect to see endemic flying fox, monitor lizards, shore pit viper, white-bellied sea eagle, crested serpent eagle, imperial pigeon and many other feathered friends. You would also see some amenities which would include picnic tables, barbecue pits, gazebos and restrooms at strategic locations for your personal needs. Picnics and camping are allowed but cutting of trees and open burning would be strictly prohibited. How I wished I had more time to explore the other side of the island for more nature shots.

What impressed visitors most would be the availability of Langkawi Coral, Malaysia’s first and only reef platform located at the Pulau Payar Marine Park. The 49m x 15m well equipped floating platform (with numerous changing/wash rooms, snack bar and dining area) would facilitate activities such as snorkeling, scuba diving, sunbathing, fish feeding to panoramic viewing of the marine kingdom. If that alone could not captivate your attention, glass bottom boat rides or diving can be arranged to various coral gardens to amaze you further.

If you do not intend to get yourself wet, there’s a tunnel-like Underwater Observation Chamber at the bottom of the platform (about 10 feet below sea level) to catch glimpses of the beautiful seabed filled with various seashells, shellfishes and slugs. With an average visibility of 9 to 15 meters of crystal clear blue water, I’m sure you would be impressed easily.

Do watch out for colorful soft corals and hard corals such as the deer antler like Staghorn, Boulder and Brain as well as fishes of all stripes, dots, spots and rainbow colors. It was a bonus in here for me as I caught shots of two main pelagic predators out there. One of them was the around 1m long Barracuda (locally known as alu-alu) which I would expect to be around 10kg or so, hiding under the platform awaiting its prey. The next was the Black Tipped Reef Shark of almost the same length as the Barracuda. Both were wonderful sights indeed.

While snorkeling deep in the crystal clear water, I managed to see some beautiful colored fishes such as the rock fish, yellow fin goatfish, schooling bannerfish, yellow boxfish (related to the pufferfish family), blue dot grouper, goldband fusiliers, horse-eyed jacks, tiera batfish, lawnmower blenny, sea goldie, raccoon/blackbacked butterflyfish, orange striped cardinalfish, percula clownfish (which did not have the lighter orange color as my favorite “Nemo”), yellowfin clownfish (of course I still missed my “Nemo”.. where did it hide itself this time? LOL!), tangaroan goby, yellow clown goby, arc eye hawkfish, large sized parrotfish, moon wrasse, juvenile trevally, black snapper, remora (suckerfish), mirror fish, needlefish and many more that I had lost track of their names. The more common ones that would invade the platform would be the four striped damselfish (sometimes known as sergeant major by some anglers), streaked spinefoot and queenfish (ikan talang/sampan thiao). There were quite a lot of sea urchins (locally known as sea rambutans) too on the seabed but be careful not to get poke or step on them as the only temporary cure to soothe the pain would be urine.

I was praying hard that I could get glimpses of some of the more unique sea creatures as those shown on National Geographic Channel such as the moray eel, giant grouper (long tan 龍旦), ghost pipe fish, lionfish, nurse shark, giant trevally (kam koay) or even lobsters but they were so hard to detect in such a vast area within the few hours we had. Moreover, I was not in any diving gears nor having any underwater camera. What a waste! Anybody want to sponsor me an underwater camera? LOL! Anyway, here are some of the underwater shots taken by Chan with his water-proofed Lumix camera:

There was to be a shark feeding session in the package but it had been cancelled until further notice by the management. I guessed this could be due to too many of their staff been bitten while feeding those aggressive predators. Maybe those sharks had gotten larger than before and thus one day they would be as large as those in the “Jaws” movie. Well, at least I was lucky to capture the shot of one earlier. Don’t be despair as you would still have the opportunity to feed other smaller fishes that would not bite. Errr… unless they are real hungry as I got my butts pinched quite a few times while feeding them in the water. How careless! Haha!

Buffet lines featuring international and local food would also be provided in this package deal. There was more than 25 items on the buffet spread which included appetizers such as over fresh buns, butter and cabbage & carrot soup, salads such as capsicums, onions, cucumber, tomatoes, Cameron lettuce with a choice of thousand island or spicy Italian dressings, mixed fruit salad, coleslaw, chicken sausage with corn salad and tuna with French bean salad, tempting entrée such as five spice chicken rolls, vegetable spring rolls, spicy potato wedges, fish fillet, Western, Malaysian & Oriental cuisine such as beef slices stew, sweet & sour prawns, braised mushroom with mixed vegetable, fried turmeric chicken, spaghetti bolognese, fried seafood vermicelli, oriental fried rice. Desserts included fruits such as watermelon, pineapple and oranges, pudding and jellies such as or raspberry mixed fruit jelly, orange mixed fruit jelly, mango pudding and honeydew pudding, local delicacies such as brown sugar steamed cake (malai ko) and kuih lompang pandan. Tea, coffee and cold water are free flow too. Overall, the food was reasonable enough to fill the tummy after the many hours of sea activities.

One of the main highlights of our trip was the photo shooting of our current Miss Malaysia World 2009 1st runner-up, Stefanie Chua. All eyes, especially from those male foreigners, were glued to her almost at all times. Stefanie Chua, who was no stranger to many beauty pageants, also held the Miss Schwarzenbach Beach Beauty during the recent competition and also countless of titles from other pageants. The photography was shot by none other than our Heritage Wedding Photography 2009 winner and founder of Studio Moonspell, Mr. Patrick Soon. Here are some glimpses of the photography session.

Let’s hope Stefanie recovered fast from a little mishap that happened during the photography session. We won’t want this expression in her photos right? Here’s a complimentary photo by Patrick Soon. Boy! If I were to be younger, I would surely get him to shoot my autobiography. What a beautiful shot… minus that candid expression of course. Haha!

Here’s a short video on my experience there in Pulau Payar. Let’s hope I can share many more of such trips with you in the near future. Do enjoy watching.

Hey! Why are you still gazing the photos and videos in here? By now you should have booked the package deals for your coming holiday. All you need to bring along would be yourself, a large towel, your swim wear and some cash for some extra hired excitements at Langkawi Coral Reef Platform. Our package deal included return boat fares, taxes, PA Insurance coverage, buffet lunch and fun-packed activities. There’s always something to do for everyone in Pulau Payar and getting bored would be the last thing you would hear. Please book early to avoid any disappointments. Have a nice holiday!

Important Not-To Do Note:
1. Pulau Payar Marine Park is a protected marine ecosystem area and no angling of any sort would be allowed under the Malaysian Fisheries Act 1991.
2. Collection of any coral and aquatic life would be prohibited.
3. Never vandalize or stand on any coral reef as it took thousands of years for them to form.
4. No shampoo or soap is allowed.
5. Do not litter. Pick up your rubbish when you leave the island.

Other Useful Information:
1. Do check out the Marine Park Centre, operated by the Fisheries Department for further information by means of brochures, maps and videos. Make sure you get more information on the do’s and don’ts while visiting the island.
2. There are no accommodation facilities on the island and camping permit would be required to stay on. Permit applications can be obtained at Pulau Langkawi’s Kuah Fisheries Office (604-966 6464), Kuala Kedah Fisheries Office (604-7621 6700), Kedah/Perlis State Fisheries Office (604-734 2137), Penang State Fisheries Office (604-626 1002), Department of Fisheries Malaysia (Ministry of Agriculture) in Kuala Lumpur (603-298 2011). Get enough of drinking water and food if you intend to stay back for more days.

It’s rather hard to show you how to get there as the islands are so small that even Google Map would not show up. Luckily, Chan brought had a GPS around. Here’s how’s the islands would look like if we were to blow up the scale.

Name:
LANGKAWI CORAL REEF PLATFORM
c/o Langkawi Saga Travel & Tours Sdn Bhd
16 Jalan Tanjung Bungah, Georgetown, 11200 Penang, Malaysia
Tel: 604-899 8822
Fax: 604-890 6068
Email: sales@langkawicoral.com
Website: http://www.langkawicoral.com
GPS: 6.0654, 100.0433

RATING:
Ambience: 9/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8.5/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7.5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 9/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

On holiday:
Criz Lai, Steven Goh, Kim Peng, Stefanie Chua, Patrick Soon, Tiffany Thor, David Khoo, Nana Khor, Lay Min, Kok Ann, Chan Chee Wah and Shirley See.

No matter which Korean restaurant you would pop in, there would always be those mini plates of side dishes and sauce served individually for each diner. There were so many on our table that I had lost count of how many plates in total. LOL! To name some, we had some kimchi, fried tofu in spicy sauce, mixed vegetable strips in mayo, stir fired aubergine (eggplant/brinjal), crunchy anchovies with peanuts, spicy mixed vegetable strips, stir-fry spinach and braised pumpkin cubes. That’s quite a lot for starter but I loved every single plate of the side dishes especially the tofu and pumpkin.

The first dish of the day was the Modeum BBQ Set 1 (모듬 – RM150) with choice pieces of beef rib meat, pork rib meat, pork belly, chicken, flower crab, prawns, squids and clams. Boy! I would say I could not stop myself from eating those well marinated pieces of meat and seafood. What was my favorite? BBQ pork belly of course! To cut down on the oiliness of the meat, a wrap of either lettuce or sesame leaves (깻잎/ kkaennip/Korean perilla leaves) with a dash of the accompanied sauce would be great.

Before we had even finished taking the BBQ, some cold cuts of Jokbal (족발 – RM70) were already waiting for us at the next table. These were actually glazed pig feet meat slices. I was really impressed on the evenly sliced thickness on each piece. The chef was indeed good in his cutting skills. Taken with the accompanied spicy and salty sauce which had some fried dry baby shrimps, the mildly fatty meat just melted into my mouth. It was indeed heavenly good. In fact, the only available size dish was large enough for 8-10 pax.

Along the way came the Japchae (잡채 – RM30), a rather large plate of stir fry glass noodles (당면/dangmyeon/冬粉/tang hoon) with shredded meat, prawns and vegetables. It was garnished with some sliced eggs, chilies and toasted sesame seeds. The base of the sauce had some sweet soy taste and what I like most was the springy texture on the glass noodles.

The next dish was Haemultang (해물탕 – RM80, smaller size available – RM60), a pot spicy hot seafood stew. There were so many types of seafood and vegetables within the pot which included mussels, octopus, squid, prawns, flower crab, scallops, clams, enoki mushroom, some bean curd slices, sliced red chilies, green chilies, bird’s eye chilies and red chili paste. This pot of goodness was indeed a fiery pot rather than a spicy pot. However, I loved the dish quite a lot too. The sweetness of the soup from all the ingredients thereafter was superb. It was like having a concentrated “prawn noodles aka Hokkien Mee” with some additional blended red chilies. Thumbs up for this dish!

One look at the color of our next dish which was Ojingeo Samgyeopsal Bokkeum (오징어 삼겹설 볶음 – RM30) would surely give you another sweaty sensation. Yup! The next dish was indeed hot and spicy. It consisted of squid strips and pork belly slices nicely stir fried in their in-house spicy sauce. Hot as it may seemed in the beginning, we managed to finish off the whole plate as the squid strips were really succulent and the pork belly meat was amazingly tender. I would advise you to get a bowl of rice to go with this dish to cut down on the spiciness. This would be another great dish for those spicy food eaters.

Next on the list was a spicy fish dish known as Agwijjim (어귀찜 – RM80, smaller size available – RM60). Agwi is actually an ugly looking blackmouth angler (sometimes known as monkfish) which was originated from the city of Masan, South Gyeongsang Province. The texture of flesh is somewhat between the softness of a dory fish and the firmness of a giant grouper. The fish was cooked with soybean sprouts with its rich taste and spiciness coming some chili powder, chopped garlic, chopped scallions, soy sauce and a hint of fermented soy beans. This large portioned dish was presented on a bed of lettuce and sprinkled with some toasted sesame.

We all loved the next dish which was the Maewoon Kalbi Tang (매운갈비탕 – RM30, smaller size available – RM20). It was actually pork ribs stewed in a hot pot of spicy broth with some glass noodles (冬粉/tang hoon), radish, carrot, potatoes, non glutinous rice cake (garaeddeok/가래떡 or sometimes known as just ddeok/떡), red dates, and chilies of all kinds. Towards the end when all the already thickened broth got absorbed into the springy textured glass noodles, this dish was at its peak. This would be a great dish to opt for if you do not want to have rice.

If you still yearn for more hot and spicy Korean dishes, you can always try out their Dakgalbi (닭갈비 – RM50). It had some choice pieces of grilled chicken, slowly simmered with some cabbages, carrots, onions, scallions, sweet potatoes, chilies in some honey sweet and chili spicy broth with a hint of rice wine. I simply loved those juicy and chili spiced up pieces of chicken.

You could also have some Soju (소주/燒酒/Korean Gin – RM25/bottle) to flow down the hot and spicy food. Do check with the restaurant on which brands to recommend. What we had was the Chamisul (참 이슬 meaning “real dew”), a popular soju produced by Jinro (진로 /眞露), the largest manufacturer of soju, based in South Korea.

Overall, we had a great time trying out the good food over in this restaurant. It was the best I had in years. I must take this opportunity to thanks Mr. Kevin Kim and his beautiful wife, Mdm. Lim Soo Yeon for bringing such great Korean food to Penang. You might want to pay them a visit to check out on their ongoing promotions or even book a place for your coming Chinese New Year reunion dinner.

It’s easy to find the restaurant as it’s directly opposite Penang Chinese Girls’ High School (Peng Hwa High School/檳華女子中學) and at a ground floor corner lot within the New Bob Centre along Jalan Gottlieb. If you are still unsure about the venue, drive all the way along Jalan Burma passed Adventist Hospital (on your left) and 1-Stop Midlands Park Centre (on your right) until you see the Jalan Burma/Jalan Gottlieb traffic lights. Turn left and drive on until you see Goodall Food Court. Slow down and turn left into the service road after the food court. Prominent landmark would be the 7-11 shop. Parking can be quite scare during certain period of time. There’s always the underground car park within the New Bob Centre for your parking convenience.

Name: SA RANG CHAE KOREAN RESTAURANT
Address: 11-G-1&2, Jalan Gottlieb (New Bob Centre), 10350 Penang.
Contact: 604-226 3587, 012-468 6700 (Mdm. Lim Soo Yeon/Mr. Kim)
Business Hours: 12.00noon-3.00pm, 6.00pm-10.30pm (Closed Monday Lunch)
GPS: 5.432084, 100.301914

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 9/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7.5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 9/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Organizer:
CK Lam & hubby

Attendees:
Lingzie
Huat Koay
Albert Yap
Criz Lai & Johnny Tan
Steven Goh
NKOTB

Visitors to Penang would often go for the authentic type of Chee Cheong Fun where there would be some generous topping of sweet sauce, fragrant prawn paste (heko), chili paste and toasted sesame seeds such as the famous stall at Genting Café, Green Lane, Penang. In the era of fusion food, a new breed has emerged at Star City Food Court, located at the outskirt of Georgetown area.

How would you fancy a plate of Seafood Fried Chee Cheong Fun (RM2.50 for 3 rolls)? Basically the Chee Cheong Fun looked like any normal ones you can get from the streets but this version had some surimi crab sticks and fresh prawns wrapped in them. Upon each order, these pre-prepared rolls would be dipped into batter and deep fried until golden brown. Prior to serving, you have an option of two sauces such as mayonnaise and KL rojak sauce. I opted for mayonnaise sauce on these cut pieces of fried chee cheong fun and had some crushed toasted peanuts sprinkled on them. I’m sure children would love this version well although I did not find much attraction in them compared to my favorite authentic ones.

On top of the above as well as the plain version which would cost you RM2 for 3 rolls, there was also something else to bite on – Toasted Stuffed Bean Curd Puff (RM1.80 each). Each piece of the large bean curd puff would be stuffed with shredded jicama and cucumber prior to being toasted in an oven. Again, there would be two options. This time, I opted for the KL rojak sauce. The surface of the puff was crisp while the interior confined the moist from the shredded vegetables. The slices of the bean curd puff were then topped with the KL rojak sauce and garnished with crushed toasted peanuts as well. This combination tasted not bad, except that I found that the KL rojak sauce to be a bit milder in spiciness and rich prawn paste flavor as those found in some of the famous rojak stalls we have in Penang.

Overall, I found only one unique food that ought to be mentioned here from this food court. The rest of the food from the hawker stalls were just average and nothing to brag about. If you are adventurous to try them out, drive all the way from the Penang Ferry Terminal along Pengkalan Weld until you have reach the Pengkalan Weld/Gat Lebuh Macallum traffic lights. Turn left into Gat Lebuh Macallum and drive all the way until you see Harbour Trade Centre on you left. Turn right and drive on and you would see the food court at the junction of Gat Lebuh Macallum/Gat Lebuh Cecil 1 on your right. Parking space would be quite ample here except on Thursday night when there would be a pasar malam (night market) there.

Name: FRIED CHEE CHEONG FUN @ STAR CITY FOOD COURT
Address: Gat Lebuh Cecil 1, 10300 Penang, West Malaysia.
Business Hours: 5.30pm-11.30pm (Closed on Alternate Tuesday)
GPS: 5.404303, 100.334164

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 6/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 6/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Well, don’t thank me for that. I’m only the postman. If not for the wonderful sponsors who wished to share out the best there are in Penang/Butterworth, you won’t have the privilege to try out their wonderful culinary skills. Let’s officially thank them for promoting Penang’s best to the dining community. They are Fun Tea Garden Dim Sum, Ki Xiang Klang Bak Kut Teh, Village Café Tom Yam Fish Head Noodles, I Mum Mum Pan Mee, Ivy’s Kitchen Nyonya Cuisine, Kowloon Hainan Chicken Rice and Magazine Road Tang Yuan. Let’s hope there would be more sponsors around next year since there were some late requests during the end of the project. I sincerely hope that those who had received their free vouchers had a great dining experience.

Last Friday night was the ending of the giveaways and saw a memorable anniversary celebration for close friends and floggers at Fun Tea Garden for the “eat-until-you-drop” dim sum and noodles party. Everyone was indeed stuffed until the brim by trying out almost everything from the restaurant. Well, that’s another few inches to the waistline. LOL! In fact, the whole atmosphere was filled with the laughs of the wackiest floggers and shutterbugs around town. Jokes can be heard at every table while ghost stories at another. I hope Steven Goh did not have bad dreams that night for the story telling. Haha! It was indeed a fun filling event for many including our new flogger-to-be in town, Lay Min and friend, Kok Ann, who drove all the way from Butterworth to attend this function. You would be surprised that the oldies and the newbies can click really well that night. Won’t it be great if we were to have more of such happy moments? Gals and guys… plan more in 2010! Hehe!

Since I was the host for the night, shooting great shots was quite impossible. Why not let the rest of the attendees show you how great the food was that night? Here’s a glimpse of some of the food we had.

The celebration ended with a large anniversary Marble Cheese Cake from Jenni Homemade Cakes, courtesy of Carrie, Mary and CW Chan. It was a bonus for all of us and also a few more pounds gained. Haha!

Here’s the group photo of the attendees with the boss of Fun Tea Garden, Mr. Danny, courtesy of CW Chan who has also bought a new RM3.1K Lumix camera on that night to provide better shots for his readers in the future. Thanks for de“virgin”ized your camera for that night. LOL!

Not in photo: NKOTB & hubby

ATTENDEES:
Criz Lai
Alan & Amanda
NKOTB & hubby
Little Inbox & hubby
Eunice, Siew Ying & Kelvin
Lay Min & Kok Ann
Jason & Gill
CW Chan
Steven Goh
Mary Teo
Carrie Soon
Jian Ming

What is the difference between the food served at Hardwicke House and hotels? Well, practically none. Both of them have the same style of serving dishes from appetizers, salads, meat dishes to desserts but Hardwicke excels one step ahead with the availability of fresh seafood and meat grill DAILY for dinners at RM38++ per pax. Lunch would be at RM18++ minus the grill menus. Let us have a peek at what style of food would be available on a typical dinner evening.

As starters, we had Cream of Asparagus with some dinner rolls accompanied with butter cubes and some jars of crispy papadam and some crackers.

The salad section was quite impressive. Other than the usual salad greens, there were also some corn kernels, kidney beans, cherry tomatoes, button mushrooms, olives, raisins, cherries, pea sprouts (豆苗,dou miao) and swirl pasta for us to mix and match to our own liking. As for dressing, there were quite many choices such as mayonnaise, creamy French, vinaigrette, coleslaw, creamy Italian, thousand island and of course some mustard too.

The main buffet spread for the night consisted mainly of some local, Indian and Western cuisines. We had fried rice, fried noodles, cabbage poriel, brinjal sambal, dhal, lamb rogan josh, chicken curry, roast beef, baked cured salmon with cheese, chicken lor bak (chicken rolls), crispy Vietnam prawn roll and spaghetti and beef Bolognese sauce. This was not a bad spread for those lamb and beef lovers.

As for the grill section which would only be available for those dinner patrons, the options would be more. There would be roast lamb leg, steaks, sausages, prawns, squids, fish, clams and of course there would also be tandoori chicken. You can also choose what you want as side dishes such as mash potatoes, baby carrots and corn kernels. On top of that, you can choose whichever gravy you would like to have such as BBQ sauce, mushroom sauce or even black pepper sauce.

Sweet tooth lovers would surely love their desserts section. On top of their many options such as homemade cakes, tarts, mousse, jelly, fruits, brewed coffee and tea, there are also many flavors of ice cream with your choice of toppings such as strawberry, caramel and chocolate.

If you think the beverages would not have the “boost” to energize you, there’s always the option to order some good old hot cup of “special” coffee. Of course these would not be covered under the buffet menu. They have Guatemala SHB Arabia, Kenia AA Arabia, Java WIB Robusta, Costarica Arabia SHB, Espresso Coffee Pod “Oro”, Decaffeinated Espresso Coffee Pod “Oro” to give you your favorite Espresso, Ice Berg, Regular Black, Cappucino, Flat White or even just a Latte.

Some people might want to have some wine to go with the meal. There would be many unique and established brand of wine for you to choose from the wine house. Some of the recommended would be the Friulvini Verduzzo IGT, a straw yellow colored wine with a pleasantly, amiable, slightly acidulous and full bodied which had a hint of fruity taste. This would go well with confectionery, salads and fruits. The next would be the Chilean Terranoble Sauvignon Blanc 2005. This slightly yellowish colored wine would be fresh, dry and well balanced for your consumption. It would be ideal to go with fish and seafood. There would also be the New Zealand produced Schubert Hardwicke Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, the deeply red colored wine would exhibit an intense nose of blackberries, plum, chocolate with notes of walnut and spice. This red wine would be great with your meaty meals.

There are many ongoing promotions from Hardwicke House this festive season. You might want to click and enlarge the photo below to view more on their December-January promotion.

For Christmas, check out their Christmas promotion too. It’s best that you call up to reserve your table to avoid disappointment.

If you are coming from town along Jalan Burma, drive all the way until you see a “Y” junction. Left would lead you to Pulau Tikus. Right would lead you to Gurney Drive. Turn left into Jalan Pangkor (keep to your right). Immediately after you see Gleneagles Medical Centre on your right, slow down. Turn right into the service road and you would see a purplish building (Northam Tower). Hardwicke House is just in front of the building. You would not miss the white colored colonial architectural building.

Name: HARDWICKE HOUSE BBQ & BUFFET RESTAURANT
Address: 67 Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, 10050 Penang, West Malaysia.
Business Hours: 12.00noon-2.30pm (lunch), 7.00pm-10.30pm (dinner)
Contact: 604-226 4998
GPS: 5.427643, 100.320806

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8.5/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

For those who love the sourness and sweetness of this version of Assam Laksa, this would be the right place. The Assam Laksa (RM2.20) here did not have the strong taste of tamarind (assam) but instead it had stronger blended pineapple sourness with some hints of Kaffir lime leaves. The color of the soup might not be as dark as others but it has the right sourness and sweetness for those people who like sourness in their food. With a spoonful or two of shrimp paste (hae ko), this bowl of Laksa would be enough to woo many ladies.

What caught my attention most was not the Laksa but the little savory snacks the stall had. The rows of big sized golden colored Spring Rolls were tasty and crunchy. The secret… handmade poh piah skins instead of those frozen ones which can be found easily in supermarkets. Moreover, the simple filling of shredded jicama, carrot and sliced French beans gave the spring rolls the necessary original sweetness. It’s only 80sen each. It’s darn cheap, right? On top of that, you can just ask for some Laksa soup to dip these delicious snacks.

Another of the tasty product from the stall would be the Prawn & Bean Curd Fritter (also cheap at 80sen each). Normally, you would get fritters either with prawns or bean curd but here the lady combined both. Each flat but large sized and crunchy fritter contained bean sprouts, peeled white prawns, cubed bean curds, fried in an Indian like masala reddish colored flour. I prefer this version here compared to the Tan Jetty Prawn Fritters as I did have pesky little prawn skins and heads poking into my gums. A piece or two of the spring rolls plus a piece of the fritter plus a small bowl of dipping Laksa soup were enough to bloat my tummy up.

If you think the above two items would be a bit too much for your tea time, then you can opt for the Fried Chicken Wings (90sen for wing/drumlet). If your timing is good, you might even get hot, crispy and well marinated chicken to keep you drooling for more.

Other than those mentioned above, there would also be some crispy flour coated Fried Prawn Ball (3 for RM1) and Stuffed Crabsticks (60sen each). The Stuffed Crabstick would have some mayonnaise, a slice of sausage, crabstick, coated with Pato breadcrumbs and deep fried until golden.

You can have your little evening snacks served with chili sauce but it was too plain for me. I preferred mine dipped in Laksa soup. It’s free anyway with the fritters.

There are a lot of evening stalls selling snacks over here such as rojak, cold desserts, local kuih, mua chee, nasi lemak, curry puff and banana fritters sold here in the evening. The best time to pay a visit would be after 2.00pm each day.

Finding the Laksa stall would be real easy. As you are moving your way towards the Jelutong Expressway from Weld Quay, you would come to a traffic light (Weld Quay/Gat Lebuh Macallum). Immediately after the traffic light, you would see another traffic light (Weld Quay/Gat Lebuh Cecil). Turn left into Gat Lebuh Cecil and you would see the stall on your left at the junction of Gat Lebuh Cecil 1.

Name: CECIL STREET GHAUT LAKSA & FRITTERS
Address: Gat Lebuh Cecil, 10300 Penang, West Malaysia.
Business Hours: 1.30pm-6.00pm (Closed Monday)
Contact: 016-498 6018 (Ah Boy)
GPS: 5.406025, 100.332189

RATING:
Ambience: 5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 6/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 4/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Anyway, let us go right into food now as when there are floggers around food would be the main news. Hehe! Although there was a minor hiccup by the management of the restaurant in the serving of the dishes, it did not spoil the moods of the occasion. We had Braised Shark’s Fin Soup with Dried Scallops & Crab Meat served first. It was just a normal wedding banquet type of serving but what caught my attention was the usage of “glass noodle texture-like” shark’s fin and surimi (crab sticks). I guessed many sharks and decapod crustaceans were spared in this eco-friendly dish. LOL!

Next was the Deluxe Hot & Cold Dish Combination which consisted of hot steaming crystal skin “money bag” dumplings, stir fried prawns with cashew nuts and bell peppers, Minced pork and waxed sausage rolls and minced pork cutlet in plum sauce which tasted somewhat like our local “bak kua” minus the red rose wine flavor and coloring. It was an interesting combination.

Braised Chicken with Chest Nuts wrapped in Aluminum Foil followed. Although the roasted chicken was a bit bland in taste due to over steaming, the tender meat went well with the stuffing of chest nuts, mushrooms, waxed sausages and carrots with some mild seasonings. The best part lied in the gravy where it had a rich and flavorful chicken essence.

When it came to giving fresh and succulent large prawns, the restaurant had its best. The Deep Fried Prawns coated with Oats & Crispy Minced Egg was perfect. Some of us were caught savoring the delicious condiments instead.

We were then served with Stewed Assorted Mushroom with Broccoli in Oyster Sauce. Other than broccoli, straw mushrooms and Chinese mushrooms, there were another thinly sliced abalone-like texture ingredient. We were not too sure what that was but to me it tasted more like an edible sea snail meat.

As for the Steamed Grouper Fish “Teow Chew” Style, it was just a normal serving due to the mass production. Somehow ours was sort of “handicapped” (from the sign of the tilted head) and overcooked. The fish lost the firmness in texture. Moreover, a touch of more pickled sour plums and Shao Xing wine would make the dish more tasteful.

Steamed Lotus Leaf Rice with Waxed Sausage was served next. Simple as it may look, each grain of rice was well flavored with the taste from the lotus leaves.

The last course was of course dessert. We were served with Sweetened Honeydew Melon Cream with Sago. I suspected the cream came in powder form as the coloring was somewhat artificial. I surely preferred something more natural like blended honeydew instead.

Other than the free flowing wine, beer and cordial, we were each presented some gift by the couple – a piece of fruit cake and a silky pouch filled with a pair of heart-shape lollipops. From my observation, this memento pleased many of the guests. The elderly were happy with a little something to keep their coins, whereas the younger ones were happy with something to share with their friends and partner-to-be. After all, wedding is all about sharing the love together for eternity.

To Steven & Janice…
Your happiness begins
With your wonderful wedding day.
You’ll share everything together;
Through it all, your love will stay.
Congratulations to you,
As you begin your happy life.
May all good things be yours,
As new husband and new wife.

For those who had missed the memorable event, here’s a short video of the couple walking down the aisle.

The Forum Chinese Cuisine is located at Level 3 within Island Plaza, Penang. It won’t be hard to find the way as it’s just along Jalan Tanjung Tokong on your right.

Name: THE FORUM CHINESE CUISINE @ ISLAND PLAZA
Address: 803-01, 3rd Floor, Island Plaza, 118 Jalan Tokong, 10470 Penang.
Business Hours:
11.30am-3.00pm, 6.30pm-10.00pm (Monday-Saturday)
9.30am-3.00pm, 6.30pm-10.00pm (Sunday & Public Holiday)
Contact: 604-899 0088
GPS: 5.450371, 100.305946

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

ATTENDEES:
Criz Lai
CK Lam
Alan & Amanda
NKOTB & hubby
CW Chan
Eunice & Siew Ying

Today, the 4th of December 2009, marked my 2 years of food blogging, humbly started in two blogger.com accounts to the presently owned crizfood.com. To show my appreciation to my fellow readers, Criz Bon Appetite is giving away free food vouchers to anyone who would love to try out some of the best food around the Food Paradise of Malaysia – Penang. There are many options ranging from Midnight Dim Sum, Klang Bak Kut Teh, Pan Mee, Tom Yam/Clear Soup Fish Noodles, Nasi Lemak, Hainanese Chicken Rice to authentic dessert such and Glutinous Rice Ball Soup (Tang Yuan) from some of the notable stalls within the island and mainland Penang.

The procedure of claiming the vouchers is real simple. All you need to do is to email your particulars (name & mailing address) to crizfood@gmail.com and a randomly selected voucher would be sent to you in no time. The giveaway would be available until 17 December 2009 or until stocks last. Each person would be entitled to only one voucher. The voucher would be valid until 16 January 2010. Start emailing now to claim your voucher to avoid disappointment.

Do check out the website more often from now onwards for more hidden food treasures in Penang! Have a great meal everyone and a happy 2nd birthday to Criz Bon Appetite!

The main attraction would be the many choices of affordable delicacies available here, ranging from Southeast Asian Favorites to Western Paradise. Let’s start with the local food scene. We started with the Nasi Lemak Curry Chicken (招牌椰漿咖哩雞飯-RM7.90). This dish has been remarkably served with fragrant coconut milk enhanced and tender curry chicken drumstick, accompanied with side dishes such as a halved hard-boiled egg, papadam, deep fried anchovies & peanuts in chili paste, cucumber and a bowl of hot steaming white rice. You may ask why the rice was plain rather than the usual fragrant coconut milk steamed rice, right? That’s the healthy way the restaurant believed in. Moreover, it’s also the best way to serve the dish since the curry chicken has already been cooked with coconut milk. I also loved the deep fried anchovies & peanuts in chili paste a lot as the side dish had the required fragrant, crunchiness, sweetness and sourness to get anyone craving for more.

If you love the Nasi Lemak Curry Chicken, you would also love the Nasi Lemak Rendang Chicken (招牌仁當雞飯-RM7.90). Everything would be the same as the above except the style of cooking for the chicken was a bit different. The gravy has a more pungent taste with a hint of lemongrass. The sweet and sour sambal (chili paste) on the egg and rice had a strong but lovely taste of assam (tamarind). That made the whole combination real appetizing.

The Udang Sambal Rice (招牌酸辣參拜蝦仁飯-RM7.90) would be another good meal to order. Freshly peeled prawns cooked in fragrantly stir fried sweet and sour assam chili paste and served with the same combination of rice as above surely caught the attention of our fellow female floggers. I’m sure most ladies would love this dish.

Another of the recommended dish would be the Dry Curry Stir Fried Chicken Rice (祖傳甘香雞飯-RM6.90) or commonly known as the Kam Heong Fried Chicken. This was very appetizing as thin slices of chicken fillets were stir fried with the chef’s secret recipe. There were hints of onion slices, spring onions, chili paste with lots of curry leaves. The wok hei (high heat frying) of the dish was great to go with the steamed rice.

If you think that those lovely dishes up there might not be enough, do try out their bento sets. One of the bento sets that made all of us “ooo”ing and “aah”ing away was the Sweet & Spicy Fish Bento (辣味蜜汁魚片便當-RM8.50). The fresh and high graded batter fried dory fillet prepared nicely in sweet and sour sauce, accompanied with some shredded cabbages and carrots topped with thousand island sauce, a bowl of miso soup, a halved hard-boiled egg topped with some sweet and sour chili paste and steamed rice was something delicious and within the budget of everyone. The only feedback from us was the lack of some tofu cubes in the miso soup and the usage of Japanese rice grain. Well, at that pricing and great taste, who’s to complain? You should try this out!

For those unagi lovers, you should try the next dish out which was the Unagi Fried Egg Rice (日式鰻魚炒蛋飯-RM12.90). The dish may look simple with some gravy like ingredients on a hot bowl of white rice, garnished with some boiled corn kernels and vegetables. One scoop of this dish and you would be like in heaven. Each mouthful would be filled with the creaminess from the egg, followed by the fragrant taste of sliced onions, firm slices of grilled unagi (eel), wonderfully matched with the sweetness from the Japanese sweet soy sauce. I loved this dish a lot!

Other than my favorite tomyam noodles from my most frequent stall down along Weld Quay on the island, I just found another great version right in mainland… where else except in Kim Tavern. The Tomyam Seafood Noodle (正宗泰國冬炎海鮮湯麵-RM9.90) was indeed another great dish. All the ingredients used here were freshly made instead of the usage of readily made tomyam paste as in other restaurants. The noodles were firm and all the seafood within were market fresh. At this pricing, I was glad that the bowl was filled with lots of sliced onions, tomatoes, prawns, squids and two lovely Australian mussels. The spiciness, sweetness and sourness from the soup of course attracted the ladies most. This is so far the best tomyam dish I had taken in mainland Penang.

The next dish was the Ipoh Chicken Slice Noodle (祖傳怡保雞絲河粉-RM6.90) or commonly known in Ipoh as the Kai See Hor Fun. This bowl of noodle lacked the originality in soup broth compared to those found in Ipoh. Although the soup base was thick, it lacked the taste from the long hours of simmering of some fresh prawn shells. Overall, this dish was still delicious as only specialized stall such as those found abundantly in Ipoh would be able to come out with such a unique taste. The dish had reasonable serving of chicken slices, prawns and cut spring onions.

Capsicum Prawn Fried Rice (招牌燈籠椒蝦仁炒飯-RM7.90) was served next. This dish looked just like the usual Yang Chow Fried Rice but if you inspect closely at the green colored cubes, you would realized that it had many finely chopped capsicum added in. It was wonderful. Not only was the wonderful skill of the chef in creating the “wok hei” present, the mild peppery taste of the “bell pepper” added the additional fragrance which made this simple plate of fried rice delicious. This dish was served with the chef’s specially prepared sambal belacan (shrimp paste chili).

You could also try out their Tomyam Seafood Fried Noodle (冬炎海鮮炒金旦麵-RM8.50). This was the fried version of the earlier tomyam dish with some additional chicken sausages. Although fragrantly fried, most of us preferred the soup version. As for me, I personally felt that simplicity would be better minus the sausages.

If you think that all the dishes mentioned above would be too “heaty” for your body system, there’s always the porridge section. We did try out their Seafood Mushroom Porridge (香菇魷魚海鮮粥-RM7.90). At this pricing and with so much of seafood which included cuttlefish, top graded dory fish fillet, prawns, chunky mushroom slices and so on, this richly ingredient filled porridge would be a great bargain for those porridge lovers.

There’s also the Western section for you to select your urge for more delicious dishes. The wonderful thing about dining here would be that the most expensive dishes would cost you barely RM15.90 and those are the Black Pepper or Mushroom Steak. Since we were rather filled up to this stage, we managed to try out their Spaghetti Chicken Bolognese (RM6.90). The texture of the spaghetti was just right for our bites and the freshly made Bolognese sauce with minced chicken meat was just perfect.

Next on the serving was the Mushroom Chicken Chop with Garlic Butter Rice (RM9.90). The gravy was delicious. It had the right combination of sauces and spices and it blended real well with the garlic butter rice. The only hiccup was on the grilling of the boneless chicken drumstick. It lost the juiciness within. The chef should have taken note on the time needed to grill such a thinly pounded fillet.

When the next dish was presented, I suddenly turned orange with black stripes, eyes widely opened and whiskers shot right out of my cheeks. OMG! I turned into Garfield as Cheesy Chicken Lasagna (RM9.90) has always been my favorite and it had such a large portion. The bowl should have at least 5 layers of medium soft lasagna pasta, stuffed with precooked minced chicken simmered in rich tomato puree and generously topped with lots of mozzarella cheese. Yummy! I won’t mind making some takeaways during my next trip.

The restaurant also has light meals which included soup, sandwiches and finger food. What caught our attention was the Honey Pepper Roast Chicken Drumlet (5pcs – RM6.90). The well marinated drumlets were perfectly roasted. I just wished someone would prepare such nice and tasty ones during BBQ sessions. This would be a must to order.

Overall, the food here would be great for families and individuals of all ages. The food served here are rather tasty and reasonably priced. The only setback would be the lack of creative desserts rather than the normal scoops of ice creams but it would not necessary mean that it lacked the necessary beverages to attract the crowd. Some of the smoothies and ice blended drinks we had ordered were amazingly unique and tasty. Amongst those ordered were Fresh Carrot-Orange Juice (RM3.50), Honey Lemon Ice (RM3.80), Mango Smoothies (RM5.50), Wheatgrass Smoothies (RM5.50), Special Ice Blended Peppermint Mocha (RM7.80), Special Ice Blended Blueberry Chocolate (RM7.80), Special Ice Blended Hazelnut Latte (RM7.80), Special Ice Blended Almond Latte (RM7.80) and Special Ice Blended Tiramisu (RM7.80). The top three of our choices were Mango Smoothies, Wheatgrass Smoothies and Special Ice Blended Blueberry Chocolate.

The abovementioned dishes and beverages were part of what we had ordered. You can always click and enlarge the menu below to check out more of what they have. 5% service charge would be applicable for all orders.

For those who had not been to Sunway Carnival Mall where Kim Tavern is located before, please refer to the attached map. There are two ways you can reach the mall upon coming out from Penang Bridge. Just drive towards the sign leading to Alor Setar. Upon reaching the first flyover, look out for a mosque on your left (Jalan Siakap), drive on until you have reached a mini roundabout and turn 3 o’clock on your right into Jalan Tenggiri. Drive on until you see a traffic light and turn left into Lebuh Tenggiri 2. Drive all the way passed KWSP building (on your left) and Sunway Hotel (on your right) until you had reached a T junction. Turn left into Jalan Todak and you would see the mall on your right.

Another way would be driving all the way over the first flyover upon coming out from the Penang Bridge but turn left before the second flyover which would lead you to the Butterworth-Kulim Expressway (Lebuhraya Butterworth-Kulim). Turn left into the expressway and drive all the way until you had reached the third left junction (Jalan Todak). Turn left into Jalan Todak and you would spot the mall on your left.

If you are still not sure how to find the place, you can always key in the GPS coordinates stated below in the Google Map and it would show you the mall location. Happy food hunting!

Name: KIM TAVERN @ SUNWAY CARNIVAL MALL
Address: LG 04, Sunway Carnival Mall, Jalan Todak, 13700 Seberang Jaya, Penang.
Business Hours: 11.30am-9.30pm
Contact: 604-399 9879, 012-428 8066 (Mr. Andy Liew)
GPS: 5.398695, 100.397875

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 9/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 9/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

COORDINATORS:
Taufulou aka Bok of http://www.taufulou.com/
CK Lam of http://www.what2seeonline.com/

ATTENDEES:
Criz Lai of http://crizfood.com/
Lingzie of http://www.lingzie.com/
Mary Teo of http://reginatravel-foodparadise.blogspot.com/
Alan & Amanda of http://allaboutpenangfood.blogspot.com/
NKOTB of http://mylovemyfood.blogspot.com/

On top of those common dishes you can get in any stir-fry dishes restaurant, this place had the extras effort to introduce their specialties daily. Here was one of the dishes. It’s Braised Pork Ribs with Radish (RM7). Choice pieces of pork ribs were marinated with red fermented bean curd (nam yu/tau joo/乳腐), fried and then braised with some chopped radish and chilies. Initially I thought this was another Hakka dish but eventually I was told that it was also called Thai Ribs (泰骨). The taste was remarkably unique and the ribs were tender and melted in my mouth.

The next special dish was indeed Hakka. It was the Hakka Fried Pork Belly with Wood Ear Fungus (客家炸肉-RM7). The method of preparation was somewhat like the pork ribs except that the gravy had a stronger red fermented bean curd taste. This dish would be best with a hot steaming bowl of rice.

If you do not want to have so much of pork dishes, the Plum Sauce Chicken (梅子雞-RM7) would be quite ideal, even for kids. Although there was the presence of some chopped chilies, the dish was not spicy at all. One whole boneless chicken drumstick was coated with some batter, deep fried, topped with some hot boiling plum sauce with chopped chilies and garnished with some chopped spring onions. Not only was the chicken slices crispy, the gravy itself was enough to boost up my appetite. I found that there was something in there that made the dish different compared to others. It had some chopped pickled ginger added. No wonder the dish was so delicious.

As for seafood, the next dish which was the Stir Fry Grouper Fish Fillet with Fresh Enokitake (金針菇石斑魚片-RM15) was wonderful. The fillets were indeed fresh. Together with the rest of the ingredients which included sliced carrots, button mushroom, snow peas, enokitake (enoki mushroom/golden needle mushroom/金針菇) with a dash of Shao Xing wine, the whole dish was healthy and hearty. Moreover, I found that the amount of grouper fillets given was rather generous.

The next dish was rather interesting – Fried King Prawns with Stout (黑啤酒蝦 – RM18). Four king size white prawns were deep fried and then stirred into some thickened stout beer with a soft touch of salt and chopped chilies. It had lots of sliced spring onions and big onions as salads. The sweetness from the stout blended in nicely with the salads. The prawns were so fresh that I had some trouble peeling off the skins. Although I love this dish a lot, the only hiccup I had was on the preparation. The prawns should have been slightly sliced at the side prior to cooking to allow the delicious gravy to seep into the flesh.

For those who love bitter gourd, the next specialty would be great – Stuffed Bitter Gourd (RM8-4pcs/RM12-6pcs). Each slice of bitter gourd was stuffed with the chef’s own recipe which included fish paste, minced pork, chopped salted and century eggs. These stuffed bitter gourd slices would then be steamed for a period of time before being topped with some oyster sauce based gravy.

For those who love to have same tofu dishes, this place served the best house special tofu I had tasted. The tofu slices were silky smooth and they just melt in your mouth. Although I could order other types tofu such as Japanese tofu which would also be available, I rather have their house special tofu which were preservative-free. One way of cooking the House Special Tofu (招牌豆腐 – RM6) would be in some mild gravy accompanied with some sliced Chinese mushrooms, peas, dried scallops and a touch of Shao Xing wine. Delicious!

Another version would be the Deep Fried House Special Tofu (紅燒招牌豆腐 – RM7). This dish may look quite similar to the earlier one but the gravy had a stronger taste due to the usage of some sliced carrot, leek, roasted pork, garlic and of course the Shao Xing wine. This is another great dish to go with rice.

When you have kids around, one of the common dish you might order would be the Foo Yong Omelette (RM5). There’s nothing special about this dish as it only contained eggs, sliced onions, chopped grilled pork (char siew) with a touch of flavorings.

There were so many types of fresh vegetable dishes available here but I always like to have something simple such as the Stir Fry Romaine Lettuce with Garlic (RM5). What I like most about their preparation was the maintaining of the crunchiness of the lettuce. It was simple yet healthy!

For those soup lovers, you should try out their daily double boiled soups other than their impromptu cooked soups. They should have at least two types available daily. I managed to try out their Double Boiled Winter Melon Soup (冬瓜湯 – RM5.50). I thought it would be just a simple bowl of soup but I was wrong. The thick and aromatic bowl of soup contained lots of meaty pork ribs, red dates, dried mussels and winter melon cubes. I did not regret ordering this bowl of soup.

I was also lucky to try out their Double Boiled Beet Root Soup (地瓜湯 – RM5.50). I expected this bowl of soup to be purplish red as in a fresh beet root but I was wrong again. It has the color of a normal pork ribs based soup. There was nothing much in the bowl of soup except some chopped beet roots, meaty pork ribs and some dates but the soup has that special natural sweetness in it. This bowl of soup is believed to protect the liver, lower cholesterol, hypertension, blood pressures and so on. It can also be taken for general health. Hmmm… I should cook this soup at home too from time to time.

Overall, this would be a great place to dine in after you are bored with all those restaurant/hawker/fast food. After all, we should also have some healthy meals from time to time right?

It’s easy to find the stall as it is located at a corner lot of Perak Plaza, Jalan Perak. The easiest way to reach the place from town would be by using Jalan Macalister (as you would not be able to turn right from Jalan Dato Keramat). Drive all the way until you see the Jalan Macalister/Jalan Anson traffic lights (EON Automobile Showroom on your left). Turn left into Jalan Anson and drive all the way until you see the Jalan Anson/Jalan Perak T-junction traffic lights. Turn right into Jalan Perak and keep left. You can see the corner café immediately after a stretch of the General Hospital Officers’ residence on your left. Turn left into Jalan Lim Khoon Huat and park your car along the service road in front of the Perak Plaza.

Name: KIM HOOI SEAFOOD @ 2828 CAFE
Address: 56K, Perak Plaza, Jalan Perak, 10460 Penang, Malaysia.
Business Hours: 6.00pm-10.30pm (Closed Wednesday)
Contact: 012-498 8453 (Mr. Lo)
GPS: 5.416874, 100.316519

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 9/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

On top of those few famous beef noodles stalls in Penang, this stall also has its own loyal followers. You can practically see that the whole café would be packed during lunch time and majority of the patrons would go for the beef noodles. There are so many beef parts available here which you could select for your bowl of soup. The soup base here would be of a clearer and milder herb version compared to the rest and one thing you can be sure of is that it would not contain too heavy beef taste. Your bowl of beef soup (as low as RM6) can go well with your bowl of rice (RM0.60).

Another option you can have here would be the selected ingredients taken with noodles. There are two types available here, namely the yellow noodles (mee) and flat noodles (koay teow). Each bowl would cost as low as RM6.

There’s one thing that I find rather inappropriate for my bowl of beef noodles – the condiment. It was too chili sauce sweet like. I rather have my beef slices dipped into a blended version of red chilies, garlic and ginger. At least that would cut down on the strong taste of certain beef parts.

Overall, this is still a great place for those who do not like their beef soup to be overpowering with herbs and beefy taste and the price here is still reasonable for all. Do also watch out for my next post on what to get from the same café during dinner time – affordable home cooked dishes at Kim Hooi Seafood stall.

It’s easy to find the stall as it is located at a corner lot of Perak Plaza, Jalan Perak. The easiest way to reach the place from town would be by using Jalan Macalister (as you would not be able to turn right from Jalan Dato Keramat). Drive all the way until you see the Jalan Macalister/Jalan Anson traffic lights (EON Automobile Showroom on your left). Turn left into Jalan Anson and drive all the way until you see the Jalan Anson/Jalan Perak T-junction traffic lights. Turn right into Jalan Perak and keep left. You can see the corner café immediately after a stretch of the General Hospital Officers’ residence on your left. Turn left into Jalan Lim Khoon Huat and park your car along the service road in front of the Perak Plaza.

Name: 2828 CAFÉ FAMOUS BEEF KOAY TEOW
Address: 56K, Perak Plaza, Jalan Perak, 10460 Penang, Malaysia.
Business Hours: 10.30am-3.00pm (Closed Monday)
Contact: 012-450 8177 (Mr. Tiger)
GPS: 5.416874, 100.316519

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7.5/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

But there is one problem… you would need to have the patience to dine in this residential stilt-in-the sea house as this is a non-commercialized one-cook restaurant and food would not be served for quite some time. For those with 4 or more diners, it’s best to pre-book your dishes prior to visiting this place. Don’t be sad with the news as the restaurant has many surprises in store for you. The surrounding area has lots of interesting eco system creatures and birds plus beautiful landscapes for those shutter lovers. You can easily fill up your waiting time when you are enchanted by the beauty of Mother Nature. WARNING: PLEASE WEAR FLAT SHOES AS YOU MIGHT NOT WANT YOUR HIGH HEELS TO GET STUCK BETWEEN PLANKS OF THE WOODEN BRIDGE!

So, what’s good to have here? If you are looking for many dishes to go with some fragrantly steamed Thai rice, it would require an advance booking to get the full range of dishes Madam Lee can wok up for you. Simplicity with some vermicelli and rice would be available here. For instant, the Thai Laksa (RM3) here was good. It was so much different compared to those I had tried locally. The vermicelli were thinner and the soup base had a more pungent and spicy flavor with some touches of coconut milk. Other than the usual sliced cucumber, pineapple, onions, mint leaves and cooked fish fillets, I had a surprise with the additional chopped onions, pickled radish (cai po/菜脯) with sliced red chilies. The whole concoction plus some added chili flakes was worth my sweating. LOL!

There are six types of rice dishes available here. One of the most commonly ordered in any Thai cuisine would be the Pineapple Fried Rice (RM4). The serving here was rather large for the amount paid as there were generous amount of pineapple cubes added on top of the few large prawns, chicken meat and egg. It was indeed filling.

The next rice dish was my all-time favorite – Thai Holy Basil Fried Rice (RM4). It was nothing fanciful but just some stir fry dish on top of a bowl of steamed Thai rice but the taste was something amazing. The special flavor came from the clove-like sweetness Thai holy basil leaves, fragrantly stir fried with some special sauce with your choice of seafood and meat. You can opt for the dish to be cooked with prawns, chicken meat or simply a combination of both. The style of cooking was rather traditional too as all the ingredients used were smashed instead of the usual cutting. This will be one dish that you should not miss out but there’s one warning here. Please inform Madam Lee your level of hotness.

Just an additional note here to share with those who would like to know more about the basil leaves used in Thai cuisine. There are 3 types available, either fresh or dried. The Thai Sweet Basil (horapa/daun selasih) is normally used in dishes such as Thai Green Curry and Taiwanese 3 Cup Chicken. This basil also commonly known as just Thai basil has a more assertive flavor that not many people can accept and they are the strongest flavored ones amongst the 3 species. The next would be the Thai Holy Basil (kha phrao/daun ruku ruku/tulsi). They are milder in taste but have clove-like sweetness in them. This type of basil is cultivated for religious and medicinal purposes. It’s believed to be used for many purposes such as cold, stomach disorder, poisoning and many more and the Hindus uses them as part of their worship rituals. The last basil would be the Thai Lemon Basil (manglak/daun kemangi/hoary basil). The leaves have a more citrus-like flavor and they are widely used in Indonesian cuisine such as raw salad.

Another of the commonly ordered rice dish would be the Belacan Fried Rice (RM4). The rice was fried with Madam Lee home made belacan (dried shrimp paste). The taste was not as intruding as some of the belacan dishes I had tasted before. The fried rice was served with cut omelette, some stir fry pork, sliced onions, unripe mangoes, bird eye chilies and some deep fried dried shrimps. When mixed up just like a salad, it was another great experience. The meat was tender and the sourness from the unripe mango made the whole dish real appetizing.

There was also the Salted Fish Fried Rice (RM4). This rice dish would be great for those who could not take too much of spicy food. The fried rice was very similar to the Oriental Fried Rice but has bits of fragrantly fried salted fish. The salted fish was not fishy as it was made from a higher grade of fish, namely barracuda.

There would surely be the Tom Yam Fried Rice (RM4) in any of the Thai restaurant menus but I find the dish to be a bit too mild for my liking. The fried rice has the fragrant, the required ingredients, the sourness from the lime juice but it lacked the extra kick taste from some chopped bird eye chilies. I won’t know for sure but it could be due to Madam Lee thinking that I was not in the game for another extra hot and spicy dish.

The last of the rice dishes would be the Sambal Fried Rice (RM4). I love this dish a lot too. The sambal (shrimp paste plus fresh red chilies concoction) was definitely one of the best around. Every mouthful was like heaven as each grain of rice has the fragrance and was coated thoroughly in flavors. This is another of my recommended dish.

If you think that having the above few dishes won’t be enough to fill you up, there’s always the finger food. You can try out the Fish Cake (RM1.20/pc) which has some sliced kaffir lime leaves and vegetables mixed with fish paste inside.

Pandan Chicken (RM1.20/pc) would also be available here. Each piece would have some turmeric plus coconut milk marinated chicken fillet, wrapped professionally in a pandan leaf (screw pine leaf) and deep fry to perfection. The meat was still juicy and nice. I don’t mind paying a bit more for a bigger and thicker pandan chicken as I personally felt that it was too small for me. One bite and it was gone. LOL! If they were to add in one or two bird eye chilies, it would be even better.

How do you like to have some jaws here? Yea… shark meat! They do serve Deep Fried Shark Fillet (RM1.50-RM2/pc) here too. It was just another simple fried fish dish but the fillet was indeed fresh and the fine texture of the meat was wonderful.

There’s also the Belacan Chicken Wings (RM2/pc) too. I found that there wasn’t much of belacan flavor on the chicken wings and they sure do taste normal. I still prefer the ones at my regular stall at Lebuh Kimberley. Let’s hope Madam Lee improves her recipe for this dish further.

You can also order their Stuffed Chicken Wing (RM3/pc). Each wing was stuffed with marinated chopped mushroom, carrot, prawns and squid, coated with some frying flour and fry until golden brown. This dish would be great for children if only you instruct them not to put the chili sauce on it.

There’s also the Spicy Stuffed Chicken Wing (RM3/pc) version with the same ingredients as above plus some turmeric spices and sliced kaffir lime leaves. Well, both the stuffed chicken wings were equally nice if taken immediately when served.

You might also want to try out the Clear Seafood Tom Yam Soup (RM6/bowl). This is one of the less available tom yam locally as most of the restaurants would serve the “easier” red version. The way Madam Lee cooked the soup made me craved for more. It had the right amount of pungent and sourness and all the ingredients used were fresh. Depending on market availability, each bowl/clay pot would have at least one large prawn, some squid slices, goldband jobfish (kalak fish) fillet combined with some abalone mushrooms. The dish was indeed great to go with my other rice dishes. You must try this soup out!

The Red Seafood Tom Yam Soup (RM6/bowl) would also be available here. If you had read carefully earlier, you would have notice that I had inverted the word “easier”. Most restaurants would use the ready made tom yam paste (nam prik pao) available in the market for faster cooking, thus it would not have the freshness in the soup base. As for Madam Lee, she also uses that but with a minimal amount to pep up the red color of the soup. The soup would be spicier and sour than the earlier version. My recommendation would still be the earlier version as it’s more towards the original taste of tom yam.

Overall, this is just a simple Thai food restaurant located along the beach front of Weld Quay, overseeing the Straits of Malacca. It would be a great place to chill out without paying exorbitant pricing for your food. By the way, there will be more delicious dishes available from time to time from Madam Lee. Please check with her when you call up for reservation. For lunch crowd, you would not have problem dining there. For dinner crowd, it would be best if you book in advance as the business would end at 7.30pm, although you can stay until 9.00pm or later.

Visiting this place would be quite a maze for many people, especially foreigners, as the house is located deep into the Tan Jetty. Here would be a few maps and photos to lead you to the restaurant. Please right click to view map/photos in a bigger version.

Here’s Map A which would lead you directly to the entrance of Tan Jetty. It’s quite easy to spot the place as it’s just next to Tan Bee Eng Bird Shop with a small “Tan Jetty” sign above. If you are coming from the ferry terminal along Pengkalan Weld, keep a watchful eye on the landmarks on your left, especially those Jetty signboards. You would pass by Lim Jetty (temple), Shell petrol kiosk, Chew Jetty (hawker area), slow down and watch out for the Tan Jetty (Tan Bee Eng Bird Shop) sign on your left. Park you car within the road next to Xen Teck Café a bit further up on your left. Walk back to the Tan Jetty entrance where you would see a giant water tank and walk right until the last house.

Alternatively, there’s the Map B with a riskier route but with ample parking space. Just drive into the road beside Xen Teck Café until you see the Tan Jetty Prawn Fritter stall. Drive further in until you see the beach front. The restaurant is located at the last house on your left. There would be lots of dogs there and you would have to walk over some loose wooden planks to get into the back portion of the house. My advice – call Madam Lee to lead you into the house when you have arrived. I would not advice this route for the elderly and children, especially when the sun is about to set or during rainy days.

Name: LANG SAE LEE THAI FOOD
Address: 97A, Tan Jetty, Weld Quay, 10300 Penang, Malaysia.
Business Hours: 10.00am-9.00pm (Closed Tuesday)
Contact: 014-907 1808 (Madam Lee)
GPS: 5.411565, 100.339195

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7.5/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 6.5/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

What made Eng Yam Rice so special? If compared to my most frequent yam rice stall in Chai Leng Park, Butterworth or their recently opened yam rice branch along Jalan C.Y. Choy, I would choose Eng Yam Rice. The difference lied in the yam rice. Each whole rice grain from here had the right texture and softness, combined with the thorough coating from the fragrant dark soy sauce, mixed with the right saltiness from the dried shrimps and beautiful powdery bites from the yam cubes. I can just have bowls of this yummy yam rice even without ordering any side dishes.

Speaking of side dishes, what you get here would be a bit different compared to the salted vegetable assorted pork soup and dark soy sauce pork trotter you get from the BM Yam Rice stall over in mainland Penang or even some stalls which would serve you with assorted Yong Tau Foo soup. To go with your yam/white rice, you can order one of their sets which would include a hard boiled egg, a piece of fried bean curd and some pork belly meat, cooked in thick and flavorful herbs and spices filled dark soy sauce – all in a bowl for only RM2. It was cheap and good!

Even the Pork Trotter (RM4) had the same quality as they also came from the same thick and flavorful braising sauce. The meat was tender and each bite was beautiful.

The wonderful part of dining here would be the choices of soup available with your meal. The stall would have RANDOMLY at least 3 types of soup each day. Firstly, there was the Radish and Carrot Soup (RM2/bowl). There was a generous amount of vegetables in the bowl with some pieces of pork. This bowl of soup was perfect with my yam rice.

Next would be the Duck Egg and Cabbage Soup (RM2/bowl). The soup contained some pan fried fresh duck eggs, boiled with some cabbages. It was just a nice and simple bowl of soup. I wished it could be something else more homely as a bowl of salted duck egg and mint leaves soup.

Starched Pork with Cabbage Soup (Bak Kee Soup – RM2/bowl) was also available for the day. Although this soup was a lot cheaper than the one I had at the coffee shop along Lorong Carnarvon, the cooking style was different. They used pork chunks coated with corn flour instead of pork slices. I personally felt that it had lost the bite sensation.

The Salted Fish Tofu Soup (RM2/bowl) was another of my favorite here. The tofu cubes were mildly fried and the salted fish did not have that overpowering fishy taste. Combined with some cabbages, the soup was full of flavors. The only problem would be that they do not serve this soup daily. It’s up to your luck to get to try this out.

Another soup that you would get only during weekends (Saturday & Sunday) would be the Pepper Pig Stomach Soup (Too Tor Th’ng – RM3/bowl). It would be a waste if you did not try out this soup. The pepper taste combined with the thick soup broth was marvelous. The only hiccup was that they do not have added ginkgo nuts. That would make the soup perfect.

On top of the meat and soup dishes, Prawn Fritters (RM1/pc) were also available. They would come with the chef’s own created garlic chili paste. Although I found the fritters to be lack of prawns but they were indeed real crispy. What’s there to complain at the price I paid?

Finding the stall won’t be hard as it’s just at the junction of Pengkalan Weld and Gat Lebuh Macallum. The only problem would be the parking space. If you are coming from the ferry terminal toward the Jelutong Expressway, you would see the Pengkalan Weld/Gat Lebuh Macallum traffic lights (the stall is actually opposite in a corner coffee shop named Kedai Kopi Sing May Mah). Turn left into Gat Lebuh Macallum and then turn right after the road divider into Gat Lebuh Cecil 1. There would be a lot of parking space there within the PDC flats area (you can get a lot of cheap and nice food here during dinner time). Moreover, I Mum Mum Pan Mee shop is just steps away from the yam rice stall.

Name: ENG YAM RICE @ KEDAI KOPI SING MAY MAH
Address: 214, Gat Lebuh Macallum, 10300 Penang, Malaysia.
Business Hours: 10.00am-2.00pm
Contact: 014-901 8082 (Mr. Ooi aka Ah Eng)
GPS: 5.407395, 100.332419

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)