Tong Sui, SS2

After our breakfast, we went to SS2 for dessert. EL wanted KTZ, but I told him that KTZ won’t be opens until 12:30pm. Then we adjourned to nearby tong sui shop at the row of shop behind McDonald’s.

... EL's guai ling gou. He said it was very bitter.

... AT's egg custard.

... my favourite snow fungus with red dates tong sui.

Rating: 3/10

My snow fungus tong sui was quite runny. I remembered it was quite nice few years back when I had it. I guess things change.

Location: N3 07.022 E101 37.280 (est)

Prawn Mee @ O & S, Taman Paramount

... probably the best prawn mee I've had in KV. Not that I've tried all, but best thus far.

... as according to EL, this is Penang's style by adding in law mee's gravy. But then again, EL is mainlander.

Rating: 7/10

The prawn noodle mix with law mee‘s gravy was something new to me. EL has been repeatedly asking me if I tried any of the hokkien mee (which is called prawn mee here) when I was in Penang. Though, the prawn mee was already good by itself. The soup was thick enough and very tasty. I didn’t even finish my chilli paste that was provided due to the sufficient tasting soup base. With the added gravy, it made the soup even saltier. The gravy was really salty. Perhaps it was just good for its original purpose.

Location: N3 06.468 E101 37.496

Cia Xiang Seafood Restaurant, Bukit Tambun

This place was recommended to me by a fellow colleague, cause he came across a flogger’s article regarding the food here and thought I might be interested to give it a try. On the day we were heading back to KV, we stopped by here for lunch, sacrificing the much talked about yam rice, which was not far away.

... the place with double standard name. I thought I was lost at first.

... vege, which was similar to what we get yesterday, small portion.

... Guinness Stout spare ribs.

... the famous dish at this place, the clay pot crab rice.

... fish with kuay teow in it.

Rating: 3/10

The vegetable, similar to our dinner last night, was very small in portion. Fortunately, it wasn’t as salty as the one we had last night. The spare ribs cooked in Guinness Stout was rather disappointing. I would be expecting it to be better than those I could find in KV, unfortunately, it has plenty of fats or skins. I can’t really distinguish if they were fats or skins under those colour, which made the whole chewing experience really bad. Besides, the taste wasn’t that good either. Any one of those Guinness Stout spare ribs I had in KV is better than this.

Everyone seems to be ordering the same thing, the clay pot crab rice. Unfortunately, it doesn’t taste any good at all. The rice, which seemed similar to other clay pot rice, darkened with soya sauce. Somehow, the rice was tasteless to me. With the crabs being placed on top of the rice and cooked in the clay pot, I was expecting the rice to have the sweetness of the crab’s essence. Similar to the fried vermicelli with crab, which made the whole vermicelli smells very crabby. When I have the crab, the meat was tasteless too. I’m not sure if it was due to the lacked of freshness of the crab, or the crab just crappy. Meat wise, they certainly wasn’t that bad, but it just tasteless. I wondered what happened.

Lastly, the fish was still acceptable. Somehow, the choi bou was not crispy. Maybe they turned soggy after I took my photos? The bill came up to RM92 for the 5 of us, which took us completely off guard, as our dinner last night cost us only RM101.

The order was made based on CK Lam’s recommendations at What2See. Somehow, I’m sensing that she shares the same sentiment with KY Speaks when it comes to food.

Location: N5 16.437 E100 27.457

Fishing Village Seafood Restaurant, Teluk Bahang, Penang Island

Went for a quick dinner nearby the place we stay. Yet again, I’m at the Fishing Village seafood restaurant for the second time.

... a few big prawns, enough for the few of us, especially when I was still on strict diet.

... this plate of vege was very small portion and it was very salty.

... Teo Chew style steamed fish.

... my favourite dish, black pepper fried squids.

... Tom Yam style vermicelli.

Rating: 7.5/10

This time, the salted egg yolk prawns weren’t that good, despite I was comparing to the one I had the first time, which was already cold and slightly sweetened. The fish was acceptable with the soup right on spot. Fortunately, the soup wasn’t as devastating as the one we had in Yan Yan A One‘s. Then my favourite black pepper fried squids. This time, the squids was not fully deep fried, it was a tad less crunchy than those I had last time. Finally, the tom yam vermicelli was acceptable, but it was a bit sweet though which I find it rather odd.

Location: N5 27.595 E100 12.822

Cendol Penang Road, Lebuh Keng Kwee, Penang Island

... my bowl of cendol has abundance of green cendol jelly.

... barely visible brown sugar.

Rating: 4/10

After having asam laksa, we went for dessert. The famous cendol stall in Penang Road. There were 2 stalls opposite to each other, but the stall was basically swatting flies busy. I’ve had this many years ago. It seems, the taste doesn’t change much, if I recalled correctly. The lacked of fragrance from the brown sugar made this cendol rather Plain Jane. Give me Nancy’s Kitchen‘s cendol anytime, or even PappaRich‘s will do.

Location: N5 25.027 E100 19.839

Asam Laksa @ Pasar Air Itam, Penang Island

After our long awaiting snack at Lorong Selamat. We head on straight to Pasar Air Itam’s laksa. MH was craving for it as well. He told me that is a must try when we were on our way to Penang the day before. Despite the warnings of the place was famous of using tissue paper in boiling the soup, I just had to take the risk.

... the famous asam laksa stall in Air Itam's market area.

... unlike those served in KV, this doesn't come with pineapple and the soup wasn't sweet, which I like.

Rating: 5.5/10

The taste of the soup was what I would be expecting from an asam laksa. Similar to my hometown’s asam laksa where there’s no pineapple. Though there were quite a bit of jalapeno being used here. Unfortunately, according to MH, if we were to be there in the morning, there would be more mackerel in the bowl of noodle, as opposed to none at all when we had it. Except for some minced leftover fish meat sinking at the bottom of the pot. Anyway, there weren’t any visible tissue paper particles found in the soup.

Location: N5 24.076 E100 16.690

Char Koay Teow @ Kafe Heng Huat, Lorong Selamat, Penang Island

Finally, the place where people would say phrase like, “you’ve not visited Penang if you haven’t been there.” Yes, the infamous Lorong Selamat’s fried kuey teow. Before I was even there, EL has been telling me how Penangites would never patronise that place due to its exuberant charges on a plate of fried kuey teow with bigger than usual prawns. Anyway, according to my GPS’ Point of Interest, the description was “a diva with red cap and goggle.” That’s intriguing.

... finally, we were here.

... the auntie that wore a red cap and goggle when doing her magic.

... fried kuey teow was cooked with charcoal.

... finally, after waiting for more than 90 minutes.

Rating: 7.5/10

It took us more than 90 minutes for our 4 plates of fried kuey teow. Apparently, they have fucked up the order, despite having the plates stacked in chronological order. When our fried kuey teow was served, the most apparent thing would be the 3 big prawns lying on top of the flat noodles. Fragrance wise, it wasn’t anything fancy. Fortunately, the taste was good. It wasn’t as salty as the one I had last night and the fragrance from the pork lard was good. As for the price of the dish, it was RM6.80 for a small sized one. I have had no complains because I don’t have it often. Since I was a tourist there, I guess I have to do what a tourist gotta do. At least the taste was good despite all the waiting.

Location: N5 25.026 E100 19.477

Mee Goreng @ Seng Lee Coffee Shop, Lorong Bangkok, Penang Island

This was one of the eating places that recommended by EL. His first remark was, “Those Indian guys can speak fluent Hokkien.” I find it rather amusing and got no idea what I was getting into, but I could only pray for the best. Some of them asked if it was spicy, but so far in my life, I’ve never had a mamak/Indian’s mee goreng which is spicy or very spicy.

... spinning the wok like a top.

... Indian mee goreng. Very reddish.

Rating: 6/10

The reddish appearance was quite surprising for all of us. I guess this only exclusively available in Penang. Taste wise, it was quite nice, a little bit sweetened. The chilli wasn’t spicy, but it tends to burn the mouth after consuming it. I guess it was like mee rebus, but the noodle was stir fried along with the gravy until the gravy was dried. In conclusion, something different than your usual stuff. Not sure if this is Halal or not, didn’t pay attention to any Halal certification on the stall or the shop.

Location: N5 25.882 E100 18.733

Sin Guat Keong Coffee Shop, Penang Island

First stop was a fried kuey teow in one of the street off Chulia Street. But the stall was not opened and rumoured that the uncle whom cook there has passed away. Hence we were detoured to another place by DL’s colleague.

... any of the fried kuey teow there tastes better than most of those in KV.

Rating: 6.5/10

The fried kuey teow here wasn’t too shabby. The style was quite similar to the one I had in Ipoh at Sin Lean Lee, with its egg fried at the bottom of the wok and scooped up later. Hence the flat dish looking bits of fried egg. The flavour was good, except that the first thing I tasted was, salty. It was salty beyond my expectations. Most of us agreed to it being too salty while DL finds it right on spot. Told him, his ciggy gonna kill his taste bud.

... it has square kuey teow in it with duck meat and chicken egg. Seems to be a local delicacy for Penangites.

Rating: 3.5/10

I was quite afraid of having this because it contains duck meat in it. Very bad for my strict diet. Anyway, I had a small piece just for tasting. Fortunately, not something that I’d fancy. Instead of duck egg, chicken egg was used, for a bowl of flat-noodle-mix (koay chap) (loosely translated from Hokkien).

Location: N5 24.990 E100 19.969

Restoran Onn Kee, Ipoh

While on the way to Penang, we detoured to Ipoh for lunch. Fortunately, there was an Ipoh local in 1 of our cars and she brought us here for lunch. DL can finally have a taste of Onn Kee’s bean sprout chicken, as he was complaining like a little kid when Onn Kee was closed the last time we were here and had to settle for Lou Wong instead.

... meatballs in soup.

... fat and crunchy bean sprouts, only to be found in Ipoh.

... Ipoh's infamous bean sprout chicken.

Rating: 6/10

The bean sprouts and chicken here was indeed better than Lou Wong that I last had. In fact, it was a lot better. Somehow, I felt that the soup here was saltier and probably heavier on Ajinomoto. The chicken wasn’t as sinewy as most steamed chicken. Unfortunately, I still prefer roasted chicken as those steamed chicken skin has gone to waste for me. Meatballs were ordinary, I didn’t know what to expect. While DL was commenting on how the bean sprout was being artificially processed to make them fat, he got a good lecture from our local resident, lol. I’m not sure if me being a bit too hungry helps in making the taste felt better. I wonder what DL gotta say about the artificially enhanced taste of the dishes.

Location: N4 35.637 E101 05.061