Penang Trip - Part 2

After checking into the hotel we managed to jump around on the bed a little. Never jumped on my own bed before but this one is not mine, so I ran 2 meters and jumped onto the bed. Yipeee.. Decided to get some rest before we ventured out into the streets of Penang. So by about 8pm we were hungry and thought it would be nice to have some nice authentic Penang Hawker food. For Sayang, it had to be Hokkien Mee, which I did not understand why. For me it was Char Kway Teow, Asam Laksa and whatever I could find. We drove for a short while, called Shades and he gave us directions to McAllister Rd. We parked near some Chettiar place opposite of Sunway Hotel and romped off towards the crowd.



We were obviously pretty confused, Sayang and I. Is this the place ah ? Which stall nice ah ?
Gung Ho as usual, my reply was lets try la. So we ordered Lin Chi Kang from some old auntie (yucks), Satay and Chicken Wings from across the road , nice. Prawn Mee which was quite blend. Char Kway Teo which was quite ok only. We finished that and I remembered my last trip here, I visited different stalls, one which was along the Main McAllister Rd. So we decided to walk off the food we ate, just about 100m up, we found two old hawker centers with one new Center which sprung up recently. Opted for the old dirty one. We were quite full so we just ordered Fried Oysters and Herbal Tea. This one was quite cute, we don have bottled Herbal Tea like this in KL. Oysters were normal. Fresh to say the least .




So the night ended with O Chien. We noticed the two Hokkien Mee stalls in this hawker center. One was open at night and the other not open. The one which was closed had newspaper cuttings on its stall. All in chinese therefore did not read further. Two very distinct differences when compared with KL Hawker Food, Price and Serving. In Penang, the food costs very much less and the servings are much smaller compared to the hawkers in KL.

Got back to the hotel and slept. We managed to make an appointment with Shades and Karyn for brunch the next day. Excited, as this would be our first guided tour of Penang Food, since our arrival.

Day Two - Brunch



The first restaurant we raided was the Penang Rd place. Famous for Char Kwai Teo and Assam Laksa. Which one ? The one with the famous Cendol stall outside. We managed to pose for the camera as it was still early, we could use one more table to put our camera and self time it to take this pic. Nobody touched the Nasi Lemak on the table. It was transferred to another table soon after the picture was taken (till today I still do not understand why that Nasi Lemak was there) . We ordered our Fried Kwai Teo and Assam Laksa. Verdict: Standard Drop until nothing to say. This was the place I thought would give me the No1 Fried Kwai Teo in the world. With the first bite, I tell you... no way...

The Cendol Stall however, maintained its position in the number one spot for best cendol in town. Best in Penang, Some Say best in JB, but definitely Better than most Singaporean Cendols.


Next stop was Swatou Lane ( Sin Sai Kei I think). Famous for Rojak and Ice Kacang. Kekeke, now I see where the put Banana in Ice Kacang thing happening. They now put in fruits, kiwi, watermelons, apples, oranges into the Ice Kacangs. Oh ya they even put in Ice Cream. I remember having enjoyed ice kacang must better at one of the lesser known stalls in Kepong, and obviously the Famous Madras Lane Ice Kacang, its unique, Ice Kacang served in a Cup would have been better. Nevertheless, this Ice Kacang was still considered quite nice. The rojak was very very nice. The sauce ah... fuiseh, really different. Definitely can't find this rojak sauce anywhere else. It had everything in it, not too fishy, not too hot, and not too sticky. This Rojak at Swatou Lane definitely gets the seal of approval. According to Shades and and Karyn you can also buy the Rojak paste and enjoy Rojak Penang at home. Shades ordered two plates, one just with Sengkuang only, and the other the standard affair of mixed fruits.



If you noticed the ABC Special words below the plate, I think I ordered the ABC Biasa, which is how I like my Ice Kacang.



After we finished our jalan - jalan cari makan for brunch, Shades took us on a guided tour of places of interest in Penang. We managed to drive by certain places of interest, like Kapitan Keling's Mosque, Kuan Yin Temple, eh Penang's own Broadway, Bank Street buildings were beautiful, Beach Street stuff like the Fort Donowat, various beautiful churches of different ages and teachings.

What to do With Rojak Sauce, after you finish your rojak ? Featuring Shades.