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.

Penang Trip - One To Remember For

There is so much to write about in Penang, I do not even know where to begin. Okay lets begin with our journey up to Penang to start. It was 26th December, the day began very early morning when everyone is in deep slumber, however I do suspect some people were religiously attending BodyCombat class all. Sayang and I had other plans, although it was not a good one, we were going to pig out for the next few days.

Morning - On The way up

It began 6am, Sayang was already preparing to come over to pick me up for the trip up. I was still in slumber knowing that my stuff were all packed. By 9am she already had half a day ahead of me in terms of activity, while mine began.

First assignment - Cari Sarapan Pagi yang sedap !!



Kuay Teow Thng, Loh Mai Kai and Char Siu Pau,hardly the breakfast for champions but it would suffice until we reached Ipoh to look for the legendary Taugeh Ayam. Anyway the breakfast was actually randomly selected at a random breakfast place in Taman Midah. Not bads.

After breakfast we stopped by at Giant to get some water and junk food to accompany us on the way up. As soon as we were done we really got on our way up to Penang via Ipoh first. A pitstop to refuel or tummies. The hunt is on for Taugeh Ayam. A mission that sounds quite impossible, because, neither of us are familiar with Ipoh town.

The drive up to Ipoh was relatively quick, we were both excited and full of energy. It was filled with hope as to what we food we would eat and how fat we would all become. We reached Ipoh with a slow cruise up, nothing much to see on the way except for a truck full of cute pigs. So we managed to stumble upon the famous Taugeh Ayam restaurants in Ipoh. It was closed and they will only open for dinner that day. Alamak !! So we walked around and stumbled on this huge sign .




So we walked in and tried a bowl of their tau foo fa. It was ok la, to be frank I do not know what is different about this tau foo fa, but when you put it into your mouth, it was firm and soft at the same time. Many people came to this shop to order take away. Something new, Tau Foo Fa, famous stall in Ipoh.
We asked the tau foo fa shop owner where else can we makan Taugeh Ayam. They gave us directions, but told us, this stall not a famous one. So we headed off to those directions. We saw one corner stall, at Jalan Mustapha Al Bakri. We got our White Coffee ( so so only the taste) and our taugeh ayam. The kway teo was smooth, just like ipoh kwai teow the soup was nice. Quite tasty.



After a late lunch we resumed our journey up to Penang. It was a slow drive , which took us an hour plus. We stopped by Sg Perak R&R to do some business, and stumbled upon a stall which sells Tongkat Ali capsules. Did not buy them, but it seems like a good deal. Rm12 for 30 pills. So we reached Penang at about 4 in the evening, checked in to the hotel and rested . The bridge is a magnifiscent view and this one taken from the cockpit of the car. Lovely. It was to be an adventure for the next few days. The mission is to find the best char kwai teo on earth. The best prawn mee and the best Cendol / Ais Kacang, etc. Oh ya, this one is new, Roti Babi.... muahahahaha.