Penang Food Adventures - Malaysian Kuih

This is the final installment of the Penang food series. I have been posting multiple entries about Penang food with pictures taken from my not so recent trip back to Penang in July. I thought I better get on with and post these before my next trip back to Penang in January which would undoubtedly be dotted with more food excursions. More food excursions = more food entries :)

I do food entries here and there on this blog firstly because great memories are created over a good spread on a table. And since I'm away from Penang I like to be able to look back and remember the foods that I miss from home. A blog with pictures is a good fodder for that. Secondly its to sort of promote Penang food. I get random hits from people who are looking for locations of great tasting food in Penang and these posts could lead them to some of the best secrets of Penang. Thirdly, there are many others who like me are far away from home and reading a blog like this could be a way of sharing similar experiences, emotions or evoking memories about our 'old' home regardless if it was Penang or not.

So on to the post for today, Malaysian Kuih!

What is kuih? The simple definition - It's bite sized goodies that are usually sweet in nature although some are a mix of savoury and sweet. They could also be called Asian cakes or pastries and these are eaten throughout the day whenever one can get their hands on them in between meals.

Pictured here are deep fried goodies - The 'Ti Kuih' and 'Lek Tau Kuih'. 'Ti Kuih' is essentially a sandwich made out of a slice of Chinese steamed sugar cake with two slices of yam. The sandwich is then dipped in batter and deep fried. The 'Lek Tau Kuih' is green bean paste made into a patty and then deep fried. There are varieties sold with these goodies like banana and sweet potato as well.

Pictured here is the 'Che Koo Kuih'. This is a brother of the 'Ang Koo Kuih'. I say its the brother because the ingredients are exactly the same in both and the difference is only in the color. The 'Che Koo Kuih' is a tortoise shaped cake encased in a rice flour dough filled with sweet mung bean/green bean. This is often gifted to friends and family when a newborn is a month old as part of a celebration ritual done by the Chinese. These days you can buy it off shelves in certain bakeries or even street vendors. I bought this box at Eaton.

Pictured here is the 'Ang Kong Nga Piah'. I love this simple kuih. It is actually made out of the same ingredients used to make the skin of mooncakes. There is no filling in this one and it is how I like it. I love having it with just a cup of water and letting the mix of a biteful of the kuih plus water just melt on my tongue. This is my favourite kuih to have in front of a tv show.

Pictured above is the 'Kuih Talam'. This is simple two layer kuih, the top most layer is lightly salted coconut cream while the bottom layer is made out of sweet pea flour and pandan extract. The texture of this kuih is slightly gooey and gelatinous but the sweet and salty of both layers plays off each other very well and it is a lovely kuih to have on a hot afternoon.

Pictured above is the 'Ham Chim Peng'. It is a yeast dough filled with red bean paste and lightly fried in oil. This a good supper kuih to have. There is a stall selling these in the old section of Penang town. Business is very brisk, open at 7.30pm, sold out by 9pm. Directions are as such: Across the street from Prangin Mall is Jalan Pintal Tali. Turn down that road and keep going until you hit the junction of Campbell Street. The stall is on your left right before that junction.

This is 'Pak Tong Kuih'. It is simple steamed rice and sugar cake. Very light and delicious, perfect for a hot summer evening. Kids who have lost their appetite when sick are usually given a piece of this to trigger their appetites or at least as a substitute until they regain a healthy appetite for food. The same stall that sells 'Ham Chim Peng' mentioned above also sells this kuih. It does not run out as quickly and you can sometimes still get this at 9.30pm.

This here is the 'Tai Yong Pau'. This doesn't actually fall into the category of Kuih but more steamed Chinese Buns but heck, I'm not doing another entry just specifically for buns so I'm putting in a mention here. This is similar to lotus seed bun except this is mega sized with a hidden treasure in the center - that being a full salted egg yolk! Absolutely yum.... If you love salted egg yolk like me, you will love this. It is cholesterol hell but its tastebud heaven.

For more details on Malaysian kuih, go here.

If you reside in Sydney and want to place orders for some kuih, go to Makan at Alice's. They also serve lunch and dinner. The menu looks really good and this is now on my list of places to hit while visiting Sydney.

Thus ends my Penang food ramblings - till February ...

cheryl

Penang Food Adventures - Best Malaysian Fruit!

The months of May-July is always the season for some of the best fruits in Penang. The fruits in mention here is the durian, mangosteen, langsat and rambutan. Mace and Pin took us on a drive to Balik Pulau and on the way we stopped for a helping of durian since 3 out of 4 of us in the car were craving for the delicious fruit. Guess who the 1 person who wasn't? :) My dear husband of course. Unfortunately majority wins so he had to go along for the adventure.

We chose a lovely durian of the Ganja variety. Now for those who have had this variety before you would know that its extremely potent. We were warned by the vendor that after having the durian we are to not drink water for at least 10 minutes. If not, you would feel dizzy or a little light headed. Definitely not ideal for driving through the winding steep roads of Balik Pulau.

But boy was it a treat! Here is a picture of the man cutting up the durian for us. Opening the spiky fruit requires skill and strength in the wrists. This man was clearly very experienced with it.

The stall also sold mangosteens. I love mangosteens. In fact, sometimes I think I love mangosteens more than I love durians. Lovely sweet white flesh encased in a fibrous dark purple casing.

This is a picture of langsat. Also a fruit with soft white translucent flesh yet completely different in taste to the mangosteen. I cannot describe the flavours of these fruits. You have to try it to know it. So if you haven't before, the next time you catch sight of these on sale at a roadside vendor, make sure you stop to give it a try.

There were plenty of other durian varieties on sale at the stall. The durians at Balik Pulau are often cited as being the best in Malaysia. The stall is located at the Balik Pulau lookout called 'Anjung Indah'. It has a nice scenic view of the sea from the top of the hill and is a nice, relaxing stop to make. For better directions to this place, go here.

This was our yummy Ganja. I had only two pieces of the fruit and was very satisfied. One good durian is definitely better than having 10 average ones.

Now, can someone please import Penang durians to Australia? The Thai ones available here are incomparable in taste and texture.

cheryl

Penang Food Adventures - Old House Cafe

While passing Kimberley Street on my last trip back in Penang in July, I spotted this newly renovated place called the Old House Cafe. The owners of this place bought 5 units of pre war shop houses and restored the structure to its former glory before adding a touch of the antique with the use of heavy wooden doors with metal trimmings, old style tea tables, seats, benches and artwork.

Curiosity got better of me so I talked my parents into having lunch at this new establishment. The prices are a bit on the steep side for regular coffee shop fare but I suppose you are paying the difference for cleanliness, cool comfort and a nice ambience. This would be the place to take customers or visiting friends/relatives for a simple lunch or dinner.
The exterior of the cafe. It is very hard to miss as it is the only stretch of green in a line of pre war buildings.

I get the feeling that no expense was spared when the owner poured funds into this place.

We ordered 3 of their most well known dishes. The first being 'Har Mee' - A slightly spicy prawn based soup noodle served with a big prawn, a pork spare rib garnished with fried onion. The soup had a lovely flavour to it. I have never been a big fan of Har Mee so I refrain from making much comment about this.

Another of their famed dish is the Braised Meat Rice. It is pork, chicken and hard boiled egg slowly cooked in simmering soy sauce with the chinese five spice powder before being chopped and served with rice. This dish to my opinion is the most value for money one can get in this cafe. If I return, I will order this again for myself.

This dish here is ho..ho... the 'Tu Kar Chor' also known as Pig Trotters cooked in Black Vinegar. If done well this dish is divine. It is often known as the dish that ladies in confinement crave for.

The version served in this cafe is not too bad though I wish it had more fat meat in it rather than being purely lean meat. However it is quite good value for money as you can see the from big chunks of meat in the picture above. Satisfying but not jaw dropping.

I might return for another visit to this cafe on my next trip but it won't be on the 'must do' section of my list of things to eat.

Location: 145-153 Kimberley Street.

Opening hours: 12-3pm, 6-10.30pm. Closed Tuesday

cheryl

Penang Food Adventures - Hawker Food

It's been awhile since my trip back home to Penang and I have been meaning to post about all the wonderful food I indulged in during that time but I admit I have a bit of slacker with my updates no thanks to my busy home life. Yes my busy home life :) So I have decided to make amends and do all the food posts in one weekend.

Lots of pictures coming up with short comments on where to find these delectable yummies.


This is 'Koay Chiap' - A steaming bowl of flat rice pieces served in a fragrant broth (duck stock) topped with lovely chopped pieces of duck meat, a hard boiled egg (cooked in simmering soy sauce), chopped chives and sometimes coriander. I have returned time and time again to this same stall and this is the only place where I have Koay Chiap. The stall that serves this dish is located at Kimberley Street. Its a small unassuming stall by the roadside with a very quick stream of customers coming and going - only available late evening ~8pm.

This is 'Char Koay Teow' - Flat rice noodles fried up in a hot wok, tossed in the searing heat with fresh, crisp bean sprouts, fried pork fat bits and finished off with an egg. This is also on Kimberley St.

This is 'Yong Tau Foo' - This dish is clear soup dish of Hakka origin containing a variety of vegetables, fish balls, tofu, chili stuffed with fish paste and etc. This particular stall on Kimberley St is like no other Yong Tau Foo stall in Penang. This vendor sells his very satisfying fare from the back of his motorcycle where customers choose the ingredients they want and it is served hot to your table sans the broth. The Yong Tau Foo pieces is topped with fragrant lightly fried garlic oil, sweet sauce and chilli sauce on the side. If you want some of the broth, make a request for it and it will come separately in a smaller bowl.

Part of my food list also included a trip to Balik Pulau to have the infamous Laksa. The name of the coffeeshop is Nan Guang and its right across the street from a T junction, next to the Balik Pulau Market. I can't provide further details as it is located in a remote area of Penang.

The two ladies operating the laksa stall - open for lunch only up to 3pm.

Alex and I enjoying our food. And pardon the KFC on the table :) Mace and Pin had to stop off at KFC first for Alex because he can't have anything spicy so it was just me that enjoyed the laksa.

The hot bowl of 'Laksa' (the picture is of the Assam version) - A fish based soup rice noodle dish with lots of fish bits in the soup made with touches of tamarind, lemongrass and galangal. The noodles are usually garnished with sliced cucumber, pineapple, mint, onions and a dash of prawn paste. This dish has a very distinctive flavour and its not possible to describe it unless you've had it before.

This is 'Mee Goreng' - A spicy Malay noodle fried dish - yellow noodles (sometimes with koay teow) tossed over wok heat with tomato paste, chili, egg and topped with tofu pieces, sliced vegetable, potatoes and cuttlefish.

This is 'Claypot Chicken Rice' - Rice cooked in a claypot over charcoal fire, giving the dish a rustic, barbeque-like, distinctive flavour. Chicken pieces, salted fish, shittake mushrooms and chinese sausage is added to the rice while cooking and an egg is cracked atop the rice at the end stage of cooking. Chives are added as a garnish. This dish is often served with chopped up chillies in soy sauce on the side and in some places with dark soy sauce. This one here is located in a corner lot coffee shop in Pulau Tikus diagonally across the open space car park near the Pulau Tikus market. The owner of the coffee shop has lots of pictures and newspaper clippings hanging on the wall of his son who was a multi win badminton player. I can't remember the name of the shop. Anybody can?

I can't help posting another picture of the claypot chicken rice. Doesn't it look absolutely tempting?

This is 'Char Koay Teow' again except this is my favourite version of it. Mace and I call this the wet Char Koay Teow/ chinese carbonara :) It is creamy, spicy and an altogether different spin on Char Koay Teow. Though wet, this place lacks not in terms of wok heat. The secret of a good Char Koay Teow is in what we call 'wok hei' in other words the heat of the wok. This particular stall is located in Kampung Jawa, Bayan Lepas. It is the first shoplot in a row of shops. Open daily for breakfast and lunch.


On to my favourite beef noodle stall in Penang.

I often come here for my beef noodle soup. Its a husband and wife team that prepares the noodles. There is an option for rice instead of noodles to be had with the beef soup. They have so many orders going that often it is a wait of 20 minutes before you receive your order. This stall is located in a corner lot coffee shop called 2828 Cafe, on Perak Road right across the street from Salvation Army.


The Beef Soup with Rice. Beef balls, thinly sliced beef and tripe topped with parsley (you can request for no tripe) I prefer it with rice rather than the noodles.

There is a small unassuming coffee shop on Chulia Street that is very well known to have the best 'Siew Bak' - roasted pork belly and 'Char Siew Bak' - sweet barbequed pork in Penang. The stall also serves roast duck and 'cheong' - chinese mixed sausage but the pork is clearly the winner in the pack. The coffee shop is located on the ground floor of Sky Hotel, although called a hotel its more a motel and is diagonally across the street from a Fujifilm green signboard of another shop. This place opens for business at 11am and is well sold out by 1.30pm. That is the best kind of business to have. So be early if you want some of this delicious pork.

It is a family run business and here is a picture of the father holding a cleaver, masterfully chopping up servings of pork for the long list of customers.


Take a closer look at the goodies on offer... imagine all of that being sold in just 2.5 hours!


Each order of meat with rice comes with a simple vegetable and lean pork meat soup. This is lightly salted and very appetizing. It is the beginning of better things to come.



I was so excited when the meat arrived. Roasted Pork Belly on the left and Chinese Mixed Sausage on the right. It was simply presented, no garnishes, no artistic flair in the layout but hey ho... put a piece of that in your mouth and its ooohhh... transported to pork heaven.


This is the Sweet Barbequed Pork. Also tremendously good. The lightly black charred bits add an extra dimension to the taste of the pork. I must say though that after having all that pork, the oil content did get a little to me. However it was nothing that a good ice cold glass of lemon juice couldn't fix!

I'm glad we are going back to Penang for a holiday in 2 months. Penangites are very lucky to have so much good food available just at their doorstep. Now that I'm far away I truly appreciate the convenience of it all. With such great fare in so many locations its no wonder that Penang is often called a food haven.

More food talk coming up...




cheryl

Breakfast Dreaming...

Wan Tan Mee

I woke this morning craving for this warm bowl of egg noodles tossed in a perfect merriment of dark soy sauce, regular soy, sesame oil, lard oil and sugar, topped with freshly cooked vegetables, wonton (also known as wan tan), char siew pork and a side of green chillies.

Breakfast dream aside, in reality I had a ham and cheese sandwich with coffee.

I have noticed that I seem to always be thinking of my next meal. I think its a Penangite thing to do. Or maybe its a nationwide Malaysian epidemic. We are always on the hunt for the next place to eat at. The next big meal to have. The flavours to satisfy the palate. It's probably why food bloggers do so well in Malaysia.

So what's for lunch? :)

cheryl

Penang Food Adventures - The Sire Museum Restaurant

Our first meal with friends was at the new-ish restaurant named The Sire. This place opened sometime late 2008 and is unique as it offers a dining cum history lesson experience all within the same building. One half of the building is designed specially for dining while the other half houses antiquities from the home of Yeap Chor Ee - a prominent businessman in Penang, founder of the Ban Hin Lee Bank. Entrance/tour to the museum part of this place is RM10 but this is waived if you are a diner at the restaurant. The decor is breathtaking and gives insight into how the Chinese came about to be in Penang.

While the decor was a sight to behold, the food did not disappoint either. Alex and I shared a soup for starters and ordered our mains separately.

Norwegian Seafood Soup - This was a creamy soup with mussels and salmon. Lemongrass added another layer of flavour to the soup and to our surprise there was a tangy end note to the soup. That unexpected flavour made the soup a winning dish so much so I think it beat out the two mains to win the title of favourite dish of that night.

Alex ordered this - a steak of some sort. I forgot the name :) To its credit, the steak was cooked perfectly to our request and was well seasoned.

My dish - a stuffed chicken of some sort. I forgot the name too. It wasn't a cheesy dish. And again it did taste good. I remember liking the mash that came with it but I don't think it was a potato one. To my defense I did say the favourite dish of the night was the soup right? Everything else was quite a blur after that. Haha..

After our nice meal we took the tour around the place. Photos were not allowed beyond a certain point hence what you see below is only the start of the tour. The museum contained precious possessions from Yeap Chor Ee's previous home - The Homestead. His mansion was donated for educational purposes per his will and all the antiquities in his wealthy home was then moved to this place.

Note the intricate woodwork on the door panels. This was in the function room.

There was some hanging greens separating the function room from the museum. This was a very nice touch, breaking up the space and it looked nice from all directions.

The walkway from the function room to the museum. I believe the ironwork you see on the rails came from the original home as well.

Some of the antiques - 5 piece dining set with a marble table (as in the olden days), antique clocks in the background and other antiquities in the glass cupboard.

For more info about this place and a map to it, go here. There was a lot to take in and if you are an antiques buff, I believe you will enjoy this experience. If you are a curious cat and just want an insight into the beginnings of the chinese people in Penang (a very successful one at that), then this is also a place for you.

Just remember to order the soup.

cheryl

Penang Food Adventures - Hot Wok Restaurant

Hot Wok is another restaurant in Penang which serves nyonya fare.This place first open its doors sometime in 1994 and since then it has built up a pretty good following amongst Penang people. Last I heard, they had opened a branch in Kuala Lumpur.

I was meeting up with my high school girlfriends and this restaurant won the popular vote. Here are some of the dishes we had for lunch.

Jiu Hoo Char - this is a complicated dish consisting stir fried thinly sliced dried squid turnip, carrot, celery, shittake mushroom and pork bits. The Penang way of eating this is to wrap this stir fried combo in a lettuce leaf with a dollop of chilli and following that, pop it into your mouth for an explosion of flavour balanced by the crisp freshness of the lettuce leaf. Yum....

Kiam Chai Ak - Salted vegetable duck soup. This is a very appetizing dish. A top choice as a starter dish to wet the appetite.

Otak otak - This is a dish which consists of fish mixed with garlic, shallots, tumeric, lemon grass, pepper and egg. All of this is then wrapped in a banana leaf before steaming resulting in a very fragrant eggy, fishy dish of which I never get enough of because it is always made in small portions.

Tau Eu Bak - Pork belly cooked at a slow simmer in soy sauce, dark soy and chinese five spice powder. I love how the meat feels like its melting on your tongue. Very yummy. The magic of this dish is in its meat and the sauce. Here it is served with hard boiled egg that has also been simmered in the magic sauce. This is my favourite way to have a hard boiled egg.

Sago Nangka - We had this for dessert. It is chilled sago served with fresh jackfruit and coconut milk. It was refreshing and the coconut milk was of just the right consistency, not watered down or too creamy.

For more details about this restaurant, go to their website. There are directions and contact details with short write ups about its food, atmosphere and history.

cheryl

Penang Food Adventures - Golden Triangle Restaurant

One of my favourite restaurants to eat at in Penang is The Golden Triangle. This place serves up IndoChine food and as described on their webpage, a mix of Thai, Vietnamese and Laotian cuisine. I love this place because each visit promises an explosion of flavour on my palate. The Golden Triangle has 2 outlets, one in Queensbay Mall and another in Auto City.

Moving on quickly to pictures and food... :)

The set up of the restaurant at Queensbay.

Belacan Fried Rice - This dish, paired with the sambal makes a beautiful duet

Garlic Kangkung aka Chinese Water Spinach

Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab

Lemon Steamed Fish - This is my ultimate favourite. The broth that accompanies the fish is a wonderful mix of sour and fragrance with a hit of heat from the thinly cut chillies. Also the fresh coriander adds a further dimension to this dish. If you love sour stuff, this dish is a winner. A very good start to a big meal. Very appetizing.

We actually ordered a lot of dishes that night even though there were only 3 of us - Mace, Pin and I. We ordered 9 dishes and 8 drinks between us three. 8 dishes are usually served at a Chinese course dinner to feed 10 people. Us 3 ate enough for 10 that night. :) Unbelievable? I'm so proud of us. Haha.... Eating with friends who also appreciate food is the best! Below is a list of the 8 dishes we ordered that night.

1. Belacan Fried Rice

2. Garlic Kangkung X 2

3. Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab

4. Claypot Glass Noodles with Prawns and Squid

5. Curry Powder Prawn

6. Otak-Otak

7. Thap Thim Krop - a dessert

8. Pumpkin & Yam Cake

I took only 5 pictures of the dishes before I was completely lost in my enjoyment of the food and forgot all about my camera.

One of the desserts we ordered - Pumpkin & Yam Cake. This was sticky and not as pumpkin-ny as I envisioned it to be. It wasnt too sweet and quite palatable. I think I would have enjoyed it more had I not been so full.

I'm very much looking forward to January when I can relive these memories again. So friends back home, go on a diet now and prepare for when Cheryl comes back again! :p

cheryl