The Best Penang Hawker Food and Restaurant Guide

Kimberly Street Old House

Penang Tua Pui — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:50:49 +0000

To associate this place with food was the last thing that came to our mind, yet this is exactly what this place is all about, another food outlet. Located along Kimberley Street, near the famous char koay teow and koay chap, we were taken aback with the exterior setting that it did not resemble any modern dining outlet in Penang.

Even for those who can read Chinese characters, you will definitely be taken aback with the external decorations. It just reminded us of the old dining in we saw in movies.

The wooden doors outside looked old, (perhaps vintage is better word?) with even the floors at the entrance decorated with wooden surface too

Again, for the non-Chinese readers, it would be hard to guess what this character is, which literally means “pot”

This is another Chinese character proudly displayed outside “Tea”. The combination of these two characters will tell you that you can get food and drinks within this outlet. Of course, for Tam Ciak, when the words combined, they become “tea pot” … hehehe

We do think the owners really spent a great deal of effort to make this place as “ancient” as possible, even with to Qilin statues in front of the entrance

A close up view of the qilin statue

The decorations on top of the entrance, the wooden crafted figurines

Another decorative item we noticed hanging on the door…

Remember these handles? These days, the only places that we do see them are at the temples and some of the old homes at mainland China

The handles that resemble the head of an animal holding the ring, used to knock the door and pull the big door

Well, the colours and the texture of the door did seem quite antique

Well, enough of admiring the exterior of this Old House… It is time to go inside to look what they have

Part of the interior and this is the counter area

The tables are quite antique as well, some with tea leaves and tea set put on the middle

Or you would find tables with glasses on top

The crowd at that moment…

If the whole decorations were towards Chinese antique, this piece of chandelier will be kind of out of place. Chandeliers are much towards Western decorative items that we were a bit perplexed to see them there

This picture will give you an idea when the East meets West with the Chinese antiques matching the Western chandeliers

We must tell you first that the pricing over here is cafe style and not hawker style. This char koay teow costs RM7.00. Depending on how you look at it, it can be either expensive if compared to hawkers or just on par if compared to cafe like Old Town or Apex Coffee. You will be paying the similar price for this whenever dining at any cafe style “hawkers food” which have flourished recently.

It uses thinner version of koay teow with limited ingredients.

Taste wise, we would say it could not match the one road side but dining here with the comfortable environment will definitely attract those tourists who may not get used to our hawker foods

The satay is quite oily with more chicken skin compared to the meat. We prefer satays with more meat (obviously) and less chicken skin and less oily.

The meat texture was also softer but we prefer harder and drier version

The fish head noodle cost RM12.00 with limited ingredients as well

True to its name, we found more fish head portion than fish meat and lots of garlic was included as well

The servings fit more to cafe style rather than hawker style

A deco sign for better business prosperity

The philosophy of this place, if these four characters fit the bill, is to use the passion and the dedication to prepare and churn out even the simplest dishes that melt people’s hearts.

This place offers quite unique design and environment which reminds us of the old style inn that we used to see in the movies. Food wise, it is more towards cafe style and pricing and like any newly opened outlet, there is always room for improvement that we believe will help this place to flourish further. So, have you visited this place before and what do you think?

The GPS coordinate as shown (N 05° 25.207′ E100° 19.811′)

Ang Hoi Lor | Authentic Penang Restaurant

Penang Tua Pui — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:18:10 +0000

A true Penangite would definitely have heard about Ang Hoay Lor and the food that is served there. It is truly synonymous with Penang’s local delights and flavour. This quaint shop located right in the heart of Old Georgetown is famous for its oyster mee, bak khi, fried tang hoon, pork leg beehoon, fried oyster and tauhu suan na, to name a few.

Limited parking is available. We circled the area twice before we managed to get a prime parking spot right in front of the shop J. The authentic feel of olden days greeted us as we entered the shop.

It was quite clear that Ang Hoay Lor has its share of loyal supporters, people who have been patronizing the shop for years. We settled on a few specialty dishes and sat back to wait while sipping hot chrysanthemum tea.

The fried oyster was the first dish to arrive. It looked a bit dark from overfrying, but the taste proved otherwise. There were sufficient fresh oysters and the spring onions added that extra oomph to the dish.

The oyster mee came next, with generous helpings of oyster, fish meat, pork and vege. We felt that the dish was slightly on the salty side.

One thing we note is that only pickled chillies and cabai burung are provided here. We were quite disappointed when we asked for sambal, and were told there was none available.

For those unfamiliar with bak khi, this (we are told by the server) is a famed Hokkien delight. It is essentially pork meat wrapped in a layer of cornstarch flour, fried and served in a thick soup.

After our experience eating this dish, we all agreed it is an acquired taste. If you like the texture of sticky cornstarch, you will most likely enjoy it.

The other 2 side dishes we ordered were the prawn fritters and the tauhu suan na. The prawn fritters were fried to a crispy golden brown (mmmm J) and the tauhu fried with suan na was indeed flavourful, though a bit salty.

All in all, if you are looking for a taste and ambience that is reminisce of Old Penang, look no further than Ang Hoay Lor.

Map

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Learning Trip to Eco-Farm Balik Pulau

Penang Tua Pui — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:11:47 +0000

After the first durian hunt posted, family members started making noises when would be the trip for them. Being a family of durian lovers, Huat Koay’s family in law and Fei Fei make their 2nd trip to balik pulau. We had called and booked it a week ealier to ensure we get our durian fest a successful one.

Heading to Balik Pulau around 11am where it is very suitable time as what the owner told us. The store that we are heading to is call Peng Siew Durian House, yes, you get it right, it is durian house. He is well known for his durian all over the place. We met different groups of ppl who came from Singapore, KL just to try the durian there.

Upon arrival, we saw the place is full of cars and we know we are late :(, Huat Koay need to make up lo… make us late for the fest :(…. heehee…. All the vacant table had been taken, so we have to wait.

“dear, mana I punya durian? you la…. make up so long, now late liao… no more durian how a?” complaints that came from the wife.

We had make reservation earlier, so worry no more key learning, call to reserve ok? heehee…..

While waiting, Fei Fei being our tour guide, brought us de tour de peng siew farm. To our surprise, this place is full of mysterious elements. Not very mysterious, but to us who live and stay at city for years, it is a good one for us.

You get to see chicken farm, love birds, hamster farm, white mice farm, duck pool, peacock, fishes, and SNAKE. yes, peacock and snakes is something surprise us too. The owner told us, there are about hundreds of snakes on the tree. Fei fei brought us around to search for those snakes we are able to allocate few of them, SCARY la…. :~{}

” A B C D, dear, hami lai? “, Huat Koay’s wife able to trigger the owner of the chicken farm to walk us through what is those A B C D all about.

It is machine used to segregate the eggs by its size but to be exact should by its weight. This is the steps by steps.

1. Get the egg arranged on the conveyor belt.

2. Egg will be sent to the weight scale to check if it mets the weight.

3. If the weight is not met, it will pass to the next weight scale.

4. If met, it would release the egg to the correct bucket.

Simple? this is the magical weight machine which work hardly behind.

Still waiting… what else we had around here? Here is the shot i had, can anyone tell me what is it? Who get the correct guess, PenangTuaPui free one durian trip, ok?

Some shots around the farm

1. Buah Pala (Nutmeg)

2. Dragon Fruit

3. Nona Fruit

To be continued……

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The Brasserie Executive Lunch at Traders Hotel

Penang Tua Pui — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 08:25:44 +0000

While we were dining for the Taste of Taiwan recently at the Traders Hotel, we stumbled upon this executive buffet lunch at The Braserrie. The deal looked good for the buffet spread served and eventually we decided to drop by this place to check it out.

Well, guess we made the right choice to try out The Brasserie Executive Lunch during on of our replacement holidays…

The Brasserie is located at the second floor of Traders Hotel. If you take the escalator next to The Islander, you should be able to see The Brasserie right in front of you.

The setting of The Brasserie is quite neat, simple yet elegant. Somehow, the environment could automatically make us “well-behaved” during the entire dining session, except during photography session of course.

What we like about placement of the food is the buffet spread that is located near the entrance. It was as if the buffet was readily greeting us as we walked past the entrance.

The appetizers include selection of crispy salads, cold dishes as well as soup of the day.

The unagi slices were slightly crisp and nice

The ones that made us happy most were sashimi as well as fresh oysters

Yes, we had fresh salmon and butter fish, coupled with fresh oyster to start off our tantalizing meal

We took quite a portion from these appetizers and judging by these three items, we can definitely say it is worth the bucks

We had a great time enjoying the appetizers until by the time the main course was served, we were more than half full already

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Camo Studio celebration at Stone Bay

Penang Tua Pui — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:27:07 +0000

It was a great day to remember for our partner, Camo Studio, who had recently launched their new Professional Wedding Photography Site, in order to bring an ever lasting memories for newly wed couples through spectacular pictures. It was also to celebrate the success of the event coverage for QBM Bachelor Hunt 2009 at Queensbay Mall last week.

To commemorate this special occasion, we decided to have a meaningful feast at Stone Bay Restaurant. Stone Bay Restaurant is located along Jelutong Expressway before the Shell petrol station, specialising in chinese cuisine.

The dinner for 10 of us that time was something we enjoyed. We had five dishes plus a dessert for the meal. By the end of the celebration meal, we were all fully stuffed

A teaser of what we had that night, all lining up in a straight line

Fish, yes… something that we never miss in the Chinese Cuisine, steamed and spicy.. our favourite style

Of course, what is celebration all about without a good beer? Anyway, while chugging down the beer, here was what we had that night in details…

Thai Style Stuffed Omelet (RM15.00) is actually Thai version of Telur Bungkus with chili sauce decorating the top part of the omelet

If you cut open the omelet, you will see the stuffed ingredients inside which include meat and vegetables. It was a simple to prepare dish but quite colourful and striking in terms of presentation wise, probably because of the red chili sauce

Roasted Stew Pork Knuckles (Ang Sioh Tu Chiu) - RM30.00. We thought this dish was a BBQ pork at the first glance but upon closer inspection, it was much better than that.

This is not as soft as dong po pork but the texture is quite tender and chewy. This has quite an amount of fat portion which pork knuckle lovers may be looking forward to. The gravy was towards sweet in taste. A nice dish indeed

The Seven coloured dish (RM15.00) contained seven different ingredients ham, shrimp, tau kua, beans, mushroom, yellow and red capsicum which made the dish very colourful indeed. Each spoonful can be quite crunchy and chewy

Prawns in Thousand Island Sauce (RM50.00) had nuts and nutmeg! The thick gravy was quite creamy which had it absorbed by the prawns (literally)

The taste of thousand Island sauce was almost non-existent, instead we had the sweet and salty taste, thick gravy which was quite strong in taste and delicious. The nutmeg in the dish made it even more interesting

We liked the steamed fish (RM40.00 - depending on market price) for the freshness of the fish as well as the gravy that came with it. This dish also has a lot of garlic… yes, lots of it!

Jelly with cocktail served as the dessert for the night

Monk Jumping over the wall or was it Buddha jumping over the wall? Either you know what this dish is!

A nice cold beer to gulp and complete the meal

Burp~! Aaaahhhhhh

As usual, we would be quite noisy and jolly to the extent that the lady owner dropped by our place for a chat. After introducing ourselves and what we do, we were offered by the owner to visit their dining halls which they use for wedding purpose as well as private rooms (furnished with Karaoke systems) meant for private party. According to the manager then, the use of the Karaoke systems is free of charge and so are the private rooms.

Stone Bay Restaurant
12, Tingkat Satu, Fortune Park,
Jalan Perusahaan Jelutong 2,
11600 Jelutong, Pulau Pinang
Tel: 04-288 8888, 04-282 1111
Fax: 04-288 8882

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The owner asked if we would like to take some pictures of these halls and rooms. Well, why not? To see the pictures, just head on to the next page…

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Yummy Cuisine Sungai Ara - Chu Cha

Penang Tua Pui — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:19:20 +0000

The latest food outlet to arrive in Sungai Ara is situated at the new row of shophouses opposite the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara branch office.

Yummy Café is located at the corner lot and easily visible from the main road, so you can’t miss it.

Being the ‘new kid on the block’, there were lots of customers who came to get a taste of this new place. And of course, PenangTuaPui is never far behind on the food trail *wink*.

The thing that separates Yummy Café from the regular chu-char places around is the modern feel of the layout and furnishing. Although there is no air conditioning, the restaurant premise and design is airy enough to not make you feel stuffy and hot

We were recommended the belacan fried chicken, nyonya steam fish and satay prawns. Being TuaPuis, we readily accepted the recommendations and even topped it off with 1 additional dish :).

It doesn’t take long for the first dish to arrive after order. The first dish landed on the table is stir fried bean sprouts with salted fish (Fei Fei’s oldtime favourite)- RM6.00 . Fei Fei will tell you that he thought it tasted good with just the right amount of salted fish thrown in.

The belacan fried chicken wings (RM8.00) received the most thumbs up votes. The fragrance of the belacan is just right (we are belacan-lovers, sorry) and the wings were fried to a very crispy, non-oily golden brown. Delicious! In fact, we spied a couple at the next table who were savouring only 1 large plate of chicken wings!

Nyonya steam fish (RM22.00) had an interesting sauce with the harmonious combination of spicy, sour and sweet for our tastebuds. Our only complaint was that the sauce dried up very fast due to the flame underneath. The fish was fresh and we fought over the cheek-area flesh (but that’s another story..hehe).

The last dish arrived was satay prawn (RM16.00). The grilled prawns on skewers with satay sauce got mixed reviews.

The satay sauce was more on the sweet side and did not have the rich fragrant peanut aroma. It was a rather unusual dish where the prawns and sweet satay sauce did not seem to blend so well (but that’s just our humble opinion).

And just some trivia to share, the shop has its origins from the evening choo-char at TYY coffee shop down the road.

CB Yummy Cuisine
308-A-1, Jalan Dato’ Ismail Hashim,
11900 Sungai Ara, Penang

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Kampung Baru Poh Poh Seafood

penangtuapui — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:38:18 +0000

We have been venturing into Bukit Mertajam lately to find some food gems within the small yet bustling town that offers plenty of food varieties that can meet almost everyone’s appetite. There are many more that we have not covered along the mainland area but we are getting there…

Poh Poh Seafood is another chu char place that gives good food at affordable price.

Poh Poh Seafood is located at Kampung Baru, Bukit Mertajam and quite close to Restoran Yu Lin that offers comfortable chinese food environment and also Medan Selera Taman Sentosa which sells the gado-gado.

The seafood chu char is only available from evening onwards

We ordered bitter gourd soup and water cress soup (RM4.00). Shown here is a small portion of each soup.

Yau Mak or Romaine lettuce (RM6.00) in light sauce

The vegetable is quite fresh and not overcooked

Kung Po Mantis prawn (RM15.00) has a smaller portion

Pork ribs with salted duck egg (RM15.00)

Do not let the visual effects to fool you. It may look like frozen meat but in actual fact, this pork ribs tasted quite delicious and appetizing

Tofu with Brinjal (RM8.00).

Quite a unique combination to have tofu and brinjal but they do blend well and nice to eat.

Dong po pork (RM15.00) which uses fattiest pork belly part to churn out this dish

The dong po pork here has strong taste compared to Restoran Yu Lin

Steamed fish in Vietnamese style (RM25.00)

This is another appetizing dish which combines strong flavours like sour and spicy with fragrant aroma. The gravy is a good complement to go with rice.

Poh Poh Seafood is located inside D Kuang Kopitiam.

The GPS coordinate as shown (N05° 20.941′ E100° 28.325′) or map at below

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Penang Makan Durian Trip - Durian feast with family

Penang Tua Pui — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:14:57 +0000

Not having enough durian during our initial trip, we went for the second time with our family members. This round we went to Peng Siew durian farm at Balik Pulau. Peng Siew durian farm is also the place we went for the third time with our friends a week later. The post will be updated shortly

Red Prawn (Ang Heh) is more towards creamy and milky type, smooth but has softer durian smell, not colorful and flavourful

Lipan is more flavorful with mild bitter taste. This is Fei Fei and Huat Koay’s favourite.

Ling Feng Jiao is known to be sweet-bitter taste and greenish color. Favourite durian for huat koay’s family-in-law

This is a durian from the 100 years durian tree. It is small and in greenish color with bitter taste. Tam Ciak said it made his tongue go numb

Kum Poh did not really meet our expectation as it was a bit watery, may due to it ripeness for sometime.

Halia Kuning is Tam Ciak’s favourite because it has small seed with lots of meat! But it can be quite full after taking a few of this. So it is better to try others before taking this one else your stomach will feel bloated.

The durians waiting for us to savour….

D602 is quite a yellowish durian

Open Durian Guru - Peng Siew get used to his own unique way of open the durian, here are some of the shots we are able to get during the makan trip. Never try this on your own as he has been doing this for many, many years.

There are two types of payment system for enjoying durian here. If you go in large group which you can eat a lot, it is recommended to go for the buffet style which each person typically charged RM20-25 per persons. Else you can pick on the durians to suit your amount and pay accordingly to the number of durians you have chosen.

Stay tuned for our next post where we went for makan-makan durian with our readers and friends..

Lim’s Brothers Estate
Lim Chong Teng (Peng Siew)
51, MK. 5, Titi Serong,
11000 Balik Pulau, Penang
Tel: 04-866 8551

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The Best Penang Hawker Food and Restaurant Guide

Kimberly Street Old House

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Ang Hoi Lor | Authentic Penang Restaurant

Random Posts

Learning Trip to Eco-Farm Balik Pulau

Random Posts

The Brasserie Executive Lunch at Traders Hotel

More stunning photos on next page

Related Posts

Camo Studio celebration at Stone Bay

More stunning photos on next page

Related Posts

Yummy Cuisine Sungai Ara - Chu Cha

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Kampung Baru Poh Poh Seafood

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Penang Makan Durian Trip - Durian feast with family

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