Curry Mee @ Penang

Date: 27, 29/11/2012
City: Penang, Malaysia
Remarks: Day 1 and Day 3

My first curry mee was in Pasar Lebuh Cecil (Pasar means market), which was a covered market: half of it was wet market selling meat and vegetables, another half was food stalls. The curry mee was made to order by a Malaysian lady in one of the food stall in the market. It looked good when served, but was a total disappointment. It was fried yellow noodles. I could taste the curry paste and lots of spices, but the overall taste was just not right. No good at all. The the texture of the mee was another disappointment. It was too soft, overcooked, and broken into short stripes. It was served with lime on top, you can squeeze the lime juice over the noodles. I tried the noodles, both with and without the lime juice. The lime juice didn't make the noodles taste better.

I decided to get another shot on curry mee few days later, at night at Lebuh Chulia. I was looking for something light and the curry mee stall was right outside my hostel. The stall seemed nice, run by a Chinese man, with a few customers having their mee. This time it was with soup, and was a much better version. It was a bowl of yellow noddles in rich broth with slight curry flavour.

E&O Hotel @ Penang

Date: 28/11/2012
City: Penang, Malaysia
Remarks: Day 2, High tea at E&O Hotel

The Eastern & Oriental Hotel is a 5-star colonial style hotel located at Lebuh Farquhar in George Town, walkable distance from Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion. The hotel itself is a well-maintained and well-restored heritage. The entire building is in classic English style, white in color, with wooden rotating doors and Victoria-style furnitures. Entering the hotel via the wooden rotating doors was like stepping into a English classic movie.

It took me around 5 minutes to walk from Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion to E&O. It was around 4pm in the afternoon with intolerable heat and my sole purpose was getting in an air-conditioned place to escape from the sun and to chill myself.

The air-conditioned classic English style environment of E&O was impressive, but its English afternoon tea wasn't. E&O was considerate that they are offering the English afternoon tea set from 1-person portion. It costed RM65/ person, which indeed was not expensive for a 5-star hotel. The portion of the tea set was very sufficient, with 2 scones, a couple of sandwiches and 3 types of desserts. The food, however, wasn't particularly tasty: the scones were not warm enough and the surface of the sandwiches were hard and dry, as if the sandwiches had been placed in an air-conditioned environment for a long time. For the desserts, the american cheese cake tasted fine, but the other 2 were just soso.

The services in E&O was very good on the other hand. The waiters would help refilling your water without asking which was very nice. No one in the tea room was talking aloud. My tea time overall was quiet and relaxing.

All in all, the overall food quality in E&O was disappointing but the environment and services were good.


EASTERN & ORIENTAL HOTEL
Tel: +604 222 2000
Address: 10 Farquhar Street, Georgetown, Penang Island 10200, Malaysia
Website: http://www.eohotels.com

Chowrasta Market @ Penang

Date: 29/11/2012
City: Penang, Malaysia
Remarks: Day 3, local breakfast in the morning

There are lots of morning markets in Penang. As seen from the name, they only opens in the morning, before noon, and are the best place for breakfast!! As understood from a local old man, the largest one in George Town is the Chowrasta Market. It is in the UNESCO World Heritage Core Zone, between Jalan Chowrasta and Jalan Campbell, and is just 5-minute walk from my hostel in Lebuh Chulia!! How nice!!

It is basically a wet market for the locals to buy food and groceries, and to have their breakfast. The wet market counters selling fruits, vegetables and groceries are along the roads, and behind the counters, there are a number of restaurants/ tea houses selling drinks like tea/ coffee, with different food counters in the tea houses selling different type of food, eg. congee, Hokkien Mee, Wan Tan Mee, Curring Mee, etc. The tea houses and the wet market counters are like perfect match. One can buy their stuff from the market after having their breakfast in the tea houses, or rest in the tea houses after walking around the market.

The Chowrasta Market is kind of clean. Well, not very orderly and clean since it is on road market after all, but not very messy and wet. You can comfortably walk around. Anyway, I found it very interesting to walk around the market. You can find fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, meats, ready made food/ local food, groceries, all different kind of stuff. And you can have a glimpse of the local life and culture. 

PS. The tea houses only open in the morning. You will find the food counters in the tea houses moved out to the street at night!!

Laksa @ Penang

Date: 28/11/2012
City : Penang, Malaysia
Route: Day 2, wandering around George Town

Penang has its reputation of having the best hawker food in the world and being a food lovers' paradise and it is!! Assam laksa is another must-eat in Penang . It would be an incomplete visit without trying a bowl of it . It is thick vermicelli in a bowl of thick fish broth, with some chopped onion, mint leaves, ginger flower bud, lettuce, cucumber and prawn paste (that's what I noticed at least) . The laska is not spicy at all and has a distinctive prawn flavour. I guess you would either like it or hate it . For me, I am just loving it !! Love its rich flavour with the freshness of the vegetables.

I had one when I walked pass a very crowded shop in Lebuh Keng Kwee and only learned after that it was a very famous shop .  It's only a few minutes walk from Komtar , and it's closer to get into Lebuh Keng Kwee from Jalan Penang . A bowl costed RM3.5 and it's so tasty. I guess it's always good to try the food with crowds queuing for it :)




#GeorgeTown, #laksa, #penanglaksa, #penang, #penangtravel, #penangfood, #travel, #travelblog

Hokkien Mee @ Penang

Date: 30/11/2012
City: Penang, Malaysia
Route: Day 4, George Town to Pulau Tikus Market

I am an absolute foodie. Food is one of the best part of travelling. Penang was ranked one of the Asian cities with greatest street food, for sure I have to try its local food. Penang State Tourism Office has a food map of Penang available in the Airport, listing out all the must-try food and the addresses of the associated restaurants. It is awesome and gave us good reference of what to eat when visiting Penang. 

I personally, however, prefer asking the locals for the great local food. The food for locals and for tourists can be completely different and trying the local food can give you a much better insight of the local life. I always like to talk to the locals about good food and they are usually more than welcome to share me the good places they have been going.

Hokkien Mee, also known as Prawn Mee, is a all-time dish in Penang, from breakfast to supper. It is a bowl of yellow noddles and rice vermicelli drenched in thick broth made by prawns and pork. I heard from a local old man that there was a really good one in Pulau Tikus market and for sure have headed there to try it out. 

The place was on Jalan Burma (Burma Road), right opposite the Police Station in Pulau Tikus and there was a bus stop right in front of Police Station. You can take Bus No 101 from George Town over there. The bus ride took approximately 15-20 min. There are 2 restaurants side by side so don't get into the wrong one. It is right opposite to the Police Station and and is named "Swee Kong 瑞江茶室". 

I was there around 8:45am and the place was full of local people. Awesome :) The place is a tea house selling drinks like tea and coffee. The Hokkien Mee counter is in the tea house. It is separately owned and you are welcome to eat in the tea house as long as your ordered your drinks there. So you can have the Mee from the Hokkien Mee counter, or even bring your own food there. (There are usually lots of different food counters in a tea house but in this one, there are only 2 food counters: the Hokkien Mee counter and another counter selling Wan Tan Mee.)

The Hokkien Mee and iced coffee I had costed RM3.5 and RM1.5. You order when you get in and pay when the food is served. The Hokkien Mee is so good. Though as a foreigner, I may not be able to tell why or how good they are, they are very rich in flavour. 

PS. I went there early in the morning since the place only opens in the morning! Per the old man, it only opens for breakfast and may be closed sometime around 9:30am. There is a small wet market nearby and you may go walk around after having your Mee.

#penang, #penangfood, #penanghawkerfood, #food, #travel, #hokkienmee, #penangtravel, #goergetown