Kampung Jawi - duck rice village

On this little main street inside Kampung Jawi , at any one time there are at least 4 duck rice stalls open for lunch . Now this is highly unusual because in a lot of other small towns , the most that you will find is 2 competitors fighting for a share of the pie .

Over the years , I've stubbornly stuck to this shop , this particular stall operated by a lady not that she's the best in town or anything , it's just that I personally prefer to eat out in a larger open space by the front of her stall . Her place is also not as crowded , but I'll say it's definitely much more cleaner so there's another tick in the box as to why I choose her over the rest .

Ah Soon Kor Har Mee - now at Seong Huat

We finally tracked down Ah Soon Kor . As you all know , we're huge fans of his hokkien mee which is and has always been so unique and remained so consistent , no matter how many times and kopitiams he has migrated to throughout the island .

But first , lemme tell you a little bit about a new discovery .

One pot Chinese herbal chicken soup

I admit to not knowing much about Chinese herbs but I love the taste and sometimes have a craving for it .

When that happens , I merely walk into a Chinese medicine shop and pick up a prepacked bundle of herbs like what you see below .

The young sinseh is someone I've patronised off and on , and I've seen him go from black hair to spikes of grey today . Out of curiosity , I asked him what another bundle of herbs was for. He was aghast that I did not know that it was the soup that was a woman's only combination . Not enough , he insinuated in so many words that I was darned lucky to have pulled through my entire life ! ( looks like I'm not the only over dramatic person ) without ever having drunk that once .

 Righttttt I'll try that another day .

Foong Yean - 6 course feast

Best to make a booking before you arrive , as even though the restaurant is not that large , yet this venue is extremely popular due to the remarkable prices and generous portions .

Without further ado , I'm gonna plunge right in and introduce you to the items we picked off the menu .

Take note that all these cost us just 200 ringgit , rice and Chinese tea included .

First up , Indonesian prawns .

Tried this at another place near Bukit Jambul ( they've since shifted to Lembah Permai area ) and I absolutely hated that . However , this is so heavenly , you'll want to suck the roe , inside of the heads and the shell dry of the divinely spicy curry sauce , I'm afraid I'll have to give this a 5 star for amazing freshness ( the meat is packed so tight ! ) and fabulous taste !

Wantan mee with a roast platter - Pusat Pengkalan Enam Enam

KL style wantan mee and Ipoh style wantan mee are very closely related .

Whereas Penang wantan mee is completely different from these 2 styles . I prefer the former .

You also should not compare Hong Kong or San Francisco style wantan mee to this . In both megacities , the springy texture of the noodle and taste of the sauces vastly differ from what is found in Ipoh . However , if you love London chinatown style wantan mee , please continue eating it in London and don't try this . I'm serious . 

And it was on a quest for Ipoh roasted meats ( thanks to Hawker Chan hype ) that I found this stall near Station 18 .

We had earlier on purchased a big , beautiful platter in a hawker centre which was so shocking ( for 17 ringgit only , when it looked like it was worth 48 ringgit ! ) I forgot to snap a pic , so what you see here is actually the second plate after we demolished the first plate of wantan mee ( this costs less than 6 ringgit if I am not mistaken ), plus a platter of 4 .... roast pork , roast duck , roast chicken , char siew ( sadly also no picture as proof but it was so well presented , that I almost fainted from shock  ) . 

Kafe Fei Bo Snow Beer - Curry Chicken in Baked Bread

Nope . We're not here for the beer .

The Museum

The Museum has got to be one of the strangest , quirkiest restaurants I have ever been to in my life .

Located in Ipoh , you have got to come see this , when you find a chance to , cos if I use words to describe the place , I might rub some people off the wrong way but I'll try to keep it minimal and not too long winded anyway .

Mee Tiao - Teochew take on Long Life noodles

Mee tiao is a really tasty Teochew noodle dish meant for once a year birthday celebrations especially if there is a matriach or patriach in the household .

However , the texture of the noodle used by the Teochews in Penang is different from the Hokkien version . 

The Teochew version , has more bite and chew ( pun not intended ) to it while the Hokkiens , prefer a silkier texture , which leads some to use the flat egg noodles and others to use a fresh ramen like round yellow noodle , which makes it really confusing if you want to debate on what belongs to who . 

As far as I know , when it comes to the Hokkiens , the most important feature of the noodle that must not be compromised ....

.is the length . 

The longer , the better !

One should not cut it ,even if some of us might have a high chance of choking on it , so I guess why it's called Long Life Noodles since you can deem yourself a survivor after that celebratory  meal ! 

Due to intermarriage between the clans , as well as convenience and cost ( frugality embedded into the genes ) , cheaper localised , yellow noodles found acceptance amongst homemakers at first , and then only much later , was it turned into an everyday available dish , by enterprising hawkers , much in the same manner as how Hakka pan mee evolved into hawker fare today .

Yeah , the whole lot of us helped popularise long life noodles from an exclusive birthday celebratory meal into a commercialised breakfast , lunch , or dinner ( depending on the shop ) offering .

Nowadays , the cooks aren't so particular or superstitious , about the length either . Me thinks , it is because they don't want anyone dying on their premises hence , they will shorten it for you unless you have one super alpha matriach who really pantang to the max if you dare do that ( but I think that era is gone already ) .

Back to the subject at hand .

You can actually find this particular noodle , in a few good mid range Chinese restaurants in Penang . It's when you want to enjoy it in a sticky , greasy hawker centre , that it can get a little confusing as sometimes , some hawkers call it Char Mee Sua .

You know ? Birthday Noodles in one place , Char Mee Sua , Mee Tiao ....they may all mean the same thing but they may also be variations as far apart as the sun and the moon !

Now , when it comes to Char Mee Sua , you may pop in to the Cecil Street wetmarket in the afternoon .

Honestly , that used to be my favourite place for Char Mee Sua but lately , I suspect they are using bad oil , so I have not returned for a long time already .

So , where best , if you do not want to pay so much ? Public Cafe lah .

Loke Sok Seafood - fast forward 2017

This kopitiam is actually famous for its fish noodle . But if anything is to go by and you observe like I did , and notice that most of their loyal old customers end up looking like garoupas with too many visible age spots on their skin , that's a huge No Thank You from me . 

We are what we eat after all .

I hardly take belacan and prawn paste but I do like fish occasionally , so what am I doing here actually ?

Well , there is a chu cha operator that opens till around 2 pm or so . The old cook from last time is no more around but these guys are just as good and this is what we called for .

Gan En Wu Tang Shui - new , clean kid on the block

It's 6pm and the crowd at Kimberley Street is not yet building up .

That gives us plenty of room to manouvre and table space to choose from which we will be hard pressed to do so at say ....8 ish .

City Rio Cafe - simple duck egg char koay teow

My search for a simple plate of char koay teow , led us here .

Didn't want anything fancy ( except for duck eggs ) , wasn't looking for big prawns ( yet they had to be fresh or else ) , and I absolutely do not tolerate gutter oil ( this one passes the test )

Ah Gu Pan Mee - yummy clam pan mee

Ah Gu Pan Mee is one half of the two famous brothers who used to run a Pan Mee stall in the old Yi Garden Kopitiam .

They were in the same shop as the other famous operator , Hongkee Bamboo Wantan Mee .

We used to patronise them , then  followed them to Kampung Malabar before discovering that they have another shop here . 

Update : have since discovered that they have closed the Kampung Malabar stall and are now here in their own shoplot .

Before you read further , I'd like you to know that this is NOT your regular tasting Hakka pan mee . Think of it as a richer , different flavoured version , made by other clans , especially when it comes to the soup stock . The noodles on the other hand , are equal to any lovingly homemade pan mee made in Hakka households .

Wild Boar Curry in my Chap Fun

Found a new chap fun economy rice place today . This wasn't your regular mediocre run down place . 

Everything was fresh , clean , the oil was of good quality and best of all , the taste was so darned good !

In spite of all the current price increases , this enormous plate below cost only RM 5.40 only !

My goodness .

Light House for Whiting at Matang

This fish is called Chia Hu in Penang but in this particular shop , the lady called it Chiam Hui or something to that effect .

Otherwise known as the Whiting , this is a surface fish which takes the bait easily . However , the body is filled with a lot of scales so even if we purchased it at the wetmarket , descaling will take up a backbreaking portion of preparation time before one merely needs to salt and place it in a wok of bubbling oil .

To make life easier , this is why we prefer to eat it outside .

Ampang Yong Taufu in Penang

 Many years ago ( not so good with recalling exact numbers so I'll put it around 10 years ago ) , I found this stall at a foodcourt just behind the Shell station at the Tun Dr Awang roundabout in Bayan Lepas .

Beside them was the Sabah Pan Mee operator which became so successful that today they have taken up an entire shoplot a few doors down from the Kampar fishball outlet near the Queensbay roundabout .

Eyah ....kindly read that again . That is Penang today for you . People come from everywhere and they offer all that familiar hometown comfort foods to outstationers who now call Penang , home .

Nee wayyy , after a long goose chase I have finally , finally , fiiiiinally located them tucked away in Taman Sri Nibong at the second kopitiam just opposite Goh Teo Kee .

Little Dragon Puffs in a bamboo steamer - Din Tai Fung

I love the set up of this restaurant . Clean lines , with guzheng and erhu music lilting softly in the background .Slightly spiffy but not too stiffling  , the staff approach is one that maintains a distance , is professionally non judgemental , yet remains attentive and quick to attend to every one of our needs and wants .

Makes you feel as if you fit right in , with thoughtful , polite diners that take care not to raise their voice to too many decibels .....my kinda place alright  .

Nepalese cooks ....what next ?

Would you believe it if I told you that this entire Malaysian Chinese meal , was cooked by Nepalese chefs in Penang ?

It was good , tasty and wholesome yet I still cannot get over the fact that a good number of them can cook better than today's local hotel chefs and many of us women .

Geez.

Whatever laws the Penang state government has put in motion , it's useless as these foreign chefs seem to be an increasing fixture in the chu cha and dimsum kitchens . 

First it began with the Thais , then Banglas , followed by a regretful period of terrible cooks who should NOT be given any licence to cook from ( 2 countries which I don't want to name because one of those are known to be super siew hei ) and now omg , now we have the Nepalese entering the fray  . Fast learners who can deliver the desired results !

Lai Foong serves Hainanese Beef Noodles with kiam chye bits

While in KL the other day , I took the opportunity to take a quick nip into Lai Foong .

Ah Soon Kor Har Mee - Carnavon Street

Never have I come across old Japanese men patronising any local Hokkien Mee stall until just now .

The soup though teeming with rich prawn flavour is so much more oilier than other versions of Hokkien Mee on the island , that it looks so wrong  but of course it tastes so darned good lah otherwise why you think the Japanese would eat it , no ? 

Even then , notwithstanding the fact that I am one of his fans , I was still very surprised to see with my own four eyes that Ah Soon Kor has managed to snare at least one foreigner in his apron .

Sin Hong Keng - deep fried fish steamboat with yam

I'm very particular about the fish I eat .

It should not reek of a fishy pong but should smell like the ocean .

Though I'm not expecting sashimi grade flesh , if it arrives on my table with an odour straight out of a market drain , no matter how many people are enjoying it , I will not touch it .

And it's pretty telling of the sad state of affairs when one can find fresher fish in Kedah than in Penang , even though by virtue of Penang being just next to the sea , fish meat supplies ought to be super fresh , right ? Wrong a lot of times before I finally learnt my lesson and stopped ordering steamed fish at any chu cha place on the island .

Anyway , we're having the rare fish meal today . 

Deep fried red snapper ( it's all farmed off shore today ) boiled with round cabbage and yam .

Not only is it succulent and naturally sweet , he cannot remember when was the last time he actually had snapper this fresh . We'd probably have to pay a bomb for it on the island but even though what we had here is not THAT cheap , it still cost less than that airconditioned giant garoupa place near Chew jetty .  

Tastewise : oily , plain , with a slight hint of Chinese wine , full of aromatic yam flavour ( the root is the very fibrous type )