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 .

Reality Penang

It's not very often that I share a facebook page of an individual .

However what this person has recorded using a drone , is so now , that you have got to see for yourself , especially if you call yourself a Penangite but only come back ( I say come back because I actually live here , now , every day except when I am travelling )

, yeah but only come back once in a while .

Midnight disciple of the Ikan Bakar man

Some Penangites pop cili padi like kacang puteh .

We go for our fix after midnight at Song River Cafe . Strange timing right ? Not really when you check out how many disciples are willing to make a beeline here and wait with the patience of a saint just to pay homage to this fiendish dish .

Mee Rebus and Pasembor Edgecumbe Road

Mee Rebus is not one of my favourite dishes , and yet I found myself raving stark mad, hopelessly hooked over the one sold here.


 

" Neh, this is the beef right ? " ( it's got an awesome smoked flavour to it lemme tell you )

" What style is it cooked in ? "

His reply tells me it's a Top Secret recipe.So forget it, his trap is shut.

One bite of the squid and all the fibres unravel. Omg, damn addictive. Damn, damn addictive.

The new Gurney Drive

This here ,is the entrance to the new Gurney Drive.

Heading inwards, you learn to think out of the box. Especially since the old parking boxes got removed .
Creative parking indeed .

( NH ) Seoul Garden,Sunrise Tower

The leaf you see floating above this Gopchang Jeongol is called Perilla. It's an incredibly delicious tasting vegetable, which the Korean community in Malaysia have managed to cultivate locally .
Though rougher in texture, darker in colour and not as fragrant as those grown in Korea, if you're craving for it, this will do just the job in satiating your appetite.

If only you could smell the tripe, bits of beef, red chillies....perilla leaf and perilla seeds, boiling in this glorious red cauldron....really good !

Set Lunch at Sushi Tei, Penang

Sushi Tei has everything going for it.

Exciting open sushi kitchen, classy looking interior accentuated by massive mirrors and panels, beautiful food, great lighting .

But my goodness, I sincerely hope someone from their Singaporean head office reads this review of mine, because their local ushers and local floor staff have got a huge attitude problem. They absolutely hate interacting with customers and are reluctant to help. 

Luckily I sat in the area where foreign staff were assigned to. Now, these foreigners, on the other hand, were sincerely welcoming and incredibly nice .

G Hotel - Room Service ( Part 2 )

Love to order room service.

Especially when it comes in looking like this.

 Our spread looks impressive.
I mean, out of so many hotels we've stayed, none have failed us so far.

Our eager smiles soon turn upside down.

G Hotel - Penang ( Part 1 )

It's about to be CNY...

......and there are lots of single, stylish ladies checking in here for a spot of indulgence available next door.

Seoul Garden Korean Restaurant,Sunrise Tower (NH)

If you've been to Korea before, you'll know how massively good their street food , as compared to their restaurant fare , is.

But airfare costs good money, so whenever a craving for Kimchi Jeon ($18 ) or kimchi pancake, pops up, I come here.

The obligatory spread of condiments( lobak sweet pickle, small ikan bilis, bean sauce, taugeh, watercress,etc) and salad leaves.

Kimchi is as expected, of any respectable Korean run restaurant.

Still incomparable to my former flatmate, Robert's Korean wife's recipe ( her kimchi is so addictive, it is to die for !!!)

Ah yes, I have had some good fortune to meet such people in the course of my life.

Seoul Garden is a specialist when it comes to spicy korean soups .

Delightfully teeming with full bodied, rich and very satisfying flavours

So many rude hawkers at Gurney Drive

26th October - Public Holiday.... yet I suffered from temporary amnesia when I suggested that we eat here tonight.

As we walked from Gurney Plaza towards the hawker centre, it became apparent that I had chosen the worst possible time to eat .
Scream ! Look at the crowd ! All I saw was a sea of heads bobbing up and down, ahead of me. Still we dove in.

Passing the first koay teow thng stall, I witnessed a drink stall hawker forcing a 20 something non customer, off a chair that he said belonged to him. Where did he expect him to sit ? He didn't care if he had to stand eating. Oh boy.

Weaved our way out of this mad sector and finally found a space somewhere in front of  Pasembor stall in front of G.P.Soon Rojak ( my fav) . Only problem was, the table was laden with every kind of dish, bowl and utensil which remained uncleared.

A 'looking' match began between us and the drink hawker next door to the pasembor. After a while it became obvious that they DID NOT want to clear the table for us and we had to do it ourselves. Giving up, we used a tissue to wipe the surface clean .

While my partner,  joined the queue at Stall no 71 (nice ckt for $5 with 3 huge prawns ), the owner (male) finally came over and showed me the menu.
Still seething over the 'waiting game' which I had lost earlier, I told him I didn't want to order. It was then he unleashed his barrageful of nonsense in Mandarin ( 3 quarter of which was lost on me but not the meaning ).

"You mean after having to clear the table FOR YOU, you now want me to place an order ??? LATER ! I'm waiting for someone to return "

He backed off leaving the menu behind on my table. I must have been loud as the table of Ah Bengs across me had begun grinning, after seeing our 'little exchange' as though I was some Ah Cher about to parang him in half and they were just waiting for action to unfold or tables to topple . Whatever.

Undettered by the promise of fat profit, this time he sent his wife in to eyeball me. I swear she looked deep into my iris to come to some sort of analysis.
" Wait ..." I told her. She swiped the menu. Someone's pissed..... No, She didn't take it out on me since her hubby probably warned her about my ' nice mood ' . Probably she saw the growl in my eyes . Instead, she took it out on a new arrival in front of G.P.Soon.

" Are you ordering any drinks " she asked them . I didn't hear their reply but I soon heard her banging plastic chairs she had pulled from them to stack up . She even went to the extreme extent of folding up the table,right under their noses as they looked on in shock .
Wow....real gangsta this woman. Repulsive behaviour.

It was only later, that I discovered that they had the audacity to compell me to order drinks, even though the table I was sitting on, belonged to the Pasembor stall ....not them. While that explains why they refused to clear the table at the time, it's certainly no excuse for them to force drinks down our throat.

So how'd I not get the short end of the stick ?
First of all , I was sitting on another person's table.But most important of all, when in Penang, you have to show some balls and give a loud rebuff with a good measure of outrage thrown in.
It's perfectly acceptable to show and sound ( don't bang, don't get physical, just use verbal)  your displeasure publicly , especially to hawkers or traders who like to shortchange or ill treat their customers.
Or else you will be clearly bullied like that family and man above.

Location : Gurney Drive Hawker Centre

Chowtime : night

Ship off Gurney Drive

Snapped this on Monday morning. Looks as if the ship is polluting the air off Gurney Drive.

Except that it isn't. It's about to pour. That's all . Which makes it hard for those who like to take their morning walk on this stretch. Oh well....

Eng Lee Grilled fish stall- Song River cafe ( PF )

This stall is actually more reknowned for whipping up the most spicy small shellfish (lala) on Penang island, but you have to come later due to some agreement he has with another stall owner not to sell this bestseller earlier

Not to worry, his ikan bakar is just as crazily addictive.
It's nicely charred, tender, moist,sweey and spicy with tons of garlic slices encased in banana leaf.

The more you eat, the more water you'll need,yet you just can't stop.

Know what I mean?

Morganfield's Feast Platter, Gurney Paragon ( NH )

Hard luck trying to land a table here, if you walk in without reservations .

As opposed to a diner's corner , this place is by and by a drinker's heaven.

Very nice for slouching around on a high stool and getting hit on even .

Sotong Boat - Gurney Drive ( U )

There I was in Gurney Drive. About to start on this yummy sotong bakar below

When all of a sudden .... whoooshhh......the wind came. "Lai liao lai liao !" the hawkers yelled as they looked in the direction of the roundabout

Things went helter skelter when the sky opened up.

My boat almost overturned, the filmsy sauces spilled blood red ketchups and bits of pounded peanuts onto the rickety plastic table.

Drat ! Had to sprint for cover.By the time I was in the car the sotong was limpish and not as crisp as when it would have been when it was hot. Damn it.

Chicken Nuggets - GSC Cinemas

Came here to watch Men In Black 3 tonight.

That was just the pretext.

This is the real reason why I chose this place over others.

Chicken Nuggets

Can't get enough of the hard, crunchy, puffed up crust.

Large size please.

We settle into our seats in the cinema hall .

Noom noom noom....until we realise that we've finished them even before the show has started.

A quick run outside for a second order, soon fixes that.

Happens that I was seated next to a girl with 3 kinds of odours. That kind of spoilt it for me.

Till it didn't matter if I thought Josh Brolin's acting was like kayu. Nor that Will Smith's timing seemed a little off.

Everytime she bent forward, she released the heat from the drawers she had soaked for 3 days before washing.

And when she lifted her right arm,every now and then, I smelt car freshener.

She also bought a box of popcorn with her.
I was ok with that.
It was when she opened her mouth to pop one in, that the right side of my body wilted from her garlic breath.

Maybe next time we should get Premier Class tickets.

Either that or she was really Boris the Animals sister in disguise.

Nando's Cataplana feast, Gurney Plaza ( PF )

Penangites have fallen hopelessly in love with this Portuguese chicken franchise from day one.

Us included.

 We want to try out their signature dish, served in this very cute but strange looking copper/brass like container.

( NH ) Euro Deli Biergarten, Penang

 

How wonderful it is, to be able to watch their progression as the years go by.  I've been a fan, from the time they first infiltrated our supermarkets to the exciting dining options they present to us today.

Take a look at this unbelievable All day long offer .

We don't need convincing since we know, just how smooth the dark Erdinger beer here is.

4 course meal at Song River Cafe - Gurney Drive ( NH )

If you are looking for a place where you can enjoy a fairly cheap chinese dinner in Gurney Drive, this is it.

All of the dishes you see below, from 2 different operators, cost less than $50..drinks,rice and roasted chicken wings included. Extremely filling, I tell you.

Song River Seafood is located at the back, on the right hand side of this bungalow.