卢山茶室 Lor San - for breakfast and lunch

While tons of local tourists poured into Penang , we decided to escape from the crowds and headed up to Alor Setar .

Hainan Orkid Tropica - fast forward 2017

Do you have any idea how famous this restaurant has gotten ?

I first wrote about it back in January 2014 , then a local newspaper followed suit in February .

Long story short , we've finally made it back. And finally gotten a table . This is after having been told numerous times the following reasons ...

" not open " ( wrong timing )

" finish already " ( so many times I can't remember )

" come back later in the evening " ( which we didn't feel like doing

" you'll need to book or make an advanced reservation " ( I hate that )

And the latest one

" come back tomorrow morning . Make sure you come early please " 

( which we did )

Hai Kee - charcoal cooked Hainanese fare

At long last I finally found a place that serves tasty Assam Prawns .

Not everyone who claims to be able to cook this can actually pull it off . I've been extremely fussy ever since the old place near Transfer Road changed hands . That was the benchmark . Today however , that place serves some of the worst dishes I never want to touch ever again not in this life nor the next .

Back to the people who claim they can whip it up , those I've tried have come up with variations that were too sour , too watery , too fail even .

Below however , is the answer to our tamarind sauce ,connoisseur prayers . And for this I thank the Chinese gods of the kitchen for blessing the cooks with the wizardry required to whip up this rather simple but not easy to replicate prawn dish. 

Almost as good ....perfect enough for me ! When they are properly done , even the shells will be so delicious , you'll want to suck and lick every last bit of the savoury sauce out .

Olala Cendol - Mergong

Wanna know how I sometimes sniff out some of the best hawker places on my own , even when I'm on unfamiliar ground ?

Here you go . 

I always keep an eye out for unusual traffic .

Pay per entry Zumba in Alor Setar

Take note that this list is for the hardcore Zumba or dance sport enthusiast who doesn't want to commit to a monthly gym membership . Whichever category you belong to , you'll be glad to know that there are 8 pay per entry places you can check out while you are in town .

1. FMF - Friendly Muscle Fitness

Price per entry : MYR 8

Times : 6:00 pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays .

8: 30 on Saturdays .

8:45 pm on Mondays , Tuesdays , Sundays .

Photo credit : https://facebook.com/fmf2u/

Restoran Berkat - Malay beef noodles

You've tried the Vietnamese version , as well as a few Chinese versions .

Let's go Malay now shall we ?

The Malay version of beef noodles , is much simpler . There's that all important soup base concocted from mixed spices stuffed into a muslin ball , the trademark turmeric coloured vermicelli noodle , other condiments such as an extra dollop of chilli for that added kick and beef of course .

Lemang Lebuhraya - Changloon

Coming down the highway from Bukit Kayu Hitam , you will have to drive through Changloon .

At that time I was hungry ,so when I saw the small row of tilted bamboo being smoked in the open, by the roadside , we made a stop as I wound down the window to ask the boy if I could have the 6 ringgit ( cheapest ) portion as indicated on the banner .

He nodded his head . 

6666 for Nasi Padang

This semi makeshift restaurant has been operating for the past 3 years already and the prices are so reasonable , it left me speechless when they passed us a chit of paper with the total bill amount scribbled on it . 

I'll begin by listing out my favourite dishes then show you what the shop looks like at the end .

Bergedil .

 Finely mashed potatoes with teeny weeny chunks of beef and celery embedded in a pattie that's deep fried with a thin egg batter coat .

Packed , fragrant and delicious , I absolutely love this as the few places that serve bergedil in Penang seem to be slacking these days . Don't be surprised to get some that are swimming in oil , coated in chewy batter and as well as those that fall apart when you try to lift it up  .

This one's good .

Cendol Mini Stadium Keladi - Kulim

26 years .

That's how long this pushcart cendol man in Kulim has been operating .

According to him , he started on the opposite side of the road and then when the stadium was built , he relocated beside it .

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 )

Kang Freshwater Food - Bagan Samak

This is Udang Galah , a freshwater river prawn with blue extended arms , most prized for a flesh that has a tight swirling texture quite similar to lobster  . Today , what is offered in seafood restaurants are mostly bred in ponds , so do not expect an exceptional flavourful taste ( cross between a crab , prawn and lobster ) to the meat , unless you personally know and can manage to coax individual anglers into selling their just caught live bounty to you .

The farmed ones here cost MYR 100  a kilo . Some restaurants owners when they have the wild ones in stock might tell you something like 

" I dare not sell this to you "

or

" I don't know how to charge you "

or 

" You might not like me after you hear the price "

of which you will have to assure them that you are willing to pay for genuine wild live river prawns ( because you personally saw the angler walk in with the prawns ) and make sure he knows that you will do awful things to him if he tries to pass off farmed ones as wild specimens .

A different route through Perlis - a shaman , the small lake and a giant donut

 When Penang is crawling with traffic and people , we sometimes go further up north and  explore the quiet countryside in Perlis .

There are many routes you can take besides the regular North South expressway . Because of the vast rice fields , you can go into a town one way and exit another way via another thoroughfare .

Boring is what you make of it and have we had some stories to tell each time we made it through the smallest state in Malaysia .

We have been to Wang Kelian , walked across to Thailand and back without a passport . That was amazing . You can't do that anymore mind you . 

Driven through the massive sugarcane plantations in Chuping . Beautiful then , not so now .

Taken the old highway all the way up to Kangar .....Once during a normal morning where the farmers had just come out for breakfast ( very quaint experience ) another during the muslim fasting month ( which we never want to do again as the entire state was almost devoid of people and other conveniences therefore soooooo creeepy !!!!) .

This time however , we took a different route

Pak Nik Cendol

The weather is scorching hot and everyone is ditching hawker fare for boring foodcourt food in airconditioned premises , except for Pak Nik Cendol 's diehard customers .

Pak Nik Cendol is so easy to spot . Just look for the longest line of cars parked beside the road .

Chai Poh Fish - somewhat like the old Hupsa

Perseverance was the key to pin pointing the old Hupsa / Yan Yan Ho's new location .

Eel or Snakehead soup anyone ?

Muah : " I'm gonna try the sup campur with beehoon . What would you like to have ? "

Him : " Same lah....I'll have the same as you "

Muah : " Sure ah ? "

He nodded in agreement .

Not long later , the mixed bowl of beef offal soup with yellow coloured vermicelli arrived . 

Not to say that his understanding of Malay was poor , he understood what Campur meant. However, the more he drank , the more he slowed down .

So I asked him " What's wrong ? "

Him : " These are beef BODY PARTS you know ?  Every part of the cow is in this soup !!!"

Muah : " Oh come on....it's not THAT bad . Besides, the meat is fresh and most important of all , it doesn't smell like it's celebrated several birthdays at the bottom of a freezer "

Him : " I can't stand the jelly like parts " 

Muah : " Oh you think that's bad ? " 

( I should have pointed out the tongue at the counter to him. Big ass bad it was )

" Look over there where the tanks are . Wanna have those instead ? "

His eyes almost popped out and maybe he lost his appetite for good . 

Fresh from the paddy fields. 

Freshwater eels .

Which resemble snakes. Which we don't eat. Well maybe other Chinese do , just not us .

Yeah , don't put your foot in the rice fields if you don't know what lives there ( snakes , eels , snails , dung ) How the eels get in the waterways , I don't know but no matter how good they are for my health , I'm not having them in my soup . Na ah . No thank you .

Maybe when I'm up to it , I might give the Snakehead aka Haruan fish soup a try . The finned species that can walk on land . 

You go ahead first . 

Anyone ? 

Location : Gerai Lee Koi Sup Asli ,

Sungai Petani , Kedah

Abang E Capati

The best way to bridge any rift , when bridges are being burnt is through good old tasty food .

 If we are intent on a tit for tat , then much will be lost . When we can sit down on one table ( ok let's be more current and realistic , under one roof ) and eat as one family , things can get as good as the old days and suspicions can go fly kite so to speak .

Caprish ? Once you have read between the lines , here let me show you another of the most under rated cuisines in Malaysia .

These Kedah folks , they do not ever brag about their cooking . Never 

 And I don't understand why . 

Maybe they were taught to be humble about it . Maybe they think their skills are nothing to shout about  .

Thus , it was a long time coming and this year has finally revealed itself to me as to just how good the Kedah Malay chef really is .

Laksa Dusun Mini Stadium

The original plan was to go pay the very addictive Laksa Tempurung a visit. But since it was closed , I decided to give this place a try . 

Run mostly by a bunch of men except for the sole woman chef who occasionally hovers near the stove , some of their takeaway customers like to give the hanging plastic birds a little squeeze . Makes for a lighthearted moment then .

 From the price list , I'm guessing that they produce the noodles themselves. Name of the shop , makes me wonder if I'll get farm fresh produce in my noodles , since Dusun means Orchard in Malay .

Malay style chicken rice and nasi goreng fried with salted fish is also available but I'm just going for the fishy spicy noodle today .

Aman Central

Until the proposed Batu Kawan shopping mecca materialises , the shopping scene in Penang for a local resident ,can be quite a bore . 

Locals craving for some place new, will either hop on down to KL, Bangkok or even Singapore .

Well , surprise , surprise. 

I think we living in the northern region, can now include Aman Central in Kedah on the list. 

White Sugar Seafood - Sungai Petani

There are pockets full of Penangites who have set up businesses in Kedah and this place is one of
 them .

Photo from Foursquare

Laksa Tempurung Kulim

Now why didn't anyone think of serving Laksa Kedah this way before ? 

Presented inside a scraped out coconut shell , the result gets everyone wanting to make a beeline here in a jiffy.  

Looks beauuuutiful and so delicious when posted up on the social media .