New ckt sifu in town

Found a new evening ckt place in town and to me, it is nothing short of amazing .

The saltier , spicier type of ckt that makes your saliva thicken and curdle ....regular ckt fans will get my drift .

Only one flaw , the intriguing looking chef with light eyebrows, is a one man operating show, who doesn't seem to be able to cope if more people turn up . 

Wantan mee al dente - Boon Seng , Jalan Dedap

Most lady chefs do not make the cut when it comes to whipping up this dish . They just do not have the skill required to coax the noodle into the right consistency nor tweak the sweet treacle into one with an aftertaste which customers will come back for.

Cendol Casa - Jalan Sutera Prima , Prai

Dining under the trees out in the open , even under such hazy conditions, is what we Malaysians like best .

Situated in front of an apartment block , this dessert stop attracts hoardes of Uni and college going students because of one main ingredient , Koko Krunch , a type of breakfast cereal . 

Hokkien mee stall no.6 - Kompleks Sri Selera Bayan Baru

Don't usually add the red chilli to my bowl of hokkien mee but in this case it is neccessary as this version of hokkien mee is so different from what I am accustomed to. 

If you come at the right time, that is when the soup has developed its full , rich flavour , 

you too will return again like what I did here.

Nowadays there are plenty of pretty bad hokkien mee sellers around who put much sugar in the soup you feel like you want to strangle them on the spot . However , when I tried this for the first time , I liked it instantly. More pork slices , kangkung which is extinct in other stalls , more egg slices than elsewhere , slighter bigger portion , still low in price ....pretty happy with this.

Jalan Raja Uda - a nook for great teatime hawker food

You probably know how much I have been groaning and bitching on how bad Penang hawker food is becoming these days .Well ,

I walked away with a most positive experience and my faith in good old hawker food renewed .

Now , I'm not going to make this easy for you. Since it is the tourist throngs,  that spell the death knell to quality hawker food which Penang is so famous for.  Will post up a few photo clues so you can hunt them down if you want. All the hawkers are in the same area. 

First up. 

Cendol. 

If you ask me to go to that famous stall in Penang Road I would rather jump off a cliff. The other day at Gurney Paragon , I had their worst ever bowl of cendol which came with frozen unthawed green noodles . What a disgrace !

Compare with the one I found here. It is perfect ! I love this. The noodles are silky , the gula melaka fragrant and the santan not too jelak with a super cold ice shaving that doesn't go warm before the 5th mouthful. 

Perfect !

Fish head curry stall - Sin Kim San , Rangoon Road

It's been raining hence the weather is much cooler today. Time for something spicy. An excuse actually . I just want to set my mouth on fire while satiating my craving for some maddeningly soft fleshed fish .

Fish head curry does just that. It's the best of both worlds. 

The expert sets to selecting the species . Kalah or Kannah I don't know which or what, but damn, the flesh is damn, damn , damn good....like a cross between chicken , swamp  crab and frog leg . Yes I have eaten frog legs but that was YEARS ago . This is a fish we're talking about with texture of  

3 animal species. 

All this talk about the head, where's the fish head ? Ok let's lift it out from under the luscious pile of okra , onions and mint now shall we ? 

Gou Lou Wantan Mee - Kampung Malabar

Update , May 2016 : the wantan mee has gone down the drain . Wantan dumplings are smaller , noodles not as good. Not recommended .

Fans of Gou Lou Wantan Mee from the former Yi Garden Cafe , you can now heave a sigh of relief. They are still in operation . In fact most of the famous stallowners from that kopitiam have set up stall here....from the Pan Mee & Braised Chicken Feet seller , to the Teochew OhChien also the Oh Mee stall , ya, you can come get your fix here.

Man I love this seller, his wantans put others to shame. They're bigger than dimsums and do not have one ingredient less .

Gerai Lekor & Cucur at Lebuh Downing

After seeing the RM796 ++ minimum picture of the Prosperity Poon Choi, Shang Palace sent to my inbox, I wondered who the photographer was. Because that picture made me so hungry, the abalones were looking back at me in such a come hither manner, I even wanted to go grab some chrysanthemums to munch on. They are edible by the way.

Now, before they even deem me worthy enough to be a food tester, a real one that is, not a virtual one,  I just had to go bite something. For real. 

No, not you boy. I need some lekor , ( a type of fish fritters from the East coast states mixed with a lot of flour ) and I need it now. 

( U ) Daud Cafe Corner - ice kacang

Daud Cafe is located just next to the city stadium .

The fact that there's a massive thieves market nearby which operates from late morning till the afternoon, puts off more people from coming to this quarter more often than they would like . Actually, it's not that bad, you just have to apply common sense and keep an eye on your belongings and vehicles when you're in this area.

Presenting to you, a motherload of freaking creamy goodness. Omg it's been soooooo long since I've had ice kacang as good as this. In fact it's so good, I'm rating the taste...Class 1.

( NH ) Midnight queue- Air Itam Duck Rice

Update 16th August : 
this is why Penangites are reluctant to recommend their favourite haunts to outsiders. There are too many customers now. It makes the traders head grow very big. Quality is compromised. Standards have dropped. The other night I was here, the pork was not fresh, the meat very salty, I got a hard boiled egg that already went bad, plus the rice was too soggy.

---------

And so, I finally went and did it. Joined the queue for the famous midnight duck rice in Air Itam, that is.

Look carefully at the picture and try to spot the 3 boys in pyjamas. Nothing unusual except for the fact that they're full grown Teenagers !

Have always been very fond of Air Itam because of all it's quirky familiarness but this stall certainly takes the cake.

There are just so many patient people , united in the still of the night , awaiting their turn like a congregation of confessioners at a chapel of food.

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.

( U ) Lis Char Koay Teow Basah - Bayan Baru

Char Koay Teow Basah is the Malay version of Penang Char Koay Teow. Because the noodles are cooked in a concoction of sauces , Lis is one of the best places to give it a try. Formerly known as Sany Char Koay Teow, even with the name change, the place is almost always packed to the brim .

Their special order features medium sized prawns, cockles, beansprouts and silky beaten eggs. While I'm not crazy about the prawns and blood cockles, and some might not like the taste of the almost raw sprouts, Gawdamnit, the sauce is really out of this world ! Absolutely mouthwatering, not very spicy yet very addictive. Overall, what gives this dish a real nice kick to it.  Doesn't look like a lot but once it settles in, lemme assure you that this is quite filling .

Capati Stall - Kedai Kopi Bee San (PF)

Stumbled upon this Capati Stall when I came here looking for pau. The steady stream of customers, got the better of me , thus I ended up ordering one set.

Guess what ? I've been coming back here ever since.

( NH) Eng's Noodles - Jalan Raja Uda

We're pretty early. Explains the lack of crowd. Don't worry, the place will soon fill up.

For less than Rm $30, 'kacang' fans, who are not afraid to stare high cholesterol in the face and wolf it down, will know they've found their grease heaven.

Kheng nyonya kueh stall - Batu Lanchang

Surprisingly , there aren't many good Nyonya kueh stalls in Penang these days .With the emphasis placed more on profit and mass quantity, these morsels have lost the all important intrinsic gourmet appeal.

However , inside this foodcourt area of an afternoon wetmarket, there still exists a stall which is a throwback to the time when kueh makers still had pride in the final product.

And because the locals know it, my gawd, you could feel the excitement in the air when tons of aunties converged here and practically wiped out the stall like a typhoon had swept through ! Fact is, their quantities are limited...hence, the urgency of the mission.
This photo below is the aftermath....almost nothing left walaueh. As if it were all for F.O.C.

888 Hokkien Mee ( NH ) - Lorong Mahsuri 2, Bayan Lepas

The long line of cars parked illegally by the roadside show that they are open for business, ready to satiate your night fix for a steaming hot bowl of hearty Hokkien Mee.

 

Although they share the same name, the food here, in my opinion, tastes different from their original Sar Tiao Lor stall in Georgetown.

Happy Cafe - Economy Rice , Jln Sungai Dua

You know how hard it is to find a cheap and good economy rice stall in Penang these days ? This fella deserves a mention.

 

Presumably, he's relocated from the now defunct Bali-Bali 77 down the road near USM. Nice humble chap, this owner. He speaks Hakka by the way.

850 Char Koay Teow - Cecil Street Market ( NH )

He claims to sell 850 plates of CKT a day.

Talk about bragging rights !

  

The whole time I was sitting there, tok tok tok , ting ting tang tang, there he was banging away at his wok non stop. Stall covered in perpetual smoke.
Looks like a Genie rising from a witches cauldron. 

Air Putih gluttons corner ( NH ) - largest portions on the island !

Air Itam is the new city centre if you ask me. Practically teeming with life at all times of the day. Whereas Air Putih is just before it.

Popped in here for an after dinner snack.

Maybe we shouldn't have, because what they serve here is real value for money unlike other places in Georgetown.

The portions are so huge, those with big appetites should seriously consider putting this on their map of must eat places.

See the picture above, featuring oh chien (oyster omelette ) ? Countless fresh oysters inside ...for the most minimum order. Unbelievable.

Sin Hup Aun Cafe - most un-Milo Milo (NH)

The young cafe owner has had a rather glorious past, in the field of bowling. The massive collection of trophies that line the back of this kopitiam attest to that. Rumour has it, that he invested his prize monies in this prized catch.
The kopitiam's fame was further cemented when Dr Pornthip, the forensic pathologist, otherwise known as Thailand's Dr Death, dropped by for a bite at the curry mee stall, a local favourite, that is located here.

 

With such an illustrious headstart , I really don't understand why, they had to resort to this.