Penang Food Trail 1

Dear readers, sorry about the long absence from 'flogging'. I was off to Penang and indulged so badly that I literally screamed when I stepped on the scales on my return. But that's another story that would never see the light of day forever.


Penang and food were synonymous. I was about to find out how much in this series of me on the Penang Food trail.

We landed on the island on the first day and was immediately whisked off to a place my friend assures me has the best chee cheong fun.

It was a modest coffee shop in Island Glades that was our first landing point. I used to live there but things has changed so much over the twenty years (ahem, yes I just showed my age) that I hardly recognised the place anymore.

We sat two shops away from Genting because my friend told me the Tau Foo Far is a must try. She was right. Smooth and silky and slides down the throat.

I tried the Soya Bean drink instead. It was good but in terms of thickness, I loved the one from the shop at Hutong Lot 10.

It's been an age since I had Asam Laksa Penang from Air Itam. It's oh-my-God good. It's completely different from the KL variety where the gravy is sour. Penangites like it with a slight tinge of sweetness but it works very well with the Hae Ko (prawn paste). The noodle was also soft and breaks when you pick it up with your chopsticks.

Deep fried popiah that came with the Asam Laksa. The sengkuang inside was juicy and the chilli has enough kick for a spicy maniac like me.

Curry Mee. While it looks really colourless, wait till you mix the sambal in. it turns a rich red colour. The taste is different from those we have in KL. The KL type is more like a curry chicken version but the Penang version is more focused on the spices. No complaints.

Hae Ko Chee Cheong Fun. This is fabulous. It's a good mixture of sweet sauce and hae ko that is sticky and sweet at the same time. I can't even find the words to describe the perfection that attacked me unknowing taste buds. A definite must-try.

This is definitely not the Muar Chee that you get in KL. The texture is so soft that it breaks up while mixing it in the peanuts. And the glutinous pieces were still warm. I wished now I had ordered more because I couldn't find Muar Chee of similar standard elsewhere.

That's part one. Stay tune for EBM on the Penang Food Trail.

Pantai Seafood Village @ Kampung Kayu Ara

Behind LDP is a cluster of a few shops that serves seafood. It seems quite popular as they seem to be packed even on weekdays.

Rows of aquariums filled with only the freshest seafood and cooked on demand. The prices tagged there are pretty shocking as well. They had a wide variety ranging from Spider Crab to the weird looking geoduck.

 Our wines for the night. Zamphire was one my brother brought back from Margaret River. It was a sparkly and tasted like champagne. Lovely paired with seafood.

See how it sparkles in glasses. Yum!

Huge bamboo clams steamed with garlic and fried shallots. While it was a simple dish, the freshness of the clams came through with the garlic adding a lovely tang to the flesh.

French beans in sambal belacan.

My favourite way of preparing Kai Lan. Nearly all the leafy part if cut into thin strips and deep fried while the rest of it is sauteed with garlic. The deep fried Kai Lan tastes like nori that you have at Japanese restaurants. I haven't had this in too many places. The other place that serves this to my knowledge is Kim Lian Kee along Petaling Street, who serves an excellent Hokkien Noodles as well.

Fried glass noodles that came out well. Not sticky and tastes flavourful.

Claypot yam chicken. The sauce in this was excellent and the yam was just delicious. I can't say much about the chicken because the rest of the family inhaled it.

Rice is always a must since there are a few 'rice bins' in my family. Enough 'wok hei' and the rice are fried enough that you can eat the individual grains.

My uncle's favourite pork knuckle. I can't comment much since I'm not really that big a fan of pork knuckle. I find it a little to fatty.

What is a seafood dinner without crab? Since all the crab was immediately slaughtered, the flesh was firm and sweet. The sauce was good over rice.

What's seafood dinner with a second dish of crab? Salted egg crab was our second choice. It was a sticky variety of preparing the salted egg that had the right amount of sweetness.

The prawn was ordered as an afterthought and I didn't really taste this as I was already too full but watching my family fall over it, I guess it wasn't that bad of a choice.

Pantai Seafood Village,

Kampung Kayu Ara

Ireland Potato @ Gardens Midvalley

A new outlet mushroomed in Gardens Midvalley and I scurried over to it to get a taste of it. Why? Because it appealed to my potato craving soul.

This was a place that sells predominantly chips. Each little cup filled with starchy goodness. They have other things on the menu like onion rings and fried squid.

Mostly, their draw is the topping for the fries. They have the usual ones like cheese, meat sauce and honey mustard. They also have the weirder ones like pickled mayonaise, wasabi mayo and various fruit based sauces. 

Being a complete traditionalist, I went for the honey mustard one (and because they pasted a 'best seller' sticker on it next to the menu). The potatoes were rough cut and freshly fried before poured over with warm honey mustard sauce. Soothes the potato maniac in me. Oddly enough though, the fries tasted slightly fruity, almost an apple flavour. It could have been the influence of the honey mustard topping.

The other 'safe' choice of pickled mayo. It was only at the bottom of it that you could see the small pickled bits. The slightly more sour taste of mayo reminded me of Amsterdam where they sold fries on every street corner with a small container of fritte sauce which is basically their version of mayo specifically designed to be consumed with fries.

I love this place for it's simplicity of food and yet comforting as well. However, these fries didn't come cheap at RM8.80 a cup.

This is how this place works. You order at the counter and they write your number on a cup. The same number is written on your receipt. You collect your order at the counter in the picture. Through the glass panel, you can see the action going on behind the counter.

Each other is deep fried and served immediately. Each cup piping hot and crispy to a fault. Excellent for a snack.

Ireland Potato

Gardens Midvalley 

(the connecting path between Gardens and Midvalley, next to Bread Story)

Siu Siu Restaurant @ Robson Heights, KL

Near Midvalley, there is a little shop in a place called Robson Heights. A modest type shop set along the side of a hill was Siu Siu Restaurant.

Traditional looking sign. They have a branch right at the end of Sungai Besi Highway but after trying both places, I choose Robson Heights for having better food.

And their specialty? Claypot crab rice.

A handsome looking fella cooked on a bed of rice flavoured with dark sauce, ginger and secret ingredients. The taste of the rice is filled with the flavour of crab.

Char Siu and Siu Yoke is another must have when you're here. I always go for the Char Siu Tou, or the head of the Char Siu. True it is quite on the fatty side but it's along the realms of 'Oh my God good'.

Another must have for me here at Siu Siu. I can't really remember what's it called but it's basically river prawn cooked in a butterish curry with glass noodles. My favourite way to eat this? Drench the crab rice with it's sauce. When done, either guzzle down the gravy as is, or have it with this:

Fried mantau. The plain mantau soaks up all the curry sauce perfectly.

Veggies round off the savouries of the night.

For dessert were cakes from Delectable Su purchased at the Gardens prior to coming here.

We chose 7 Sins of Chocolate and Cherry Bomb. Unfortunately, the only sin we committed that night was to actually taste these two cakes. Both cakes were dry and tasted pretty much like cardboard. There was literally no chocolate taste in the chocolate cake and the only thing edible from the Cherry Bomb were the canned cherries they use. I have come to a conclusion that Delectable Su's creations are made to look good but hold very little respectability in the taste department. And they are bloody expensive too.

Definitely give a miss from now on.

Siu Siu Restaurant

Robson Heights