Whenever we are at an event that dragged into late night with #porkgang, Kim would always get hungry and suggests “I’m feeling like Teow Chew porridge, lets go to pudu now!”

That was precisely what we did after attending the hugely entertaining Nokia’s Year End Party, primarily due to the availability of helium filled balloons and awesome company.

old school Teow Chew porridge at Pudu, KL

Kedai Makanan Teochew at Pudu is located just behind Berjaya Times Square, parking at late night is usually not a problem, and during day time there there’s the open air paid car park just opposite the shop.

At night, we usually choose a table outside where it’s usually quite a bit cooling.

3 in 8 dishes you see here are made of pork

The selection of dishes at this place is as wide as anywhere. You can find anything from the standard luncheon meat, Chinese lap cheong, assortment of vegetables, fried fish, salted egg, to even pork intestine cooked in soya sauce.

In this instance, we left the ordering job to Kim, and you can see just how much she ordered for the five of us. We had 9 dishes altogether, pork’s ear, daze with black bean, lady fingers, two types of salted vegetable, fermented tofu, pork, and double order of intestine.

Kimberly, Gareth, Nigel Yap, Haze, KY

Like many late night eateries around Pudu area that is popular with the after clubbing crowd, the way your bill is calculated is often sort of a mystery. I believe ours came to over RM 10 per person that night, while not exactly cheap for porridge, the convenience and taste was more than worth it (especially since it was Nigel who paid for this meal, Thanks!)

Address:
Restaurant Teochew Porridge
270&272 Jalan Changkat Thambi Dollah
Off Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur, 55100, Malaysia‎
GPS: 3.140701, 101.71005
Tel: 03-2148 3452‎

Xpax Advert:
For Celcom Xpax users out there, don’t forget to top up your credits before this Friday to enjoy the still-on-going Celcom Double Bonus. Check out the table below.

Tags:  gareth,  haze,  kimberly,  nigel,  pork,  porridge,  pudu

Posted by KY | 25 Comments »

And I said what about “Breakfast at Tiffany’s?
She said, “I think I remember the film,
And as I recall, I think, we both kinda liked it.”
And I said, “Well, that’s the one thing we’ve got.”

As they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it gives you the jolt of energy you need for the rest of the day. Breakfast, as they say, gives you brain fuel.

tapao my nasi lemak with tupperware at Taman Bahagia LRT station

Since everyone knows that nasi lemak makes you sleepy, but breakfast gives you energy, that makes having nasi lemak in the morning a perfect timing. The extra jolt and the sleepiness cancel each other out, and you are left with just the right amount of dopiness at the office so that nobody will accuse you of being too lazy, or too hardworking. Balance is important.

One of my favorite nasi lemak places is conveniently located at the Taman Bahagia LRT station, which happen to be the station I go to every workday. This nasi lemak stall doesn’t have any accompanying tables or chairs, everything is to-go.

very microwave friendly, this Tupperware box!

So instead of having the nasi lemak wrapped in newspaper (or worse still, foam container), this time I brought along my newly acquired lunch box – the Tupperware Reheatable Divided Lunch Box. Canggih!

For RM 3, the pakcik at nasi lemak stall give me a good portion of that fragrant rice, cucumber, 1/4 hard boiled egg anchovies and peanuts in one side of the lunch box, plenty of sambal and beef rendang on the other two smaller sections.

At the office, I popped the little vent cap up and put this into the microwave for a minute. The result – envy of the entire pantry. hohohooho!

reduce the use of disposable packagings, and start recycle!

After breakfast, I filled up the Commuter Mug with some cafe latte. East meets West. I kinda like the mug, the design is very different from the other heat retaining flasks you see from anywhere, and I think this one is a lot tougher too.

However, the real message of this advertorial is not about how tasty the nasi lemak was, or how the tidy container keeps your coffee warm. It is about reducing the usage of disposable packaging materials such as PET bottles, foam containers, or even newspaper that ultimately end up in the landfill rather than being recycled.

I got all these, thank you Tupperware!

From now on I’ll tapao only with the lunch box, it is actually quite a lot less messy and I think the pakcik actually gave me more ingredients!

Do your bit for the environment, and potentially even profit from it! Did you know that 85 million PET bottles ended up in the landfill yearly just from Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei alone?

Go to Reuse, Reduce site, fill up the pledge to mother nature and stand a change to win daily Tupperware prizes too. Give mother nature a chance!

p/s: there’s a video on Tupperware’s ECO range product that you can view here.

Tags:  breakfast,  lunch money,  nasi-lemak,  tupperware

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »

There’s always been one and only important mission whenever I am in Penang - to eat as much as possible. So in between late lunch and dinner, I slotted in another meal.

My initial plan was to find the famous mee sotong at Esplanade, but it was already closed by 5 p.m. Feeling a bit adventurous, I parked my car near Jalan Kapitan Keling in the older part of Penang town and got on my foot to search for something to eat.

kedai makanan Fok Kee, and old school kopitiam

Quite a few old school kopitiams are already closed by this time of the day since this area is not known to be famous for tourists when it comes to food, then I walked by Fok Kee kopitiam and saw that they have this interesting item by the name of Taiwan Fish Maw noodle, I just had to try it.

I had absolutely no clue how this was going to turn out.

pork skin, liver, tofu, and minced meat too

I sat down, order a bowl of fish maw noodle and a glass of nutmeg juice (I don’t know if you can find this outside penang, grated nutmeg and sour plum, I love it!).

The chef went to work, and a few minutes later I was presented by this big bowl of “noodle” that, frankly, looked a bit weird. But thank goodness the taste was actually quite delicious, if not just a bit different from your usual hawker food.

fish maw noodle and nutmeg juice, yums!

The “noodle” is actually made from fish paste (like those you get at steamboats) shaped into long strands then deep fried. Soup is half way between loh mee and clear soup in terms of consistency, and the served with vegetable, tofu, minced pork, liver, and pork skin.

The combination was actually quite good, and goes especially well with pickled chili padi. I wouldn’t say this is a must-have if you’re heading to Penang for vacation, but it  was definitely worth the RM 3 or RM 3.50 that I had to pay, have your char kueh teow, laksa, and other must-haves first, and if you want to try something different, this wouldn’t be a bad choice.

Address:
Kedai Makan Fok Kee
Jalan Kaptian Keling,
10200 Penang
GPS: 5.417741, 100.338333

Xpax Advert

Out of the 4 people that live in my house, 3 are now using Blackberry, just one more to be convinced. Best thing is, we’re all under Celcom/Xpax packages, the same network that is known for to be most reliable among the big telcos in the country.

On a somewhat related news, Xpax is still running the XXL double bonus promotion until the end of the month, reload and get up to 16% discount!

Tags:  hawker,  kopitiam,  liver,  noodle,  Penang,  pork,  xpax

Posted by KY | 20 Comments »

Char Kueh Teow is often the first thing people think of when Penang hawker food is mentioned. So whenever I have a chance to play host back at my home town, I always make sure the guests get a chance to get a plate of good char kueh teow.

It’s kinda like you should have chicken rice balls in Melaka, tomyam in Bangkok, ramen at Akihabara, or KFC in the state of Kentucky (ok just kidding about the last one, it sucked, I had.)

check out the size of them prawns on the char kueh teow!

The most famous of all the Char Kueh Teow places in Penang has got to be at Lorong Selamat, operated by this lady who now also owns Kafe Heng Huat.

As some of you might remember, this stall was previously operating at another kopitiam just a stone’s throw down the road (that is famous for its ais kacang), that shop now has another CKT stall operated by a guy, and to be frank, I think both stalls serve up equally delicious CKT.

yes, Elfie uses fork & spoon for CKT

Since it was going to be Elfie’s first taste of Penang char kueh teow last weekend, I decided to bring her, Jon, Jun, and Wai Meng to the original version at Lorong Selamat even though I had once decided to not pay the old lady a visit anymore due to their extremely bad service while still operating at the other kopitiam.

However, I have heard that they have improved ever since operating the new kopitiam, and true enough she wasn’t at all the angry old lady anymore. I guess a little bit of competition from the other guy helped too.

KY, Elfie, Wai Meng, Jon (also known as Don Juan), Jun

A plate of CKT here goes for RM 6.50, or more if you asks for extras. The photos you see here were the Rm 6.50 plates, with three really huge prawns that is properly marinated with salt to give it that extra kick, there’s also egg, cockles, Chinese sausage (lap cheong), chives, bean sprouts, and of course, a handful of kueh teow.

They are the best char kueh teow there is, the only way to improve this would probably be swapping the chicken egg with duck egg, and perhaps add a bit of lard? I’m asking too much, it’s about lunch time now, and I am hungry! haih…

Address:
Kafe Heng Huat,
Lorong Selamat,
Penang
GPS: 5.417183, 100.324831

Tags:  char-kueh-teow,  ckt,  elfie,  hawker,  jon,  Penang

Posted by KY | 34 Comments »

I went back to Penang over the long weekends.

toll fees: RM 93
hours spent driving: 9 hours both ways
petrol:  RM 100
distance traveled: 780 km both ways
seafood noodle for two: RM32.50
having dinner with mom: priceless

Seafood noodle – pick your own ingredients

I suggested Japanese food at first, but it was mom’s idea that we go to this fish head / seafood noodle place at Weld Quay for something a bit more special.

Siong Ho fish head meehun is located within Village Coffee Shop at Weld Quay, just a couple hundred meters from the jetty, and actually quite near to where my late grandma’s place where I spent a big chunk of my childhood. It was a bit nostalgic.

Calling Siong Ho a fish head meehun place is a bit of an understatement, the choice of ingredients offered at this place is quite astounding. There’s fish ball, meat ball, fish fillet, fish head, fried fish, kidney, prawn, cuttle fish, squid, minced meat, and even crab.

fish head/seafood mee hun with all the extra ingredients, nutmeg juice

For my bowl of personalized meehun, I chose a couple pieces of kidney (they are very tasty!), fish ball, fish  meat, a piece of fish head, prawn, and cuttle fish to go with mee hun and clear soup. You can also choose to have noodle, kueh teow, or thick mee hun, tomyam soup is available too. (but no version with evaporated milk, like in KL)

Mom ordered pretty much the same thing except without cuttle fish, and deep fried fish instead of the fillet.

The seafood’s fresh, the soup is sweet, and I particularly like the fact that they have this whole container full of deep fried garlic on every table. I like my seafood noodle with plenty of those, and I think I refilled probably 3-4 times, it was an awesome idea, why wouldn’t other shops do the same thing?

mom & I having a simple dinner

One other thing that’s available here (and most kopitiam in Penang) is nutmeg drinks. Blended nutmeg with a dried sour plum, prepared in a way that is similar to kedondong (umbra with sour plum) but without the bitter after taste, and more refreshing.

Dinner cost RM 32.50 in total, and for the amount and quality of ingredients we got, not to mention the good taste, I thought it was well worth it.

Address:
Village Coffee Shop
107-A, Pengkalan Weld (Weld Quay),
10300 Penang, Malaysia
GPS: 5.411949,100.338049
Tel: 019-458 8693

Tags:  cuttle fish,  fish-head,  kopitiam,  mom,  Penang,  prawn

Posted by KY | 34 Comments »