The last time I blogged about pork intestine porridge was over 4 years ago on a hawker stall in Penang. It has always been one of my favorite old school hawker foods, but also one that is increasingly hard to find.

My first time at this small stretch of old school hawker center at Jalan Sayur in Pudu was a couple months ago, and while I had other food at the time, I noticed this porridge stall that offers pork intestine porridge, among other types.

old school hawker center on Jalay Sayur, Pudu

So when pocket Anne asked me out for a little dinner + catch up session in KL, I suggested to head to the very same place just so that I can have my pork intestine porridge.

This particular porridge stall is situated quite close to Jalan Pudu itself, they offer fish ball, salted egg, chicken, fish filet, seafood, and of course, the all important pork intestine porridge (猪什粥).

pork intestine porridge, and chee cheong fun

This bowl of goodness comes with deep fried pork innards, plenty of shredded ginger, some spring onion, and a good shake of white pepper with porridge cooked to perfection.

Compared to the one at New Lane in Penang, this one is less crunchy and has a slightly fresher taste mainly due to the ginger. Both of them are excellent nonetheless, and I am sure someone like Kim who loves intestine from Teow Chew porridge would love it too.

KY and the tiny pocket Anne

Anne also ordered the pretty famous chee cheong fun from another stall, one with the normal sauce, and the other with curry. Plain chee cheong fun with sesame on top and some proper sauce can be very addictive too, not to mention pretty economical. Our dinner came to only about RM 10 for two person, who said dinner at KL must be pricey?

Address:
Hawker center at Jalan Pasar
off Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3135208, 101.713051

Tags:  anne,  hawker,  pork,  porridge,  pudu

Posted by KY | 26 Comments »

Mee Suah is one of my favorite form of noodle out there. Made of rice flour and usually served in soup with a wide variety of other ingredients, mee suah is silky smooth and usually has a very soft texture.

herbal soup mee suah at Ming Tien food court

Mee Suah is also often consumed during traditional Chinese birthdays, the long strands of noodle signify longevity, and you’re supposed to not break it into smaller strands when having mee suah for such occasions.

As for me, I just love mine with some herbal soup and some chicken/duck drumsticks.

a bowl of herbal soup mee suah with chicken drumstick

The Herbal Soup Mee Suah stall at Ming Tien food court at PJ happened to offer pretty decent versions of these herbal soup mee suah this side of Klang Valley. The dish comes with your choice of meat, flavorful Chinese herbal soup, mee suah, and some green onion sprinkled on top. Very simple and yet rather delicious. Soya sauce with chili padi usually accompanies the dish as condiment.

A bowl of chicken drum stick mee suah goes for RM 4.50, they also serve the same dish with duck meat (RM 5), duck drumstick (RM 6), and pork spare ribs (RM 5).

4-eye KY, Gareth and Kim, Haze the awesome artist

The general standard of food at Ming Tien has shown a marked improvement from a few years ago too. Other things that I like there include the fried lychee, soy duck with rice, and  fried dumpling. It also helps that this is a dog friendly place, especially you choose one of the tables at the side that’s closest to the pet store.

Address:
Ming Tien Hawker Center
Jalan SS24/8, Taman Megah,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.114334, 101.611658

Tags:  chicken,  gareth,  hawker,  haze,  herbal-soup,  kimberly,  ming-tien

Posted by KY | 26 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 | 36 Comments »

My exhousemate Kerol reads the Chinese daily Sin Chew religiously, and once in a while she’d come across a food review from the paper that she thinks we should try. Most often than not, her recommendations prove to be spot on, just to show that you can usually trust a Penangite when it comes to food.

Char Siew Zhai wantan mee at Taman Paramount

The latest place she recommended was this new wantan mee restaurant at Taman Paramount by the name of Char Siew Zhai (or little bbq pork), the first time wee went was just a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been there three times since.

One of the unique selling point of this place is the way the noodle is prepared. After boiling the noodle and going through the standard quick bath of colder water (to make the outer layer more springy), they throw it up really high and before catching  it on the sieve several times. Apparently this is done to get rid of most moisture so that the noodle absorbs sauce better.

I managed to capture it on video on my 2nd visit there with cheesie, check it out!

dumpling, curry chicken, duck & char siew noodle

Char Siew Zhai offers a wide range of noodle and rice based dishes that is often associated with restaurants like this (another place would be Chong Loy at Sunway). They have wantan, dumpling, char siew (bbq pork), siu yok (roast pork), roast duck, curry chicken, chicken feet, stewed duck, fried pork, roast chicken, poached chicken, and shredded chicken served with noodle or rice.

You can also order most of the items listed above as side dishes.

kerol, rachel, cheesie, and KY at Char Siew Zhai

I’ve tried their dumpling noodle, wantan mee, roast duck, bbq pork and roast pork so far and I gotta say I really like their noodle. I guess the whole high throwing method really does work, they’re tasty!

The char siu (bbq pork) is really good too, slightly different texture (rougher and less oily outer layer) than normal. Roast duck was alright but not anywhere near Loong Foong which is situated just a few doors down. Wantan and dumplings were pretty tasty.

The best part is, a wantan mee, char siu mee, or dried curry chicken mee is only priced at RM 4.00, with the most expensive main dish  not exceeding RM 7.00 (combination roast meat noodle). This is cheaper than most hawker stalls around the area in a much more comfortable area too.

Address:
Restaurant Char Siew Zhai Wantan Mee
No. 5, Jalan 20/13, Paramount Garden
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.106085, 101.625295
Tel: 012-628 1348

Cool things you can do with a blackberry

As per promise from the previous post on PM Najib’s Hari Raya open house, here’s the #4 cool thing you can do with a Blackberry – BBM!

BBM is short for Blackberry Messaging. It is basically a chatting program not unlike MSN or Yahoo messaging, but exclusive to Blackberry phones only. BBM goes through Blackberry’s proprietary network if you subscribe to BIS (the must-subscribe Blackberry Internet Service). Instant messaging on the go with everyone who has a BB, and you don’t need to pay for SMS charges!

You can pre-register for Xpax Blackberry here and get the new Curve 8520.

Tags:  cheesie,  hawker,  kerol,  rachel,  wan-tan-mee

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »