Penang is a heaven for supper lovers, and if Gurney Drive is your destination, there isn’t a better place for these few yummy late night dishes than at Song River, one of the old school bangalow turned kopitiam eateries that has been gracing the 1-mile sea side road for decades.
ikan bakar stall does offer quite a few choices of fish, Haze & my sister
During our stay at Penang over Chinese New Year, we were lucky to be within walking distance from this place, the photos on this post were compiled from a few visits. Though I’d love to eat all these in a single seating… only my limited stomach space saves me from doing that.
The first must-have at Song River is the ikan bakar/ikan panggang (grill fish). As with most other places, you get to choose from 3-4 different types of fishes as well as prawns or squid. My go-to choice is always sting ray.
ikan bakar – positively hot
The wait time at this stall can sometimes be quite substantial, but the honest (or sometimes very blunt) operator will usually tell you up front: “have to wait 30 minutes wan”. Fine with me.
The grill fish here tastes almost completely different from anywhere else. The fish is covered in a special sauce that has a strong presence of fermented beans, belacan, chili, and shallots. The flavor is so intense that very little of the sauce on the side (which is probably made from similar ingredients) is needed.
This will leave the weak with inflamed tongue, but definitely worth it!
Song River bbq chicken wings
While waiting for the ikan bakar, you should grab some bbq chicken wings as appetizer.
For RM 2.20 a pop (or was it RM 2?), this is also one of the best chicken wings in town. The operator has perfected the BBQ timing to give the skin that crispy texture that you get just before screwing up and burning the whole thing (I usually mess this up).
This while the meat is tender, juicy, and the accompanying chili sauce is yummy too. They also serve BBQ drumstick and thigh.
cuttle fish with kangkung, classic Penang “junk” food
And while you’re at it, why not some cuttle fish with kangkung too?
The version here is not shabby either. This plate was RM 10 and came with plenty of cuttle fish with kangkung soaked in delicious prawn paste and chili sauce, good stuff.
You usually won’t need to wait for more than 5 minutes for this dish.
and this is how you have supper in Penang 
All that is missing from these supper is of course, some ice cold beer. Damn it I am missing Penang food again.
Address:
Song River Cafe
65 Persiaran Gurney,
Georgetown, Penang
GPS: 5.432392,100.31738
Tel: 012-488 8275
Tel: 017-477 7938 (chicken wings)
A week or so ago when I was downstairs getting ready to go for lunch, a huge Land Rover Discovery suddenly stopped right in front of me, the driver side window rolled down and the driver who turned to be my colleague yelled:
“Hey KY jump in, join us for lunch”
Restaurant Rose 911, authentic Negeri Sembilan food
So I joined 3 of them who were already in the car, and we were on the way to Restaurant Rose 911, an old school restaurant in the older part of the city that specialize in Negeri Sembilan food.
Before that day, I didn’t even know there’s a different version of Malay food from Negeri Sembilan, one of Minangkabau influence, my colleague mentioned.
fish, santan laden vegetable (rendang pegaga), and sambal
While the restaurant doesn’t look much from the outside, it actually has an air conditioned area, a semi alfresco main dining area, and curiously, another smaller dining area that appears to be empty.
According to my colleague, that area’s usually seated with drivers & such when their “bosses” dine at Rose 911. Interesting, and sure enough the clientile consists of kampung folks and high ranking business execs alike.
ikan kembung bakar, dessert (badak berendam)
As for the food, more than half of the dishes to choose from were milky yellowish in color – meaning highly laden with kuah lemak (coconut milk base), turmeric, chili and such good stuff.
I particularly love the rendang pegaga, a type of leave cooked with chicken feet, gizzard, liver, and of course, plenty of santan. The ikan kembung bakar with chili and two other small portions of vegetable were all very old-fashion-good too.
For dessert, we shared a plate of badak berendam (soaking hippo), a traditional Negeri Sembilan kuih made of glutinous rice flour, grated coconut, palm sugar, and of course, more santan. It was delicious as it was sinful.
My rice with drinks came up to RM 8, pretty reasonable. Give it a try, this is definitely different from your usual nasi kandar. Opens for lunch till about 4pm everyday except Sundays.
Address:
Restoran Kak Rose 911
No. 25, Jalan Satu
Kampung Pandan
55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.143901, 101.737293
Tel: 03-9281 2996
Kampung Baru is a one of the most interesting areas this site of Kuala Lumpur, within the heart of the city just a stone’s throw away from the KLCC vicinity with it’s glitz and glamor lies a very traditional kampung with proper wooden houses and even chicken roaming on the streets. How this piece of land estimated to be worth up to RM 1.4 billion withstood the lure of development is in itself a marvel in heritage preservation.
I digressed, this is a mainly a food blog, so lets get to the point.
Gerai Pak Lang Ikan Bakar, with plenty of dishes besides ikan bakar
Yesterday I followed a handful of colleagues out for lunch, and instead of the usual Nasi Kandar Pelita or KLCC food court, we went all the way to Kampung Baru via the LRT instead.
There are plenty of restaurants on the Jalan Raja Muda Musa, the main food district of Kampung Baru, we settled upon Gerai Pak Lang Ikan Bakar since it was recommended by the lads that this place serves the best nasi campur and ikan bakar in the area.
ikan bakar, ulam, and plenty of other lauk to choose from
As you walk into the make shift restaurant under zinc roof, the ikan bakar (grilled fish) station is on the right side. There are freshly grilled ikan pari (stingray), kembung (hard tail), and cat fish for your choosing.
Next to it is a line of various lauk to choose from. There’s beef, chicken, fish, tripes, lung, vegetable, egg, and various other ingredients cooked in a host of different methods, there is also ulam (raw vegetable) with at least 3-4 choices of sambal.
Radzi, KY, Anas, Sofian, Diana, and Shamsul
I picked up a plate of ikan pari bakar with the two sauce, three ladies fingers, a portion of daging kunyit (beef) to go with rice and plenty of curry and sambal. The meat was tasty and not at all chewy, sambal was awesome and plenty hot enough, and of course the ikan bakar too was top notch.
Though we had to walk under the sun all the way back to the train station, the lunch was well worth it.
The ikan bakar costs something like RM 4.50 with the rice and beef a further RM 3.50, I also ordered a big glass of orange juice for RM 2.50. In all a RM 10.50 meal that was very very satisfying. The HR & another finance lady merajuk cos Radzi didn’t asked them to tag along, hehe, but I’m sure we’ll go again.
Address:
Gerai Pak Lang
Jalan Raja Muda Musa,
Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.162268, 101.703878
The most common complains among the new arrivals working at the twin towers and the surrounding area seems to be the price of food. From fast foods such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King, to the food courts and restaurants within KLCC and Avenue K malls, you often need to spend at least around RM10 to get a decent meal.
Warong Kak Fauziah is located behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia
However, if you are willing to walk just a bit, there are hidden gems littered all around the KLCC vicinity. Warong Kak Fauziah with its excellent ikan bakar (grilled fish) is one of them.
Hidden behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia (opposite main entrance of the twin towers), the little zinc roofed shack is tricky to get to. The safest bet is to walk from the back road of Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, and just follow what your nose tells you. There is usually a healthy crowd during lunch time on weekdays.
freshly grilled fish with rice comes to less than RM 6
There are three types of ikan bakar available here, ikan kembung (hardtail), ikan keli (catfish), and ikan pari (stingray). My favorite is always the ikan pari due to mainly the fact that there is no bone to deal with. For lunch, in addition to the fish, I also grabbed an omelet and some ulam (raw vegetable) to go with rice.
As with many ikan bakar places, you can find at least 3-4 different types of condiments to go with the fish, sambal belacan, chili with soya sauce and lime, cencaluk, and so forth. I usually like to mix them up.
KY and Chew (who wants a gf)
The ikan pari here was simply delicious. Rich, oily, and generous portion of very tasty stingray meat mixed with the spicy sambal with that bits of burnt fish skin, there isn’t many thing that is so down to earth, no nonsense, halal and unhealthy. I love it. Best of all, the plate of fish, egg, vegetable, and rice was less than RM 6 in total.
Warong Kak Fauziah is located behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia
Good food, great price, there isn’t nothing not to like about this place. Well, except maybe the lack of air conditioning, but that is pushing it, no?
Address:
Warong Kak Fauziah,
behind Lembaga Getah Malaysia
Jalan Ampang, KL
GPS: 3.160088,101.711941
If you’re longing some good traditional Malay (and pretty economical) food in the heart of KL, look no further than the nasi lemak (rice with coconut cream) and ikan bakar (BBQ fish) at Tanglin food court. Located just a stone’s throw away from the magnificent national mosque.
the stall is always packed with hungry people
We went there a few weekends ago, as usual, there is a queue in front of the famous Nasi Lemak Tanglin stall. I ordered a piece of curry chicken and some sambal squid in my nasi lemak. To make the meal complete, we also got ourselves some stingray ikan bakar from the next stall.
True to its reputation, the nasi lemak was very good. The rice not too hard, and the sambal very creamy and aromatic. The chicken was pretty decent, and the squid cooked to the illusive texture that isn’t springy nor rubbery.
these ikan bakar and nasi lemak are absolutely delicious
The ikan bakar, though not nearly as famous as the nasi lemak, proved to be an excellent side that went very well with the main dish. While the fish is grilled just like any other places, the sauce that came with it was really superb. It was very spicy and full of asam flavor. If the nasi lemak massages your taste buds, the ikan bakar with the sauce really hits them hard and gives you a wake up call on a lazy Sunday morning. It was awesome.
Tanglin food court is located near KL bird park and butterfly park
Price wise, the food court is on par with most other Malay stalls. The meal, with a Teh Ais, costs about RM 10. It was a RM 10 well spent.
Address:
Kompleks Makan Tanglin
Jalan Cendarasari, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.144212, 101.690762
Tel: 016-650 8494 (Zainol)
