As a practical joke from this God person, people are made in such a way that food always tastes better when we have to travel long distance to obtain them. Something that you can get right next door is never as satisfying as the one you have to spend an hour’s journey getting there.

Hence, the place to go for seafood when you’re in Penang is not located on the island, it is this little fishing village called Tambun on peninsular side of the stat. The place is anything from 40 min to 1.5 hours away from the island, depending on the mercy of traffic.

Jon, Jun, and Wai Meng, check out the big fat mantis prawns swimming!

And since we were in Penang over the long weekends, it took us well over an hour to get from the little motel at Tanjung Tokong to Gee Seng Seafood Restaurant at Tambun. The road from Penang bridge onwards was alright, it was getting to the bridge that took the longest time ever.

Lesson Learned: never try to drive anywhere far within Penang over any long weekends.

fried squid, prawn with Nestum, fried noodle, crab with salted egg

This was actually my first time at Gee Seng seafood restaurant, and it was almost a couple years since I last went to Tambun. We somehow found a parking space deep inside the village and made our way to the restaurant.

For the five of us, we ordered deep fried squid, prawn with Nestum, crab with salted egg, giant mantis prawn, noodle, and a plate of vegetable for some sense of balance.

love the giant mantis prawns, says Elfie

Despite the crowd, our dishes didn’t take long start arriving at the table. They were fresh and really tasty, despite having scored almost negative when it comes to presentation. I particularly like the giant mantis prawns (RM 60 for the 3 we had), very succulent and sweet, did you know that these creatures have polarized vision?

Nestum prawns (RM 23) and deep fried squid (RM 18)  too were top notch, but I thought the crab with salted egg (RM 47) was kinda average, would have been better if they were bigger.

Together with the vegetable, noodle, and tea, the bill came to RM 155.50, which translate to only RM 31 per person for the 5 of us for some rather satisfying food. Everyone agreed that it was worth the drive, but perhaps next time we should try somewhere closer? emm

Address:
Restoran Makanan Laut Gee Seng
860, Bagan Bukit Tambun,
14100 Simpang Ampat, Penang
GPS: 5.271221, 100.443385
Tel: 04-588 7200

Tags:  crab,  elfie,  jon,  mantis prawn,  Penang,  prawn,  seafood,  tambun

Posted by KY | 28 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 »