We actually spent a total of 10 days in Penang over CNY, my longest stint back home since getting a job in KL some 10 years, and that explains the recent flood of Penang food posts. There will be just a few more before the more KL centric posts resumes.
The extended eating binge was of course, glorious!
Tua Pui curry mee at Weld Quay
On the last few days in Penang, I finally got a chance to try the famed Tua Pui Curry Mee at Weld Quay (situated right across Chew Jetty, now a UNESCO world heritage).
I’m a sucker for Penang style curry mee, and could eat them almost daily until my lactose intolerant body starts to complain. Doesn’t matter, had curry mee!
mine is with extra fish balls, RM 3.80
Tua Pui curry mee is a little bit different from the usual run-off-the-mill Penang curry mee. They have all the usual ingredients you’d find – tofu pok, coagulated blood, blood cockles, cuttle fish; but they also have quite a lot of optional items you can add in. There’s chicken gizzards, big prawns (the bare version has no prawns, bummer), chicken wings, fish balls, and more.
The soup too is enhanced with several types of curry, giving it a little more complexity, I like it.
My bowl was one with extra fish balls for RM 3.80. The two giant fish balls, though looking somewhat peculiar in a bowl of curry mee, did not disappoint, they were quite tasty in itself. Of course, the curry mee overall was as good as any. Well worth a try if you’re in Penang.
we shared a mua chee, and Haze had her 6th laksa or the trip or something
As for Haze, she had her laksa, again. That must be the 6th or 7th laksa of the trip and that girl can never get tired of it. According to her, this particular laksa was a good one too. I didn’t try it, but just by looking at it, you know it’s a winner. RM 3 for the laksa if I remember correctly.
Then there’s muah chee, we paid RM 2 for this excellent combination of flour, crushed nuts, sesame, and sugar that you can find pretty much anywhere in Penang, but for some reasons, not in KL.
I’m missing Penang already.
Address:
Village Coffee Shop
107-A, Pengkalan Weld (Weld Quay),
10300 Penang, Malaysia
GPS: 5.412652,100.338789
Most of us associate Kilkenny as one of those premium beers you get from fancy pubs and restaurants, places like Bernard’s and Sid’s Pub, and indeed this is true, Kilkenny draught can be found in all those places.
But now, one the fastest growing beer in this country has just gotten even more accessible, we have Kilkenny in the bottle!
Kilkenny can now be found at food courts like Ming Tien!
I was just at Ming Tien the other day, taking a break out of all these home cooking activities and just decided to have a light meal and a bit of relaxation during the week. We ordered a couple bottles of Kilkenny to go with asam laksa and takoyaki.
Penang asam laksa, takoyaki, kilkenny
The beer came in a bucket of ice to keep chilled, and two small glasses. I actually like small glasses cos you don’t ever let the beer go warm (I don’t drink fast enough I guess).
The best part was, it only costs RM 18.80 for the two bottles. A pretty good deal for premium beer if you ask me. 
So far as taste goes, it was still the same Kilkenny good taste that I’m familiar with, but with one small distinction: The draught version is nitrogenated to give it a smooth, creamy head. However, the bottled version enjoy the ability of staying chilled in ice bucket and only pour as you drink, I really can’t pick a favorite here. At the end of the day it is still essentially Kilkenny.
KY & Haze having a good beer over supper
The laksa though, wasn’t exactly premium and can’t hold a candle to it’s Penang counterparts, or even the Kedah laksa at Alison nearby, but they don’t sell Kilkenny there, hehe.
Takoyaki wasn’t the best either, but at least it was a decent snacks since my favorite fried dumpling stall at Ming Tien was not in operation that day.
You can also find Kilkenny at selected pubs and bars, food courts, restaurants, and cafes such as Kepong Food Court, Frontera Bar & Grill in Jaya One, Station 1 cafes and more.
Address:
Ming Tien Hawker Center
Jalan SS24/8, Taman Megah,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.114334, 101.611658
Restaurant O&S must be the most popular kopitiam at Taman Paramount/Seapark area (not to be confused with Taman Sea), and for one very simple reason – the place is filled with awesome hawker foods!
I’ve been here for so many occasions I mistakenly thought it was already covered on the blog, but it’s never too late I guess.
Restaurant O&S at Taman Paramount
The restaurant is opened for breakfast, lunch, and actually dinner too (with limited stalls operating, a siu chau for example). Breakfast/lunch on weekends is an affair not for the faint hearted, the place is absolutely packed, and you often have to share the same table with strangers ala HK style. It also goes without saying that securing a parking space isn’t a trivial matter around this area.
Then again, if there’s good food, that’s a small price to pay isn’t it?
Prawn Mee at restaurant O&S
The prawn mee at O&S is arguably the most famous dishes in this kopitiam. The stall here is operated by real Penangites (I always test their Hokkien) and offers both normal prawn mee soup, and loh mee (Penang style) soup. You can also opt for extra ingredients such as bigger prawns, pork ribs, and intestines.
A normal bowl goes for RM 4.50 and the soup really does pack a punch with that sweet prawn taste, on par with Yon Lee, TTDI, one of my favorite prawn mee places, with extra ingredients the price can go up to RM 7.50 or more but ohh soo tasty!
Penang Chee Cheong Fun & Laksa
Another thing that I always order at O&S is the Penang style chee cheong fun. The difference between this and HK chee cheong fun is that the Penang version comes with just the chee cheong fun, with har kou (prawn paste), dark sauce, chily, sesame seeds, and fried shallots. Less than RM 2 for a small plate, very addictive. There isn’t very many places you can find this.
Then there’s the asam laksa that is sworn by so many. Haze loved it and claimed that it tastes the same as her favorite Cheras pasar malam version. I tasted it a bit and it was actually quite good! Again, plenty of har kou too, and all the proper ingredients you’ll find in a bowl of Penang laksa like banana flower, cucumber, onion, and a big chunk of fish.
Haze and KY at restaurant O&S, Taman Paramount
There’re other good stuff at O&S that I shall be covering sometimes later, the Yeong Tau Foo, the steamed chicken rice, and more! Stay tuned
this is how you get to O & S restaurant
Address:
Restaurant O&S
Jalan 20/14, Seapark,
Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.107713, 101.624919
Ah Loy Curry Mee is the second restaurant I frequent in the exploration of the popular food district that is OUG. This followed by the good experience I had at Hong Cha pork noodle, just a couple doors down the road on the same row of shop houses.
a huge bowl of Peanng laksa at Ah Loy
Being a huge fan of asam laksa, Haze didn’t make any surprising order. The Penang style laksa looked pretty good, came with chunks of fish, banana flower, onion, cucumber, mint leaves, and of course – har gow (蝦羔, prawn paste. RM 4.5).
Unlike the true blue Penang style, this serving’s rather huge. As for taste, well, I’d say it’s acceptable though I did not really like the texture of their laksa noodle, a bit too soggy for my liking, but over all an OK bowl of laksa nonetheless.
It’s not as good as the Jalan Pasar mini laksa (moved, anyone know where it is?), and a notch lower than the Kedah laksa at Alisan, SS4 too.
seafood curry mee with plenty of cockles, squid, prawns, and more
Then there’s my curry mee (some RM 7-8) that came with lotsa cockles, lala, squid, prawns, crab stick, tofu pok, and even some mushroom. The soup base was pretty thick and rather delicious too, I had mine with noodle and mee hun but you can ask for kueh teow or other noodles too.
While lacking huge prawns, mussels, or oysters, there’s plenty of other ingredients to make up for it, and certainly offers great value for the price you pay.
KY & Haze at Ah Loy curry mee
This place opens for lunch and dinner till pretty late (11pm). Parking can be a bit of a problem but that’s generally a fact in places with good hawker foods such as OUG. There’s also quite a lot of other selections of food at Ah Loy, including the curry pork ribs that I want to try next time!
Address:
Restaurant Ah Loy
No 11, 13 Jalan Hujan Rahmat 3
Taman Overseas Union
Off Jalan Kelang Lama , Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.073699, 101.672105
Tel: 03-7782 5001 / 013-302 3422
Ahhhh, asam laksa, the other Penang hawker food that makes up the big three must try dishes whenever one visits the pearl of orient. The other two, of course, are char kueh teow, and prawn mee.
the glorious Penang laksa, look at the amount of fish!
While you can find pretty decent char kueh teow (aunty gemuk at Kelana Jaya, Seng Lee at Damansara Height), and behind and prawn mee (such as this one at Yon Lee, TTDI) in Klang Valley, getting a good bowl of asam laksa outside Penang proved to be much tougher.
The best asam laksa I’ve found this side of Peninsular Malaysia would be the stall at Alisan, SS4. While it ‘s pretty good and positively edible, there’s still quite a big departure in quality when you compare that to those from Penang.
Laksa at Taman Emas kopitiam, opposite Peng Hwa high school
While the Ayer Itam stall often gets the nod as one of the best Penang laksa, many locals from this part of the island usually prefer this stall within Taman Emas kopitiam at Jalan Gottlieb.
This is the same stall that used to operate at the intersection between Jalan Bagan Jermal and Jalan Tanjung Tokong, some half a kilometers away. I remember mom used to tapao from there over 20 years ago.
popiah, chee cheong fun, chai kueh, and laksa
The laksa, selling at RM 2.80, comes with fresh cucumber, lemongrass, vegetable, torch ginger flower, pineapple, sweet prawn paste, chili, and that asam based broth thicken with porch and shredded ikan kembong meat. Heaven!
The stall also sells deep fried pohpiah that goes very well with the broth, and the chai kueh is not bad either.
KY and Shiang
For those who might not fancy laksa as much, there’s curry mee and char kueh teow stalls too. We ended up tapao-ing 10 packets of laksa to KL. Note the number of pre-packed noodle they’ve prepared in the photo above to give you an indication of how popular this place is.
The shop operates from late breakfast to afternoon. Try it!
Address:
Taman Emas kopitiam
Jalan Gottlieb
10350 Georgetown, Penang
GPS: 5.433316,100.302864
