Asam laksa and curry mee are just two of Penang’s signature hawker dishes. You can find them almost anywhere on the island, and most of the time they would be of pretty decent qualities.
Here is another place you could try if you find yourself on the Pearl of Orient – at Mount Erskine hawker center.
my niece is an asam laksa addict, just like Haze
The hawker center is situated at the end of Mt. Erskine road, the road most famous for having plenty of graves (hence super congested during cheng beng weekends). Here you will find a dozen or so hawker stalls offering everything from char kuih teow, kuih teow soup, mee goreng, curry mee, asam laksa, oyster porridge, mixed rice, and so on.
Penang asam laksa from Mt. Erskine hawker center
The laksa here is manned by two white haired aunties who certainly knows to keep things the traditional way. The laksa is laden with plenty of vegetable, chili, fish broth, prawn paste, and of course, topped with ginger flower (bungan kantan). It tastes as good as any, and passed my niece’s taste test.
A bowl costs RM 3.50 (but that was over Chinese new year, normal price was RM 3.00 I think)
Penang curry mee, this one with yummy fish ball too
When I’m there, I almost always order the curry mee (previous blog post from 2006). Other than the usual ingredients of cockles, prawns, coagulated blood, and tofu, they also throw in a couple home made fish balls into it.
While fish balls is a nice touch that gives the curry mee an extra dimension, the real deal here is their soup and chili paste. Fresh coconut milk based soup (the reason it appears white) with that aroma and kick from the slightly charred chili. Super yum! RM 4 or so. Try it!
here’s how you get to mount eskin in Penang
Address:
Jalan Mt. Erskine,
Tg. Tokong, Penang
GPS: 5.450560, 100.302064
Operating Hours: 11am to 4pm
In the past few years, quite a number of restaurants that has a primarily pork laden menu with good choices of beer (and wine) selections rose to prominence. Some of the more well known players are Brussels at Solaris & Jaya One, Berlin Biergarten at Solaris Mont Kiara, Weissbrau at Pavilion KL, Hoofed at TTDI, Racks at Changkat, Sid’s pub at TTDI/Bangsar South, and Jarrod and Rawlins at a few locations.
Now, it looks like the same trend is happening in Penang, one of the latest of such establishments is BeerBQ at Precinct 10 (right next to Island Plaza).
Beer BQ at Precinct 10, next to Island Plaza in Penang
First, a disclaimer. Two of my ex schoolmates are share holders of this restaurant, and they invited me to this review session. I’ve known these blokes for the past 20 odd years, they told me to treat this with honesty, like any other review, which I will gladly comply. 
I like Precinct 10, it is a brand new commercial center that reminds me of suburban US. The shops are aligned in U shape with ample of parking in the middle. That way you never need to have a very long walk to any outlets. Most commercial areas packed in too many shop units with too little parking space, this place is a fresh departure from those greedy developer’s SOP.
wild mushroom soup, cauliflower soup, caesar salad
Now to the food. Together with mom, sister, brother, Haze, and Horng, we had the restaurant manager recommended us some of their signature dishes to share.
We started off with some complimentary bread, with plenty of butter.
Then the soups: Wild mushroom soup (RM m9.90) has all those chunky bits of mushroom which I like, and soup of the day (RM 7.90) that night was cauliflower soup with very smooth texture and slightly “strange” taste to me, but Haze and my siblings absolutely loved.
The Caesar salad (RM 15.90) has bacon, croutons, and chunks of Parmesan cheese in it, and was easily one of the best Caesar salad I’ve ever had. I’m not sure if this is the best for someone who’s on diet, but it was awesome!
buffalo wings, roast pork, smoked salmon salad
What’s a beer place without some good old beer food?
We tried their Buffalo Wings (RM 15.90) which has quite a kick, they were strongly flavored with homemade Hot BeerBQ sauce and really does go well with beer. Comes with Blue cheese dressing too!
Anyone who loves roast pork (RM 16.90) would agree that this is always the perfect finger food to go with beer. While I did find the skin for the roast pork a tad too chewy, it was overall still plenty satisfactory. They suggested Stella Artois to go with this, but I think any beer would work!
We also had the smoked salmon salad (RM 19.90) that came with home made cheese sauce. This is a dish most suited for those who are really on diet. Tastes decent.
BeerBQ pork ribs – succulent and yummy
Then we moved on to the real deal, the BeerBQ pork ribs (RM 38.90). Drenched in their signature BeerBQ sauce and very well marinated, this rack of ribs was tender and absolutely flavorful. If you have already order some starters, I recommend sharing this dish, the portion is rather generous for the price.
This is one of the better ribs I had.
BeerBQ seafood platter, fish and chips, brownies
Another main dish that we shared was the seafood platter (RM 40.90). There were king prawns, squid, mussels, clams, and even scallops. While the ingredients were superb, the platter is covered in the same BeerBQ sauce that I thought suited the ribs perfectly, but not quite well with seafood. It was a decent dish though, but I think perhaps the standard bread & fry preparation might work better here. Especially if you’ve already ordered the ribs.
My mom had a serving of fish and chips (RM 21.90), and she liked it. Mom helped sell fish at the market in the morning, so if she says that the fish is good, it is good.
At this point, we were pretty much stuffed, but was convinced to try their brownies (RM 8.90). We ended up finishing it in about all of 20 seconds, the brownies was top notch.
brother, sister, haze, myself, mom, and horng
Other than the dishes we tried, BeerBQ also serves five pasta dishes, rib eyes, grilled salmon, chicken chops, beef ribs, and lamb rack. Other beef food includes fries, calamari, fish fingers, and onion rings.
This is a real restaurant that does concentrate on their food instead of a beer place that “oh by the way we” also serves some food.
Konig Ludwig Weissbier, Franzishaner, Konig Ludwig Dunkel, Leffe
As for beer, there’s Hoegaarden, Carlsberg, and Franziskaner Weissbier on tap. On bottles they serve Konig, Franzishaner, Leffe, Stella, Budweiser, Erdinger, Beck’s, Lowenbrau, and more.
So if you’re looking for porky goodness and a cold one to spend the evening, this is a place to go in Penang.
Address:
BeerBQ Bistro
Precinct 10
Jalan Tanjung Tokong
10470 Penang
GPS: 5.449262, 100.305524
Tel: 04-890 5157
Web: https://www.facebook.com/beerbqbistro
As some of you might be aware, I’m quite a big fan of anything pork. Over Chinese New Year (yeah, the visit happened a couple months back), while driving around trying to find something to noms, we chanced up upon this relatively new restaurant at Damansara Uptown by the name of Yue Mic Ka.
Unknowing to me then, Yue Mic Ka (鱼米家) is actually an established restaurant at Sri Petaling, and this branch at Uptown is their newest branch.
mui choy pork and pork ribs noodle with fish maw
The menu at Yue Mic Ka isn’t exactly extensive, but to me this is a good thing. Anyone who are familiar with the paradox of choice will agree that it is often that much tougher to pick something out when presented with a menu filled with way too many dishes, one such example is Ben’s (it’s a lovely restaurant btw).
We ordered a fish maw noodle with extra soft ribs (RM 8.50 + RM 6), a sorf pork ribs noodle (RM 9.50), and a couple plates of mui choy pork belly rice (RM 9.50).
mango pudding, Mom & Haze, pork ribs!
I gotta say that the service was especially swift, we got our food in less than 5 minutes, and they were delicious too! The soft ribs were succulent and tasty, and while fish maw was the dried version, they were plenty good too.
Haze and my brother were rather happy with the mui choy pork rice, so much so that none of them offered me a bite.
Other than pork and fish maw, Yue Mic Ka offers prawns, fish paste, sotong balls, and of course, fish head noodles too. A pretty decent place to go for these type of comfort food, the place is also clean and air conditioned. The down side is, being at Uptown, parking can be a bit of a problem sometimes.
Address:
Yue Mic Ka
Jalan 21/60,
Damansara Utama,
47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.133092, 101.621953
This is completely unrelated, but I want you to look at the following picture that I recently obtained.
We all know that this is a magnificent shot of the Petronas Twin Towers, but check out the sky above, there’s definitely something that looks like a sign.
I used to work at the towers (for a combined total of some 7 years) and never seen something like this in the sky, this could mean something.. ermm..
Gong Xi Fa Cai and wish you have a happy and prosperous Rabbit year!
It’s been a tradition of sort for my family to come over to KL from Penang every year over CNY since 6-7 years ago. This is partly to avoid the crazy traffic in Penang (and the commute), plus I suspect, maybe giving mom a chance in having real Klang Bak Kut Teh at least once a year.
Kedai Makanan Nan Sian, Klang
So on the third day of Chinese New Year we drove all the way to Klang in search for any bak kut teh restaurant that’s open for business.
After the Klang toll and turning back into Jalan Batu Tiga Lama, there was Kedai Makanan Nan Sian. Incidentally, we also came here some 6-7 years ago at about the same time for BKT, with my late dad then, as my mom recalled. It has been that long.
dry and soup bak kut teh, klang style
While we only had the soup BKT on the first visit, there’s dry bak kut teh to go along with the more traditional soup version this time around. For those who have been sleeping over the last 5 years or so, dry bak kut teh has since taken on major stride and available at many major BKT outlets these days.
The dry version is rumored to have made popular by Lai Choon Klang BKT, not far from Nan Sian.
two types of bak kut teh, with chinese tea, of course
The dry version over here is as good as any, with plenty of sliced okra, dried chili, and I suspect, a little bit of dried cuttle fish to add to the taste. It was flavorful and intense.
The soup version is proto typical Klang style, very herbal, thick, sticky, and with a big pork bone in the middle of the clay pot too. We had it with pork knuckle, 3-layer meat, pork tripe, intestine, a bit of mushroom, tofu, fu chok, and that slice of lettuce (mostly for decoration). If you like them old school Klang BKT, you can’t go wrong with this one.
mom, brother, KY, Haze
The satisfying lunch came to about RM 11 or so per person, and we left happy with full stomach. I should go to more Klang BKT places
Address:
Kedai Makanan Nan Sian
No 145, Jalan Batu Tiga Lama,
41300 Klang, Selangor
GPS: 3.05375, 101.46694
Tel: 016-297 2489
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A couple weekends ago I went back to Penang for a little get together with my family in conjunction with Mom’s birthday. Even though we don’t usually celebrate birthdays, it is still a son’s responsibility at least to try to make mom happier during times like this.
Soon Lai Seafood, Penang
Instead of any fancy place (she warned me not to bring her for Japanese food), one of mom’s favorite places is this inconspicuous house-turned-restaurant place that goes by the name of Soon Lai Seafood Restaurant. The eatery is located in the housing area just a few blocks away from Lam Wah Ee hospital.
scrumptious butter crab
We ordered 6 dishes for the 5 of us, with the big kahuna being their butter crab (RM 42). The way they prepared this this is a little different, crab’s cooked with butter, onion, and even some spring onion. It turned out very good, mom suspects that the crabs are sourced from Kuala Kurau, where you find the best mud crab around the country.
I actually have aunts from fishing village in Kuala Kurau.
deep fried grouper, thai style pork hand, veg, tofu, spinach soup
You can’t have a seafood dinner without fish, we took the recommendation from our friendly server and ordered the “weird taste” deep fried grouper (RM 39). I’m not so sure about the name, but the fish was good not not exactly weird. The sauce is a mixture of plum and chili (and more?) with plenty of thinly sliced fried ginger on top.
Another must-order item at Soon Lai has got to be their Thai style pork knuckle (RM 18). It’s similar to the more familiar German style pork knuckle, but this one’s with Thai style chili sauce and mint leaves draped over it. The combination of crispy pork skin with the underlying fat plus that sauce – heaven!
Mom, KY, Haze, Jerry, Sister
The other three dishes were tofu on hotplate (RM 8), spinach soup with century egg (RM 12), and vegetable with sambal (RM 6). No disappointment at all with these side kicks either.
We had rice for everyone, and a couple bottles of beer too. It was a very satisfying dinner.
The bill? Less than RM 160. Now that’s great value. You have a choice sitting semi-alfresco or in air conditioned room too.
So if you’re looking for a decent seafood at a bargain right on the island, this is where you go.
Address:
Soon Lai Seafood Restaurant
15, Lintang Batu,
11600 Green Lane, Penang
GPS: 5.386974, 100.306149
Tel: 04-658 9799, 016-441 3666
