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 »

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

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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 »

To me, one of life’s greatest joys is to watch other people spend money. You share their excitement in getting a new toy, and at the same time, spend zero ringgit of your own.

Closely following that is the joy you get by being able to convince someone else to buy the exact same toy you’ve just spent too much money obtaining. So after I shelled out some 1.5k getting myself the brand spanking new Canon S90, I managed to con three unsuspecting victims into doing the same thing. The new proud owners of S90 are jaclyn, cindy, and cheesie, hohohoho.

The S90 is Canon’s high end super compact camera, sharing the same big sensor (1/1.6″) and Digic 4 processor as the Powershot G11. It’s small, sleek, has a fast lens, and very good in low light. The camera’s got a two different control rings that makes it very easy to adjust its various settings too. For more information, look at the hands-on preview at dpreview.

I took the S90 back to Penang last weekends, and while Elfie and friends were too tired to eat and decided to chill at their motel, I took the opportunity to snap some pictures in town.

These pictures are straight out of the camera with zero post processing, not because I want to show off what the camera can do, but because I am lazy.

boom boom pow

I wonder if the stereo on this motorbike actually works? It’s got that dial thing that looks like a car’s speedo and tachometer, but where are the speakers?

hello sexy in red

An old classic, love the color. I like how the background actually still matches the production year of the car.

door-less barber shop

A proper old school Chinese barber shop that seems to have gotten left behind in time. You want a massage with that haircut?

saloon basking in evening sun

A slightly updated hair saloon with air conditioning unit, chairs outside should you need to have a smoke while waiting for  your turn too.

joss stick

I have no idea why giant joss sticks are always pink in color.

Khoo Kongsi in rear view mirror

Khoo Kongsi is one of the grandest buildings in Penang, and sadly I haven’t actually been in it. Must find an unsuspecting victim to go with me one of these days. Did you know part of Anna and the King was shot at Khoo Kongsi in 1999?

There are a few more photos taken at the same time at my flickr set. Cheers!

Tags:  canon,  Penang,  Photography,  s90

Posted by KY | 29 Comments »

I went back to Penang over the long weekends.

toll fees: RM 93
hours spent driving: 9 hours both ways
petrol:  RM 100
distance traveled: 780 km both ways
seafood noodle for two: RM32.50
having dinner with mom: priceless

Seafood noodle – pick your own ingredients

I suggested Japanese food at first, but it was mom’s idea that we go to this fish head / seafood noodle place at Weld Quay for something a bit more special.

Siong Ho fish head meehun is located within Village Coffee Shop at Weld Quay, just a couple hundred meters from the jetty, and actually quite near to where my late grandma’s place where I spent a big chunk of my childhood. It was a bit nostalgic.

Calling Siong Ho a fish head meehun place is a bit of an understatement, the choice of ingredients offered at this place is quite astounding. There’s fish ball, meat ball, fish fillet, fish head, fried fish, kidney, prawn, cuttle fish, squid, minced meat, and even crab.

fish head/seafood mee hun with all the extra ingredients, nutmeg juice

For my bowl of personalized meehun, I chose a couple pieces of kidney (they are very tasty!), fish ball, fish  meat, a piece of fish head, prawn, and cuttle fish to go with mee hun and clear soup. You can also choose to have noodle, kueh teow, or thick mee hun, tomyam soup is available too. (but no version with evaporated milk, like in KL)

Mom ordered pretty much the same thing except without cuttle fish, and deep fried fish instead of the fillet.

The seafood’s fresh, the soup is sweet, and I particularly like the fact that they have this whole container full of deep fried garlic on every table. I like my seafood noodle with plenty of those, and I think I refilled probably 3-4 times, it was an awesome idea, why wouldn’t other shops do the same thing?

mom & I having a simple dinner

One other thing that’s available here (and most kopitiam in Penang) is nutmeg drinks. Blended nutmeg with a dried sour plum, prepared in a way that is similar to kedondong (umbra with sour plum) but without the bitter after taste, and more refreshing.

Dinner cost RM 32.50 in total, and for the amount and quality of ingredients we got, not to mention the good taste, I thought it was well worth it.

Address:
Village Coffee Shop
107-A, Pengkalan Weld (Weld Quay),
10300 Penang, Malaysia
GPS: 5.411949,100.338049
Tel: 019-458 8693

Tags:  cuttle fish,  fish-head,  kopitiam,  mom,  Penang,  prawn

Posted by KY | 34 Comments »