I found myself at Plaza Damas last weekend. After several hours of attending to certain business, it was suddenly dinner time. We decided that perhaps it would be a good idea to explore something at this comfortably small but elegant mall instead of heading elsewhere to quiet down the little growling sound from my stomach that is starting to get annoying.

“Fish Satay” in lemon grass

We past several restaurants before deciding upon Penang Village. Being from Penang island, I am always skeptical towards restaurants that claim to serve Penang food. However, I was feeling a little adventurous that day, and whatever food I could see from those customers that are already eating certainly looks inviting.

nice ambiance and surprisingly good food

The menu is simple and illustrated with enough photos of the dishes to guide those who can’t read English or Malay. We ended up ordering 5 items for the two of us, nasi lemak with beef, nasi tomato with lamb, kailan (vegetable) with salted fish, fish satay, and otak-otak.

beef nasi lemak and lamb nasi tomato

Even though it was a weekend evening, the food didn’t take more than 10 minutes to come. The nasi tomato and nasi lemak came with pretty good meat curry (rendang and kurma), the rice tasted very authentic and even the presentation was rather high class. A small glass of acar accompanied the rice.

The otak-otak served is of the Penang variety, for the uninitiated, it is a type of steamed fish paste with mixture of traditional spices. The otak-otak was not oily and nor over powering, just nice and a good companion to the rice dishes.

I especially like the interesting “fish satay” served on a lemon grass stick. It reminded me of the same thing I had at Bumbubali (a Balinese restaurant at Puchong), very succulent and delicious. The taste of fish cake and the core infused with lemon grass aroma was simply brilliant. This would be my must-order at Penang Village.

Penang otak-otak, kailan with salted fish, fish satay

The rice dishes were around RM 12+ each with the other dishes slightly cheaper. The dinner costs RM 60+ for the two of us, 5 dishes and 1 drink. A pretty decent price for the quality of food and location. I am not too sure about their other classic dishes like Char Kueh Teow, but if they can have similar quality it wouldn’t be disappointing.

Plaza Damas is located at Sri Hartamas

Other than Plaza Damas, Penang Village has branches at USJ 9, TTDI, Alamanda Putrajaya Mall, and a couple other locations at Indonesia too.

Address:
Hartamas Shopping Centre (Plaza Damas)
Lot G8B&9, Sri Hartamas, KL
Tel: 03-6201 9816

Tags:  dining,  fish cake,  food,  lemon grass,  nasi tomato,  nasi-lemak,  otak-otak,  Penang,  satay

Posted by KY | 8 Comments »

I want to wish everyone a prosperous rat’s year. Since you can already find a picture of rat/mickey/minnie/mighty on every other blog, I thought I’d just post some pictures I shot at Penang’s Kwan Yin Temple last weekend.

pigeons at the sacred temple

This Kwan Yin temple is the oldest temple in Penang island. Located at Pitt Street (now renamed Jalan Mesjid Kapitan Keling), it was constructed at the early 1800s by Chinese migrants.

the roof line

The building follows ancient Chinese architecture with carvings at every corner and beautiful dragon statues on the roof line. These creatures the guardians of the temple.

There are hundreds of wild pigeons around the temple everyday, casting a holy and surreal atmosphere. The birds are fed by devotees.

the dragons

Every year during Kwan Yin’s birthday, there are thousands of devotees flooding the temple to worship this Goddess of Compassion and the other deities in the temple. Thick smokes from josticks and the quite murmurs of prayers can be heard, it’s a sight to be seen, but I suggest you bring your goggles.

josticks

If you find yourself in Penang, do give this temple a visit. The wonderful architecture not to be missed, furthermore, there’s a stall selling awesome loh mee just next to the temple (I will post about that soon).

the lion guard

More information can be found at Tourism Penang’s website.

more photos at my kwan yin temple flickr set.

Tags:  400d,  architecture,  b&w,  black-and-white,  canon,  kwan yin,  Penang,  Photography,  temple,  tourism

Posted by KY | 9 Comments »

I remember having Fatty Loh chicken rice since I was a little boy, and the stall was always super busy with quite a few chefs chopping away chicken, and at least a dozen workers yelling around trying to satisfy hungry customers. It was rumored that the business was so good internal revenue sent a guy to count the number of chicken sold in order to ensure that Mr. Loh pay his taxes.

chicken rice… yum

Fast forward to over 30 years since their establishment in 1969, the original Mr. Loh and the 2nd generation (who expanded the business tremendously) has already passed away and the business is now split into two, run separately by each brother or the 3rd generation Loh, both claimed to be the “original”. I have tasted both places, and found that they are almost identical in terms of taste and price.

coagulated chicken blood, *slurps*

I went there alone to have lunch the last trip back in Penang. Since it was just myself, I only ordered a plate of steamed chicken drum stick, and a coagulated chicken blood side dish. Other side dishes offered there include salted vegetable, kerabu chicken leg, steamed soup, pork knuckle, bean sprouts, and so on.

The set, of course, come with a bowl of chicken soup, and traditional chicken rice chili paste. Now one of the things that is quite unique to Fatty Loh is the way their serve the chicken, the chicken is usually stripped of all bones. I haven’t found a place that can do the same in the Klang Valley, it is a lot less messy to eat chicken that way.

Fatty Loh is just around 2km from Gurney Drive

The taste of the steamed chicken I ordered was pretty good, and I have always enjoyed the smoothness of the chicken meat, and the sauce that came with it. The coagulated blood is obviously something that is not for the faint hearted, and again, this is a dish that is quite difficult to find elsewhere. I enjoyed every bite.

If my memory serves me correct, the lunch costs me around RM 7 or so, with an extra order of a small bowl of rice.

Address:
21, Jalan Fettes, Fettes Park,
11200 Penang, Malaysia.

Tags:  chicken-rice,  dining,  eats,  fatty-loh,  fettes-park,  food,  hawker,  ky,  Penang

Posted by KY | 14 Comments »

One of the least appreciated hawker food in Penang is Koay Chap (粿汁), a dish that is not offered at many places in Penang, and so far I have not been able to find any place that sells this in Klang Valley.

the stall is located at Wah Meng kopitiam

One of the most famous Koay Chap stalls is at Air Itam, I remember being introduced to this dish by my parents before the Penang Bridge was built. It seems like the stall is being operated by the younger generation these days.

The dish has a slightly different type of “noodle” that has the characteristics of both pan mee and kueh teow, a sort of thicker kueh teow with different texture (refer to the photo below). Duck meat, innards, coagulated blood, and hard-boiled duck egg makes up the rest of the ingredients. All these are served in a bowl of duck flavored soup that is darkish in color. Thai chili and soya sauce accompanied the dish.

all the good stuff from duck, nothing is wasted

If you are a fan of duck meat and has the nerve to try all the innards and all, this is definitely the dish you should not miss when heading up north. I personally love the taste as well as the uniqueness of this dish. The less adventurous can still order the same dish with only duck meat and the egg.

this stall is just a stone’s throw away from the laksa place

This stall operates in the morning, the same time as the morning wet market. If my memory serves me correct, a bowl goes for RM 2.50 or 3.00.

Tags:  air-itam,  Eats,  food,  hawker,  koay-chap,  ky,  Penang

Posted by KY | 8 Comments »

One of the must-eat item (especially for females, I don’t know why) in Penang is the Asam Laksa. The most famously stall would be this one at Air Itam, walking distance from the Kek Lok Si temple, by the alley across the morning market.

a walkway packed with hungry people

The place is not particularly hygienic or comfortable, just some tables and the stalls by the busy road, partially exposed to the element. But hey, we’re here for the food anyway.

The Penang Laksa, popularly referred to as Asam Laksa in other parts of the country, comes in a sourish fish (ikan kembung) based soup with thick rice noodle, plenty of shredded pineapple, lettuce, red chili, cucumber, onion, galangal (curry flower), and lemon grass. All these are topped with some mint leaves and the thick shrimp paste with a very distinctive love-it or hate-it smell.

yumm… *slurps*

Our order was served up in just a few minutes’ time. Simmering hot and oozing with the glorious laksa smell, we attacked the bowl like a vengeance. There were nothing left 5 minutes later. The combination of sour and spicy soup with the fresh produce and the thick rice noodle was perfect. I never waste the soup either, thick with shredded fish, it has a very unique texture and taste that I find very nice.

the map of air itam laksa!

The smallish bowl of laksa is yours for RM 2.40. I would never recommend this as a main meal due to the sour and spicy nature of the dish, but it does make a nice afternoon snack. This Air Itam stall serves in the afternoon to evening.

Tags:  air-itam,  asam,  chili,  fish,  laksa,  Penang,  shrimp-paste,  spicy

Posted by KY | 15 Comments »