Penang is a heaven for supper lovers, and if Gurney Drive is your destination, there isn’t a better place for these few yummy late night dishes than at Song River, one of the old school bangalow turned kopitiam eateries that has been gracing the 1-mile sea side road for decades.
ikan bakar stall does offer quite a few choices of fish, Haze & my sister
During our stay at Penang over Chinese New Year, we were lucky to be within walking distance from this place, the photos on this post were compiled from a few visits. Though I’d love to eat all these in a single seating… only my limited stomach space saves me from doing that.
The first must-have at Song River is the ikan bakar/ikan panggang (grill fish). As with most other places, you get to choose from 3-4 different types of fishes as well as prawns or squid. My go-to choice is always sting ray.
ikan bakar – positively hot
The wait time at this stall can sometimes be quite substantial, but the honest (or sometimes very blunt) operator will usually tell you up front: “have to wait 30 minutes wan”. Fine with me.
The grill fish here tastes almost completely different from anywhere else. The fish is covered in a special sauce that has a strong presence of fermented beans, belacan, chili, and shallots. The flavor is so intense that very little of the sauce on the side (which is probably made from similar ingredients) is needed.
This will leave the weak with inflamed tongue, but definitely worth it!
Song River bbq chicken wings
While waiting for the ikan bakar, you should grab some bbq chicken wings as appetizer.
For RM 2.20 a pop (or was it RM 2?), this is also one of the best chicken wings in town. The operator has perfected the BBQ timing to give the skin that crispy texture that you get just before screwing up and burning the whole thing (I usually mess this up).
This while the meat is tender, juicy, and the accompanying chili sauce is yummy too. They also serve BBQ drumstick and thigh.
cuttle fish with kangkung, classic Penang “junk” food
And while you’re at it, why not some cuttle fish with kangkung too?
The version here is not shabby either. This plate was RM 10 and came with plenty of cuttle fish with kangkung soaked in delicious prawn paste and chili sauce, good stuff.
You usually won’t need to wait for more than 5 minutes for this dish.
and this is how you have supper in Penang 
All that is missing from these supper is of course, some ice cold beer. Damn it I am missing Penang food again.
Address:
Song River Cafe
65 Persiaran Gurney,
Georgetown, Penang
GPS: 5.432392,100.31738
Tel: 012-488 8275
Tel: 017-477 7938 (chicken wings)
Ramly burger’s one of the uniquely Malaysian street foods that you can find in every other street corners in this country.
Burger Ramly A & Z at PJ Sea Park
The precise way in preparing a Ramly burger (or any Malaysian style burger for that matter) is very different from it’s Western cousins.
We have it essentially pan fried instead of grilled, we cut the burger patty in two and apply generous amount of wochester sauce and pepper, the burger bun itself is fried on their buttered side, and together with sliced onion & cabbage, an overdose of chili sauce and mayonnaise is added between the buns.
Additionally, for “special” version, egg is fried and wrap up the burger patty, but not before more wochester sauce and pepper is added. You can also have cheese added, or have double patties, the possibilities are endless.
my favorite is danging special (beef with egg)
My usual order of Ramly burger is usually the daging special (beef with egg), and Burger Ramly A&Z serves up one of the better burgers around the area (another favorite would be Wan Burger at SS2).
The stall is located outside 7-11 at PJ Sea Park and operates from evening till late. Burger here is juicy and positively flavorful, with the only problem being that it usually takes a while to get served as the stall is usually rather busy.
Cendawan the bengal approves the taste of this burger!
Other than your usual hotdog, beef and chicken burger, A & Z also serves prawn and fish burger (though I’ve never tried those). A standard beef burger goes for RM 2.30 and the super sized double beef special with cheese costs RM 4.60.
A & Z stands for Amir and Zainal, the two dudes manning this burger van, I assume.
Bon Appetite!
Address:
Burger A&Z (Outside 7-11)
Jalan 20/7, Sea Park,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.10899, 101.62424
Tel: 012-310 0154, 012-370 1147
One of my regular dinner/supper places is at the mamak square of SS2. Unlike many other mamak places, this square offers Malay, Chinese, and Mamak food altogether, and as a matter of mutual respect, serves pork free food all around.
Nan An Ah Seng 南安阿成 chicken rice at SS2 Mamak Square
Tucked at the corner of the square is one of my favorite chicken rice stalls around town – Nan An Ah Seng chicken rice.
Unlike most other chicken rice stalls, this one only serves steamed chicken (with limited chicken gizzards and liver) and bean sprouts. You’re out of luck if you are looking for roast chicken, roast pork, or bbq pork here.
steamed chicken and bean sprouts
There isn’t much to describe about chicken rice I guess, the steamed chicken you find here is basically one of the smoothest you can get anywhere. The sauce is a bit thicker than the usual soya sauce + oil mixture, the version here has a hint of oyster sauce.
The chili also carries a good kick too.
Haze and KY at SS2 Mamak
A plate of chicken rice goes for about RM 4.50 and the stall operates from dinner to super late supper time (around 1 in the morning).
Other than chicken rice, the Ramli Burger and Ah Leong fried rice here are awesome too.
Address:
Jalan SS 2/60
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.117558, 101.622323
Thursday night futsal is a regular fixture for the past few years now, other than being immensely fun, it also gives me a somewhat valid answer to the question “why aren’t you fat already?”.
Answering “I play futsal” is so much easier than convincing people I don’t eat huge portion, and blessed with this really vain gene that does accept myself to put on unnecessary weight.
ming tien at taman megah must be one of the largest food courts
Since futsal falls on 10pm, I usually have very early dinner on Thursdays, which makes good excuse to have supper! That was exactly what I did last night.
The venue of choice is usually somewhere nearby, Haze and I went to Ming Tien since there’s a pretty good selection of hawkers foods, they operate pretty much around the clock (23 hrs a day I believe), and I can walk there from home.
waffle and cuttlefish with kangkung
I ordered cuttlefish with kangkung (RM 8, small), a pretty famous “luxurious hawker dish” from Penang that I never really got to eat as a kid since it was always a tad too expensive. The rojak sauce that came with plenty of peanuts was thick and flavorful, cuttlefish had a good firm texture, and for those who like it spicy, you can ask for more sambal too.
The same stall sells boiled cockles too. Kim and I shared a plate a few days ago and it too was pretty good. They made it just enough to leave the cockles pretty bloody. Tastes good, but not for the faint hearted.
The cheese and lemon sauce waffles (RM 4) Haze got turned out to be quite nice too. I prefer it over the A&W version.
Ming Tien used to be a place I only go when I absolutely had to. The quality of food was so bad back then I sometimes rather have indomie goreng at mamak stalls instead. However, things took a change for the better over the years, I guess the bad ones were weeded out by natural selection.
Address:
Ming Tien Hawker Center
Jalan SS24/8, Taman Megah,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.114334, 101.611658
Despite staying only 5 minutes away, it somehow took me this long to get to know about this famous nasi lemak at Seapark. Located just next to Maybank at Petaling Jaya’s Seapark (SS21), this Mamak stall opens at around dinner time till late.
nasi lemak with excellent fried chicken
After missing my first chance of eating at this place due to a completely full stomach some weeks ago, I decided that we should give it a try even though it was “Human Day”, 7th day of Chinese New Year. Kerol was complaining a bit, but since she just had some awesome Japanese food at Raku Zen for lunch, nasi lemak should be a perfect choice for dinner (as I explained to her). So the six of us went to the stall and each of us ordered nasi lemak with fried chicken.
outdoor setting, make sure it is not raining..
The nasi lemak came within a couple minutes, with all the ingredients still very warm. There’s the traditional ikan bilis (anchovies), fried peanuts, fragrance rice, sambal, with the not so traditional fried chicken and a very nicely done sunny side up egg.
The sambal was not overly spicy and carried a slightly sweet taste, which goes pretty well with the fried chicken and egg. The chicken itself was actually very delicious, deep fried with crunchy skin and very nice marinate. As for the egg, anyone who loves a runny yolk would not want to miss this.
the nasi lemak stall is located at Seapark, not far from the old KFC
Other than nasi lemak, I have heard that the mee goreng is pretty special as well. A plate of nasi lemak with fried chicken goes for RM 4.50, a pretty fair price I think. Do make sure that it isn’t raining when you go there as the place is completely outdoor.
Address:
Jalan 21/11b,
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.109920, 101.622301
Masak-Masak also reviewed this place before.
