CRIZ BON APPETITE

HungryGoWhere (HGW), Singapore’s most popular food website and mobile app, with the support of SingTel Digital Media Pte. Ltd. (Singapore), which had made their grand entry into Malaysia by setting a new record of “The Longest Line of Nasi Lemak Bungkus” in the Guinness Book of World Records on 24 August 2013, had organized their first ever food trail in Penang yesterday. A group of HungryGoWhere Malaysia mobile application users and bloggers were privileged enough to be invited to join in the fully sponsored eating trip to discover some of the best eateries in Penang. Moreover, everyone was also blessed to have the best weather throughout the whole week for the excursion during this wet season.

The event started with the invited participants gathering at the lobby of Traders Hotel Penang as early as 8.30am. Thereafter, everyone was briefed on the social media sharing procedures by the two beautiful HGW community managers, Shing and Hanis.

We were then directed into two comfortable 12-14 seaters chattered vans to start out our new adventure.

The first eatery we visited for some delicious snacks was the Tan Jetty Fried Fritters, hidden within the vicinity of the Tan Jetty along the historic stretch of Pengkalan Weld (Weld Quay). You can check out the video on the history of the clan jetties here. Basically, the little shed along a small lane into the Tan Jetty here served 3 types of delicious fritters namely Loh Bak (Pork Roll), Prawn Fritters and Bean Curd Fritters. Their homemade chili sauce which consisted of blended red chilies, lime juice, sugar and salt was the perfect condiment to enhance more flavors.

The next stop was for breakfast. Hidden below a government flat was a small eatery named I Mum Mum, managed by a husband & wife team. Their pan mee noodles have the al dente that excels above others of the same trade. Notably, their Crispy Pork Pan Mee, Spicy Pan Mee and dumplings are the most sought after dishes by the locals. We had our options of Dry Pan Mee, Pan Mee Soup, Crispy Pork Pan Mee and Spicy Pan Mee here.

After some basic starters, the real adventure began. We continued our journey for lunch over to Mainland Penang towards Pulau Aman, a 288 acres island, 25 nautical miles away from the mainland, to savor more goodies. At the Batu Musang Jetty prior to embarking onto a sampan ride to the island, the participants had an awesome panoramic view of Pulau Aman as well as the some nice views of the two Penang bridges. The sampan ride to the island was the first experience for many of the participants. Upon arrival on the island, we were directed to the Pulau Aman Floating Restaurant, a much sought after restaurant on the island, notably for its fresh seafood. We had Mee Udang Goreng, Mee Udang Kuah and Nasi Goreng Udang with a number of succulent fresh white prawns. After lunch, we had a nice stroll around the island to experience the lifestyle of the fishing villagers. Some of us managed to savor some deep fried breadfruit fritters (Buah Sukun Goreng) as the plant is quite in abundance on the island. The fruit has the texture of tapioca with a hint of jack fruit flavor.

After some rest on Pulau Aman, we adjourned back to Penang Island for tea time. This time, we went over to savor the much acclaimed Assam Laksa at the Farlim Shell Station Laksa Café, in the heart of Farlim, Penang. Each bowl of the Assam Laksa would come with a whole boneless Ikan Kembong (Indian Mackerel), so fresh that you could still see the glitters on its body. On top of that, we also did try out their famous Spring Rolls, Fish Crackers, Steamed Buns with BBQ Meat, Ice Kacang, Cendul and a mix & match dessert called See Koh Th’ng.

Well, it’s always the best for last when we ended up at Zi Zai Restaurant for our dinner. Their signature dish would be their Poon Choi aka Basin Feast, a basin filled with 14 ingredients such as meat (Nam Joo Pork Belly, Hainan Chicken, Roasted Duck) seafood (Abalone, Prawns, Hock Chew Fish Balls, Fish Maw, Sea Cucumber, Fish Fillet) and vegetables (Cabbages, Yam, Jicama, Broccoli, Chinese Mushroom) on a stove to be shared amongst 10-12 pax. What we had was a small sized Poon Choi with additional add ons which cost about RM328nett. All the participants were eagerly digging into the Poon Choi for more hidden treasures. LOL! It was also the first time experience for most of the participants to try out this “basin” of scrumptious delicacy. On top of that, we were also served with old days’ favorite dishes where they were at their simplest best. The dishes included Assam Prawns, Stir Fry Sambal Lala, Deep Fried Belacan Chicken, Stir Fry Bean Sprouts with Salted Fish and Stir Fry Yao Mak (Baby Romaine Lettuce). It was so far the best experience the participants had to rekindle old memories.

The fun and joyful moments of the whole Penang Food Trail did not stop there. Everyone went home with some souvenirs, namely a notepad and a multi-usage pen courtesy of HungryGoWhere Malaysia.

In fact, two lucky winners went home with a unit of imported 12000mah Powerbank each, another surprise lucky draw session held by HGW Malaysia. Both the prizes were presented by the two HGW Community Managers, Shing and Hanis respectively.

The whole event ended after more than 11 hours of fun-filled eating. 😛 This food trail was organized by HungryGoWhere Malaysia – Discover, Eat, Share today!

About HungryGoWhere Malaysia: You can download the HungryGoWhere Malaysia mobile app through IOS (version 5+) or Android (version 4.0+) or pay a visit to their website at www.hungrygowhere.my. Being a nation with rich and diverse food culture, HGW Malaysia users would get to gain new experiences in searching, discovering and locating the best dishes and eateries within a 10-30km radius. It would even be greater if you were to register yourself as one of the many users, a smart move to leave your tracks behind to recommend more new eateries to other users. After all, HGW Malaysia is a platform by users, for users, to archive pure and unbiased recommendations.

Here’s a short video of the 11 hours plus excursion in 110s~ 🙂