CRIZ BON APPETITE

Note: This restaurant has ceased its operations at Penang Times Square and has moved to Gurney Plaza, Penang, under the name of Xiao Nan Guo Cuisine.

UPDATED 26 MARCH 2009: Effective today until a time the management had decided to cease this special promotion, the EAT-ALL-YOU-CAN Daily Buffet would be from 10.30am until 11.00pm. Each person would be entitled to order as many items as he/she could eat within the stipulated 2 hours time frame at RM49.90+ per person. No matter what time of the day you had decided to walk in to have your buffet, count down will start the minute you start ordering your food. Please take note that for every 100gms of food wastage, an additional RM10 would be charge.

Prior to the grand opening of another of Penang’s glamorous landmark, Penang Times Square supposedly scheduled to be in June/July 2009, a few restaurants had already popped up recently within the premises, namely Haven Delights, Express Café and Tsuruya Sushi Bar. One of the notable ones would be Haven Delights, a restaurant that served many varieties of cuisine from Shanghai, Japan, Hong Kong and Korea. Strategically located at level one of the mall facing the main road of Jalan Dato Kramat with panoramic view of Komtar, Sunway Hotel, Red Rock Hotel and Grand Continental Hotel, this restaurant has set another great standard within the Georgetown area for serving delicious food.

Haven Delights has an extensive range of dishes to tempt your every desire. In fact, the restaurant has over 240 dishes, desserts and beverages for you to choose from. I had also faced a hard time trying to figure out what I should have, especially not all the items have photos shown or they were in some foreign language that I could not understand. The best would be to get those experienced staff to recommend to you what’s the best in the restaurant.

Well, the waiters and waitresses sure knew their jobs well with what was recommended for my dining experience. The first dish which was Red Dragon Prawns with Jammy Sauce (RM20) had already caught me off guarded. The whole presentation was so colorful with balls of dragon fruits, capsicums, carrots, yellow pickled ginger and 4 batter fried king prawns stir fried to perfection with a hint of apple cider, lemon and mustard in the sauce. This is a must to order.

Chicken Ban Ban (RM10) was next. The presentation was awesome. Big chunks of batter fried chicken meat were topped with crispy fried egg white and seaweed strips. The dish has 3 different types of garnishing sauces such as mayonnaise, wasabi and a spicy sweet sauce. Again this would be another dish not to be missed.

Suddenly, I sensed a unique seafood aroma moving closer to my table and there was my Soft Shell Crab (RM12). Two whole soft shell crabs were deep fried to crunchiness with a generous amount of salad in the middle of the plate. The salad sauce was quite spicy but sweet. It blended in real well with those crunchy soft shell crabs. I would surely order this dish again during my next visit.

I had also ordered another a small side dish to try out. The Salted Pepper Mantis Prawns (RM15) was indeed salty as the name but still great for my consumption. It has some crispy fried mantis prawns (tasted more like shrimp paste aka belacan frying flour) stir fried with some chopped chillies, spring onions and ginger. This dish would suit well with rice or noodles.

To compliment with the above dish, I had ordered a plate of Japanese Yaki Udon (RM12). Before I could finish taking shots of the rest of the dishes, I had to switch to video mode. You know why? MY FOOD WAS ALIVE!! Here’s a short video on what happened.

Basically, the hot steam emitted from the Udon has created a sensational effect on the paper thin bonito flakes (Katsuobushi/dried, fermented and smoked skipjack tuna shavings) garnished on the noodles. It was real impressive. As for the taste, it was indeed a beautifully sour and salty combination of their secret Japanese sauces. This large plate of Japanese Udon has a generous amount of prawns, chicken meat and vegetables. You should try out this dish too.

Another of their most sought after rice dishes would be their Hong Kong Fried Rice (RM10). Wow! The fried rice was extremely delicious. The Cantonese sure knows how to fry their rice with enough of “wok hei” (high heat frying). Every single grain of the rice was so flavorfully coated with the right taste. The dish had cut prawns pieces, chicken slices, green peas, cashew nuts and egg, garnished with a generous amount of meat floss, chopped spring onions and fried shallots. This is another must to order.

If you would like something spicier, you can always try out their Cajun Fried Rice (RM10) as the Cajuns are famous for cooking well seasoned and somewhat spicy food. The dish had cut prawn pieces, chicken slices, corn kernels and garnished with chopped spring onions. No doubt this dish has the right spicy taste but my preference would still be the Hong Kong Fried Rice.

If you feel like having some side dishes, you can always order their Shanghai Juicy Meat Dumpling (RM8). The filling has all the fragrant taste with the well marinated meat. Somehow I find the skin a bit too thick and they should have more soup in each dumpling.

You could also order their Potato Salad (RM5) for appetizer. The dish has a large scoop of semi coarsely mashed with the right amount of cream, butter and herbs on top of a bed of finely sliced greens. This would be good for light eaters.

As for desserts, basically the choices are quite limited with many items being ice cream based. The only warm dessert which happened to be my favorite too was the Silky Egg with Water Chestnut (RM6). The dessert had sliced red dates, white fungus and finely sliced water chestnuts simmered with in a beaten egg white broth, mildly sweetened with rock sugar. This is really good.

The rest of the desserts was rather common as all had ice cream scoops but with different presentations. The most eye-catching one in the menu would be the Tempura Ice Cream (RM8). It was just two large scoops of vanilla ice cream with raspberry sauce, garnished with some loose tempura batter and a sweetened cherry.

The bombastic named Ice Fire Golden Banana (RM8) was another case. It was just a rainbow colored scoop of ice cream presented with some raspberry sauce and batter fried slices of a banana. I felt that this is a bit pricey for the amount served, especially when it was served on a large plate.

At least the Kuru Gama Ice Cream (RM8) was rather unique with some black sesame seeds blended into the ice cream. The ice cream was mild in black sesame taste, with lots of crushed peanuts. I also felt this dessert to be a bit overpriced as two scoops would at least justify the amount paid.

Overall, the food here could be real good if you know how to combine them well especially for a family or group eat out. On top of the Ala Carte Menu, you can also check out their other quality food and set meals such as the Chinese Dome Set with 5 dishes priced at RM46+, Grilled Cod Fish with Potato Cream priced at RM35nett or quality Kobe Beef option namely Kobe Beef Tataki (RM88nett), Kobe Beef Ishiyaki (RM58nett) and Kobe Beef Sashimi (RM88nett).

They do also have daily buffet lunch and dinner where you have the options to order anything from their 90+ dishes buffet menu priced at RM49.90+ per adult. Children would be at half price. There would also be free flow of finger food, broth, ice cream, etc of the day at another side table buffet line. If you intend to visit the place, do take note of the 2 hours time frame for the buffet. Buffet hours would be as 12.00noon-2.00pm, 2.00pm-4.00pm, 5.00pm-7.00pm, and 7.00pm-9.00pm daily. Everything in the restaurant would come with a 5% service fee.

Just let me share with you some of the night scenes at Penang Times Square prior to the official launch for Phase 1. Phase 2 would be completed within the next two years.

The best way to reach the shop would be by using Jalan Magazine (Traders Hotel). Drive into Jalan Dato Kramat (2nd junction at the right of Gama Supermarket) until you have reached Penang Times Square on your left. Find a parking space along the road or within the allocated parking bay. Just walk into the mall and go to Level 1. The restaurant is very prominently located either by mode of escalator or elevator.

Name: HAVEN DELIGHTS
Address: 77-L1-34, Jalan Dato Kramat, 10150 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-210 8855, 210 8856, 016-492 1658 (Ms. Angie Ng)
Opening Hours: 10.30am-11.00pm
Buffet Hours: 12.00noon-2.00pm, 2.00pm-4.00pm, 5.00pm-7.00pm, 7.00pm-9.00pm
GPS: 5.414701, 100.331871

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 9/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7.5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Since I did not have the opportunity to visit another seafood restaurant that was much recommended by the Kuala Juru village folks as it was closed during my visit to Kuala Juru earlier, a small group of us decided to go for another food hunt to the small fishing village deep into the outskirt of Juru. This time, I had revisited Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru as well as the much acclaimed Warung Pak Su. I won’t touch much on my earlier trip as I had updated the post itself with some new information and photos. Let me share what I had dined at Warung Pak Su instead. Somehow this visit had a few hiccups as the sky was pouring heavily and the pricing for the food was a bit of surprise to us but these hiccups did not did not deter us from savoring some of the good food around that area.

Being a well established restaurant, Warung Pak Su surprisingly did not provide any printed menus and indeed it was a risk we had to take when ordering a few of the dishes. As most of the seafood items were freshly bought daily, all the items were based on market rate. The first dish that we ordered was the Ikan Siakap Bakar (Grilled Perch – RM30). The fresh fish was cut into halves, marinated with some spices and wrapped in banana leaves and grilled for a certain period of time. The end product was a nicely cooked fish, mild in spices taste and fresh in juiciness. The grilled fish would go well with the special sauce which consists of sliced onions, chili paddy, lime juice, soy sauce and sugar but I personally found the sauce to be a bit overpowering with lime taste.

While waiting for the fish to be grilled, we also ordered some satay to try out. Although we were still quite full from the earlier meal at Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru, the juiciness and fragrance emitted from the chicken on skewer boosted up our craving for more. The taste of the large sized satays were great and it was only at 60sen each.

The restaurant will also have Kerang Bakar (Grilled Cockles – RM5/plate) but we did not order them as we were scared of food poisoning after seeing how cockles were harvested. 😛

Since the villagers highly recommended the Mee Udang (Prawn Noodles – RM10) and Mee Goreng Udang (Fried Prawn Noodles –RM10), we decided to order a plate of each. The difference between this restaurant and the one at Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru was the use of different species of prawns. Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru uses Udang Rotan (Cane Prawns – thicker shells) whereas Warung Pak Su uses Udang Kertas (White Prawns – paper thin shells).

I found the prawns here to be fresher compared to the ones down at Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru but somehow the noodles were not up to my expectation. Both the fried and soup based noodles tasted kind of sweet without the taste of prawns in them. They tasted just like those you can get at any tea time Malay stalls except that here you will have huge cooked prawns being nicely decorated on the noodles. Luckily, the fresh prawns complimented the noodles or else it would be a total disappointment. My preference would still be those delicious prawn taste enriched noodles at Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru.

It would be easier to reach the restaurant if you know your way to Auto City. As you come to the Juru Interchange, you would pass through 3 traffic lights to reach Auto City. At the last traffic light at the T-junction (McDonald’s), turn left and drive all the way up Jalan Perusahaan/Jalan Tok Kangar until you have reach a traffic light at Jalan Juru (Map A), turn right into Jalan Juru (Juru Villa Show House) and drive all the way until the end. You would pass through a few sign boards of the district on your left namely Kampung Sekolah Juru (Map B), Bagan Nyior (Map C), and a sign board showing direction to Sungai Sembilang and Kuala Juru (Map D). At the T-junction (Map E), turn right and you will see the restaurant just on your left (Map F). You can click to enlarge the two maps below for a clearer direction.

Name: WARUNG PAK SU MEE UDANG
Address: 385, MK12, Bagan Nyir Juru, SPT, 14000 Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 12.00noon-10.30pm (Closed Thursday)
Contact: 012-409 0771, 012-493 5771
GPS: 5.326817, 100.414767

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

You would be amazed by how many times a Malaysian would eat a day, especially those Penangites with so many options available from breakfast right up to supper. You have so many choices at each and every corner of every district such as Adam’s Karipap Ayam (chicken curry puff – RM1.50 each) in Pulau Tikus Market along Jalan Pasar, Te Chang You Tiao Wang (the longest Chinese cruller at 14” length – RM1 each) along Jalan Paya Terubong, 8o varieties of kuih-muih (local finger snacks – 40sen each) at Mat Relax Corner along Jalan Jones or even some authentic Cantonese snacks at Guangzhou Cake House along Lebuh Carnarvon. Who could resist such temptation even at odd hours of the day?

Another great snack would be the Malaysian Pancake, commonly known as Apom Balik by the Malays and Ban Chang Koay by the Chinese community. Where could you get such great snack then? One prominent place would be right in town itself. With a continuous flow of buyers from all races, En. Noor Azam has been selling his Apom Balik right in front of the General Post Office (Pos Besar Pulau Pinang) along Downing Street (Lebuh Downing) for more than a decade.

What made his Apom Balik (60sen each) so demanding compare to many other sellers in town? His Apom Balik has the right texture, thickness, sweetness, buttery taste, freshness of the pounded peanuts and most importantly the crunchiness on the crust at all time. There are actually two types available at his roadside stall. One would be a thinner version with crunchy crust. You could opt for plain or with cream corns.

Another version would be the thicker type being slowly cooked in a large pan. This version would be more fluffy and soft in the center.

If you are at that area, do try his Apom Balik out. I had not stopped patronizing his stall each time I’m around that area as I find his skills in preparing this wonderful snack had maintained its consistency throughout all the years. It’s a great snack for tea.

Finding the stall would not be hard if you frequent Lebuh Pantai (Beach Street) often for your banking transactions as this is the road where all the major banks are located. Just drive along Lebuh Pantai until you have reached Hongkong Bank. The road next to the bank is Lebuh Downing. Drive right until the end and you would see the General Post Office at the junction of Lebuh Downing and Pengkalan Weld (Weld Quay). The stall is just in front of the GPO, next to a Chinese iced drink seller. Do try out the corn drink here too as it’s one of the good ones around.

Name: NOOR AZAM APOM BALIK
Address: Lebuh Downing, 10300 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 12.00noon-6.00pm
GPS: 5.417557, 100.344192

RATING:
Ambience: 5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 5/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

When you mention about jelly, the first thought that would come into your mind would be those translucent and wobbling like gelatin that would normally be served chilled as a dessert. Yup! Those are jellies but do you know that there are so many kinds of jellies available in the market? Most people would assume that these were made out of seaweed. Well, it’s not necessary true as certain brands used animal-derived gelatin with the requirement of alcohol in the cooking process and thus that would not be appropriate for the consumption of certain religious groups or vegetarians.

Brands such as Kraft Food’s Jell-O Shots (Vodka Jelly) would require the use of some alcohol such as vodka, tequila, rum or grain alcohol. This would replace the use of certain percentage of water or fruit juice to congeal the gel. In Malaysia, people used agar strips or powder made from algae-like seaweed. Carrageenans, an extract from red seaweed that grew abundantly in Phillipines were used by the locals, either in dried or powder form for making jellies and thickening certain food stuff. Japan had their version of jelly too. The Japanese would make jellies out of a prepacked mixture made from Konnyaku potatoes combined with calcium hydroxide extracts from eggshells.

Let me share with you a great success story of one of our locals here who owned a coconut shop right in Georgetown, Penang. The first moment you step into the shop, you would see coconuts scattered everywhere. That would be how you would see as in the many other coconut wholesalers in Penang such as the one at Lorong Abu Siti. They would normally sell the coconut juice straight from the fruit.

If you are observant enough, you would noticed a small refrigerator by the side of the shop with chilled coconuts in it. Isn’t it great to sip chilled coconut juice on such a hot weather?

You would be in for a surprise if you try to sip that using a straw. Watch closely what was written on the label.

It’s jelly inside my friend! You would need a spoon instead of a straw. LOL! This new and refreshing way to get pampered was the brainchild by one of the Malaysian geniuses. Welcome to the newly innovated idea of Mr. Joel with his Penang “Coconut Jelly”. The best part of this yummy dessert would be the jelly within that is preservative free and fresh to be consumed anytime throughout the day. You can even savor the fresh flesh after that.

You can have a look at how original the content in the coconut is. It looked so deceiving as the color of the jelly is exactly like the juice itself. The only difference is that you would not be able to spill any juice out by turning it upside down.

The mildly sweetened jelly tasted great with the natural taste of the coconut juice. The texture of the jelly was like a harder version of soft fruity crystallized jelly but a softer version of the agar we usually get from the mamak stalls. Everything was perfect. On top of that, I could even scoop up the flesh with ease. Well, it’s best that you get the person to choose a younger fruit for you just to make sure you won’t get hardy coconut flesh. If you intend to buy back the coconut jelly, make sure you consume within 3-4 days as you won’t want the RM3.70 per coconut fruit to go stale.

You could get three coconuts for RM11 with only 10sen discount. If you would want to get each for just RM3, you could always drop by PenangTuaPui’s food blog to print their 1st anniversary discount voucher. For courtesy sake, please leave them some well wishes. You can see their banner being hung right above the shop. The promotion ends 23 March 2009.

The best way to reach the shop would be by using Jalan Magazine (Traders Hotel). Drive into Jalan Dato Kramat (2nd junction at the right of Gama Supermarket) until you have reached Penang Times Square on your left. Start counting until the 3rd junction (Jalan Kajang) on your left. The shop is just 2 shop houses after Jalan Kajang on your left. Parking would be hard here as the shop is near to a traffic light. My advice would be for you to park along Jalan Kajang itself and walk up to the shop.

Name: JOEZ ENTERRPISE
Address: 201, Jalan Dato Kramat, 10150 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 11.00am-7.00pm
Contact: 604-229 6063, 016-440 9049 (Mr. Joel@Joe)
GPS: 5.411811, 100.323208

RATING:
Ambience: 5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 5/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 9/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Note: Please refer to http://www.crizfood.com/1019/siongho/ for the update on the relocation of the stall effective 18 March 2010.

If you are thinking of having some fresh seafood noodles or porridge (especially during this humid and contagious flu and fever season), you can always head over to the newly open branch of Siong Ho Fish Head Bee Hoon (Sg. Tiram, next to Shell petrol kiosk Bayan Lepas) along Weld Quay, Georgetown, Penang. The owner, Mr. Teh (Ah Ho) had more than 20 years of experience in cooking up fresh seafood noodles and porridge just for you. If the ingredients were not fresh as it should, they will definitely not pass the regular QC check of the boss.

There are two types of soup you can choose from on top of the different arrays of seafood and meat. One would be the clear soup broth which was boiled with lots of chicken bones, dried shrimps with their secret recipe. The other would be a spicier choice with tom yam paste.

Firstly, you have 5 options for your bowl of hot steaming meal. You can either choose thin rice vermicelli (bee hoon), thick rice vermicelli (cho bee hoon), wheat flour vermicelli (mee sua), instant noodles (maggi mee) or porridge (moey).

The next step would be choosing your main ingredients such as large white prawns, grouper fish head, grouper fillet, fried bass fillet, minced meat, frog, pork kidney, meat balls, fish ball and dried bean curd. More ingredients such as crabs, squids and so on would be available at a later date.

One of the most sought after dish would be the fresh Frog Porridge (RM6/100gms). One look at the color of the skinless frogs, you will know that they are real fresh. Those frogs may look rather gross to some but their flesh can be as smooth and tender as chicken meat. That’s how the frogs got the name “Water Chicken” as in “水雞” in Chinese.

Here’s an inside peep at what are the other ingredients that they would use make each bowl of the dish delicious. The best part is that the meals served here are MSG free, thus you won’t feel thirsty after consuming.

Since this is a “pick & choose” what you like concept, the pricing might be different for each individual bowl of order. Basically, a bowl of minced pork related noodles/porridge would cost you as low as RM3.50 to “God knows how much you love seafood” type of order which would cost you tens of dollars. Just to be on a safe side for those budget food hunters, let me share some of the basic pricing with you.

Majority of patrons over there would order fried bass fillet meals. All types of noodles or porridge with only fried fish fillets with vegetables would cost you RM5 per bowl.

I managed to try out both the clear soup as well as the tom yam noodles. Let me share with you my experience on each bowl of the noodles. Firstly, it was the Tom Yam Bee Hoon without any fresh seafood. My bowl consisted of only fish balls, meat balls and dried bean curd together with bee hoon. It was priced at RM5. The color was fiery red but it was not chili hot at all for me. The soup was thick, sweet and tasty with the fragrance coming from the added Kaffir lime leaves and mint leaves but somehow it lacked some vegetables such as tomatoes, young corns or abalone mushrooms. I had suggested these additional items to the boss and hopefully he would have them during my next visit.

The next was my “pick & mix” items for my instant noodles with clear soup. I had picked fish balls, meat balls, dried bean curd with fresh grouper fillets. Although the bowl cost me RM10.50, it was worth the amount spent considering that there were a generous amount of grouper fillets inside the bowl. The taste of the soup was amazing. It has the sweetness from the fresh fish fillets with a hint of preserved vegetables (Dong Cai/冬菜 – salted dried cabbage with leeks and sea salt water). On top of the added ingredients, this bowl of noodles was rather fulfilling.

Here’s a rough summary of all the possible combination of ingredients and prices (either with noodles or porridge in clear soup or tom yam):
Grouper Fish Head: RM9
Grouper Fish Fillet: RM7.50
Prawns (3 pcs): RM8
Frog: RM6/100gms
Fried Bass Fillet/Fish Head: RM5
Minced Meat: RM3.50 – RM5
Miscellaneous items such as pork kidney, fish balls, meat balls and dried bean curd: RM3+ per item or combined

If you are coming from Prangin Mall along Jalan Dr. Lim Chwee Leong, drive straight pass the Lebuh Carnarvon traffic light. You will reach another traffic light (Lebuh Pantai). Drive straight again until you have reached the Weld Quay (Pengkalan Weld) traffic light. Turn left and drive on until you have reached the first left junction (Lebuh Melayu). The shop is just diagonally opposite the newly constructed building in brown color.

If you are coming from the ferry terminal, keep a watchful eye on the landmarks on your left, especially those Jetty signboards. You would pass by Lim Jetty (temple), Chew Jetty (hawker area), Tan Jetty (Xen Teck Café), Lee Jetty and Mixed Surname Jetty. Immediately after the Mixed Surname Jetty, slow down your car. The shop is just after signboard maker, Chuan Advertising and next to Chun Heng Auto Repair. You won’t miss it as the boss and his workers are all dressed in chef uniforms and cute Bermudas. 😛 You may find parking a bit hard along the heavy trafficked road as it’s the main road leading to the Jelutong Expressway/Penang Bridge. Try driving a bit further up to Yeoh Jetty. You should be able to see some open space there. If not, you have to drive a bit further up to Lebuhraya Merdeka where Ghee Seng Seafood Restaurant is located.

Name: SIONG HO FISH HEAD NOODLES AND PORRIDGE @ VILLAGE CAFE
Address: 107-A, Pengkalan Weld (Weld Quay), 10300 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 12.00noon-11.30pm
Contact: 019-458 8693 (Mr. Teh/Ah Ho)
GPS: 5.411414, 100.336897

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7.5/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7.5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 9/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Ever since my adventurous trip to Pulau Aman to discover the wonderful and tasty Mee Udang (Prawn Noodles), I have been yearning for the similar dish, if not the best, which would be much nearer to Penang island. Eventually after much searching around, I found a place right within mainland Penang – Kuala Juru, the river mouth of Juru. Located next to Persatuan Nelayan Kawasan Seberang Perai Kuala Juru Jetty, lies a quiet and scenic restaurant by the name of Restoran Nelayan Kuala Juru. This place served fresh and delicious seafood dishes. Let me start by recommending the food here prior to introducing other aspects which also did amaze me.

Coming so far away from the island, I would surely try out their seafood dishes rather than the Malay cuisine which they do also serve. They have Mee Udang (Prawn Noodles) and Mee Ketam (Flower Crab Noodles). Instead of having a plate of both, I had the mixed version with two fresh large prawns and a flower crab in halves. All for RM6!!! That’s real cheap considering the size of the prawns and crab although the noodles were a bit too little for my consumption.

The broth with ingredients such as smashed garlic, chillies, cabbage, onion and a hint of tomato puree combined with the sweetness of the fresh seafood was superb. The prawns and flower crab were so fresh that I wanted to order more. I even bought home a few packets and my parents sipped everything until the last drop. You could imagine how delicious the noodles were. It’s a must try for all seafood noodle lovers.

Since I was still a bit full with the 5.30am Char Koay Teow breakfast, I managed to try out the second dish which was the Nasi Goreng Udang. Most stalls that I had been to would just fried rice with a few medium sized prawns. The way the restaurant served the dish was totally different. It came with a plate of fried rice which was quite normal to me but the spicy large prawns curry was a real surprise. It may look like it would be a fiery dish from the look of the color but it was not chili hot at all. The thick gravy which consist some freshly grounded spices was very appetizing to be taken with the fried rice. I have a feeling that they did add in some belacan (prawn paste) to have that fragrant and delicious taste. This set was also priced at RM6.

In case you might want to find out what else they have in this restaurant, you can click and enlarge the attached menu below.

**** UPDATED 15 MARCH 2009 ****

It was only during the 2nd visit to this restaurant did I know that the prawns used were neither green prawns nor tiger prawns. It was another species that I had never heard of or common in our wet markets. These prawns are called Udang Rotan (Cane Prawns as translated). They are the same family with the tiger prawns but with a harder shell. No matter what species they are, they sure tasted better than fresh water prawns.

On top of the above fried rice and noodles, we also tried out their Nasi Goreng Padprik (Padprik Fried Rice – RM4). The cook sure knew how to use the stove well as the fried rice has the required grainy texture and the high heat cooking was just right. The accompanied stir fry mixed vegetables with fresh squids in some spicy tomato gravy combined well with the fried rice. You should check this dish out.

**** END UPDATE ****

Although there are two more such restaurants at Sungai Sembilang and another three restaurants along Jalan Kuala Juru, I like this restaurant the most. Not only was I amazed by the great food and simplicity of the village folks, it’s also a heaven for nature photographers. You just won’t know what you would expect to find along your way to your gastronomic destination. I had seen a few stray otters playfully along the swampy area, a monitor lizard by the roadside, a Haliaeetus leucogaster (white bellied sea eagle) soaring the sky seeking its prey, a low flying stork, hungry looking stray cats and many other unique looking shell fish such as the Horseshoe Crab/King crab along the river banks.

One main type of shell fish that you would see here would be the cockles. Kuala Juru is one the many areas in Malaysia that harvests and processes cockles for distribution to the local markets. It was indeed an eye-opening experience to see how cockles were in their original state and the processes to get them clean. I managed to catch the whole action on camera and would like to share with you. As the cockles arrived in sampans, they had that dirty and muddy look mixed with lots of rubbish. After they had been put into a rotating machine that filters out the mud, tiny objects and other dead shells with a constant spray of clean water, they would end up at section where larger objects would be filtered out. Towards the end of the process, these cleaned cockles would be packed in large nylon sacks to be distributed to the local markets. The steps may look simple but it did involve a lot of manpower.

It would be easier to reach the restaurant if you know your way to Auto City. As you come to the Juru Interchange, you would pass through 3 traffic lights to reach Auto City. At the last traffic light at the T-junction (McDonald’s), turn left and drive all the way up Jalan Perusahaan/Jalan Tok Kangar until you have reach a traffic light at Jalan Juru (Map A), turn right into Jalan Juru (Juru Villa Show House) and drive all the way until the end. You would pass through a few sign boards of the district on your left namely Kampung Sekolah Juru (Map B), Bagan Nyior (Map C), and a sign board showing direction to Sungai Sembilang and Kuala Juru (Map D). At the T-junction (Map E), turn right and drive all the way to Kuala Juru (Map F). You would reach a playground not far away (Map G). Find a parking space there as the restaurant is just opposite the playground. You can click to enlarge the two maps below for a clearer direction.

Name: RESTORAN NELAYAN KUALA JURU
Address: Persatuan Nelayan Unit Kuala Juru, MK12, SPT, 14100 Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 12.00noon-11.00pm (Closed Tuesday)
Contact: 012-567 2423, 019-549 7134, 017-446 7194
GPS: 5.340084, 100.408500

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 9/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

If you want to know the success story of a Char Koay Teow stall, you should check out the stall located at a corner shop lot named Kedai Makan Teong Ah along Lebuh Cecil (Cecil Street). I had to wake up real early this morning at 5.00am just to make an effort to visit the place and have a chat with the cook, Mr. Leow, who has started frying Char Koay Teow as early as 1967. For the past 40 years, Mr. Leow has been frying along the roadside of Magazine Road before he was forced to move out due to a road expansion project. Currently, he has shifted to this new premise for more than a year.

Why is Mr, Leow’s Char Koay Teow so unique and famous that he has to open up for business so early in the morning? It’s very obvious as his Char Koay Teow and Fried Rice has been the hot favorite of many factory workers. By the time I was there at 5.40am, he had already packed more than 50 packets of Char Koay Teow and fried over 20 plates. What is so different in his style compared to some of the famous ones around? He uses almost the same ingredients as the others but there’s one hidden secret. He uses charcoal and his high heat frying skills that I could hardly take a proper shot from his hyper motions.

Another reason is that his Char Koay Teow is believed to be the cheapest within the whole of Penang Island. A plate of Char Koay Teow with an egg, three large prawns, cockles and some sliced Chinese sausage fried with some lard, bean sprouts and chopped chives cost only RM2.60. I had mine added with extra fresh prawns and it was only RM3.30. You can also opt for the Char Koay Teow fried with duck egg. It’s only RM3.

The Char Koay Teow was not oily at all and it had a banana leaf laid on the plate prior to serving. Somehow, not many Char Koay Teow stalls are applying this method nowadays although this would give that additional aroma to the noodles. On top of that, the dish had the right saltiness, spiciness and a bit of burn flavor in it.

Since the Char Koay Teow was so delicious, I was tempted to try out the Fried Rice as well even though it was a bit too heavy for such an early breakfast. The price was the same as the Char Koay Teow but instead of the ingredients stated above, he used only rice, chopped char siew (bbq pork) and fresh prawns. The Fried Rice was indeed another good experience. The dish had that unique burn flavor again with a well combined taste to my liking. Every single grain of the rice was well coated with rich flavor. This is also a must to try out.

If you would like to have many packets of takeaways, I would advise you to call him up prior to collecting. From my observation during the one hour of patronizing his Char Koay Teow stall, his handphone was like a hotline.

Searching for the Char Koay Teow stall would not be hard at all as it’s just right at the junction of the Cecil Street evening wet market (七條路巴刹). If you are coming from Jalan C.Y. Choy, it’s just right at the corner with a large signboard “Kedai Makan Teong Ah – 中亞茶室) as you turn right into Lebuh Cecil.

Name: CECIL STREET CHAR KOAY TEOW @ KEDAI MAKAN TEONG AH
Address: 246 Lebuh Cecil, 10300 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 016-485 8210 (Mr. Leow)
Opening Hours: 5.30am-10.00am (Closed Monday, 1st&15th day lunar calendar)
GPS: 5.407442, 100.329381

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 9/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Laksa is another one of the great hawker dishes one should not miss if you were to be in Penang for a visit. Originated from the Peranakan (Baba and Nyonya) culture, this dish will come in two different flavors, namely assam (tamarind) soup base or lemak (in coconut milk) soup base. The fish used for this delicious delicacy may differ for each store as some may use ikan parang (wolf herring), belut (eel), ikan kembong (Indian mackerel) or ikan selar (yellow tail scad). Most commercially used would be the latter two as the wolf herring contained too many tiny bones to work with and eel would be rather expensive.

The most common Laksa you will get easily throughout the state of Penang, either in Chinese, Malay or Indian styles, would be the Assam Laksa. The other not so commonly found would be the Laksa Lemak, a spicy version of fish soup base with the use of coconut milk. I found a few such stalls selling in Penang but I personally love the one served in Sin Hwa Café where the reputable Char Koay Teow stall is. What matters most in a Laksa dish is not the ingredients served but lies within the tastiness of the soup broth and the quality of the prawn paste used (heko). In a typical bowl of Laksa, you would get the laksa noodles, sliced cucumber, lettuce, onions, pineapple and mint leaves, garnished with sliced ginger flower buds (bunga kantan) and red chillies, topped with some diluted prawn paste (heko).

Sin Hwa Café Assam Laksa is somewhat different as in taste as the cook would use tamarind juice instead of tamarind peels as some of the other stalls. It has just the right amount of sourness to my liking. Some ladies may want the soup to be a bit more sour in taste but as a guy here, I like it just the way it is with many spoonful of the yummy prawn paste. A normal bowl would cost RM3 whereas a larger bowl would be at RM4.

The other version I had tried was the Laksa Lemak. On top of the typical serving of ingredients, it has that special spicy and milky taste that I like very much. The soup broth had the pungent taste of lemongrass, a hint of fresh turmeric and not too overpowering taste of coconut milk. This would be perfect for those who prefer a spicier dish and prawn paste lovers. The price would be the same as the Assam Laksa.

You would be surprised if I were to tell you that the above two were not my most favorable choices, it’s the third choice – Laksa Assam Lemak. Yes, it’s a combination of both the soup broths. The best combination would be 2/3 of the Lemak soup and 1/3 of the Assam soup. You have to inform the seller on your preference as he would always combine half of each soup broth.

Please also take note that the Penang Assam Laksa and Laksa Lemak are totally different from those served in other states such as the Laksa Perlis, Laksa Kedah, Laksa Ipoh, Laksa Kuala Kangsar, Laksa Johor, Laksa Sarawak, Laksa Kelantan or even the Laksa Katong as some of these are actually a variant of Penang Curry Mee (a thicker coconut milk soup base). Moreover other ingredients used may include fried tofu puff, fried/hard boiled eggs, chicken meat, prawns, fish cakes, fish balls, char siew, and more.

The Laksa stall in also in Sin Hwa Café in Pulau Tikus. If you are coming from town along Jalan Burma, you would a service road after Lebuhraya Codrington on your left. That’s where the Pulau Tikus 7-11 branch is. Try finding a parking space there. If you can’t find one, you will have to come out of the service road into the main road and turn left into Jalan Moulmein (between two coffee shops). Drive further until you have reached a crossroad (Jalan Pasar/ Jalan Moulmein/ Persiaran Cantoment) and you will see a huge car park at a corner just opposite along Persiaran Cantonment. Park your car there and walk back up Jalan Moulmein, turn left and walk further up and you will see the stall within the premise of Sin Hwa Café.

Name: SIN HWA CAFÉ LAKSA
Address: 329 Jalan Burma, 10350 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 017-471 7330 (Mr. Max)
Opening Hours: 10.30am-4.30pm (Closed Thursday)
GPS: 5.430656, 100.312400

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

One of the more famous hawker dishes in Penang would be the Char Koay Teow. Everyone, regardless locals or tourists would swarm around these fragrantly fried koay teow (he fen or rice cake strips as some may call the noodles) stalls at any time of the day. In Penang alone, there are many versions of Char Koay Teow. Some would be fried dry whereas some would be cooked in a rather wet method. The ingredients alone differ from stall to stall. The basic ingredients would be the noodles, shrimp, bean sprouts, chives and cockles fried with special sauce with the option of added chili boh, chicken or duck eggs. Nowadays, with the competition from so many stalls, you can have other options such as squids, Chinese sausages, fish cakes, mantis prawns or even large king prawns. You would be amazed with what other seafood they would be adding in next.

One such famous stall would be the one situated along the heavily traffic area of Pulau Tikus – Sin Hwa Café Char Koay Teow. For a few generations, the household members of this well known stall in Penang has been frying out some good Char Koay Teow ever since they had moved from the Jalan Gottlieb food stalls decades ago. With the main stall still within the premise of Sin Hwa Café in the early evening and another stall located in the Pulau Tikus Market Street Food Corner at night, many people have been patronizing them ever since. A normal plate without egg would cost you RM3, with egg would be RM3.50 and with duck egg at RM4.

I visited the main stall recently to check out whether the taste had changed since it is now managed by the 3rd generation. The ingredients still maintained the same with the similar quality of lard oil, taste and spiciness but the style of cooking has differed quite substantially. Here’s what I was served.

Due to the cooking style and the amount of heat applied (wok hei) during the frying process by another new generation member (the grandson of the original seller to be precise), I personally felt that the taste was a bit out from what I had tasted before. It was not as dry and fragrant as before. On top of that, the noodles were not loosened up well. Certain parts of the noodles were still stuck together, thus were not evenly flavored. Other than that, everything else was fine. I hope the cook would take note of this minor hiccup so that his client won’t be further disappointed.

Sin Hwa Café is located along a heavy trafficked area. To find a parking space would be rather hard. I will show you where would be the best few places to park your car. If you are coming from town along Jalan Burma, you would a service road after Lebuhraya Codrington on your left. That’s where the Pulau Tikus 7-11 branch is. Try finding a parking space there. If you can’t find one, you will have to come out of the service road into the main road and turn left into Jalan Moulmein (between two coffee shops). Drive further until you have reached a crossroad (Jalan Pasar/ Jalan Moulmein/ Persiaran Cantoment) and you will see a huge car park at a corner just opposite along Persiaran Cantonment. Park your car there and walk back up Jalan Moulmein, turn left and walk further up and you will see the stall along the five foot way of the old shop houses. You won’t miss it if you have a strong sense to follow the emitted aroma from the Char Koay Teow.

Name: SIN HWA CAFÉ CHAR KOAY TEOW
Address: 329 Jalan Burma, 10350 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 10.30am-5.30pm on weekdays
GPS: 5.430656, 100.312400

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

When you mention about Uncle Bob’s Taiwan Styled Fried Chicken (RM5), most frequent night market (pasar malam) goers would surely heard about them. Being the first to bring in this Taiwanese snack concept to Malaysia, Uncle Bob has been operating this business since 2002, spreading its mobile snack vans all over peninsular and east Malaysia. Well, being a successful pioneer in this food industry has always a drawback. More and more competitors have mushroomed all over the country plagiarizing this successful story. In fact, I had noticed that some competitors even offered more flavors than the existing original and spicy recipes Uncle Bob has.

What made Uncle Bob so successful in this business? All you can see is just a piece of chicken breast meat or boneless drumstick coated with some bread crumbs, deep fried and sprinkle with some flavoring. That’s nothing special right? What many did not notice is that those chicken meat pieces have their skins and fat removed prior to the frying process. This is a healthier version? Maybe not but at least the consumption of fat would be lesser than most of the existing fried chicken stalls around. Uncle Bob has just two flavors to their bite sized crunchy chicken cutlets, namely original and spicy. The spicy ones were the most sought after.

On top of the smooth selling product stated above, Uncle Bob has its Research & Development (R&D) group based in Taiwan to find out more products that would the local market. One of the products that launched not long ago was the Sweet Batter Coated Cheese Hot Dog Stick (RM2). It has a jumbo sized cheese filled sausage coated with a specially formulated batter and deep fried to golden brown. The end product has a sweet tasting crispy crust that tasted a bit sweeter than our local pancake (ban chang kuih) base.

The combination of the sweet and salty taste of the product complimented each other well. The best part would be squirting out some existing juice from the sausages as well as some melted cheese oozing out of your mouth. This is such a cool to snack while exploring more bargains in the night markets!

As the vans would be on the move each day, I could not provide a specific location map or GPS reading for you to track them down. Maybe a detailed venue of the night markets each day (Penang Island and Mainland) would ease you more in your food hunting expedition. Gook Luck!

Name: UNCLE BOB TAIWAN STYLED SNACKS
Penang Area Contact: 013-4316868 (Mr. David Yong)
Penang Mobile Van Whereabouts: 016-459 4433 (Nee), 016-481 6963 (Wei)

PENANG – ISLAND (NIGHT MARKETS)
Monday– McCallum Street (Opposite Li Tek School entrance)
Tuesday -Tanjung Bungah Market (Next to Bus Station/Market)
Wednesday– Farlim Padang, Air Itam
Thursday-Paya Terubong, Air Itam & McCallum Street (opposite market)
Friday-Taman Kheng Tian (off Van Pragh Road/Hamilton Road)
Saturday-Sungai Dua (opposite Tesco Extra)

PENANG – MAINLAND (NIGHT MARKETS)
Wednesday-Kampung Juru
Thursday-Kampung Valdor
Friday-Taman Permata
Saturday-Mega Mall Food Court (Pacific Shopping Centre) & Kuan Nam Coffee Shop (Chai Leng Park)

OTHER STATES IN PENINSULAR & EAST MALAYSIA
Please check out here for the whereabouts of the mobile vans for each state in Malaysia.

RATING:
Ambience: 5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 6/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)