CRIZ BON APPETITE

As a Penangite, most Chinese would go for non-halal Hokkien Mee where the soup is pork based. Have you tried the Malay version of the Hokkien Mee (Mee Udang) before? There is this old house along Jalan Tanjung Tokong selling this yummy hawker delight solely manned by Pakcik Omar. There would always be endless stream of customers from all different races patronizing this stall on weekdays. Well, they would only open their business for 3 hours from 11.00am until 2.00pm daily except weekends.

The taste of the soup is different as it is chicken based. Moreover, it has the sweet taste of rock sugar and prawns. Even the color of the chili paste looked so mild and yet can be real fiery to taste. You can choose your noodles to be either koay teow, bee hoon, yellow mee or mixed. You also have choices of the meat to be either chicken, beef or mixed. My friend tried out the mixed koay teow and mee Chicken Hokkien Mee (RM3.30). The dish came with lots of chicken meat, some crab sticks, prawns, eggs and chicken gizzards. The serving was large.

I ordered the mixed Chicken and Beef Hokkien Mee (RM3.30). The ingredients are the same as the above but with additional tender beef slices. The dish was great.

They also do serve Fried Chicken Legs Stew. The taste is totally different compared to those sold in Chinese stalls where those chicken legs were stewed with garlic, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, pepper and sugar. The one sold here has ginger, carrot, mushrooms and dried chillies. Although I prefer the Chinese version more, who would complain paying just RM1 for 4 large pieces of chicken legs here? It’s dirt cheap!

Just drive along Jalan Tanjung Tokong until you have reached the Island Plaza traffic lights. Turn right and then turn left into the service road where the Desa Tanjung shoplots are. Find a parking and walk towards the end of the shoplots. You would see an old house between Desa Tanjung and Ubi Food Court. That’s where the Malay Hokkien Mee stall is.

Penang is one of the states where you can savor quite a few types of duck rice. You can have the Peking Duck Rice, Pei Pa Duck Rice, Braised Duck Rice and the Hong Kong Roasted Duck Rice. One of the famous one would be the Jit Seng Hong Kong Roasted Duck Rice situated along Lebuh Carnarvon. The sole chef cum owner, Mr. Lam, has been in this business for the last 3 decades, selling his freshly roasted duck rice daily.

Even before he opens up his business around noon, you can see that the whole coffee shop would be crowded with people. What makes his duck rice so unique that people would queue up for half an hour just to eat it? Firstly, the duck is real tender with so much of ingredients stuffed in it prior to roasting. Secondly, the skin of the duck is coated with his special sauce which would include some molasses (Ba Lei Ko in Hokkien or Melaco in Portugese). Thirdly, the portion served is very generous.

Most of the time, he would include a duck drumstick for a serving for two and above such as the photo below.

On top of his famous roasted duck, he also has Roasted Pork, Roasted Chicken and Char Siew (Sweet Roasted Pork) topped with his special sweet bean sauce.

Since the crowd was rather huge that day, I had decided to get some mixed combination takeaways with an extra bowl of rice. Can you imagine I had problem finishing the whole packet of rice? You hardly could see the rice with the generous amount of Roasted Duck Meat, Roasted Pork and Char Siew covering every inches of the rice. The whole pack cost me only RM5.

If you are a keen duck meat lover, you should try him out. It’s worth the wait. On top of the never ending flow of locals, tourists as far as Australia and UK patronize his place regularly. You could also contact him for takeaway of a full bird. Roasted Duck would cost RM36-38, Roasted Chicken at RM18 and Roasted Pork or Char Siew at RM35 per kg.

It is very easy to find this stall if you know where Lebuh Carnarvon is. If not, then move along Jalan Dr. Lim Chwee Leong until you reach a traffic light. Pizza Hut is on your right. Keep left and drive forth until you reach the next traffic light. Turn left into Lebuh Carnarvon. The duck rice stall is just within the Star Hotel premise next to Jalan Cheong Fatt Tze (formerly known as Lebuh Hong Kong).

I must admit that I have been going to so many Chinese stir fry restaurants and hawker stalls in Penang that I tend to have overlooked on the Malay stir fry stalls. In fact, some of these stalls can provide food as delicious as any of the food stalls out there. Hidden within the compound of Farlim’s apartment, Block 1B, is a small Malay stall providing cheap, good and yet delicious Malay cuisine. Although it has no signage on the stall, it runs the business by the name of Dee Tom Yam. At times, you can see patrons of all races queuing up to order his delicious food. The wonderful thing about this place is that you can opt to sit inside the coffee shop (Huat Huat) or relax yourself on the field between the two blocks of apartments.

You can either order dishes to be taken with rice or simply ask the boss to cook up some fried/soup rice or noodles items for your meal. The menu list is not long but it is good enough for a simple meal. What else would you expect as nothing in the menu (except fish based on market price) costs more than RM4.50? You could easily order Masak Pedas Daging (Stir Fry Spicy Beef), Tom Yam Udang (Prawn Tom Yam) and Kangkong Belacan (Fried Shrimp Paste Water Spinach) for just RM10. Rice would be at RM1 each plate.

As I did not have to crowd to test out all the dishes, I managed to order his Nasi Goreng Ikan Masin (Salted Fish Fried Rice) at RM3.50. The combination was great as it did not contain the overpowering taste of the salted fish and the rice maintained its softness. Moreover, there are a lot of vegetables and squid slices in the dish.

Dee’s Nasi Pattaya (RM4) was great too. The portion for the dish was large. The fried rice was beautifully wrapped in a thin layer of omelette and garnished decoratively with some chili sauce. By tearing open the omelette, you could smell the fragrance emitted from it. The rice was tastefully fried with mixed vegetables and prawns.

This is again another maze as I could not locate any road name to this place but you can always ask around the Farlim (Bandar Baru Air Itam) residents where Block 1B is located. If you are coming from the main road at Jalan Air Itam into Farlim (Jalan Thean Teik), you would pass by one traffic light until you reach a crossroad traffic light (Block 7A is on your left). Turn right into Lebuhraya Thean Teik. Keep to your right and turn into the first road on your right (Jalan Ru 1). You can see Block 1B on your right. Turn into the small lane and try to find a parking space. The stall is just next to a Chinese temple and directly opposite Huat Huat Coffee Shop at the corner of the field.

Sometimes it is rather hard to make a decision to get good Hainanese Chicken Rice in town area as there were just too many around. Moreover, more and more shops have mushroomed all over town selling this yummy food. You might not believe it but all the shops have their own version of Hainanese Chicken Rice. Some might use sesame oil, rice wine, ginger juice, oyster sauce or just plain soy sauce. Somehow, I was stuck to one stall by the name of Kowloon Hainan Chicken Rice (same coffee shop as the famous Super Lai Lai Bak Kut Teh selling at night) for years. It could be due to growing up in the neighborhood and got accustomed to the taste or maybe I love the way the chicken meat slices were presented with lots of vegetables and dark soy sauce.

With more than 24 years of experience ever since he was just 15 years old, Ah San has been selling his unique type of chicken rice to the public. The rice served was different too as it was damp enough and had that special old ginger and chicken oil fragrance in it. I have never had any complaints before on his crispy roasted chicken (the best around 10am) or his smooth, juicy yet soft Pak Cham Kai (White Chicken). He would also sell some Roasted Pork Char Siew daily and Roasted Chicken Char Siew on certain days. With all the delicious meat, he has his special homemade dark soy sauce (for chicken) and sweet sauce (for Char Siew) which made the dishes even more appetizing. Here are two of his most sought after combinations.

If you have noticed carefully, each set would have sliced cucumber and cooked bean sprouts with some spring onions garnished on it.

Other than dining in, you could always buy back his yummy chicken which is quite big for a mere RM24 per bird. It would be advisable to call up to make your order if you required more birds. Takeaway sets are also available at only RM3.50 per box (with extra rice). You can choose either one of the meat or a mixed one would cost you between 50sen to RM1 more.

The shop is just opposite Red Rock Hotel. If you are driving down from Komtar into Jalan Macalister, you will see a petrol kiosk on your left. The shop is just right after that in Thong Lek Coffee Shop at the junction of Jalan Nanning.

If you are in for some adventurous home cooked Chicken Rice, you can always try out my own Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe.

I have reviewed Mee Manja when I first started on food blogging but I guessed not many would have known about its existence except those regular customers. Manja is the Malay word for “Pampered”. You would have asked why the name “Pampered Noodles”? You might have interpreted it wrongly as that’s the family name for the cook cum owner Encik Aman Manja. He had followed his father and uncle as early as 13 years old when they were located just opposite the recently relocated premise at Jalan Hutton. For over 40 years and 3 generations, Encik Aman has served thousands of loyal customers with his delicious Mee Goreng and Mee Soup. Encik Aman is in fact the elder brother of the famous CRC Mee Goreng stall located in a coffee shop next to Dorsett Hotel, Jalan Larut, Penang.

While most of the Mee Goreng stalls in Penang are using the modern technology to blend their ingredients, Encik Aman believed in using the traditional way to grind his ingredients with the old fashion Batu Giling (Metate Millstone). According to him, that would preserve the original taste of the blended items. Mee Manja’s style of cooking the noodles is totally different compared to the rest. Their noodles (Mee, Bee Hoon or Koay Teow) are more towards the salty chicken bones soup based flavor, whether fried or soup. You can opt for plain, chicken, beef or mixed meat too. If you do not want spiciness, you would have to inform him.

The Chicken/Beef Mee Soup (RM4) is the most popular in his stall as you can taste the sweetness from the chicken stock. This is really good for eat in. Takeaway would make it soggy.

Somehow, I preferred his Beef/Chicken Mee Goreng (RM4). I felt that the amount of spiciness and taste was just right for me. I do not even have to squeeze any lime juice or sprinkle any vinegar soy sauce served with fresh cut green chillies as provided.

Encik Aman is quite a sociable and friendly person. You can ask him anything in English or Bahasa Malaysia. Finding the place now would be easier compared to previously. His shop is just on your right at the traffic lights between Jalan Penang and Jalan Hutton. Parking might be a problem as it is illegal to park next to a traffic light. You may opt to park your car at his previous shop at Lebuh Clarke or Lebuh Dicken (next to Mydin Supermarket) and walk to his shop.

It has been as a long time since I have taken any Laksa and decided to visit the famous Farlim Shell Station Laksa stall. Coincidentally, PenangTuaPui also have the same thoughts as we went exactly to the same shop, the same day, only at a different time. The last time I went to the shop for their Laksa, they where at the opposite coffee shop where the crowd was amazing. When I went back to the same shop the other day, I was stunned by the lack of customers and stalls in that shop. Then only did I realize that they had moved to the opposite coffee shop with a big signboard “Farlim Shell Station Laksa Café”.

Walking by the Laksa stall, I could smell the fragrant assam aroma of the boiling Laksa soup. Upon finding a cool spot to sit down, I ordered a bowl of their famous Laksa (RM3). It came with a full boneless Ikan Kembong (Indian Mackerel). It was so fresh that you could even see the glitters on its body. The yummy local delicacy consists of thick and spingy rice vermicelli, lots of sliced big onions, cucumber, lettuce, pineapple, chilies and some mint leaves and shredded bunga kantan (torch ginger); accompanied by the fragrant soup base (a combination of assam peel, blended shallots, garlic, chilies, candlenuts, galangal, turmeric, shrimp paste (belacan) and lemongrass); and topped with thick hae gou (black prawn paste).

Although the total dish was great in taste, I still prefer it to be spicier and sour to my liking. Maybe it could be due to the change of cook as I felt that when they were selling along the roadside at the Shell Petrol Station (Jalan Angsana), the soup tasted better. Anyway, the stall did sell some crispy spring rolls (90sen each) too. It tasted real nice when dipped into the Laksa soup.

As the bowl of Laksa could not fill up my ever hungry tummy, I ordered a set of Steamed Bun with Bak Kua (BBQ Pork Slice) and Bak Hoo (Pork Floss) costing me RM2 for both.

As for drinks, I ordered their Ching Po Leung (RM2) which has lots of ingredients such as green sago balls, Attap Chee (Nipah Palm), red beans, red sweet potatoes, dried and wet longan (dragon’s eyes) and some jellies. Although the dessert tasted quite fine, I prefer it to have more sweetness from the Lo Han Guo (magic fruit) instead of adding more syrup.

By the time I finished that bowl of Ching Po Leung, I was still thirsty from the humid weather. I tried out their Ais Kacang (Shaved Ice) at RM2. The sweetness and creaminess seemed to be missing from this dessert. Moreover, there were not much ingredients in it except lots of shaved ice.

Feeling still half filled, I saw some long packets of Keropok Ikan (Fish Crackers – RM3) hanging by the Laksa stall. I bought one packet home to test it out. It was great. The crackers were really crispy and puffy without any hardness in them. This is a must to have while watching TV as I had finished one whole packet within minutes.

If you are not a local, you might get lost trying to find this place. It is in fact within the latest commercial area in Farlim, Air Itam, next to where they have the biggest Pasar Malam (night market) on every Wednesday night. If you are coming from the main road at Jalan Air Itam into Farlim (Jalan Thean Teik), you would pass by one traffic light until you reach a crossroad traffic light. Block 7A is on your left. Turn right into Lebuhraya Thean Teik. Drive forward until you see a small lane on your left (Medan Angsana 1). Drive into the lane until you see Anak Ku Baby Wear Shop. Turn right into the road (Medan Angsana 4) and you will see the shop on your left towards the end.