CRIZ BON APPETITE

Sometimes it is good to visit places that will bring back fond memories of our childhood days. When I was a child, I used to play in the big field along Jalan Scott with my parents and brother. After a happy and enjoyable day out with them, we will usually end up at the Senior Citizens’ Association of Penang for our meals. Going back there again recently brought back many memories of how fun and united it was to have everyone sitting down there and enjoying ourselves as a family. That sort of reunion hardly exists that frequent in our family now as all of us had grown up and being busy with our own life and family.

As I drove into the compound of the Association, I can see many cars parked outside. Those were the cars of some of the senior citizens there. I kept thinking in my mind why they were there when they should be in the comfort of their home enjoying their life with their children and grandchildren. Were they there because they would feel more at home with people of their ages or they were not getting as much attention from their loved ones that they had to be there for companies? I have no answers to that, do you?

Anyway, coming back to the type of food they were serving since the first day I stepped foot into the cafeteria with my parents. The menu did not change much. Most of the food served there were for the convenience of the club members although they did get revisits from some of the guests the members brought in there earlier. I ordered the usual such as the Mee Sua Tao (RM5), Roti Babi (RM3.80 per set) and Choon Pneah (RM3.80).

The Mee Sua Tao (Rice Vermicelli with gravy) was great when taken with black vinegar. The dish was cooked with some minced meat, egg and crab meat. Nothing really special compared to those sold elsewhere as the prices of things had gone up tremendously and the ingredients were not as much as it used to be. The taste still remained the same as what I had taken when I was younger.

The Choon Pneah (Spring Roll) was still nice. Strips of turnips, carrots, minced meat and crab meats were wrapped in a poh piah (flour crepe) skin and then coated with some flour and fried to perfection. Although it was a bit oily, the crunchiness and the taste of the 5-spice powder brought out the taste nicely. As for the filling, not much of crab meats in there as the price had shot up a lot quite a lot in the recent years.

The Roti Babi (French toast with filling) had the same filling as the spring roll. Instead of the poh piah skin, white bread was used and coated with beaten eggs and deep fried until it turned to golden brown. This is a great dish for breakfast, tea or supper. Both dishes are best served with cut chillies in Worchester sauce.

The cafeteria is very near to One-Stop Midlands Park Centre and Adventist Hospital. If you are along Jalan Burmah, just turn into Jalan Brown. Drive forward until you reach the second junction on your left. Turn into the road (Jalan Scott) and you will see a building with a big field on your right. That is where the Senior Citizens’ Association of Penang is. The cafeteria is just behind the building.

Yesterday marked an unforgettable day as I got to meet up with some of the food bloggers in Penang. Finally, I get to see those real faces behind the virtual food blogs. Those who attended the mini gathering included the three brains behind PenangTuaPui, Lingzie, CK Lam, Buzzing Bee, Carrie, Gill & hubby Jason and me. I wanted to arrive earlier to take some snap shots of the vicinity but ended up quite late at 7.45pm due to some unexpected delay. Why? Because my little gift packs only came out from the oven only at 7.20pm. LOL!

Anyway, the gathering started with us guessing who and who were Tam Jiak, Huat Koay and Fei Fei from the PenangTuaPui trio. We all were in stitches after knowing the story behind this trio. In fact the whole group of floggers who gathered there last night was a bunch of jokers. Not only do they know their taste buds well, they also know how to make everyone felt at home. Not long later, the food was served. Here were the dishes we had ordered.

The food served that night was just average and nothing to fuss about. What really got us excited was when BuzzingBee brought out her homemade fruit tarts. Everybody was like busy shooting those 20 pieces of tarts being nicely arranged on the lazy susan. The tarts were amazing. Bee had the tarts baked to perfection with some not-so-sweet chocolate glazed at the base. She then topped the tarts with freshly sliced banana, kiwi fruit, orange and lychee. What a nice dessert for all of us.

Finally, a beautiful and moist Green Tea Cake bought by Lingzie came in. Coincidentally it was Carrie’s Birthday. How old was she? We dare not ask. As you know most ladies would not like to disclose their age, especially when they get a year older on their birthday. LOL! Anyway, we had lots of fun fooling around with her cake as who should get the strawberries and so on. In the end, they ended up on Carrie’s plate. Here was what she had on her plate.

Somehow, something made my mind go wild when she made her birthday wish. Is this what she had in her mind? We won’t know for sure… hahaha!

Finding the restaurant won’t be hard as it is located within the vicinity of Penang’s Inshore Marina, Church Street Pier and QEII along Pengkalan Weld (Weld Quay). It’s a great place for gathering and to have a drink while enjoying the scenic view of the seaside.

If you like to have lots of seafood dishes at an affordable price, you should make a visit to this small restaurant along Weld Quay area. The food served here are quite nice as they are neither too oily nor over flavored as most of the restaurant along that area. I visited that place not long ago with a friend of mine.

We ordered a bowl of Seaweed Soup (RM4) with lots of fish balls and meat in it. Not bad for the taste except that I find it a bit oily on the surface.

Next on the list was my personal request to the chef – Fried Bean Sprouts (Taugeh) and Pea Sprouts (Dou Miao) with Salted Fish (RM5). The chef did even better than I expected as he added some juicy mushroom slices in the dish. The dish was just nice with the correct amount of crunchy salted fish added.

The Iron Plate Tofu with Minced Pork (RM6) followed. This restaurant presented it in a different way as they laid the base of the hot plate with eggs before putting in the tofu and minced meat on top. Most restaurants would just knock an egg on top of the hot steaming dish before serving.

The best of the rest came last. We were served seven juicy and big Spicy Buttered Egg Prawns (RM19) and that got our appetite to boost up further. What I like about this dish is that the prawns were real fresh and the slightly sweet buttered egg was real crunchy. Most of all, the dish was not too oily and the amount of curry leaves and butter used in the dish were combined well.

Overall we spent RM40.20 on the food which was inclusive of rice (RM2.40) and drinks (RM3.80). If you are driving from the ferry terminal towards the Jelutong Expressway, the restaurant is just before the Shell petrol kiosk on your left. Do watch out carefully as they have yet to replace their signboard after it was spoiled by a heavy and windy rainfall.

I just read about What2See’s review on the all the nice places to eat along Lebuh Cintra but he missed out one nice hawker shop along the way. He was not the first one too as the shop which sells Fried Hor Fun looked just like any other hawker stalls in Penang. Unless the person resides within the town area, he or she would have overlooked the small stall hidden at the corner of the old coffee shop.

My friend and I paid a visit to the shop not long ago, although I had frequent the stall for takeaways all the time. We ordered a large Fried Hor Fun (RM6) with lots of freshly fried grouper meat and also a normal sized Fried Ee Foo Mee (RM4) with big fresh succulent prawns. Although the portions served were quite small, the tastes were wonderful. What mattered most was the freshness of the seafood used at the stall. In fact, majority of the patrons there would order their Snakehead Fish Rice Vermicelli Soup (Lay Hoo Bee Hoon Th’ng). If you happen to be around that area, do drop by to try them out. Here are the two dishes which we had ordered.

You won’t miss the shop as it is at the junction of Lorong Kampung Malabar and Lebuh Cintra. In fact the stall is the row as the famous Rice Dumpling (Bak Chang) shop. Although the shop is located at the heavy traffic area, you can easily find ample parking space along Lorong Kampung Malabar.

With barely few hours left in Ipoh, I had a quick breakfast in one of the coffee shop along Jalan Bandar Timah upon the suggestion of my non-food blogging friend. How unfortunate… haha. Where was J2KFM when I needed him around most? LOL! Anyway the shop we went to was called Kong Heng. It used to house one of the good Ipoh Nga Choi Kai (Chicken with Beansprouts) but they original stall had moved somewhere else.

I ordered the Beef Noodles (RM6) which was supposed to be one of the best around but it did not suit my taste bud as I personally felt that there was no sweetness at all in the soup. All I get was the taste from the lots of ginger-filled meat ball and pepper taste. I would think those from Penang such as the stalls at New Lane/Macalister junction, Chulia Street/Beach Street junction, Lorong Kampung Malabar or the one at GoodAll Café, Gottlieb Road tasted even better.

Next on my list was their famous Poh Piah (RM1.70 each). I ordered the wet one as well as the fried one each to try out. Not bad as the filling was full of fried dried flounder (Phnee Hoo). I can taste the crunchiness of the flounder in every single bite. The wet Poh Piah looked somewhat like our Penang Mamak Poh Piah as the sauce is spread on top. The fried one looked like the Penang Choon Phneah but the filling was not with any crab meat or any sauce to accompany. Although the Poh Piah tasted great, I somehow still love the one in Penang along Jalan Anson (Padang Brown opposite Convent Datuk Kramat) as the Poh Piah is filled with lots of crab meat at only RM2 each.

We also ordered the Ee Mee Soup (RM3) and Shui Kow Noodle (RM3.30) but those are just normal and nothing to brag about.

To get to the shop, just drive along Jalan Bandar Timah and you will see the shop on your left between Jalan Market and Jalan Panglima.