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Category: Food Blog

Teochew Porridge And Ah Lai Hokkien Prawn Mee At Cecil Street Market

Teochew Porridge And Ah Lai Hokkien Prawn Mee At Cecil Street Market – I’ve wrote about my weekend at Cecil Street Market And Food Stalls, now I want to share about what I’ve eaten at there two days ago. As you know, Cecil Street Food Stall is one of my favourite eat out place in Penang when I am craving for local yummy Penang food as you can find almost everything here.

Last Saturday, I went there for lunch and it were Teochew porridge with dishes and a bowl of hokkien prawn noodle. Teochew Porridge is actually plain white porridge with a some little Chinese dishes. The name of Teochew Porridge is called is because Teochew-people in China cooks and eats plain white Teochew style porridge in this way (Cantonese style porridge is usually more smooth and concentrated)

There’s only two of us that noon, mom and me and we ordered four little dish which consists of siu yok (sio bak / roasted pork), long bean, fried eggs and fried dace with black bean. 4 simple dishes but they were just awesomely pleasing and it costs not more than RM10 at only RM8.60 for all.

The great part is eating with the plain white waterish Teochew rice porridge which is a healthy. The combination of the simple dishes with the porridge makes up the Teochew Porridge which is just great for a lunch.

Because I was on a holiday back in Penang and was craving for Penang food, I couldn’t get myself not ordering a Penang food for lunch. Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee was on my mind at that time. There’s actually 3 stalls in the market, I’ve tried one before which was just OKAY, there’s another one was not open at that day and I went to try the one which is called Ah Lai’s Hokkien Prawn Mee, hidden deep in the sea of food stalls.

The stalls owner was very kind to show me the prawn shells which are used to make the yummy prawn mee soup. It’s not recommended to eat frequently due to high cholesterol from the prawn shells, but sometimes it’s really hard to resists the deliciousness.

My bowl of hokkien prawn mee was the maggi mee version. The soup tasted sweet and has a strong sense of prawn taste in it, probably because of the prawn shells used to cook the soup. The mixes of boiled egg, pork meats and shallots perfected the dish. Best of all, it’s only RM2.50! Cheap and tasty, I will come back for this again.

Make a visit to the market and you will be amaze by the variety of food.

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com.my/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.000469feb8850ec72b675&ie=UTF8&t=h&vpsrc=6&ll=5.407583,100.328752&spn=0.001282,0.001717&z=19&iwloc=0004ae65a14a77a9113d9&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

October 3, 2011
Cecil Street Market And Hawker Stalls (Qit Tiao Lor Ban San / 七条路巴刹)

#1: You will know the place by seeing the name Pusat Penjaja Lebuh Cecil which means Cecil Street’s Food Court.

Cecil Street Market And Hawker Stalls (Qit Tiao Lor Ban San / 七条路巴刹) － Cecil Street, also known as Qit Tiao Lor in Hokkien or literally means 7th Road is famous for its market and hawker stalls. Many locals love to flock into the market and hawker stall to eat out and hunt for good food as there have a variety of local Penang hawker food to choose from.

#2: A Hokkien Prawn Noodle stalls which haven’t open yet.

Cecil Street Markat & Hawker Stalls is one of my favourite place to eat in Penang given that the place is more local-ish to me with 99.9% people eating out are locals and for its great variety of local food. I dislike hawker food stalls like at tourist centric Gurney Drive area and New Lane.

#3: Aunty was thinking something.

#4: A busy woman talking on the phone and wanting to buy kuih.

#5: At the kuih stalls, the owner lady trying to tell the girl how much it is for the kuih.

Yesterday, I went there with my mom to have lunch, and also to buy some stuff from the market to cook at home. It was about noon time and you can hear many people chattering around with coffee boy shouting here and there loudly to order a drinks for the customers.

#6: Another hidden and good hokkien prawn noodle stalls. The name is Ah Lai’s Hokkien Prawn Noodle.

#7: Disabled person trying to earn some living by selling his voices – singing karaoke, which turns out to has a good voice.

#8: An old lady waiting for … someone, or food.

#9: Picking dishes which to be eat with porridge.

Aroma of local food can be inhaled at there. Hokkien dialect is the main language of the hawker food stalls area which can be heard almost everywhere. Everyone was busy chomping their food and talking. I was then busy taking photos around, capturing the image of the locals to share with you guys.

#10: Fishmonger scrapping off the fish scales.

#11: A man in helmet picking shrimps.

#12: Eat more vegetables which is very good for your health.

#13: Garlic, do you like it? Yes, I do.

#14: A lady buying stuff at the market.

I’ll show you in other post that what I have eaten yesterday. Porridge with a few dishes, and a bowl of Penang hokkien prawn noodle was my lunch yesterday, which is deliciously good.

October 2, 2011
Nine Emperors God Festival 2011 Is Coming

Nine Emperors God Festival in 2009 at Carnavon Street, Penang.

Nine Emperors God Festival 2011 Is Coming – The yearly Taoist’s festival, the Nine Emperors God Festival (九皇爺) is coming soon and the real parade of sending the god falls on this Wednesday till midnight which is also the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.

Madras Lane, the vegetarian food stalls.

You can find bubble tea too!

Every year, at this time of the year, devotees will turn on their vegetarian mood, which most sincere one eating vegetarian for nine days, and some will eat on the ninth day itself. It is believed that the Nine Emperors God will bring good luck and blessing to them.

End of Madras Lane where you meet the intersection of Burma Road. Opposite is a Kuan Yin Temple and the Nine Emperor Gods Temple.

To simplify, it’s another religious and happenings festival in Malaysia for the believer of Nine Emperor Gods. I missed the festival last year but I think I will not be missing it again this year as I would like to see how’s the festival is at here in Kuala Lumpur. In Penang, it is a very happenings night on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month where thousands will gather to send the gods in the procession. I have been to the procession in Penang in 2008 and 2009.

Devotees praying for blessing on the Nine Emperor Gods Festival.

In Kuala Lumpur, the procession is located in Ampang and I am planning to visit the temple. In order to visit the procession, I have to eat vegetarian on the day itself.

A plate of vegetarian bee hoon costs RM1.50.

In Penang, you will see lots of yellow flags hanging around which is actually telling you that the festival is going on and don’t be surprise to see many temporary set up stalls by the roadside selling vegetarian food. It’s pretty interesting to eat the vegetarian food, they are cheap in price, and some are quite delicious.

Vegetarian Pizza.

Chinese tangyuan.

Lobak in vegetarian version, which means they’re halal.

Not to forget, they have lots of variety too. You can even find lots of local delicacies like laksa, hokkien prawn mee, curry mee in vegetarian version, as well as western food like pizza, burger and more in vegetarian.

Fish burger ala vegetarian style.

Even the not-halal bak kut teh has a vegetarian version.

You should visit Madras Lane if you are in Penang because there are a row of food stalls selling vegetarian. If you are interested in checking out the event, you can visit Hong Kong Street / Carnavon Street in Penang Island on Wednesday night and Tou Bu Kong at Raja Uda. Do respect the god by eating vegetarian before you come.

October 2, 2011
Penang Asam Laksa and Hokkien Prawn Mee At Seapark

After residing in Kuala Lumpur for a little while, I never stop in searching for the best or closest-to-Penang’s-feel’s Penang hawker food like Asam Laksa and Hokkien Prawn Mee which both are my favourite. I keep Googling and testing many food. There’s still no the best yet but I strongly believe there must be one that feels home. =)

On a fine Thursday afternoon, me, Arron and Carmen, three musketeers from Penang went to look for a Asam Laksa and Hokkien Prawn Mee stall at Seapark, Petaling Jaya. The combination of Hokkien Prawn Mee and Asam Laksa only can be found in Kuala Lumpur or outside of Penang as you don’t really see it in Penang. They just wanna sell “Penang” food.

After following the point on the GPS, we reached our destination, feeling a little bit Penang because it’s not a kopitiam but on the corner of some shop lots, placing a few tables and here they eat.

Surprisingly, I hear the stall owner speaks Penang Hokkien, so I assume they were from Penang. Ordered a bowl of Asam Laksa and Hokkien Prawn Mee to try out the tasted.

The asam laksa came first. Looks nice in a nice red bowl, has many fish but then the soup tasted weird to me. It’s not Penang enough, not sweet enough and lack of the fishy taste. They actually put in the fish separately instead of coming out from the soup.

Ignore the ugly photos of the Hokkien Prawn Mee, I took it after I ate it. Sorry. Haha.

Here comes the hokkien prawn mee. To be honest, this is better than the asam laksa to me. The prawn taste was there, tiny little shrimps were good and I’ll say this is ok-good. Still not better than Penang but I will be back for the hokkien prawn mee. Though, there’s no egg.

Eater #1: Me!

Eater #2: Carmen from Penang.

Eater #3: Arron Lim from Penang.

I want to talk about hokkien prawn mee is I kinda dislike having big shrimp in it as it’s very not authentic. Move around Penang, look for the best hokkien prawn mee, and you won’t see any big shrimp in it. =)

Anyway, this is a good stall, I will be back for the hokkien prawn mee. =) Another thing is I saw people eat asam laksa with bee hoon, weird. Haha.

Any recommendation of Penang food to me and the reader?

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com.my/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.000469feb8850ec72b675&ie=UTF8&t=h&vpsrc=6&ll=3.111345,101.622269&spn=0.00375,0.00457&z=17&iwloc=00049a80a5256b312bb90&output=embed&w=425&h=350]

September 29, 2011
Nyonya Laksa and Malacca Cendol in Jonker88, Malacca

Today I want to introduce a must visit cafe/restaurant along the famous Jonker Walk in Malacca. It doesn’t sell chicken rice ball but does have a wide variety of local street food like assam laksa, nyonya laksa, siam laksa, cendol, curry mee and more, all under one roof. Some might thing, it’s so not authentic when it comes all under one roof but actually the food are cook by different stalls inside this Jonker 88 Cafe.

It’s full of people from afternoon till night and I came by here twice, once was to try the laksa and another time to try the cendol as recommended by Internet people.

The interior is pretty nice as there’s many hanging pictures and antique stuff in it, thought one lousy thing is not clean, we spotted a rat ran over the place, that’s pretty crazy I feel. Without bothering the dirtyness, we just eat and go, didn’t wnat to spend long time at there as many were still waiting for the places.

The cendol is only RM2 and it’s very sweet, very nice and portion pretty big. What’s different from the one at the Clock Tower’s is this one is not so waterish as that, it’s more icy and the gula melaka is pour on top of the ice instead of the bottom. Yet, it’s still a good eat.

Next up we’ve got the Nyonya Laksa. I thought Nyonya Laksa is like Siam Laksa which has lemak (coconut milk) in it but it’s differnt, it’s close to assam laksa because of the sour taste and there’s egg, fu chok and some vegetable. What’s different is there’s no prawn paste like there’s in assam laksa.

Another thing is I think the Siam Laksa at here is pretty good-sell because that it had sold out when we wanted to order it. So we tried Nyonya, and not a bad try. Can try. Maybe you will like it. =)

One more thing, I am curious about the taste of assam laksa at there as now I am pretty confuse where is the origin of assam laksa, Penang or other place? Haha.

Ignore me. =D

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com.my/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.000469feb8850ec72b675&ll=2.196266,102.247106&spn=0.005146,0.006866&z=17&iwloc=00049efcee4f17e0d134f&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

September 27, 2011
Chit Long 7 Village Koay Teow Thng, Seberang Perai 七廊粿条汤

Chit Long 7 Village Koay Teow Thng, Seberang Perai 七廊粿条汤 – If you came or resides on the other side of Penanag, Seberang Perai, you will probably know about this 7 Village Koay Teow Thng (Koay Teow Soup) or known as Chit Long more to the locals.

As written in the titile, 7 Village is a place to eat Koay Teow Thng, however it isn’t like eating at the hawker stall or coffee shop kopitiam, it’s a clean restaurant that serves mainly koay teow thng with a few number of side dish that you can choose from.

Started off from a hawker stall many years back, and later convert into a specialized koay teow thng business do serve nice food too! They have 3 outlets at Seberang Perai mainland and I wonder will they expand the business to Penang island or not. Let’s get into the food shall we?

It’s not all about eating Koay Teow Thng at 7 Village, there’s a variety of side dishes that you can order and must not missed in my opinion. Once of them is the Vegetable Soya Sauce (油菜心) RM2.50/RM5.00 which is Chinese flower cabbage, cook with soya sauce and garlic which makes it simply delicious and healthy.

Next is the Chicken Soya Sauce (油鸡) RM3/RM5/RM10 which is plainly white chicken that you usually eat with hainan chicken rice with a topping of chives and poured in a small plate of oily soya sauce makes chicken taste simply awesome and mouth-watering.

The Lobak (RM1.50) that I ordered on my next visit wasn’t really a nice experience for my mouth and me as it’s not crispy at all even though the presentation looks really nice with the name 七 (Chit) written with chilli sauce.

Here is the Koay Teow Thng (RM3/RM4) which is the specialty of the shop. Looking good in presentation and portion. The flat noodle or koay teow with soup is accompanied by minced pork as well as slices of pork meat and fish balls, topped with some spring onions. Koay Teow Thng is always about the soup, the soup is simply pleasant tasted sweet and a little bit salty which makes it taste good. Everything was in a nice way that it’s not too over or not too light, fantastic! However, I feel there’s something missing with the fish balls, it’s, just… not fishy enough, feels a little bit too hard.

I have visited two of their outlet and I would like to visit it again although it’s on the other side of Penang. Nevertheless, good food need a little bit of sacrificing like petrol fuel and toll, yet the experience after-meal is totally difference. Price wise is consider cheap with a nice dining place.

Do you have any nice koay teow thng to introduce? =)

7 Village Koay Teow Thng (Main)

6, 8 & 10 Lorong Ceri 6
Taman Aman Jaya,
Off Raja Uda,
12300 Butterworth.

Telephone: +604-3330216

(Branch)

58, Jalan Bayu Mutiara 1,
Taman Bayu Mutiara,
14000 Bukit Mertajam,
Telephone: +604-5081216

(Branch 2)

1, Jalan Besar,
Taman Perindustrian Nibong Tebal,
Nibong Tebal.
Telephone: +604-5931216

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com.my/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.000469feb8850ec72b675&ie=UTF8&t=h&vpsrc=6&ll=5.421765,100.380833&spn=0.001282,0.001717&z=19&iwloc=lyrftr:msid:215278323465761497274.000469feb8850ec72b675,0004adc4db94b16d8afda,,,0,-31&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

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September 26, 2011
Lunch At Little Cottage Cafe

Little Cottage Cafe is quite well-known among Penangite with two outlets, one on Jalan Burma, and another one in Waterfall Hotel, Jalan Utama. It’s my first time visiting the Little Cottage Cafe on Jalan Burma and I went there to have lunch with my girlfriend. I was busy taking video of the place and I have forgotten to take photos of the interiors, so I will repost a video version. =D

The interiors is very cozy and warming feel with nice cottage style dining and give you an experience that you are like being in a small county, it’s so not in Penang.

They have standard set meal lunch which starts from RM9.90 and we both ordered the RM15.90 set. It started with a mushroom soup. The mushroom taste was strong but then one thing I wasn’t that favour about it is that it’s a little bit too waterish. If it’s creamier than it’s great.

Bread bun and butter is also one of the appetizer that comes with the soup. Love the warm bun with butter in it.

Here comes the main course which is the Black Pepper Chicken. Well, the black pepper sauce was there and it’s a grilled chicken instead of deep fried chicken. The presentation was good and serves with little vegetable salad and mash potato. The mash potato to me was OK-good and the chick was tender enough. As for the sauce wise, the taste was there, not too over, not too less, just nice. Overall, I couldn’t comment this is the best, but it’s not bad. Somehow, I like the Little Cottage Chicken Chop more which comes next.

The Little Cottage Chicken Chop is deep fried chicken chop poured with a kind of sweet and BBQ sauce which makes it tasted good. The chicken was crispy and I like the crunchyness when biting on it. Serve with a little bit of onion and I think this is kinda special and tasted nice when eat with the chicken and sauce. As I said, I like this more than the black pepper chicken, this is good. =)

The last course was the coffee / tea but desserts comes before it. Having a sweet tooth is so nice that I love desserts so much and this little desserts is actually a pudding of milk and pandan which is kinda special with a sense of local style, some how it’s just too small.

Well, Little Cottage is a nice place to have your meal given with its nice and cozy interiors.

Little Cottage Cafe 1 (You can park at New World Park and walk there)
96-A, Burma Road,
10050 Goergetown,
Penang

Tel:+604-2286318
Fax:+604-2274452

Email: info@littlecottagecafe.com

Website: http://www.littlecottagecafe.com

Business Hours: Open daily from 11am-3pm / 6pm-10.30pm

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com.my/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.000469feb8850ec72b675&ie=UTF8&ll=5.420729,100.327245&spn=0.005127,0.006866&z=17&iwloc=0004a7ee9cc48f2397d49&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

September 26, 2011
Magazine Road Famous Tang Yuan 头条路甜汤圆

Magazine Road Famous Tang Yuan – Magazine Road also known as Tao Tiao Lor (头条路) or literally means First Road in Penang Hokkien has a famous Tang Yuan Chinese Dessert stall that have operated for quite many years. It’d been featured on the newspaper and TV before.

Located in front of Penang’s famous landmark, KOMTAR tower and 1st Avenue Shopping Centre, you can find people hanging there at late night just to eat a couple of Chinese glutinous rice ball in a sweet and spicy ginger soup. The soup is actually a simple mixture of brown sugar, ginger and pandan leaves. Some who doesn’t like ginger can opt for normal brown sugar soup. The fragrance of the ginger is very strong that I can smell it from far.

It’s the only stall that I know up to date that operate till late night. So if you are craving for a little bit of Chinese dessert, need something to bite, you can visit this stall.

I do visit the stall some times when the night is still young that I feel like eating at late night. They only two kinds of filling in the tang yuan, one which is peanut and another is sesame. I like both of them, but if were to choose one, I like the sesame’s more. Tangyuan originally feels chewy and tasteless in mouth, the tangyuan at this stall wouldn’t be hard to chew and the first bite gets you into the fillings if you have sharp teeth which flavours your mouth with the sweet fillings. A drink of the sweet and spicy ginger soup makes the night even more refreshing.

Accompany with the little filling-less tangyuan, it’s makes the night a wonderful night.

Time: 7pm-12am

Closed on Wednesday and Sunday.

Telephone: 016-477 7764 (Ah Hock)

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com.my/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.000469feb8850ec72b675&ie=UTF8&t=h&vpsrc=6&ll=5.414214,100.330667&spn=0.005127,0.006866&z=17&iwloc=0004adc43127eeeb7bdbd&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

September 25, 2011
Penang Asam Laksa And Hokkien Prawn Mee at O&S Kopitiam, Seapark

I am still always in search for the best, “closest-to-Penang’s-taste” hokkien prawn mee and asam laksa but still not finding any, I remembered the prawn mee at SS15’s Asia Cafe was nice but still not the closest yet. I always Google to find for one and recently I found the one in Seapark, many people talked about it and so I went to check it out.

The kopitiam name is called O&S Restaurant, located in Seapark near the Esso petrol station. There’s actually another asam laksa and hokkien prawn mee stall in Seapark.

I ordered the hokkien prawn mee first as my lunch. It looks awesome, there’s egg, there’s beansprout, there’s mini prawn. However what I don’t like is the chilli paste. It’s not spicy at all and doesn’t add spiciness into the soup. It’s like those Cantonese kind of not-spicy prawn sambal. If it’s more spicy then the hokkien mee will be good, it’s a little bit too sweet in my opinion. So this is not “close-to-Penang”.

Then I ordered the asam laksa too, the same stall that sells curry laksa which we normally call it curry mee in Penang. I wonder why they like to sell curry laksa and asam laksa in the same stall. It takes like 15 minutes for the order to arrive and I was thinking it will be great. It came and I saw nice big fish, however it’s a little bit too sourish.

So in my opinion, I think the other stall in Seapark has a better one that this place. What do you think? And if to choose which food is better here, I go for hokkien prawn mee. =)

[googlemaps https://maps.google.com.my/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=215278323465761497274.000469feb8850ec72b675&ll=3.110209,101.621271&spn=0.002571,0.003433&z=18&iwloc=0004a20a8983ae696e13e&output=embed&w=640&h=480]

September 25, 2011
Diner’s Choice Street Western Food, Mount Erskine

Street western food is another type of meal that storm the hawker and street food scene in Penang. When we mention about western food, it’s more likely chicken chop and fish n’ chips that come across our mind. There are many types of western food, ranging from fine dining style western food, or even McDonald’s is consider as western food as it’s origin from the west. But here in Penang, an Asian city, western food among the locals are these street style western food serving at hawker centre that the food are prepared ala Asian style and at a low price. Asian tweak the western dishes to suit local’s taste buds and the local surprisingly love it.

There’s quite a few famous street western foods like James Foo, Tip Top, LK, Chef Delight’s around in Penang. James Foo was once a favourite but after renovation it’s not really attracting me to there anymore due to the noisyness crowds and over crowded environment. A pro-foodhunter in Penang – Criz Lai, recently introduced a street western food corner to me, it’s the Diner’s Choice Western Food that is located at Gerbang Erskine, Mount Erskine.

It is a hidden gem in a quiet housing neighbourhood. Many people might not know about that place but not me as I was surprised that it’s just near to where my grandma lives. I was aware about this mini coffee house, but didn’t know that they do serve nice western food. After the recommendation, I quickly went to try it out as I was craving for western food so much.

They serve a wide variety of food ranging from chicken, seafood, lamb and steaks too.

We started our meal with a plate of mushroom soup (RM5). In the surprise, the mushroom soup was welly presented with nice cream art on top of the creamy brownish mushroom soup, serve with a slice of toasted garlic bread. It just created a sense of classy soup which blends with the hearty feel of the neighbourhood coffee house. The soup was in fact better than what’s at James Foo’s and there’s like tiny mushroom in it which enlighten my mouth. The garlic bread was crispy and well eaten with a little dip in the salty mushroom soup.

When asking about my favourite street western food, it’s always is the Chicken Cordon Bleu (RM8.50) which is actually stuffed chicken with ham/sausage and cheese in it. At Diner’s Choice, it’s a full loaded ham stuffed in the deep fried chicken and the creamy and waterish cheese filled the inner chicken. The presentation of the food was nice with french fries, garlic bread and vegetable salad as side dishes. It may look small in portion, but it’s just enough to fill your stomach. The gravy was their special BBQ sauce which tasted sweet. In compare to James Foo’s, I felt James Foo is somehow better, but with it’s nice presentation and price, I will go back to this again.

Oriental Chicken Chop (RM7.50) is a dish that available at all street western food locally. Despite the wide availability and simple-ness of the food, people still like eating the battered chicken with oriental sauce and fries. The battered chicken, deep fried and poured with the same sauce as the Chicken Cordon Bleu was serve with fries, bread and vegetable salad too. Unfortunately, in comparison to the one at Little Cottage Cafe, it doesn’t sports the crispiness that the one at Little Cottage Cafe has. It’s just not crispy but to give a comment about it, the sauce make it tasted good. I prefer chicken chop with a crispy crunchy feel.

Overall, this is a hidden gem that you may want to discover. It’s my new favourite street western food place as the price wise and taste are pretty good and I will surely visit this place again for some mouth watering local style Asian food.

Diner’s Choice Western Food
1, Gerbang Erskine (Erskine Grove),
Mt. Erskine,
10470 Penang.

Tel: +6016-4552082

Business Hours: 5pm-11pm (Closed Thursday)

View Shiok Or Not : Food Map in a larger map

September 25, 2011

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