Penang food coverage for Sept/Oct 2009

Some sharings and comments on Penang food.

Toh Soon Cafe at the back alley on Campbell Street...this is one of the best charcoal toast in Penang.


Sarkies Corner - E&O Hotel...very value for money lunch buffet in Penang...the salmon and oyster are excellent!

超全茶樓 (Sweet Paradise Restaurant)...a very crowded dim sum restaurant in Butterworth. Must be there early to get a taste of the corn bun....oh yes...the steam fish with bihun is another famous delicacies there.

Ecco Cafe...cosy little cafe on Chulia Street...serve excellent freshly made pasta and pizza...I love their pasta...Pasta is a must there.


Restoran Soon Chi...situated along the main road of Jawi. Many food variety...seafood very fresh and at reasonable price.

Sungai Puyu laksa & ais kacang...my frequent visit place in my childhood...always get to customize my ais kacang...additional red bean, corn, no cendol, no raisin and less sugar...yummy!

Ah Ma Dessert...I like the taste and presentation...love their Monte Carlo Chicken, must ask for extra salsa...overall the food and presentation is good...they offer value for money service but looking that its location, it may be a little pricy in this neighbourhood.


Khuntai Restaurant...one of the best Thai food in Butterworth. Must try their tomyam and sour & spicy fish.

Last and not to forget...Haagen-Dazs's current ongoing eat all u can promotion.

Interesting weekend

This post was created on 2nd Sept. I was too busy to sort out my photos till now...been through really tiring weeks.

It was the Merdeka weekend. I was supposed to catch up with my friends since many were back in hometown during this holiday. But after changing this to cater to that and that to this, finally my weekend plan was without any friend. I was with my family at all time.

Sat - movie at home...Fast n Furious, new hair cut, shopping at Jusco...bought some ingredients to cook on Sunday evening.

Sun - yam rice at Kedai Kopi Mutiara for brunch. We were regular to this stall since I was young. I love the 咸菜汤...sour, very refreshing and appetizing. With the yam rice and the thick soya sauce sambal, it was a perfect combination. My dad couldn't help it to ask for another bowl of rice. The 'kuih' stall was another highlight of the kopitiam. My mum bought some karipaps and tapioca cakes(木薯糕). Even we were already full, we could not resist the tempting hot kuih...yummy!


Then it was shopping spree at Sunway Carnival Mall. My parents bought 2 pairs of shoes and exercise wear while I got an air tight good quality and very expensive container for my camera and my contact lens...really broke :S

So for dinner, I ate my mum's fried rice. It was really satisfying to have mum's cooking. And my contribution for that meal was New Zealand Ice Cream. Got 30% off today....hooray!

Monday - All of us woke up very early. We left home at 6.40am to pick my sister from hospital after her whole night up onduty. Then we went straight into downtown, Lebuh Cintra...喝早茶 at 大東酒樓 (Tai Thong Restaurant). This was one of my favourite dim sum shop in Penang. At times, I would prefer this better than Ming Court and Fusan.

After that, I accompanied my mum to the Campbell Street Market. She bought some fresh chicken thighs and bones for lunch. While she was busy doing her grocery, I went round for some shots.


Before we headed back to BM, we went to the Cick N Snap. Finally I bought my new Canon EF 50mm II lens with Hoya filter and a hood...RM370 gone...hmmmm....

Back at home I was busy in kitchen with my mum. She was preparing the grill chicken and potato while I was cooking mushroom soup and garlic bread. It was a perfect meal. Everyone love my mushroom soup. It definely worth the effort and money making your own mushroom soup.

my mum's grill chicken and my mushroom soup & garlic bread

Then in the evening, it was family time...drama time...one episod after another.

Raya Plan for friends and family

Born and raise on Butterworth gave me a lot of opportunity to venture into the nature. It used to be in my weekend routine to go hiking at Cherun Tokun, jogging at Mengkuang Dam, having fun at my grandma's kampung house and orchard. With my outgoing and active personality, I grew to know Butterworth well both in food and landmark...I can easily turned into taman taman just to avoid traffic and find those road side stalls selling the best of its kind in Butterworth.

Many of my friends have suggested I take them round Butterworth but we just could not find time together. As Raya holiday is coming and I have a long 4 days break, I am suggesting to all my friends that lets make trips during these days. Just ring me up and we can arrange something up on mainland.

Dear friends,
Ring me up and we can have fun this Raya together.

Looking forward to our holiday...hooray!

Bukit Mertajam : Chin Kang Hu Restaurant

Found another cheap eating place nearby Juru area. Chin Kang Hu Restaurant (真功夫美食館) is located at Taman Bayu Mutiara, the taman on your left from PLUS Juru exit heading South. They are a row away from the Lin Restaurant (7- village Noodle House). They have started operation in early July but only have their official opening on the 29th July.

The exterior was attractive with the red and white coulor theme...nicely lid and with lots of parking spaces available. I bet you will surely be able to identify this shop with a huge cartoonized Bruce Lee as their icon.

The interior was comfortable too. Wide space, 2 shop lots made into 1 huge dining place...simple white tables and chairs with some features wall...I am a big kid myself...love the Bruce Lee cartoon in his iconic yellow suit...and with its high roof, it is less sophisticated despite the crowd.

Food variety...was rather poor...varieties of steam rice. For non rice, only few types of noodle available.

As both my sister and I were not a fan of rice, we chose to go for their signature Hokkien mee and Kuey Teow soup but ended up in disappointment. The hokkien mee has only average hawker standard. The Kuey Teow soup was good...better than average hawker but slightly behind the 7 village.

The variety of side dishes was poor. Their signature lobak was no longer available, so we went ahead with their fried fish ball and fried spring roll. We were disappointed with these both...both portions were extreme small. The spring roll was hard but not crunchy. It tasted nothing more than the oily chunk.

After this visit I wasn't sure when will be our next visit. We will probably give it another try on their nutrition steam rice or perhaps when we were running late and unable to catch the Lin Restaurant on time....and when I am poor...their dishes are cheap

Leisure trip on Seberang

This was my very first personal outing with VTSMers. We have been talking about going round Butterworth for food hunt but nothing happened until last Sunday.

FF, SY, SL and YC met up with me at McD Juru Autocity at 8.30am. Our first destination was 7 Village Noodle House. This was one of my frequent breakfast shop. I love the kuey teow theng very much especially the semi dry one. Their ramen was good too. Though a little pricy, it was still recommended and a well worth dish. The ramen was RM5.70 which came in a huge protion with generous topping...a half boiled egg, 3 sliced of pork and minced pork. The kuey teow theng was RM2.70 each with rich and clear soup base with minced pork. There were other side dishes available. Personally I favoured their fish nugget and lo bak. Their tong shui was good as well...with the correct sweatness and generous portion of ginko and longan.
Then we continued our trip to Jeti Batu Musang, Batu Kawan to board our boat over to Pulau Aman. The boat ride was RM6 per person for 2 ways and the boat was very frequent. We arrived at Pulau Aman at about 10.15am. We were blessed for it turned sunny after a short while of cloudy day. The breeze was cooling.

Jeti Batu Musang, Batu Kawan...the only jetty to get boat to Pulau Aman

4 VTSM gals and me...set to Pulau Aman

From the old jetty, we walked towards the new jetty passingby the Restoran Terapung. Then heading back and round the island on the other side. There were more occupants on the right of the island. We walked passed the very 'kampung' feel fishing village to Telaga Emas. It has been years since I last stepped into a real Kampung...no traffic, no chaos and no pollution.

natural born model...

the bread winning tools

After going around, we headed back to the Restoran Terapung for our Mee Udang. It was already packed up with customers and we managed to get the 2nd last table available. We were thristy but to our dissapointment, the coconut drinks were sold out...having no other choice, we have to get do with can drinks.

The restaurant received more and more customers. There were many who have to wait for their tables. While we waited long for our Mee Udang. The mee udang was good. RM6 per plate with 3 medium size udang. It taste good...the noodle was soft and flavoured with the soup base. You will definitely like this if you favour '鲜味'.

Until we were about to finish our meal and when i was about o get another can drink, the coconut drink finally arrived...yes the Thailand fragrant coconut was here. I could not resist the chill coconut. Finished it within few sips.

We saw more and more customer walking in and many with bags of prawn mantis. So I went to the jetty to check out. Many were waiting for the fishmen to dock, bringing their harvest. However baskets of harvest were sold off within minutes. 2 families bought all the harvests. We would have to wait for the next sampan if we wished to feast on the prawn mantis and crab.

So we went back to the shore empty handed. YC left early while we continued to Seberang Jaya food court for Yoyo drinks. Everyone love the peanut blend very much...RM1.50 drink that surely satisfy everyone at all time :D

It was still alive when we arrived on the other shore...fresh

Then we went to the Sunway Carnival Mall for a karaoke session in the Amp Square Center. This was my first visit since it was open years back. The system was much better than Reb Box in Gurney Plaza and at a slightly cheaper price too...yeah...found a good spot to kill some time during holiday. This was also a great activity after hours of eating non stop.

Finally for dinner, I brought them to Wai Sek Kai in Chai Leng Park and we patroned the Sim Corner Lok Lok Restaurant. I have not been to this shop but have heard a lot about it's great variety of sauces.

The sauces were delicious. I love the red chile sauce, the thai sauce and sweet garlic sauce best. The sambal udang was very good too. It has a lot of dried prawns...yummy!

SY discovered a stall selling Leng Chee Kang ...Hello Kitty Leng Chee Kang. It has a lot variety of ingredient...definitely worth the RM2.50. The stall also sells a bowl of leng chee kang with extra ingredient at RM4...This was surely way much better that the 'Leng Lui Tong Shui' at Jelutong Market.

the whole bowl was filled with the yummy ingredients

Our trip ended at close to 9pm...great day with great food and people!

For more photos, please refer to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=94142&id=533382630&l=6b6f7a4c1a

My 1st DSLR

Finally after long craving for one, I got myself a DSLR....my Canon EOS 1000D with 18 - 55 mm kit len.

So my first photographing event was on last Saturday. Got a few shots from Yeap Yau's house warming and hundreds from Bon Odori 2009 at Esplanade.

Please enjoy my productions from Bon Odori.

I think they are Malaysians....I love their summer kimonos...
she is our best model...many diff face expression and not much movement...good for me to train my portrait shooting skill

she has to face more than 20 cameramen at a time and for quite some time

the central stage

sis and a beautiful girl

paper doll for sale

Japanese hand painted vase and jars

Japanese dolls up for sale

colourful water balloon up for 'fished'

the most crowded stalls...fishing the baloon and fish up the gold fish '捞金鱼'

this little boy tried his luck for few rounds...finally managed to get 2

mummy hepling the model daughterat the fishing water balloons stall

金鱼佬 at the 金鱼挡

trying her luck...she managed to fish 5 to 6 with 1 paper net

these were the young drummers of the night

Dr Lim G E graced the festival

one of the many food stalls around...roasted chicken by xxx hotel...can't recall which hotel was that from

my sis enjoying the takoyaki

the takoyaki...octopus balls

the japanese pan cake...taste so so

the takoyaki...can get better ones at Jusco QB

pan fried

performers from Perlis and Kedah

they can really dance very well

this was their 3 continous dance...yet they could still be so lively

from the MJA and PJLC...demostrating the BonOdori dance

The rasa sayang moves were very beautiful...very graceful

Malaysians too could look very beautiful in Kimono

one of the best performance I managed to catch on the day

I like this girl very much....very lively move

with the ghost like mask

with the mask

the trainer...she was very lively...very energetic

great performers and great performance

for more photos, please refer to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=92520&l=028d6a033e&id=533382630