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Tham Jiak: Penang Food Diary: Part 2
Tham Jiak means in some way "love to eat" in Hokkien. I am a Malaysian Hokkien and truly love to eat.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Penang Food Diary: Part 2

11.02 am
J and I got Jalan Penang (road) for a fix of something icy, this time it is
cendol. But it is not like the ordinary cendol we can get others places as this one apparently is Teochew style.



We ordered for a bowl and got into the restaurant, where this stall is parked right outside. This restaurant, charged extra rm0.40 if you ordered the cendol into their premise. I guess they can’t earn much judging that everyone drinks from the stall outside instead of their drinks. We obliged nonetheless as we wanted a place to sit and cool down.


The cendol came, looking ordinary, but once I tasted it, I found that it is milder in coconut taste than the usual Indian cendol and also there are more red beans. I can’t say this is the best cendol, in fact I still love the one back in PJ, still it is a cool refreshing drink to down the thirst.


Then J spied on a char kuey teow stall in restaurant and wanted to give it a try. After all we could not have the famous one at Lorong Macalister.


The plate of char kuey teow came, Penang style with huge prawns, cockles, lap cheong (Chinese sausage), fishcake, and taugeh (beansprouts). It tasted great, even better than the one we had at Kek Lok Si. So J quickly cleans out the plate.



Joo Hooi Café
475 Jalan Penang
Opens 10-7.30pm

After that, I still yearns for more icy stuff and told J about a famous ais kacang (local shaved ice dessert) nearby at the next street. Just outside the restaurant, is the junction to four famous streets in Penang. We walk over the overhead bridge, which connect all four streets, one of it leading towards Komtar (shopping mall), towards our destination.




11.31 am
Down the street from the overhead bridge, we got into Kek Seng restaurant for its famous
ais kacang. We ordered for one and it came looking really special.




It tasted great too, unlike anywhere else I get, with sweet corn, red beans, huge jelly and two dollops of ice cream. The ice cream is even freshly made, as I saw a huge sign showing they have their own-made famous durian ice cream here, which was served with the ais kacang. Indeed the ice cream tasted great and complimented the ais kacang well.



Feeling bit nibbly, we ordered the popiah (Chinese spring roll) to go along. The lady came to serve asked us whether we want to pour in the broth (first time I encountered broth for popiah) then we agreed and it was poured over the popiah. It was a little bland but the texture was not bad.

Kek Seng Coffeeshop
384 Jalan Penang

11.55am
Feeling really filled up we decided to have a little break from our eating frenzy and head over for some massage and reflexology. It is located at the same row with Joo Hooi Café, at the other end of the row of shops. Here, they offer massages and reflexology by the blinds. Nowadays, it is really popular in Malaysia, for the blinds to learn reflexology, from a school which is catered to them specially. Going to these places always makes me feel that I had helped them in a way, where they can earn their own income. I opt for the reflexology while J went for the massage. The service was great and both of us enjoyed it. I would recommend you to stop by if you ever had a chance to be around town.



Aroma Reflexology
Jalan Penang
(same row with Joo Hooi Café)

1.49pm
After an hour and half of relaxing, we are ready to eat again (surprise!). So J and I got in the car and sped off in search of Char Kuey Kak (stir fried radish cake) and Or Chien (oyster omelette). I read that the one near the Chinese school was famous so we went there and alas again, we found that the stall was not open. Then we guessed that it is only opened for dinner. So we sat down and ordered har mee (prawn noodle) instead.



The noodle was great, expectedly as har mee is another famous dish hailed from Penang itself. It came in a superbly rich prawn broth, with prawns, sliced pork, eggs and beansprouts. It was good; we eat and drank the soup dry (we would not want to count the calories here).

Opposite Penang Chinese Girl School
Jalan Gottlieb

So, feeling satiated again, J and I decided to head on to some site seeing. I just found out, thanks to J that, besides the glorious food, it turns out there are some hidden places to visit in Penang.

To be continued….

Penang Food Diaries:
Part 1
Part 3

13 comments:

Rasa Malaysia said...

Hey Tham Jiak,

I salute you, so it looks like you guys ate more than me! I was eating 8 meals a day, but I think you guys would easily top my record once you finish writing your story...looking forward to read more!!

BTW, the Laksa at both Joo Hooi and Kek Seng are good...and the fish balls at the Kuay Teow Th'ng place in Kek Seng are absolutely the best! You have to try the next time you go up there. ;)

Anonymous said...

You can't have a massage or reflexology on a full stomach and you are supposed to eat after 1 hour later. It's lucky you did not throw up. Did you drink a glass of warm water after reflexology to get rid of the toxin from your kidney?

Tummythoz said...

Delicious Char Koay Teow pic. Made my tummy growl! Btw, believe they use duck eggs so it's more 'fragrant'.

teckiee said...

OMGGG I really miss good penang char queh teow!!! cannot find really really good ones in KL anymore =(

cookies_cream said...

My oh my...char kueh teow, Penang Hokkien mee a.k.a prawn mee...my favourites! Wow, first time hearing popiah with soup. ;)

FooDcrazEE said...

syiok if can go makan with u.

Audrey Cooks said...

Aiyo! with Penang food reviews everywhere i turn makes me really miss my hometown! Booo Hooo Hooo!

anakbrunei said...

Greetings from a fellow tham jiak from Brunei! I absolutely love your blog! Everytime I visit, it never fails to make me hungry! The pic and write-up on the char kuey tiaw just made my mouth water! So wicked! Absolutely splendid! Keep in coming!!!

rokh said...

Rasa malaysia, yea we ate like mad!

Jackson, I wish my waistline would allow me :P

Anonymous, I did not know that but I dranks lots of water after

Tummythoz, they really use duck egg! First time I hear that.

Cookies, seems like CKT is people’s favourite.

Foodcrazee, bring your wife then :D

Audrey, then time to go home and fill up

Anakbrunei, hello! Glad to hear from you. Yea CKT tends to do that ;) Thank you

Anonymous said...

Hi everyone,

We travel to Penang regularly in search of the most delicious food in Penang. We are thinking of renting a car in Penang during our next makan trip in 2008. Can you recommend a cheap, good and reliable car rental company in Penang? Thanks a lot.

rokh said...

hi anonymous, sorry i do not know bout car rental. maybe someone can help you

Anonymous said...

Hi Rokh,

It's ok, do not feel apologetic about it. Btw, I got a response from food blogger, Lingzie's tummy treats. She is able to help us with the car rental info.

rokh said...

anonymous, glad to know that! :)

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