Buzzing with FOOD

Today marks the last day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival (Hokkien: Kow Ong Yeah). This Taoist festival is a nine-day celebration where Chinese Taoist will go on a strict vegetarian diet lasting from 3-days to 9-days. In Penang, many will make a visit to the Nine Emperor Gods Temple located at Burma Road to pray and make their aspirations.

(For further reading: Nine Emperor Gods Festival, All set for the Nine Emperor Gods Fest)

The strict vegetarian diet means there should not be any consumption of dairy, onions or garlic (believed to give bad breathe, hence not allowed), spring onion and also other products from animal source. Even the cooking utensils, cups, etc. are strictly used only for this vegetarian period or completely new.

I’m not a Taoist but I joined in the vegetarian diet since it’s been practised in my household and also I somehow prefer to eat less meat these days, so going through this vegetarian diet is not a big change to my usual eating habit. My mum also cooks during this period (using all utensils used only at this time of the year), so it’s a healthy vegetarian diet for me (outside vegetarian food seems very oily nowadays)

I managed to snap some photos of the temporary stalls set up for the public to buy vegetarian food. This was taken in Madras Lane, just opposite the Nine Emperor Gods Temple. They have practically everything from economy rice, curry mee, loh mee, char hor fun, nyonya kuih, pau, poh piah, to even satay, pizza and bak kut teh. There’s also an array of snacks like crackers, biscuits and pastries.

Tonight, there will be a grand send-off procession to the sea for the nine emperor gods to mark the end of the nine day festival.

What can you expect when you go on a field trip with a bunch of pure gluttons? It’s eating round the clock for sure!!

It was a planned trip to Kulim to join in a review session (more on that in later post), but there were many more ‘cari makan’ (food find) plans even before we leave the island on that faithful morning.

The review ended after lunch, at around 3pm. But that’s not the end of our food journey. One gave suggestion, another second the idea and off we go to the first pit-stop of never ending food.

We drop by to have something in this house. Guess what is sold here?

Laksa Kelang Lama!! This is the main shop and they have a branch in Taman Jaya, Bukit Mertajam (BM). I tried the one in BM before but I didn’t know the main one is located here. A small bowl is RM 2.40, while big one is RM 2.80. If you want to only take the soup, it cost RM 1.20!!

For me who constantly have home-cooked laksa, this one lacks in the oomph taste. It’s not spicy but just sour.

My mum usually fries prawn fritters when she makes laksa. Over here, the crackers is only made of flour, and is very thin and quite tasteless if you don’t dip it in the laksa soup! (I would prefer home-cooked version anytime over this~ who wants to try it when my mum makes it next time?? hehee)

They also sell Ais Kacang (RM 1.50). This one is good as the ice is finely blended and the syrups compliments well with the ingredients like peanuts, cincau, jelly and red beans.

A good cooling dessert to soothe the burning mouth. (Not burning for me though as I think the laksa is not spicy!).

Hard to resist isn’t it, especially on a hot sunny day!

OK, we were done at this pit-stop for laksa. It was then decided that we go to Megamall Penang area. To do what?? Eat of course!!

Laksa is not filling but instead makes you hungrier you know (due to the sourness)

We reached the next destination no long after.

This building used to be a public market, then a food court for dim sum, but now is home to Restaurant Ki Xiang.

What do they sell? Klang Bak Kut Teh (Herbal Pork Soup)!!! (Now while writing this I just realise that we were hunting down Klang food, first Laksa Kelang Lama, then now Klang Bak Kut Teh)

This is the boss, busy preparing all the available parts of the ‘bak kut’ (parts of the pork) that they offer.

Some tea (RM 3-5) to start of our meal. You can also opt for iced chinese tea (RM 0.50) if you start to sweat once you indulge in the soup.

Complimentary garlic and green chillies. You tiao (RM 1 per bowl) are also available.

Now on to the main attraction. This is what the boss have prepared for all of us.

Part by part

This is the tail part

Hoon Cheong (pork intestines)

 This shop does not serve individual bowls like the above, but just as a presentation to differentiate what kind of cuts/parts they have. When you order, they will serve it in a claypot to retain the heat. Some cabbage and mushrooms will also be added in the claypot. As for the intestines (RM 8 ) and enoki mushrooms (RM 4), it is cooked separately and served in individual bowls.

A bowl of rice (big RM 1, small RM 0.50) to enjoy the meal

This outlet also sells the dried version of Bak Kut Teh. Let’s take a peep at how it’s cooked.

Add some dried cuttlefish, dried chillies and green chillies. Then put in the chopped pork meat (brewed from the soup) and ladies fingers.

Add some dark soy sauce and seasoning. Then give it a blast of fire to start cooking it, stirring in between.

Almost done now, waiting for the gravy to dry and let the seasoning sip into the pork. Tah Dah!!…ready to be eaten. The fragrance is really something you cannot miss. It did made me stop what I was doing and just let the smell tickle my senses!!!

Dry Bak Kut Teh and Soup Bak Kut Teh. Price is charged according to per person’s serving (RM 8 per person)

As a comparison to the Klang Bak Kut Teh I had in Klang, the soup in Klang is more infused with herbal flavour. I believe the avoidance of brewing with mushrooms makes the soup more concentrated with herbs.

Over here, the soup is thick but lacks some strong herbal taste. Nevertheless, it’s considered one of the good Bak Kut Teh available in Penang!! The dry version…as I said, the smell when served, throws me away. The dried cuttlefish and ladies fingers is a great addition to this version. It is a little salty if eaten without rice though.

Compliment the meaty meal with some greens of cabbage blanched in boiling water and added with oil and dark soy sauce (RM 6). Mushrooms are added too!! I couldn’t be more happy as I just like mushrooms, in whatever dish!!!

This is a poster of the shop. This shop is open everday from 8am - 10pm!! All day Bak Kut Teh, whether for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even supper!! That’s good news for Penangites!!

And the map. Pass by the front of Megamall Penang. Turn right a few hundred meters ahead and you will see PC Depot on your left. Just go straight till the end and Restaurant Ki Xiang is at the left hard corner of the road.

And the GPS coordinate (thanks to Jason’s toy)

BURP….it was indeed a full meal. We surrendered and made our way back to the island, fully satisfied and happy to have filled our tummy to the brim. What started with a review session turned out to be a full day of food hunting!! Imagine how much food we stuffed ourselves! Will write about the review later as there was so so many dishes and drinks served!!!

Do you realise that the places/shops that you usually pass by is the place that you don’t remember the name? That’s because we are so used to the area that we can instantly project the image in our head, thus leaving out the details such as the name of the shop.

My family usually frequent this ‘chu char’ stall at this coffeeshop for its Char Hor Fun/Yee Fu Mee. But the usual practice was that we will take-away and have the nice Char Hor Fun at home. This cafe is just beside the Chong De Vegetarian Restaurant and also a walking distance from Bandar Baru Air Itam Supermarket.

How I finally got to know the name of the shop - Hill Park Cafe, is while we were seated and waiting for the dishes to be served.

Pai Kut Ong - Pork Ribs

A little wet but it was fragrant and the meat is very tender. But it’s actually pork slices instead of the real ribs.

Hot Plate Japanese To Fu

Very interesting way of presenting this dish. Egg is spreaded on a steak-like hot plate (can you see the bull shape?) and serves as a base for the deep fried japanese tofu with mushroom, chopped pork meat and spring onions.

Chinese cabbage

A plate of greens to balance thing up from all the meaty dishes. It is stir-fried with salted fish and garlic, a very simple way but aromatic and delicious.

Honey Chicken

It took quite some time for this dish to be served but it was the best dish among all. Reasonable-sized chicken meat is deep fried and then glazed with honey. The meat remains soft and tender although it was deep fried. Sweet flavour of honey is prevalent with every bite!!

Overall, this place serves reasonable and tasty ‘chu char’ dishes at a very affordable price. The bills adds up to just about RM 30++.

Business Hours:

6.00pm - 10.30pm
(Hawker food from other stalls are available during day time)

GPS:

5°23.301′ N   100°17.001′ E

Map:

(this has got to be the hardest map drawn so far. Isn’t Farlim-Bandar Baru Air Itam overpopulated?) 

(click on the map to view a larger image)

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 I hardly notice this coffeeshop (kopitiam) until my parents told me there’s a cheap char koey teow stall here.

Ping Hooi Kopitiam is located at Carnarvon Street, just at the corner junction of Lebuh Melayu and Lebuh Carnarvon (Carnarvon Street)

Very old coffee shop

Hardly see such wooden ‘partitioned chairs’ nowadays.

Some stalls operating in this small coffeeshop. There’s only about 5-6 stalls here. Most patrons will order char koey teow, lor mee or lor bak.

Char koay teow stall facing the front of the shop

Lor Mee - RM 2.50

The uncle operating this stall is constantly busy with incoming orders. So we decided to give it a try. It’s not bad, but not really spectacular too. The gravy (lor) is not too thick and pork skin is added if you didn’t request not to have it.

Lor Bak - price varies

This is one of the crowd puller in this shop. The coffeeshop owner knows it. The other day my parent went there for char koey teow but before they even order and sat down, the coffee auntie gave a remark that lor bak stall is closed for the day…some sort like forewarn my parents to decide if they should stay and order something else or go.

The lor bak does not have a strong five-spice aroma, which is nice, and the prawn fritters is filled with prawns, not like some other stalls which has more batter instead.

Hong Kong Egg Noodle - RM 3.50

Which actually translate to our local Wantan Mee. What a let down. Just a normal bowl of wantan mee. Nothing special and yet it cost more than usual.

This is actually what we come here for.

Char Koay Teow with duck egg - RM 3.50

It is actually considered cheap. There’s 3-4 large prawns and the portion is big enough to fill you up. And you don’t have to be confronted with bossy or moody char koay teow seller. There also not much waiting time involved. From these points, at least there’s no mood spoiler and you will still have appetite to enjoy your breakfast

Me being accustomed to spicy food, felt that adding more chilli would be nicer, and also abit more wok hei would be perfect!!!

GPS:

5°24.870′ N   100°20.047′ E

Map:

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