In Penang. Again!

Was so happy when the boyfriend suggested we head up to Penang for a getaway in conjunction with his mom’s visit to Malaysia. Penang is my favourite state hands down. Love the food, the architectures, the food….teeheehee.

It’s 1.30am now and I’m blogging in our hotel room in the dark because I’m such a dedicated blogger, right? Nope….the truth is my stomach is just too full for me to fall asleep :P

# – It’s been many times, but yet I still feel excited at the sight of Penang Bridge suspension hehe.

As soon as we crossed Penang Bridge, we headed towards Tanjung Bungah for the famous banana fritters and deep fried ninkou. They’re so good it’s not unusual to see Singaporeans buying 50 pieces at one go at this place!

# – 10 pieces each of both banana fritters & fried ninkous. As I regretfully discovered, was simply too much for 3 people :P

By the time we roused from the sugar induced coma it was time for dinner at New Lane. Sadly, the awesome stall selling pork intestine porridge was closed but I made it up with 2 plates of charkuewteow, a bowl of laksa and 3 pairs of kickass grilled chicken wings. For the record, I shared.

# – How to tell which chicken wing was eaten by a white person and which by a chinese? Chinese gnaws it down to the bones!

Before I knew it, supper greeted me in the form of hokkien mee (or prawn mee as we KLites call it) from Old Green House. This has got to be the most sumptuous version of Penang Hokkien Mee with the addition of roast pork, extra prawns, pork balls and other goodies. A little pricey but totally worth it!

# – Remember to order your Old Green House hokkien mee with Cintan noodles. By the way, the puny plate of lobak in this picture cost us RM9. Quite nice but whether it’s worth RM9 or not…I don’t think so.

The next day, while on the way to Kek Lok Si temple, we stopped at Kopitiam Taman Emas opposite Penang Girl’s School for its unique Penang laksa served with deep fried spring rolls. In all honesty, I’m not particularly taken by the noodles (though I must clarify that they’re still WAY better than the average stuff you get in KL), but my gawd the spring rolls? After dipped in the laksa soup, they’re capable of bringing joy & happiness even to the most cynical of mouths.

# – Who knew spring rolls and laksa could make such a killer combo?

Glad I had lunch because it was a challenge climbing up the pagoda at Kek Lok Si. Though I’ve been to Kek Lok Si several times, it was my first time up the pagoda. Everytime I thought I had reached the top, I was greeted by a new set of staircase. It was mindboggling…

# – View from like 2nd floor I think though I honestly thought this was top floor. By the time I actually reached the top floor I was too delirious to take a decent picture of the view -_-

I know, I need to work on my fitness :P

Before I end the blog post, here’s an obligatory camho picture from the grounds of Kek Lok Si…

# – Me and my zodiac sign, the rat.

Seriously, the rat statue kind of crept me out cause it looked so menacing. C’mon it’s more scary looking than the tiger okay? I wish they had made a cuter version!

Have a great week, peeps!

Penang Chee Cheung FUN.

Thanks to Kerol and Horng, both consummate foodies and Penangites for introducing this dish to me because it changed my entire perception of chee cheung fun!

No, it changed my life!!!!

“Chee cheung fun” is literally translated into pork intestine noodles. However, the only thing pork related about it is its name. It is just plain rice rolls but got its name due to its resemblance to pork intestines. When Kerol raved about this chee cheung fun with sweet sauce and chilli, honestly I was not very keen on trying it.

All because of my preconceptions of the innocent rice rolls. I particularly dislike the ones in KL because the sauces are almost always gloopy & nasty and the rice rolls too dry & dense. If I were to eat chee cheung fun, I only ever eat the Hong Kong style ones or just plain with sesame oil and light soya sauce. So really, how much better can this chee cheung fun be??

Well, it’s SO MUCH OMG BETTER!!!!

# – The stall.

The coffeeshop called Genting Cafe was packed to the brim when we reached there. There were other famous foods there too which we tried but lets focus on the rice rolls for now.

# – Kerol and Me with the most awesome chee cheung fun in the world.

So how did it taste like? It was literally the first time that I had ever tasted sweet sauce with hints of prawn paste and peanuts. It was genius! The prawn paste totally takes the sweet sauce to a whole new level. The silky rice rolls, slathered with the delicious sweet sauce and spicy chilli sauce, makes a hell of an ADDICTIVE dish!

# – ST was loving it!

This is definitely one of my favourite Penang food. Forget charkuehteow forget laksa, give me some chee cheung FUN!

# – ARGH NEED SOME NOW!

Anyone from Penang who can tarpao for me pretty please?????

Kedai Kopi Genting Cafe
Lorong Delima 3,
Island Glades, Penang.