Penang Gastronomic Adventure

As promised, here's proof of my camera's excursion to the Pearl of the Orient - Penang Island! My sister was up in Penang recently and very kindly snapped some pictures for me. The pictures had me drooling...so I hope you enjoy them too!

She had dinner at the famous Gurney Drive hawkers. I think Auntie Lilian has blogged about it in her ever-popular 5xmom blog!

There's a little old man under a tree who sells fantastic Char Kuey Teow. Have to go early as there are always people queuing for his charcoal fried kuey teow. And he has no qualms in scolding you if you try to cut queue or harrass him about when your order is due!

Wah...see the big prawns? He normally gives 3 prawns but that night he was feeling generous and she got double the amount for RM3!

She ate this in my honour! This is a BIG favourite of mine in Gurney Drive. It's actually Kuey Teow Thng (Kuey Teow Soup) but I normally opt to have the condiments without the noodles. There's a wide array of fishballs, meat, liver, innards, vege, etc to pick from. And over it, the hawker will ladle fragrant meat broth and top it with a generous spoon of minced garlic oil. The funny thing about this stall is that you never know what the price is going to be as the items are not individually priced! This bowl costed RM5. My personal record was RM13 and the soup had to come in TWO bowls! Then again, it was shared by 4 people so not that greedy-lah!

She went to Lorong Selamat the next day for lunch. Lorong Selamat is well-known for its Char Kuey Teow fried by a lady in a red Smurf hat. Many still make a bee-line for her stall but her high prices and miniscule portions stopped us from frequenting it some time back. Be prepared, though, should you wish to eat the Char Kuey Teow. It's self-service and while you wait for your order to be fried, they'll hand you a plate (if you're eating in) or a pair of chopsticks (if it's takeaway)!!

Nevertheless, the area still has lots of good eats. As they say, the proof is in the pudding...or in this case, in the photos!
On the left is Char Kuey Kak - rice cake pieces fried with eggs and beansprouts. Further south, we call it Char Kuey but I believe the Penangites add the "Kak" because it's wrapped into a triangular shape for take-away. But please do correct me if I'm wrong! On the right is another version of Pork Kuey Teow. This coffeeshop in Lorong Selamat serves really good Kuey Teow soup. We stumbled upon it by chance and it's remained high on our Penang Must-Eat list! It has the usual liver and pork slices and fishballs but the difference lies in the soup which is a nice wholesome and flavourful broth. Delicious!

Finally, what's a trip to Penang without the famous Penang Lobak? Every Lobak stall has a wide variety of pick-and-mix ranging from century eggs, fish balls, fish, etc and of course, the Lobak itself! Lobak is a meat springroll where slices of marinated meat are wrapped up in caul fat or beancurd sheets and deep-fried. Anything selected will be deep-fried, sliced and served with chilli sauce and a sweetish, starchy sauce. The brown shape is the Lobak while the yellow are fried fish slices.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the virtual Penang trip as much as I did! I hope to make a trip up there again soon!