Best Lorbak in Penang!

*Pureglutton comes in and sweeps away the cobwebs and dust covering every corner of this blog*


OK, now that I have done some housecleaning here (I know, I've been MIA for some time, lol!), I better put up the pics of the best Lorbak we had in Penang, before the pics expire or get lost in my archives, haha!

Right... this was on the last day of our Penang makan trip. It was a rainy wet morning.... when I called CK Lam, she advised that we really really must try the Best Lorbak in Penang! The boys were totally enthusiastic when I mentioned "Lorbak"... so with the GPS and CK's directions (it's near Cititel Hotel!), we found our way to Kafe Kheng Pin located at 80, Penang Road.

I must admit I don't have the best pic here to capture the total deliciousness of this Lorbak... do hop over to CK Lam's post for better yummy pics!

When you enter this old-world kopitiam, you can see that every table will have at least a plate of these yummy fried fritters....

The stall selling the Lorbak is certainly the star attraction of this place and you have to wait quite a bit for your turn while the stall-owners frantically fry the batter-covered yummies in the huge wok of hot oil. I think we had about 3 plates of these - an assortment of meat/fish/seafood rolls, squids, prawn fritters, tofu etc! The crispy pieces disappear as soon as the plate is placed on our table!

Of course we also ordered other stuff while we were there - 3 plates of Lorbak were not enough to fill our growling tummies. So, let me show you what else we had...

Wantan Mee - with mushroom, cha siew and shredded chicken ... average, I would say...

Ahhh... the Char Kway Teow was pretty good! According to LL & NL, this was gooodddd - and they proved it by ordering 2 plates! I had a couple of bites and I must say I agreed with the boys - there was enough wok-hei, the taugeh was crunchy and the noodles were very flavourful! They claimed that taste-wise, this is equivalent to the Giant Prawns CKT they had the day before and certainly much much cheaper!

Another good eat was the Chicken Rice. The auntie manning this stall warned me that I had to wait some time for my order. OK fine... so I waited like 20 minutes and still my chicken was not forthcoming. I went over and reminded her... guess what? She had totally forgotten my order even though our table was just behind her stall! Anyway, finally the plate arrived at our table....

... and boy, it was delicious & worth the wait! See the almost-translucent glassy skin of the chicken? - that was so smooth and succulent! The rice could have been tastier - it lacked the chicken oil/onions/garlic flavours but the superbly poached chicken made up for this shortcoming.
Needless to say, my plate of this yummy chicken was hijacked by the boys and we had to order a second plate - and that too was hijacked by them!... haiya!

We definitely will hunt this place down when we next visit Penang - you can be sure of that!

Once again, I'd like to thank CK Lam for introducing this place to us and it was lovely meeting up with her and her professional photographer, hehe!

Assam Laksa & Coconut Jelly in Penang

Continuing with my makan spree in Penang...

After the 2 breakfasts that we had, we went to Queensbay Mall (because it was also raining and we had to abandon any outdoor jaunts) ... not that we had anything to shop for, but it was more like we had to exercise a bit to work off that heavy double-breakfast! After a couple hours of aimless window-shopping there, we decided we had enough and headed on to my must-have Assam Laksa!

Yes, this is the place...

The Air Itam Market Assam Laksa is a must for me whenever I visit Penang. I have tried some of the other popular assam laksa in the island but somehow this place holds the No.1 spot for me. It's not exactly the most glamorous location ;-) but then, hey, I'm a loyal supporter of this enterprise!

That Ah Pek has been manning this stall since time immemorial, I think...

We had hardly taken our seats and before we could even blink, bowls of hot steaming Assam Laksa appeared on our table. Ahh... the familiar ceramic bowl, the metal soup-spoon, the red chopsticks - this assam laksa has its own personality which can't be found anywhere else.

I think the soup is somehow kinda watered-down a bit, not as thick as it used to be... and of course the price of RM2.70 per bowl has rocketed... but I'm still happy. The soup still maintained the delicate balance of sour, sweet, fishy with the combination of bunga kantan, daun kesom, mint leaves, bombay onions imparting its unmistakable aroma. The rice noodles were smooth with just the right touch of chewiness...

LL wanted to order his 2nd bowl but he was stopped by SIL who said that there's another assam laksa joint down the road which she insisted we had to try. Oh well, more about that below.

There's this stall just next to the Assam Laksa selling fried goodies... and being the gluttons that we were, of course we had to have some...

We had fried popiah and some fried fuchook (beancurd skins)... hmmm... fresh out from the wok of hot oil... I think they were just decent but not mind-blasting.

So, after our one bowl of assam laksa per person, we hopped back into the car and drove down the road, to this place...

Just across from the Asia Cafe, there was a cluster of stalls by the roadside... and chairs and tables with umbrellas set up along the side lane.

This was the Assam Laksa stall which SIL said was very good...

So, we ordered a couple of bowls...


Verdict: Hmmm... we should have stuck to the Air Itam Market laksa!!!

The laksa here was bland and totally unexciting. It just did not hit it off, ok. I almost wanted to turn back to the market to satiate our cravings... but then SIL suggested we tried the Fried Mee Mamak which she also said was good.

OK lah... since we were already seated there (and we had to wait 10 minutes to get a table!), we decided to try the Fried Mee Mamak...

As you can see, when this plate of noodles was served, I thought the guy had given us the wrong item. It looked more like mee rebus than fried mee... it was way too "wet" to qualify as "fried mee" methinks. Taste-wise: nahh, forgettable. Pretty tasteless, noodles were too soggy, totally no oomphh.

(Note to self: don't trust SIL's recommendations in future, hehe!)

After the spicy food in Air Itam and the disappointment at the 2nd venue, it was time to head back to the city for some refreshing dessert. CK Lam told me we absolutely must try the Penang Coconut Jelly in Jalan Dato' Keramat! We managed to get a parking along one of the side roads perpendicular to the busy Jalan Dato' Keramat and headed into the shop.

The whole shop sells nothing but coconuts - workers were busy cutting coconuts from the small mountains spread out in the shop. We plonked ourselves at a table and each had one of these...

... yummy refreshing soft smooth jelly straight out of the coconut! After spooning all the yummy jelly into our mouths, proceed on to the coconut flesh which was just the right "age" - not too soft nor too hard! Of course Joe the boss there refused to tell his trade secret as to HOW they made the jelly inside the coconut using the natural coconut water only. Hmmm... using the "injection" method perhaps?

Each jelly coconut cost RM3.70... and if you tapau them, make sure you keep them properly refrigerated! Joe said they can keep for 3 days...

Joe did mention they will market this in the Klang Valley later, in a big way... so all you people here in the KV just have to be patient, ya!

Look out for my next & final posting on my makan trip to Penang - the BEST Lobak there!

2 Breakfasts in 1 Morning - Penang

Continuing our food jaunt in Penang... the next morning found ourselves back in Gurney Drive again. Of course the day scenes there are very much different from the glitzy lights the night before. It was a wet morning - the early morning drizzle had somewhat "cleaned" the hazy air and it was really refreshing taking a walk along that popular road as we headed to our targeted breakfast venue No.1.

After reading CK Lam's post on the delish morning fare found in Song River Cafe, we wasted no time in heading there. This well-known cafe, located at No.65 Gurney Drive, was already filled with hungry folks when we reached the place.

We managed to get a table towards the back of the cafe... and quickly gave our orders. We knew exactly what to order after having observed the other tables as well as from CK Lam's recommendation...

Chinese tea & chilli padi all ready while waiting for the food to arrive!

The first dish of Baby Clams (Lala) came very quickly. These tiny morsels were so fresh and sweet-tasting that they were polished off in less than 5 minutes, I kid you not! Lightly saute'ed in whole taucheo beans, chilli padi and ginger, these baby clams did nothing to fill our tummies - in fact, they made us more hungry than ever, if that's possible! Yeah, catalysts for our appetites!

After the Lala, we waited agonizingly for the next dishes.... and finally our plate of Braised Prawn Noodles was placed on our table. At first, looking at the pale yellow noodles, I thought the dish was kinda insipid and character-less. It was when I put the first chopstick-full of noodles into my mouth that I realised the true meaning of "don't judge a book by its cover!"

It was just plain old yellow noodles cooked in nothing but huge fresh prawns and some spring onions... yet, the flavours were so tantalising & yummy. They certainly do not stinge on the prawns - top-rate quality ones, I assure you. Just look at the size lah! And half-peeled for us too!

Now... after demolishing that plate of prawn noodles (in record time too, I must say!), we waited impatiently for the next dish. And we were wondering if the next item will excite our palate as much as the prawn noodles did... and boy...

... were we excited!

In fact, "excite" does no justice to the plate of Steamed Fish with Noodles which appeared next. It certainly did more than excite!

We chose siakap fillet ... which was hidden underneath a pile of beehoon and kwayteow. Again, it was the freshness and simplicity of the ingredients which made this a clear winner. With only soya sauce (of superior quality), fried garlic and toppings of spring onion, somehow the chef in Song River has done a miracle in producing a dish that's sooo delightful that....

.... we just had to order another one! Yes, one plate was not enough! We ordered a second plate but this time opted to have just only kwayteow because we liked that better as kwayteow were way smoother and softer than beehoon.

While waiting for the 2nd plate of Steamed Fish with Kwayteow, we had this fibrous filler...
Ladies' Fingers ... fried with prawns and sambal. My only complaint was that they sliced the ladies' fingers too thinly - they should have cut it in chunkier pieces! Nevertheless, we picked the plate clean...

... until our 2nd plate of heaven came... which was just as good, if not better than the 1st one. The Law of Diminishing Returns does not apply at all, ok!

Good quality food comes with a price... that meal above for 4 of us came to about RM145. Certainly not a cheap breakfast... and that was only just Part 1.


Now, for Part 2...

After some frantic sms'ing with CK Lam who highly recommended Ah Leng Char Koay Teow on the exact location of the place, we managed to find it with the help of our GPS. According to CK Lam, this CKT is one of the best in Penang - read about her post here.

It's located in Khoon Hiang Cafe, fronting Jalan Dato Keramat & Jalan Dunlop...


Our timing was quite perfect... we got a nice parking spot along Jalan Dunlop and there were available tables in the shop since the crowd has not descended to this place yet...

The CKT master at work...

Each portion is fried with great concentration... and there's only koay teow, ok... don't bother asking for mee...
Within minutes, our first plate of CKT was placed on our table. The speciality here is the Mantis Shrimp... there, can you see the caterpillar-like chunks? Those are the peeled mantis shrimps... fresh out of their shells!

Full of garlicky wok-hei, mixed with slightly-charred eggs combined with the humongous fresh prawns... tell me, who isn't in CKT bliss??? Each plate has 4 giant prawns... which tasted like they were caught & peeled minutes before making their way into the wok...

Mmmm... this was MY plate... see the small mountain of cockles by the side, hehe... those were kindly donated by NL who's not a cockle-fan.
Now, if this plate of heaven doesn't raise your bad LDL levels some serious notches, I don't know what will! The amount of mantis shrimps, prawns, eggs and cockles (quadrupled whammies, man!) totally overwhelmed the koayteow... so if you're a carbs fan, I think you have to tell the guy to tambah koayteow for you!! All the sweet briny flavours of the mantis shrimps and fresh prawns have been imparted and totally absorbed by the rice noodles, fanned by the wok-hei.

Save the Best for last - that's LL's motto... he saved this to be munched when all was cleared from his plate...

With all the super ingredients thrown it, it's not surprising that the price of this CKT is RM9 a plate. Yes, not cheap ... but then you pay for the quality and experience. LL had double plates... so in total we had 5 plates!

And that... was our 2nd breakfast for the day ... all done before 11.00am!

Look out for what we had next...hehe! Next post!

Chicken Rice in USJ14

A few months ago I blogged about the Curry Laksa in USJ14 in this kopitiam called Mei Sek. This is a corner coffeeshop in the row of shops near the fruit stalls in USJ14. I was told that in the evening, that same kopitiam has a Chicken Rice stall which is very good.

So that was how one evening some weeks ago we decided to give the Chicken a try, haha! They start at about 6pm and their serving crew is unmistakable - they have yellow & red uniform - very professional-looking with caps and all!

I must say their poached chicken - and they only have poached ones - was pretty good: smooth & tender. Dunk them into some pounded ginger and chilli sauce, this will surely satiate your chicken pangs.

You can have a choice of kampung chicken or town/pasar chicken, the former being more flavourful and of course, more expensive.

You can opt to have their oily rice or kwayteow to go with the poached chicken. Being the true blue Ipohite that I am, I of course opted for the Soup Kwayteow or Hor-fun as we like to call it. It came with a few strands of kuchai and limp taugeh. I would say the kwayteow in Kar Heong was better.... nevertheless it provided the necessary carbs for this meal.

For variety, you can order their Fookchow Fishballs - smooth fishpaste encasing some minced pork, served in seaweed soup... good source of iodine, no?


And if you need some fibre, you have a few choices of greenies - I had my fave baby lettuce, slathered in oyster sauce and with generous toppings of fried shallots.

And that is what I call a simple but satisfying true Malaysian meal of the chicken kind :-))


My rating: 6/10

Nasi Lemak Daun Pisang

This morning I bought 45 packets of the above Nasi Lemak Daun Pisang.

Yes, 45 packs - not for myself lah - but for a breakfast meeting in my office. Some of my colleagues can easily polish off 2-3 packets each. Yes, it is that good! Also, because the packs are rather small lah. It's the regular no-frill basic nasi lemak pack - the best kind (in my books) >>> nasi, sambal, ikan bilis, cucumber& peanuts.

So... where did these little packs of banana leaf heaven come from? They are from this stall, helmed by Kak Nor, along Jalan SS21/34 in Damansara Utama. Just look out for this yellow+red umbrella under a tree, across from the car workshop.

When I first started buying from this stall, I thought that Kak Nor was a rather dour woman - she hardly smiled or even looked pleasant towards her customers. But after a couple more visits, I got to know her better and nowadays when she sees me alighting from my car, she gives me a welcoming smile.

Kak Nor has been selling her nasi lemak for at least 10 years now and she's a real pro in wrapping the banana leaves - every fold is precise, resulting in tall perfect cone-shaped packs.

She uses good quality ikan bilis (those from Pangkor) which are always freshly fried. I always ask for extra portions of ikan bilis and sambal... at a little bit of extra sen also lah, which I don't mind paying, because it's worth it!
Just look at this nasi lemak and tell me it isn't mouth-watering??!
If you want to buy in bulk, like I did this morning, please call her at the number below, to pre-order.
Ahhh... see, her son is a great advertisement for her nasi lemak, too!
My rating: 8/10