Tuai Pui Curry Mee / Da Fei Ka Li Mien @ Penang

In addition to Penang Laksa, one of the "must-eats" in Penang is the curry mee. Mentioned on Penang's food trail brochure (available at the airport) was Tuai Pui Curry Mee located at Weld Quay. Since it was easy enough to get to the Quay with the free city shuttle service, I set my mind (and stomach) on having curry mee for brunch on our last day there.

This is how the stall looked like. From the bus interchange at the quay, we walked in the hot merciless heat down the road looking for the curry mee stall which we figured would be a prominent large coffee shop or at least a decently sized stall. However, Tuai Pui is nothing more than just a small stall which one would most easily bypassed if one wasn't looking out and asking around for it. The stall is about 5 mins walk away from the bus interchange on the opposite side of the road and near a large foodcourt that offers free wifi.

The curry mee is prepared by 1 of 2 brothers and there are all of 4 wooden tables set out under some large multi-colored umbrellas. The picture below should give one a better idea of the surroundings and set up of Tuai Pui Curry Mee. It certainly isn't a place which can accommodate a large group and really is nothing more than a roadside store. The kind that I wouldn't dare to eat at without risking a major stomachache.

However, since we had come so far and there was nothing else to be had, we decided to have the curry mee. Tired, hot and hungry, I didn't pay attention to what ingredients there were laid out at the stall and told the store uncle that I would have whatever he recommended. As a result, we both had a bowl of curry mee that came with congealed pig's blood. You can't get curry mee with blocks of congealed pig's blood anymore in Singapore according to my mother for whom this dish brought back memories of her childhood.

Of course, I didn't eat the pig's blood at all, or the pig's innards that came with the bowl of noodles but the curry was so delicious that I ordered another bowl of curry mee. However, this time, I chose the ingredients carefully - fishball noodles and chicken meat only. At RM 5 only, this bowl of curry mee was worth every calorie it contained.

There were only home-made drinks available at Tuai Pui so we headed to the open-air foodcourt a few steps down for drinks which might be safer on the stomach. I ordered the 3 colored tea which turned out to be a frighteningly sweet combination.

The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10 for Tuai Pui Curry Mee. Despite the oily flavorful richness of the gravy, it really isn't worth making an effort to go to Weld Road just for the curry mee. The curry mee is good, no denying that but the setup, surroundings and accessibility of the place (esp given the weather in Penang) are quite deterring factors.

The best Penang Laksa and Restoran Nasi Kandar Line Clear @ Penang

One should not ever miss out eating the famous penang laksa slightly off Jalan Penang. And that is where I brought my good old Mama despite her protests about how sour the laksa would be. I've blogged about it before so I won't go in to too much detail save that it is THE best laksa. We tried the penang laksa at Gurney Drive (the hawker food there is really dismal) and some other local coffeeshop but nothing comes close.


However, do not make the mistake of ordering chendul/chendol from this coffeeshop - the one outside where many stand slurping down the chendul is way better. The 50cents to bring that chendol into the coffeeshop is well spent as compared to ordering the overly sweet and sticky chendul from this coffeeshop. As mama was hungry, we ordered fried kway teoh too. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. The two prawns that came with the small plate (RM4) were succulent and fresh and the kway teoh was fried to perfection - not too oily and no burnt bits.

Good old mama didn't stop there though - she ordered the fried ngoh hiang which I am not a fan of but hey wow, the Slog Reviews: 8/10. The fried tofu was really good and the meat thingy was stuffed full of meat. I was impressed with how warm, soft and fresh the inside of the tofu was. The sauces that came with the dish were pretty delectable too. Not to be missed if 1 is there.

While walking down Jalan Penang in the direction of Cititel, we also passed by the famous Line Clear Nasi Kandar place - the entrance to the place looks like this. I remember the last time my CEB and I were there, the queue was so ridiculously long that as much as we wanted to try the food, we could not imagine joining the queue.

However, at 3.45pm in the afternoon, there was no queue whatsoever so despite being stuffed from the penang laksa, fried kway teoh etc, we waddled in the narrow alleyway to check out the offerings. On the left side of the wall were some cheery testimonies to the stall's popularity.

The prices of the items however were displayed after the offerings. :D Notice though that the prices of the prawns were not set out...and with good reason, one prawn was RM10!

So, the offerings - a mind-boggling display of pots and plates heaped full of various appetising food which assaulted not just the eyes but the nose. The guy in the picture appeared, or at least behaved like the owner of the place when he decided for mama and me how we should have our food packed for take-away. When I told him how long the queue was the last time and how glad I was to finally be able to try his famous food, he appeared rather pleased & promised me tt he would remember me. And, give me a "cut-the-queue" pass the next time(s).

We ordered chicken, 2 prawns and some veg out of the offerings (consisting of sotongs) below because these were, according to him, the items which would keep for dinner. We just couldn't put any more into our bellies at that time. The bill came to RM27 because 2 prawns = RM20!

In the night, we fell upon the packed food and it tasted as fresh as ever despite being left in packets for 3 hours. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. Like Shakira's song "Hips don't lie" in this case here, the queues don't lie!

Golden Sands Resort @ Penang

Per my last post on Traders Hotel @ Penang, there is a daily free shuttle service to their sister hotel located at Batu Ferringhi which is essentially, Penang's most famous beach. The trip takes about 30-40mins and is almost always full so do remember to make reservations at the hotel concierge. I think the reason is that the room rates at Golden Sands Resort are twice that of Traders Hotel and most of the shops along Batu Ferringhi are closed in the day. However, as the well-known Chinese saying goes "Yi Fen Qian, Yi Fen Hou" ie what you pay is what you get and Golden Sands appears to be a far nicer place to stay at than Traders. Esp so if one likes the resort-style type of hotel, and if one has a family with small children. The grounds and concept of the hotel is much like Singapore's Rasa Sentosa as you will see from the pics.

The pools here are really lovely and family-friendly. It's all very nice really - right from the reception area to the paths down to the pool and then further on to the rather clean and well-kept stretch of beach. I took the picture below standing on the beach and I bet you'll agree with me that the resemblance to our Rasa Sentosa is undeniable! The picture also shows the famed Penang restaurant called Sigi's which opens right to the beach. Mum and I are not fans of alfresco dining given the stifling heat and murderous sun rays but the view from the outdoor tables at Sigi's was simply far too lovely to resist. So sat outside we did taking in the view of tall coconut trees, white sands and blue seas. And it wasn't hot because they turned on the ceiling fan and there was the cool fresh ocean breeze. Ah bliss!

Sigi's has a lunch time menu which means that plenty of items are not available in the day, in particular seafood like scallops and all.

If you know me, I'm allergic to chicken because it triggers my anger mgt issues (okay, I know how lame that sounds but it's better than not having an answer when questioned about this alleged allergy). However, my mum likes chicken so I decided to surprise her. The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. The cook did such a great job of tenderising the chicken meat that my mum thought it was fish meat (as I didn't tell her I'd ordered the chicken). And with the melted cheese which lends a very nice twang to the meat, even I who hate chicken would recommend this dish to a friend! Definitely do not miss eating at Sigi's if you are at Batu Ferringhi!

We stumbled upon this on the hotel's grounds, as I said, this is a very family-oriented hotel and there are no lack of activities for one to engage in and at pretty affordable prices too! Traders Hotel's guests are entitled to use the facilities here as well free of charge but not the facilities at the Rasa Shangrila Hotel located next door. If Golden Sands is this impressive (for Penangs' standards), I wonder how good Penang's Shang is given the rates are double Golden Sand's! The sign above isn't to be taken lightly - there ARE jellyfish in the seas. However, the water sports like para sailing, jet skiing are so affordably priced that it would be a pity to miss these while holidaying at Golden Sands. There is also a reflexology/massage shop by the beach. Here is a picture of the Batu Ferringhi beach taken from Golden Sands' grounds. In the short time we were there, there were at least 3 brightly colored para sailing folks up in the air! I wish we had brought our swim suits because even my mum was tempted to go para-sailing. She has been a really good sport recently, having gone white water rafting in Australia with us just a few months back and I reckon I will bring good old mama for some para-sailing some day!

Traders Hotel @ Penang

For our mother-daughter trip to Penang, the choice of hotel was easy - Traders Hotel. Not only because of its superb location but also cos one should not bring one's mama to stay at digs less than decent. In any case, I figured I could use my Golden Circle membership which I'd acquired in 2008 staying at HongKong's Shang when travelling for work. The orangy card is my membership card and the reddish card is the special room keycard given to GC members only. And guess what, it does nothing more than an ordinary room keycard - bah.

Given that we were in Penang so near to the festive Chinese New Year period, the hotel lobby was decorated (rather garishly I felt) with lots of red. I'm not sure how the hotel lobby looks like on an ordinary day but I would think it doesn't quite look like tt with lots of dragons & lanterns.

No luck for a free upgrade to a club room despite the GC membership so a deluxe room (as I'd booked) on the 12th floor it was. I know that this isn't the Shang (although before it was re-named Traders it was called Shangrila) but I was quite surprised that this hotel was quite so old and old-fashioned. I didn't like the corridors of the 12th floor which were dark with thread-bare carpets and as for the room, well, how many hotel rooms these days still have CRT TVs! Even budget hotels have LCD TVs. And don't get me started on the limited cable channels. There was complimentary broadband service but no free wifi. The only thing I really dug about were the beds and beddings which were so plushy - it was so easy to fall sound asleep and a real struggle to get out of 'em in the morning.

We had a view of the city from our room - a view that reminded us of the blazing sun and merciless heat outside. According to a local, it hadn't rained for a month and this is the monsoon season we are talking about!

We didn't use any of the hotel facilities such as the pool but we had dinner at Island Cafe. The prices of the food are ridiculously cheap, esp for a Shang group hotel - RM25 nett for a large steaming pot of salmon fish head curry. The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. Spicy definitely (esp if you eat the chilli in the pot) and more than enough meat for 2 adults to share because an entire fish head was used. However, sweet pink salmon meat doesn't really go so well with curry (or maybe I'm not used to that) so this dish isn't a must-try.

Now, when I say superb location of the hotel, I meant the hotel's accessibility to one of the bigger shopping malls in Penang - Pranglin Mall which spans two atriums. It has a Parkson at one of the atriums as well as a Giant supermarket, Watsons, Guardian and all sorts of local clothes and shoes shops. Nothing high street like Mng, Zara much less, Bebe or LV. There is also a cinema on the top floor of Pranglin Mall.

And right next to Pranglin Mall is the new shopping centre called First Avenue. It appears to be very new with a (not-yet-opened) covered linkway to Traders Hotel. There is supposed to be a supermarket here but it isn't opened and the shops look slightly higher-end (there is supposed to be a Coach store soon) but that remains to be seen as the place isn't fully tenanted.

The Slog Reviews: I'll rate a stay at Traders Hotel Penang 8/10. While you should not expect to be blown away or even the least bit impressed with the rooms or the state of the hotel because of its Shang branding, the location (shopping) and accessibility (not just to public transport but to all the famous eating places at Jln Penang / Jln Burma) makes it a viable hotel option. There is also a free daily (11.30, 2.30 and 4.30pm)shuttle bus ride to and fro Golden Sands Resort (also under the Shang group) which one has to register for early due to the limited seats (lots of Japanese tourists stay at Traders and use this facility).

Because Traders Hotel is right next to Komtar, one can take the public bus 401E from the airport to Komtar and walk the 2min walk to the hotel. The bus ride costs only RM2 per pax as opposed to taking a taxi from the airport to Komtar at RM44+. However, I should mention here that I had waited 45mins at Komtar for the 401E to get to the airport on the last day and it never showed - the taxi driver we used in the end mentioned that there is only one bus and well, if that bus gets stuck in the a traffic jam (which Penang is famous for) or breaks down, one could wait a really really long time...like more than an hour!

Day 3 in Penang on 8 Nov 2010 - Kek Lok Si Temple

My last post on the Penang trip will be about Kek Lok Si Temple, which is probably the most, if not second most (after the snake temple) temple in Penang. As I'd mentioned, the Penang leg of the trip was planned by my CEB. My friend, P, kindly drove us from our hotel to the temple and dropped us off at the base of the hill the temple was built on.

To get to the temple, one has to climb quite a few flight of steps and along the way, many vendors have set up stalls selling nutmeg oil, t-shirts, luopans and all other sort of knickknacks. The encroachment by the vendors of their goods, on the walkway coupled with the number of people stopping to haggle over the price of the goods meant that the climb up was rather claustrophobic and tedious. Not ideal for toddlers and small kids at all.

However, being two rather large adult individuals with lots of time to spare, my CEB and I navigated the stairs in due time. Kek Lok Si is very large and spread over several stations as you will note from the picture of the comprehensive signboard below.

The next few pictures I took are of the sprawling compound and some of the beautifully constructed temple buildings.

I like the picture below in particular because it reminds me of the place where my CEB bought me some kind of 5 coin token at the shop on the first floor. Although I am not a believer at all (cradle Catholic), I accepted the token purely as a gift from him to me.


The newest and grandest attraction at Kek Lok Si however is this massive statue of Kwan Yin. It is impressive in size, if not in color. I much prefer the white kwan yin statue at the temple of ten thousand buddhas in Hong Kong, Sha Tin. This kwan yin statue appears to be almost completed and may probably be open for the public to access at a closer proximity in the future.
And I should mention too, that unless one drives or has iron legs fit to climb a hill, one has to buy a ticket (RM5 each way per pax) to take the cable ride up to view the Kwan Yin statue. The ride is worth the money because one gets to have a view of Penang Town on the way up, and is left with some spare breath to walk around to take some pictures of the garden up there.

In addition to the garden which houses 12 stone statues of the zodiac animals, there is also a small pond and another temple on the same level as the Kwan Yin statue. I wouldn't estimate one spending more than half an hour here unless one is determined to take a photograph of each stone statue, which I say, isn't too badly carved out. So here's tiger...on tiger. :D

Day 2 in Penang on 7 Nov 2010 - Sea Pearl Lagoon Cafe

I believe firmly that there is some truth to the saying that locals know where the best food is. And my friend P proved me right when she brought us to Sea Pearl Lagoon Restaurant located somewhere at the far end of Gurney Drive (not along the hawker food street area). The restaurant is apparently very popular among the locals and only accessible by car. However be warned that the ambiance of the place is rather dismal - it isn't a restaurant where you should dress up to go to - you would fit right in to the rather dirty-looking place in a pair of slippers and home shorts. But the food....I rarely say this given how much seafood I eat, the food is GLORIOUS, food fit for a seafood god.

I'll start with the best item - the salt-baked prawns. The Slog Reviews: Off the scale. Have you ever had salt-baked prawns? I've never had prawns so exquisitely fresh and sweet and baked to perfection such that the meat within remains tender yet moist. And there is just the slightest hint of saltiness that comes from the shell...the pic above shows just the first plate we had - we ordered another plate of course (500gm per plate).

The restaurant however doesn't specialize in doing prawns but rather, crabs. Pic above shows the salt-baked crabs which the 3 of us shared and were they good! The Slog Reviews: Off the scale! Salt-baked crabs filled with sweet roe and fresh firm meat. I owe P such a huge one for this sensational experience.

My CEB who likes Lala (clams) ordered a plate of clams and while they were nothing like the crabs or prawns, they were done in a different style and sauce (compared to JB) which lent the dish a unique but not unpleasant taste. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Despite our satisfaction with this dish, I would still advocate that one should fill all available space in one's stomach with the prawns and crabs instead.

There are also other stalls at the restaurant which sells other type of food. Like satay. Mediocre at best so the advice above holds still - don't waste good calories or stomach space on these.

Alright, alright...I know. The table below is one of the few pics I'll post which shows the aftermath of The Slog's encounters with good food. My CEB likes taking pics like these which I feel are pretty gross and a testimony to our gluttony. But facts are facts, and so, we three gluttons polished off everything on the table - prawns, crabs, lala and satay.

After dinner and after meeting P's boyfriend who let slip that there might be durian ice cream at Penang's local ice cream parlor, we dropped by one of Maxim's outlet but alas, there was no durian ice cream. P bought us ice cream which was really sweet of her given how she had been driving us around most of the day. Although there was a sign board explaining how the ice cream in the shop was special (something about what ingredients went in and how it was made), I thought it was rather over-priced and unremarkable. Give me my favourite Haagan-Daz anytime!

We ended the night at Batu Ferringhi where there were loads of night markets and hawker food but being stuffed with the prawns, crabs and satay, we could not eat a bite more. There were lots of fakes and pirated stuff being sold at the very touristy stretch but as we didn't have much time to explore this area of Penang, when we go back there in a few weeks time, I'll have more to write about.

In any case, take note of where the best salt-baked crabs and prawns can be found:

Sea Pearl Lagoon Cafe
338, MK.18 Tanjung Tokong, 10470 Penang
(Next to Tua Peh Kong Temple)
Tel: 04-8990375

Day 2 in Penang on 7 Nov 2010 - Penang Street Famous Food

There is a really popular local food street in Penang located within a stone's throw from Gurney Plaza at Gurney Drive. This was how the place looked like at 6pm on a Saturday evening and it was tough finding a seat not only because of the crowd but also because many stores reserved the tables in front of their store for their customers.

My friend from Penang, P, who had dropped us off here told us that the stores towards the start of the street were more popular and even so, to help narrow down the bewildering array of choices before us, my CEB and I decided to order only from the stores with the longest queues on the assumption that these were the best. So he got in line at the "Cantonment Road Famous Char Koay Teow" stall (this is how it was spelled). The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. Nothing too extraordinary about the char kway teoh really save that it was light, non-oily and went down the throat most easily.

He also ordered the Ikan Bakar (BBQed stingray) which turned out to be done in a very different style from that which we are used to. The Slog Reviews: 4/10. There was very little meat to the fish and the sambal/chilli sauce was bland and unremarkable. Not worth ordering.

I had a craving for carrot cake but he couldn't find any and ended up ordering fried oyster. The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. I don't eat oysters so I can't comment too much about the freshness of the oysters but my CEB ate all of the oysters with great relish. As for the egg, I found the consistency a little too heavy for my liking.

The conclusion I drew after our experience at Gurney Drive is that Singapore's hawker food easily gives the street food there a serious run for its money. Not so though when it comes to Penang Laksa. Never, and I mean never, have I heard of any place in Singapore selling penang laksa that is able to rival the penang laksa sold in Penang, esp the penang laka sold at this very old run-down 1960s coffeeshop along Penang Road.

I don't know what the name of the shop is and neither does my friend who had earlier posted pics of this place and the penang laksa on her facebook page but if you walk along the main Penang Road, and ask the hawkers there (Even those selling penang laksa themselves) where the famous penang laksa is, they would point you in the direction of this coffeeshop which sells this.

Despite its appearance, and despite my having an aversion to sour-tasting laksa, I have developed a craving for penang laksa (even now as I type this) ever since having a bowl of this penang laksa. It is that good. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Don't, don't ever give this laksa stall a miss if you are in Penang. It is worth the wait, worth the crowd and the walk to get there. While my CEB downed his second bowl of penang laksa from the shop, I had him get me a bowl of the chendol from the stall outside the shop (Had to pay an extra 50ct to the penang laksa seller to eat the chendol in his coffeeshop)

But before you diss the appearance of the chendol above or the fact that I had to part with 50ct just to eat this sitting down comfortably, take a look at the picture below of the queue for the chendol and the people standing around in the broiling hot Penang sun enjoying the chendol.

The name of this chendol stall is "Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul" (yes, spelt this way). Now, if you have folks back home whom you pity for missing out on all the smashing great food in Penang, you can go to this famous shop called CHEE HIANG Penang to buy back some biscuits for them. Take note though of the long queues and impatient attitude of the staff behind the counter - although it is ridiculous that the choices of biscuits isn't made available to one while one is queuing, one is expected to know exactly which boxes of biscuits one should buy upon being served.