Gourmet Garden

When one mentions Char Koay Teow (CKT) ones mind would first think of Penang. Penang is infamous with many ‘famous’ Char Koay Teow stalls that are frequented by their own band of fans. Each CKT stalls stirs up their own distinctive style of Char Koay Teow decorated their own choice of toppings. Some come with crab meat, some come with mantis prawns. But for me only the simple and yet flavour complex plate of CKT can satisfy my desire and scourge.

Today I won’t dwell on what I like, but talk about the choices CKT that we can choose from at Lorong Selamat. Yes, it is plural. There are now 3 stalls of CKT to choose from on the famous Lorong Selamat.  We decided to talk or write about Char Koay Teow becasue we have just posted about Hoe Peng which was also located on Lorong Selamat.

First one on the list is the latest addition of Char Koay Teow stalls at Lorong Selamat. This particular CKT stall is housed in Midtown coffee shop, which is opposite of Kedai Kopi Dan Ice Kacang. This particular stall is run by two individuals, a Chinese lady and an Indian friend name Sam. This stall does not only serve CKT, they also sells various fried rice.

To taste the “wok hei” of CKT, we normally go for the CKT without egg and chilli. The CKT at Midtown had luscious amounts of plump and juicy bean sprouts, the prawns were firm but lack some of the sea fresh taste; the Koay Teow was springy and whole. The CKT at Midtown was not oily, which can be judge from the amount of oil left on the plate.

The CKT with egg in Midtown had the fragrance of egg but the egg did not stick to the strands of Koay Teow as it suppose to. The beansprout were juicy, the lard bits used in the CKT although nice, it lacked the fragrance and texture of bits that we have had at other places. To summarise the CKT in Midtown, it is a healthier and homey style of CKT which is not oily, not too dry and that uses a wider bodied springy Koay Teow noodles.

Taste & Texture: 3.5/5
Money Value : 3.8/5 (Reasonable -RM4.30 with medium to big size prawns and sufficient koay teow portion)
Atmosphere: 3.2/5 (Average food court but have big fans to cool you down from the weather)

Then we have next on the list is the KTG Char Koay Teow (a.k.a Ah Guan) stall located out side Kedai Kopi Dan Ice Kacang. This Ah Guan’s stall has taken over the spot of the original Lorong Selamat CKT which was run by the famous bad tempered lady wearing a red chef hat and protective goggles. Ah Guan took over the spot of the lady after she bought a lot further down the road and moved in. Ah Guan not only ‘inherited’ the famous spot but also the trademark of wearing protective goggles. Not only the CKT stall has changed at Kedai Kopi Dan Ice Kacang, even the proprietor of the coffee shop has also changed ownership. No more rude and nasty skinny lady asking customers to order drinks!

Ah Guan’s CKT has a heavier “wok hei” which one could taste immediately at the first mouthful. But with the “wok hei” come with it an oilier plate and the Koay Teow was in pieces and not in long strands. The egg was not moist and adhering to the pieces of Koay Teow, but it had the fragrant of fried egg. The prawns used were big and with the taste of the sea, but was over firm and lack the sweetness. The prawns were slightly bigger then the prawns used by Midtown CKT, but the prices also differ per serving size and variation as compared to Midtown’s. In summary, Ah Guan’s CKT is not cheap, had lots of “wok hei” which we personally find a bit over and the Koay Teow were in pieces and dryer but oilier in some sense.

Taste & Texture: 3.6/5
Money Value : 3.5/5 (RM6.00 – Prawns were big but not sweet and portion was insufficient)
Atmosphere: 3.2/5 (Entrance is oily and affects the car parked at the oppostite row of shops)

The last and most famous Char Koay Teow on Lorong Selamat is the plates fried by the lady in red. Red not only for the hat she wears but also for her temper. But after much research about her CKT stall, we understand why she is who she is. Imagine having to fry hundreds of plates of CKT and having to remember all the weird requests?! Even I would get frustrated and forget what is what.  The lady as mentioned earlier has moved to a self-owned coffee shop call Heng Huat Cafe just a few doors down the road. She still trademarks the red hat and goggles that she always seen with while at the wok.

Heng Huat’s CKT uses big prawns that are synonymous with the CKT stalls on Lorong Selamat. Their prawns were big and juicy, they had that firm and springy texture and tasted sweet and fresh(sea fresh taste). The Koay Teow noodle strands were whole and soft and springy in texture. The Koay Teow noodles that she uses are of narrower body. The “wok hei” and seasoning was just right, not overwhelming. Another thing that we like about the ladies’ CKT is that the egg is properly done and adheres to the strand of Koay Teow. But portion and price wise, for us it is insufficient. I guess that is why other hawker food is flourishing around the CKTs.

Taste & Texture: 4.0/5
Money Value : 3.7/5 ( RM6.50 Big tasty prawns but portion not enough lah!)
Atmosphere: 3.3/5 (Coffee shop still new and clean and not so warm)

Basically, me and my wife were and still are anti Lorong Selamat Char Koay Teow persons due to the exorbitant prices that they charge just because they use big prawns in their Char Koay Teow. But after tasting the Heng Huat CKT and understanding why the lady is who she is we have change our perception a bit. Although we like the taste of her (Heng Huat) CKT, it doesn’t mean that we approve of the prices that she and the other stalls charge for a plate of CKT with the reason of using big prawns, except for Midtown which is slightly below their range.

Char Koay Teow to us is all about the texture of the Koay Teow nooldes, the lard oil and bits, the crunchy bean sprouts, the irony cockles, the fragrance of the egg (be it chicken or duck ), the taste of the seasoning, and most of all the “wok hei” or skill of frying a good plate of Char Koay Teow which is not expensive and reasonable in terms of price and portion. We have favourite stall in town which its prices are reasonable and the portion to our liking, but taste inconsistent. I would blog about this CKT stall in my next post.

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The current number of attendees stand at 34 and growing. If you are interested, come and join in the craziness and fun!

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This is an article excerpt from the The Star website. The article talks about a “koperasi” that sells it food at a very reasonable price. I wonder why this business can sell things at such a low price and can still make a profit, whereas others like their competitors cannot and are ‘warning’ them for practicing such business concept? Wonder how far can we tolerate the high price of the basic nessecity of living, food? I guess it is due time for ‘hero’ to appear in the Food & Bevarage industry to open our eyes.

“Fancy a roti canai and a teh tarik for RM1 – right in the heart of the city and in these tough economic times?

That is what you will get over at the Ukhwah Restoran Rakyat 1Malaysia in busy Lorong Medan Tuanku Satu (located next to Prescott Inn).

A piece of roti canai at the outlet costs 40 sen and a glass of teh tarik is priced at 60 sen.

On the teh tarik, he makes a profit of 18 sen by selling it at 60 sen a glass.

To break even, the restaurant needs RM2,000-a-day or RM45,000-a-month in sales to cover the fixed costs of the RM7,000 rental per month for the premises and the salary of the 16 staff members, who are all locals.

“Food is a basic need. I don’t believe one should pay a lot for food. Most restaurants make 200% to 300% profit from selling food,’’ he said.”

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We have heard a lot of the Xuan Xin Restaurant which newly established its self in the prime location at Gurney Plaza’s New Wing, some said their food & service is good and some said lousy. So who is the winner?

I ‘m now going to tell my true experience that we’ve encounter. The answer is Not Too Bad. Would it be due to the lesser dinner crowd as compared to the lunch’s crowd?

The Menu

We’ve choosen the Sliced “French Style” Smoked Duck @ RM12 to start our palate.

4 pcs of smoke duck breasts with it 4 steamed mantou (chinese steam bun), cucumber and fried beancured skin. I just wonder why they put the red sauce on top of the smoke duck? And the sauce is tasteless, its serve no purpose may be just color for presentation. By the way, the duck meat is pinkish in color.

Here is how I stacked the mantou first with smoke duck slice, followed by the cucumber, crispy beanchurd skin and of course top with the other half of the mantou. We did not get any instruction on how to eat this appertizer, is this the correct way? Shouldn’t they guide us to how best savour their dishes?

The mantou was moist and fluffy and dense, also good on its own. (oppss..sounds like gardenia slogan huh?) The smoke duck had a light smoked flavour and hint of saltiness. It is best eaten with only with the steam buns, not ideal to pack everything together. The fried beancurd skin was crisp and crunchy, but i find it was a little too thick for the combination.

The first bite you should experience the warm and soft buns covered with the crunch and salty beancured skin, refreshing cucumber and the smokey duck flavour, it should be wonderful. But our experince at Xuan Xin, the beancured skin is way thicker and saltier then the smoke duck, some how or rather the smokey duck flavour was loss  (main subject). Dragon-i smoked duck is still my first choice.

Suggestion: It would be prefect if reduce the bean cured skin layer, and the enhance the duck meat flavor and moister.

Sliced “French Style” Smoked Duck: 3.8/5

Stir Fried Hor Fun with Sliced Beef @ RM12

My all time favourite “Stir Fried Hor Fun with Sliced Beef”. When I saw it in the menu, I had to order it.

The Hor Fun is slightly different from the local ones, its thinner and its cut similarly like koay teow shape, Bean sprout head and tails were picked (its a standard in Hong Kong Restaurant), slice onion, julienne slice scallion and thinly slice beef meat.

Wok hei comes from the first sense, second would be the sweetness from the dark soy sauce  and caramelized onion. Hor Fun good in texture and smooth. Beef was bit of a let down as it was not Beefy in taste and the amount was countable, just aroun 8 slices. The Scallion was fiberish and doesn’t help much as it was pretty irritating and stuck in between the teeth.

Suggestion: Beef hor fun should have the beefy flavour. Priced @ RM12 should have more slices.haha… Should take note on the scallion.

Stir Fried Hor Fun with Sliced Beef: 3.8/5(for the wok hei and soya sauce taste)

New launch Food Items which separate from the menu.

We ordered Braised Crispy Noodle with Curry & Roasted Pork Belly @ RM12

Errrg…look at the presentation. It doesn’t look appertising ya?

Thick curry gravy poured on a bed of perfectly deep fried crisp thin noodles, served with long bean and roast pork belly chunks. Ok, did you see the different from the Menu and the presentation here? hah.

The only items that i like from this dish is the crispy noodle. I think they wish to do the similar of Japanese curry, but it doesn’t taste right to me. Its starchy and less spice from the curry. And the Roast pork belly was rough and dry. I personally doesn’t like the dish.

Something to praise, is the noodle has been cut like pizza slices which easgave ease in consuming it.

Suggestion:

The name of “Braised Crispy Noodle with Curry & Roasted Pork Belly” doens’t sound rights to me, as the noodle was not braised in curry but poured on. It would be right to name it  ”Braised Curry Roasted Pork Belly with Crispy Noodle”, sounds better right?

I don’t know how to put a suggestion on this curry, may less starchy and more local flavour infuse in the curry.

Braised Crispy Noodle with Curry & Roasted Pork Belly: 3/5

Poached Chinese Spinach with 2 Kinds of Egg in Superior Stock @ RM12.80

This soup was delicious and the most enjoyable for us that night! We both enjoyed it till the last drop. The Spinach poached to just the right consistency where one could still feel the crunchiness. There were more then 2 kinds of eggs in this dish, it has chicken egg whites, century eggs and salted eggs and 3 of them has its unique taste, all flavor combine with the good soup stock….it was very delicious. This is far more better then many restaurants.

Poached Chinese Spinach with 2 Kinds of Egg in Superior Stock: 4.2/5

On average, I would rate :

Taste & Texture: 3.95/5
Money Value : 3.8/5 (its Reasonable, with the consideration of the price, location, serving)
Service: 3.7/5 (at least they asked your feedback for the newly launch menu. Fast and efficient when press the service button. btw, they served the appetizer at last, why?)
Cleanliness: 4/5
Atmosphere: 4/5

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We all talk about preserving the historical building, endangered animals, etc. But why don’t we also put in more effort to promote and support our locally unique heritage hand-made products and traditional trades. In this competitive world many trades have turn to mass production through new technology, but through this change we have loss the rich character of hand-made products that was once the pride of our country and culture.

Hand made “Mee Koo” (in Hokkien) or “Steamed Turtle Buns”  are one of the example of these dying trades in Malaysia. The Mee Koo are linked and used in Chinese festive celebrations and cultural ceremonies. Now a day, many have turn the age old manufacturing process by hand to mechanised manufacturing lines. But then who am I to say they are wrong to change, they still need to put rice on the table at this competitive times. As a marketing consultant, I advocate change to create a competitive edge to overcome obstacles and competition. But sometimes a total change would have created more harm than good. Therefore, we would need to consider the many angles that affect our change. Sometimes, partial change or improvements can do more good and than full conversions.

Hoe Peng & Co. is one of the examples of partial change that help them survive through the test of time. In the old days when one thinks of Mee Koo in Penang, Hoe Peng’s buns would be the first to come to mine. They not only churn out their famous Mee Koo but also “Siew Thou” (in Hokkien) or “Longevity Buns”, “Thou Sar Pheah” or “Green Bean Biscuits” and some Chinese folk lore prayer items that are used in Taoist ceremonies.

“Siew Thou” or Longevity Buns

“Tho Sar Pheah” or Green Bean Biscuit

Assorted Taoist Ceremonies Prayers Items

As our society, is ever influenced by the western culture and its dining practice, many have forgotten about the versatile Mee Koo. We have forgotten one could the Mee Koo as it is, with butter and kaya, dunk in a cup of hot Kopi ‘O’, made into French toast, or even used as a coating for fish n’ chips (that is my own recipe). Thus, it is due time to give our traditionally unique Mee Koo recognition and respect.

Some weeks ago we were honoured to be given the opportunity to visit and have a peek into the Mee Koo making process at Hoe Peng & Co.’s kitchen. Hoe Peng & Co. was previously located in a corner shop lot just beside “Ong Kongsi” and opposite the once tallest building in Malaysia, Komtar. Currently they have moved to a new location on Lorong Selamat where just opposite the famous “Lorong Selamat Char Koay Teow”. It is now under the umbrella of Cheong Kim Chuan, who has been a household name in Penang and also Malaysia since 1937. They are one of the producers and retailers of our famous and much sort after nutmeg products, “belacan”, “Rojak” sauce, Tambun Biscuit (Tau Sar Pneah) and other traditional Malaysian food and non-food products.

Our visit started with a tour of their Mee Koo making kitchen where we were introduced to its production executive and food tech, and then we were briefed on the Mee Koo making process. The process from flour to Mee Koo has in all 5 stages, fermenting, kneading, and moulding, proofing and finally steaming. All of these were used to be done by hand, but as technology touch down our shore of Malaysia many years ago, they have converted the mixing and kneading to a mechanical process by introducing mixing, kneading and press machines.

The initial stage of flour mixing and fermenting is a business secret which we did not cover. We begun on the the kneading process, the objective is to churn out dough that has a consistent and equal composition.

After the dough has reached the right consistency, it is then transferred to another machine where the dough is repeatedly passed through rollers to press the dough. This machine compresses the dough so that they reach a specific elasticity before it is sent to the human hands for moulding.

The common Mee Koo has two layers, the inner one is the main white bun and the outer pink or yellow layer is the skin that encases the white fluffy bun. At Hoe Peng & Co. the outer coloured layer is edible due to the food grade colouring used to churn out the dough.

At Hoe Peng, the tradition of hand moulding of the dough to the specific weight and shape are kept like when it was done many years ago. The dough is hand cut down to size and weighed, wrapped, moulded, and placed on the base paper which also serves as the branding of the Mee Koo.

After the Mee Koo dough is all prepped up, it is placed on a bamboo tray and left to proof or set before they are sent for steaming.  The proofing stage is a important stage where it also determines the texture of the end product. There is set time for proofing, but it mainly relies on the experience nad touch of the food tech to determine the duration required. The uncooked doughs are touch and squeezed to determine the ripeness because due to the ever floating temperature and humidity of our Malaysian climate, the Mee Koo proofing time would fluctuate.

After the Mee Koo is steamed and cooked, it is place on sale at the counter out side the retail outlet. As you are wondering how do they write the Chinese characters on the Mee Koo for the festive and cultural ceremonies? They are all hand ‘written’ upon request or order. This part of the mee koo is not edible because the dough used in writing the Chinese characters have not been cooked or steamed. They are actually raw dough with added colouring. The process of preparing the coloured dough is also hand-worked to the right texture and elasticity.

All the characters on every Mee Koo are hand ‘written’ using the traditional method that has been used since Hoe Peng & Co. opened it is doors for business years ago. The writing process is very laboured intensive and tedious. Imagine during the festive seasons and hundreds or thousands of orders that require specified Chinese characters to suit the occasion, I pity the person who has to ‘write’ all those characters. But I also admire the person for keeping the tradition alive for our future generations to experience and see.

Thus, as a Penangite I would like ask my fellow Malaysians regardless of the race and religion to put in support for our heritage products, trades, etc in the form of consuming and patronising them. Give the support in terms business so that they can get to survive the test of time and leave a piece of history, culture and character for our future generation that they will be proud of. Heritage is not only in the form of buildings and artefacts, but also the way of life, cuisines that were savoured by our forefathers, etc.

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I have received this “The 44 Places To Go in 2009″ email months ago. And i have decided to share this here, hopefully we can contribute our effort to Penang tourism and society

Guys, please give your vote to PENANG if you think its deserve the Title among the “candidates”!

Here are the several blog’s posted link for your references:

New York Times Magazine

NY Times listed Penang as one of the 44 places to go in 2009 - by lilian Chan

Penang voted a Food Haven by New York Times Readers - by friedchillies.com

Penang Is Voted 2nd By New York Times Readers in “The 44 Places To Go in 2009″ – by yowazzup.com

Penang Ranked 2nd in New York Times Best Places To Go in 2009 – by chenchow.blogspot.com

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