On the second(2nd) day of this Chinese Lunar New Year my sister decided to have “Poon Choi” (盆菜) from Dragon-i for dinner to celebrate the beginning of Spring or lì chūn (立春)。The Dragon-i’s ‘Prosperity Abalone Treasure Pot’ set is priced at RM 388 and RM338 for CIMB Bank customers, and boast to have 16ingredients with an approximate weight of 8.5 pounds or 3.85kg. The ingredients listed in the broacher are Australian premium abalone (10head), Australian sea cucumber, Japanese dried scallop, Japanese dried oyster, premium mushrooms, Pantai Remis fresh sea prawn, fish maw, roast chicken, roast pork belly, Golden Money Bag, yam, black moss, Chinese Cabbage, Tianjin Cabbage, deep-friend bean curd skin and radish.  But bear in mind that they are allowed to substitute or change the ingredients as stated in their marketing literature.

As there were an over whelming demand for treasure pot set, they ran out of pots thus we had to bring our own Japanese claypot which was significantly bigger. For take-away, the stock was packed separately and all the ingredients placed in individual sections and layers.

Once we got back home after driving through the jammed Jalan Batu Ferringghi, we added the stock and reheated the treasure pot. But half way through reheating, a very light burnt smell was coming from the pot. The cabbage leaves that were place at the bottom started to burn from the heat because the leaves have more fibres and less moisture compared to radish and burns easily. Therefore, extra care should be taken when reheating it at home.

The following photos show the layers of ingredients that came in the treasure pot. If I am not mistaken, those stated in their brochures were all present except for the fish maw (花胶筒) and black moss (发菜). Presentation wise it looked like any soupy claypot dish and its taste did not excite our palates nor leave a very lasting impression. The mushrooms and roast pork belly were a size overly big, the sea cucumber had a fishy taste and the abalones were bland, and all ingredients tasted with same flavor, but the soup stock was averagely light and sweet.

Back in 2008 before the market went bonkers with Poon Choi promotions and packages, we had begun researching for the origins and recipes that we could easily adopt or adapt for local ingredients and taste preference. We started with  a recipe that had Hakka influence that required every ingredient that goes in to the pot to be individually prepared and cooked so as  to present layers of flavours and texture when you start consuming the Poon Choi. The preparing process includes a few cooking method, such as steamed, deep fried, pan grilled, poached, braised an so on.

Each layer has their unique flavours. As you eat through the layers and go down to the bottom, you will find layers of pork skin, bean curd skin and radish used to layer the bottom to minimize burning and most importantly to soak up the flavours that have trickled down.

Then in 2010, my in-laws did another version of poon choi that require less tedious work for their Chinese New Year reunion dinner. It had radish, bean curd skin, stewed chicken (feet), roast duck, salted fried prawns, stewed mushrooms, vegetables and canned abalone. It also delivered layers of flavours and texture minus some hard work.

Which version above could really draw your appetite?

Popularity: 13% [?]

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It has been quite awhile since we last set foot into the infamous “New Lane” in Penang. Our recent venture bore us 2 new finds, one a “Tang Yuan” road side stall and two a Chee Cheong Fun with its origin from Teluk Intan.

The Tang Yuan stall is said to have been operating for the past 2 years in the coffee shop opposite the from where they are now. They are easy to find, just near the Sunway Hotel exit. Their Tang Yuan is soft and smooth with the texture of “Muar Chee” and their feelings are quite well balance in terms of texture and taste, goes very well with the Tang Yuan dough texture. Will be back to try the other variants of soup and feelings.

My pick or favourite would be the Ginger syrup and Osmanthus Flower(桂花) a.k.a Sweet Olive  syrup. The Osmanthus syrup (shown below) was fragrant and lite, almost like drinking nectar. My Gill like the soy bean soup version cause she is “nuts” person. The white caloured soup was also lite and a hint earthy taste and bean curd skin flavour.

The second find of the night was the Teluk Intan’s(Ansun) famous Chee Cheong Fun. They just started business in the New Lane Cafe just about a month ago and are now working hard to promote the availability of the  ”Ansun” chee cheong fun in Penang.

The chee cheong fun are made fresh, thus I had the opportunity to photo-document down the process of making the famous chee cheong fun.

The steaming contraption seen here assists the entrepreneurs to mass manufacture chee cheong fun in matters of minutes. The traditional way is sheet by sheet manually on a piece of cloth and steamed till cooked.

Popularity: 10% [?]

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Lameizi has been in operations for the past 3 plus years but we were only introduced to them late last year, and from then they have been one of our hot pot haunts when we feel bored of other food. We are no longer at the age where we can gorge on ‘quantity’ and ‘artificial’ food at the local steamboat buffets that offer a one price eat all you can dining. We now look for places where we can enjoy quality food with less hassle and affordable but not dirt cheap price range.

We were told that when they started their operations, business was not very good due to the structure of the road flow. But after it has been change to one-way flowing in from Burmah Road, business has been picking up. The place opens from 5:00pm to 5:00am daily, seven days a week. Yes 5am! Not only nasi kandar for late night bites.

At Lameizi, there are a variety of soup base available to begin your hot pot adventure. I think we have tried almost all of them including their Spicy Hot Pot (麻辣火锅), Duck Soup Hot Pot (老鸭汤锅), Tomyam Hot Pot, Pig Leg Soup Hot Pot(猪手煲), Spicy Beef Hot Pot(水煮牛肉锅), etc. The soup bases are all prepared by the lady boss who uses recipes and ingredients brought by her from Chong Qing in Mainland China. If anyone is game for fiery night with the after burner effect in the morning, ask for extra kick in the spicy base soups that can really burn rubber!

Condiments are kimited to house made red chili oil, green ground chili, chili padi, raw garlic, soya sauce, vinegar and sesame seed oil. If you are open to try new things, may you like to try their peanut butter dip and fermented bean curd dip. We have yet to try the 2, it will be on our next try list.

Side dishes or ingredients available are quite wide in variety, ranging from seafood to vegetables to freshly sliced meats. All the ingredients are freshly prepared upon ordering, thus it would take some time before they are served to the table. So do bare with them. A good tip is to look for Ah Hin to recommend the best and fresh items for the day.

For noodle selection, there is their potato noodles, instant noodles, bee hoon, etc.

If you are looking for snacks or cooked items, you may like to try their deep fried fish head, deep fried enoki mushroom and deep fried mantis prawns.

Reviewed in year 2010, June:

Reviewed in year 2011, April:

Lameizi Restaurant Sdn. Bhd.

Address: 5, Jalan Nagore, Georgetown, 10050 Penang.

Tel: 04-227 9969

GPS: N05*25’18.9″ E100*19’35.3″

Popularity: 10% [?]

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We were celebrating post Mother’s Day with Gill’s mom at La Mei Zhi. We are early so I decided to go for a cup of coffee at siTigun, which has been much blog of by many bloggers in Penang. A cup of single shot espresso is only RM 3.80, quite a reasonable price considering the average cost of espresso is around RM0.50 or so, actual cost will depend on the grade and quality. The coffee is quite aromatic and flavourful with hints of chocolate, sweetness and with a slight sour finish.

They are a micro coffee roaster, thus their coffee are as fresh as it gets. And it is one of the reasons it does not ‘stink’ when they grind or brew their bean.

A part from coffee, we could not resist trying their satay. We were told it is the authentic ‘Madura Sate’ from East Jawa. Originating from the island of Madura, near Java, is one of the famous variants among Indonesians. The recipe’s main characteristic is the black sauce made from Indonesian sweet soy sauce/kecap manis mixed with palm sugar or gula jawa, garlic, deep fried shallots, peanut paste, petis (shrimp paste), candlenut or kemiri, and salt. It is served and eaten with rice or rice cakes called lontong that are wrapped in banana. Condiments include thinly sliced raw shallot and plain sambal.

At RM15 for 5 sticks is quite a price to pay, but every bite is worth the money. Every stick were slowly grilled over a bed of hot coals until the surface caramelized and cooked. The chicken chunks were juicy and tender, retaining the sweetness of the meat. The glazing sauce did not interfere with the taste of the chicken; it actually enhanced the flavours even more.

The condiments that came with the Javanese satay were pickled cucumber and shallots, rice cakes(lontong), and peanut sauce. The peanut sauce was creamy, nutty and not too sweet and too spicy; a right balance of flavours. The satay was also served with a squeezed of lime juice which added a refreshing touch to the whole dish.

I guess I will be coming back to try out the other varieties of coffee product and their Madura satay, which is only available on Friday and Saturday evenings!

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Popularity: 7% [?]

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As we mention that in our invited review post of Kang Beef House that we will return to try their noodles, we did on last Friday (2nd Apr) night. We were in between appointment, thus on the way to Bayan Baru we decided to stop by at Kang’s for dinner. What meant to be a touch n’ go meal turned into a fast sampling of some of the items that we did not have the space for the other day.

The last trip or review was on the house and arranged by Steven, this time it is less stressful and more enjoyable because it is on our own expenditure and most important it is what we like best; the freedom to comment our will desires. Our dinner began with a piping hot bowl of their clear soup Beef Noodle at RM6.00 for the smallest serving. Because of our mistake we did not get what we would normally order which is the flat rice noodles (koay teow), but instead we were served with a special flat body yellow noodle. I am not sure how the noodle should feel like, to us that faithful night it was not as springy as wantan noodles but not soft like the usual lye water (yellow) noodles.

Back to the star component for this dish which is the soup. The soup had flavour but was still slightly bland which may be due to the contamination of water from the cooking of the noodles, otherwise it would have been almost perfect. Next time will try to ask for separate serving of soup plus toppings and noodles. As for the beef slices, when served it still maintained a pinkish hue which denotes just the right cooking time was put into these tender slices. The only thing that we found short for these tender slices of beef was that the texture was slightly rough due to the cut it was from.

Next on our table was their Dry Fried Hor Fun with Beef at RM9.80 with small bowl of beef soup and beef balls. Previous trip we did not really sample what they could offer for this dish as it was served “vegetarian” style as we a guest who does not take beef. Too bad for her! The portion was big on the ‘hor fun’or noodles but the beef slices were a bit scarce. Taste and texture wise it had standard, and can be considered better to some of those that we have eaten in the past.

Before we were forced to leave, we managed to grab a single person serving of their Clay Pot Beef Soup at RM8.00. The soup base is similar to the soup base of the steamboat that we sampled previously. It had Chinese preserved salted vegetable that gave the soup additional flavour and chunks of white reddish. Even the toppings like tripes, muscle meat, beef belly, tendons, etc seem to be more in volume. This dish would be our choice order if and when visit this specialty shop again.

While composing our invited review post last month, we were confused with many of the terms used for the various parts of the beef used in their dishes. Now I have got a clearer picture on the various innards that were used. The photo below belongs to the muscle (牛腱), usually it is sliced into thin 3mm slices.

As for the beef tripe, they served 3 out of the 4 types that the cow has. The first photo is the first of the 4 stomach that the cow has. The 2nd stomach which they run out of stock has a honeycomb like physical texture. The 3rd stomach has a similar outlook as the pigs stomach which is seldom sold. And the last or 4th stomach has spotted flaps which are shown on the next following photo. Tye 4th tripe has a crunchier texture.

Another body part which is commonly found in the serving of beef noodles or beef specialty house is the tendons (牛筋).

To sum up our experience at Kang Beef House:

Taste & Texture: 2.9/5 (may be can look into the supply of beef)
Money Value : 2.8/5 (meat portion could be more generous)
Service: 2.9/5 (slight improvement)
Cleanliness: 3.5/5
Atmosphere: 2.8/5 (improved with less noise from the street)

Address: 474, Jalan Jelutong, Penang, Malaysia, 11600

Popularity: 4% [?]

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On the 5th of March we were invited to review a newly establish specialty shop that sells everything(almost) about beef. The invitation was extended by Steve through Steven Goh to us to try out the beef steamboat and other dishes that focus on beef as the main ingredient. If coming from Jalan Tan Sri Teh Ewe Lim or the  Jelutong Police Station to Perak Road, the shop is on the right hand side  just a few hundred meters from the junction. Before we began digging into the prepare food, we shared some small talk and we found out that the owner of this Kang Beef House is somewhat related to the other Beef Noodle stalls that we have wrote about previously. There was also an Mandarin version that was written by Gill.

The star attraction for the night was their beef theme steam boat. But if you are dining alone or light, there are also other choices to choose from. The steamboat is priced at RM20 per head count with a minimum order for 2 persons, and it includes ‘牛腱’( tenderloin, muscle or shank meat), brisket, tripes, tendons, 2 types of beef balls, thinly sliced beef, Chinese Lettuce and Enoki mushroom.

We have been having this cut of beef in our daily beef noodles, and yet I have yet to find out its true name. Some call it tenderloin, I though is part of the shank or muscle section due to the existence of the transparent gel type casing. But in Cantonese it is call 牛腱 or ‘ngau jin’ (腱子肉是大腿上的肌肉，有肉膜包裹的，内藏筋，硬度适中，纹路规则). Anyway, the meat is tender and the gel type casing gives it a smooth and springy texture after it has been poached in the the accompanying beefy soup.

Another meaty side dish is portion from the bell which can either come from the brisket, plate or flank area. This meaty portion would contain meat fats and some tendons, thus the texture is slightly chewy and flavorful due to the fats. In Cantonese this part is call 牛腩 or ‘ngau lam’ in general (即牛腹部及靠近牛肋处的松软肌肉)

Another side dish is the beef tripe. The tripe is usually made from the rumen (smooth tripe) and the reticulum (honeycomb and pocket tripe). These two tripes forms the series of 3 stomachs chanbers. Taste wise is slightly blend and texture is crunchy and slight  chewy.

Another body ‘parts’ that we had was the beef tendon or 牛筋. It is firm and rubbery, but after poaching it turns to a soft and slight slimy texture, like firm Jello. Taste is also blend.

Then there the bovines’ balls. It is actually beef meat ball made the Chinese way. There are 2 type on the plate, the darker colored balls have a tastier and beefy taste but rougher on texture;  and the pale color balls are slightly blend but finer and crunchier on texture.

Then there is the thinly sliced beef fillets. The thickness is standard, thus one does not need to poach it for too long. I my prefer the slices with the egg, but it is there to give it additional smoothness. When the egg was introduced into the soup,it changes the taste of the otherwise light and beefy soup into a sweeter and eggy pot of soup.

Our Beef Steamboat experience:

2.5/5 for value (assuming the portion that we had were for six persons and per pax is RM20, it is equitable)
2.7/5 for taste & texture (darker beef balls and the tendon was my favourite)

Beef Koay Teow at Kang Beef House goes at RM6, 8, 10, 12, and RM15 for serving size. The soup stock is similar to the steamboats, but without the reddish and Chinese pickled vegetables(咸菜). The one we shared was the largest serving size (RM15).

Our Beef Koay Teow experience:

2.4/5 for value (slightly out of my means)
2.8/5 for taste & texture (taste better then some of my previous experiences in other places, plus there was less contamination of taste by the noodles)

Actually the steamboat session began, were introduced to a few fried and deep fried items that they serve. We began with the Crystal Beef Fried Rice. there was sufficient wok sear and the rice was individual and the had an infusion of the beefy taste. In addition to the soft gluteny pearls, there were also crispy bits of deep fried rice which gave an additional texture. The beef slice in this rice dish was tender and glistening with juices.

Our Crystal Beef Fried Rice with Beef Ball Soup experience:

2.5/5 for value (RM12.50 for fried rice is a bit on the high side for me, but with beef balls and soup it may be worthwhile) (we did not see the portioning of the beef balls)
2.9/5 for taste & texture (good wok searing and tender beef slices maintain their juices)

Stir Fried Beef with Black Pepper sauce has serving sizes ranging from small at  RM15 to big at RM28. Texture of the beef slices were soft and tender and the sauce was not overwhelming to many. But I personally do not like heavy a sauce that will cover the natural flavor of the main ingredient. The accompanying capsicum and chili was still crunchy and firm.

Our Stir Fry Black-pepper Beef experience:

2.7/5 for value
2.8/5 for taste & texture

Their version of Crispy Beef Balls was the only deep fried dish that we had the whole night. Each beef meat ball individually encased in crispy golden brown croutons.

Our Crispy Beef Ball experience:

2.9/5 for value
2.9/5 for taste & texture (Crispy outer shell and tender soft meaty chunks in side)

Address: 474, Jalan Jelutong, Penang, Malaysia, 11600

To sum up our experience at Kang Beef House:

Taste & Texture: 3.0/5 (average with room to improve)
Money Value : 2.9/5 (may need to look at the portioning of the steamboat and beef noodles)
Service: 2.5/5
Cleanliness: 3.5/5 (still new, lets wait and see)
Atmosphere: 2.4/5 (noise from the busy traffic and the hot and humid feeling from too many burners turned on)

Most probably I would return for their beef koay teow, Crispy Beef Balls, Crystal Beef Fried Rice, and Dry Stir Fried Hor Fun with beef slice.

Popularity: 5% [?]

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我一路来都喜爱吃牛肉, 更期望的是会有更多本地中华料理能多尝试用牛肉来烹调更多样化的美食.

毕竟从老远的中国和印度往南下迁移的华印族来到南洋, 因宗教的影响而选择不吃牛肉. 所以啊, 除了马来人牛肉Rendang出众之外, 恐怕只有牛肉粿條和牛腩面是华社仅有的代表之作.

而槟城这个美食之岛是否会肯定牛肉粿條和牛腩面的贡献, 就嘚要加把劲不可囖.

我们特地去品尝3家蛮有名的牛肉粿條来做个比较. 想知道那间牛肉粿條最洒家吗? 不妨参考以下三间的长处吧.

炎发茶室牛肉粿條

炎发茶室牛肉粿條 (weld quay)

星期一休息

营业时间: 10.30am-2.30pm

牛肉粿條汤 (每碗RM6.00)

炎发茶室牛肉粿條是以前挺有名的牛肉粿條, 他们经过几番的搬迁之后, 现在座落于weld quay码头, 巴士总站连接人行天桥的对面小巷里.

老实说, 我从未尝过这档所谓出名的牛肉粿條,只听我爸说过几次,吃后却大掉眼镜.经我大肥仔jason细说, 那是上一代的功劳.以前是老伯,现在是由40来岁的中年男人售买.味道比以前逊色. 这里的牛肉粿條放上猪油渣, 炸蒜米,葱粒, 芫荽,豆芽, 卖相不错,还有微奶红色的牛肉片. 配料只有牛丸, 牛腱, 牛栢叶和牛肉片而已. 牛丸口感有点差, 没牛味.牛腱过软. 牛栢叶保持爽脆, 但没味道.牛肉片的肉质粗糙，更糟的是毫无牛味. 牛肉汤实在令人失望. 只有非常轻微的牛味, 不甜又不咸. 清淡如水…加了好多生抽还是没味.其粿條厚而窄,口感还好.

体验与评分: 价值:2.5/5 for (配料份量比打铁街少了点)

味道与品质:2.4/5

服务态度:2.5/5

洁净:2.5/5

环境:2.5/5

十全大補牛肉什肉粿條(每碗RM7.00)

配料与以上的牛肉粿條大同小异, 只不过是换了药材汤. 这起不是名正言顺的换汤不换药?…哈哈 这汤加了药材,味道浓郁却不油腻. 总结来说,十全大補汤还算可以.

味道与品质:2.5/5

街之巷闻的打石街牛肉粿條汤

内脏配料超多样化, 是三家之最.

打石街牛肉粿條汤

GPS: N05’24.925  E100’20.363

星期一休息 营业时间: 10.30am-4.00pm

饭每碗RM0.60 每碗 RM6.00, RM7.00, RM8.00

这档街之巷闻的打石街牛肉粿條汤是很多人的最爱也曾经是我的旧爱。 他们的内脏配料超多样化, 是三家之最。 内脏配料有牛丸, 牛腱, 牛心,牛肺,牛栢叶, 牛舌, 牛肉片, 牛骨髓, 每样一两件已装满了正碗汤了. 加上猪油渣, 炸蒜米, 炸油葱, 清葱粒, 芫荽做点缀, 视觉令人食欲大增. 汤头的味道有点走样,跟我以前吃的有差异. 汤太油, 汤头像加了大辆水似的, 部分内脏也不大新鲜. 他每碗卖RM6.00起,内脏配料比其它多. 可是各样配料品质都比较粗浩。没2828那般的细腻。 至少他还有牛骨髓是别家没的.

体验与评分: 价值:2.8/5 for (多内脏配料，三家之最)

味道与品质:2.7/5

服务态度:2.5/5

洁净:2.5/5

环境:2.3/5 (非常热，车来车往)

2828牛肉粿條汤 (junction of Jalan Lim Khoon Huat and Perak Road)

GPS: N05’24.979 E100’18.991

星期一休息 营业时间: 10.30am-2.30pm

牛肉粿條汤 (每碗RM5.00)

吃过好几次，每次尝他的牛肉粿條总是味道不同。奇怪的是总有人说他的牛肉粿條一流。那我就干脆给他评分。 这一次的汤味清甜，粿條较柔软。汤要热喝，冷了味道反而转淡。内脏配料品质比较细致和新鲜。 内脏配料分别有牛腱肉质分明, 牛腱和牛舌有creamy的感觉, 薄薄的粉红色牛肉片, 脆口的牛栢叶和口感十足的牛蹄跟, 弹牙牛丸。 他们没放猪油渣, 只有炸蒜米, 炸油葱, 清葱粒和芫荽. 2828各方面都是3档牛肉粿條之最。尽管这里每碗只卖RM5.00,但内脏配料份量却比其它少.若要配料多的话,非打石街牛肉粿條汤莫属.

体验与评分: 价值:2.7/5

味道与品质:2.9/5

服务态度:2.6/5

洁净:2.5/5

环境:2.5/5

我的总结： 这三家的牛肉粿條都有各自的特色，但对我而言，他们全部都没真正俘虏过我的心。转句话来说，还没达到我心目中的好吃水平。

牛腱肉片肉和跟质分明

叫了另一碗弃葱弃油

Popularity: 6% [?]

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Before we went for our Hong Kong trip in November, we decided to write something about the much publicised ‘Beef Noodles’.  Basically on the Island of Penang when you ask anyone on the road about where to find ‘Clear Soup Beef Noodles’, most probably they would direct you to the following three more prominent outlets or businesses.

To begin our adventure with Beef Noodles, we first went to Eng Huat Cafe which is located on the side road

Eam Huat Cafe Beef Koay Teow

If my memory is not wrong, this beef noodle stall used to be located at the corner unit of the same row of old shop lots, and was run by the current owners’ father or grand father. Anyway, it was the during previous generation’s manning did this beef noodle stall blossom and attracted much patronage from those who enjoyed a flavourful bowl of clear stock beef noodles.

Eng Huat actually left its previous place of business to a food court along Weld Quay then to the current location. The last time I ate the beef noodles at this stall was many years back when they were still at the corner unit. After hearing that it has found its way back to the same area, I couldn’t help myself and went to Eng Huat to try out the beef noodles again and to reminiscence of the nostalgic memories.

The glory of the clear stock beef noodles has lost its lustier and gave way to their new version of beef noodle with herbs (十全大補汤). The herb version soup stock has a thicker taste and aroma, but it is mainly the flavours from the Chinese herbs used to prepare the stock. It had better taste compare to their clear stock. As for the toppings, the beef slices, beef balls and beef innards lack flavour whether in the herbs soup stock or the clear version.

Our experience from this place:

2.4/5 for value (amount of ingredients or toppings is slightly less than 打铁街)
2.4/5 for taste & texture
2.5/5 for service
2.5/5 for cleanliness
2.5/5 for atmosphere

Beach Street Beef Noodles

The Beach Street and Chulia Street junction houses another beef noodles favourite amongst Penangites, 打铁街 Beef Noodles. It is housed in a ‘kopitiam’ opposite the Lebuh Pantai fire station and managed by a few pleasant ladies working non stop to dish out custom orders to their patrons.

To what was told to us, to fully enjoy the flavour of the beefy stock was to visit the place in the later afternoon when the full taste has been produced from the long duration of boiling the beef bones and meat. On the faithful day of our most recent visit, we were there early after an appointment just after 12pm. The soup that was served was less tasty than what we remembered to be, may be it was the timing.  The soup was slightly over oily and had too many tastes mixed into it, thus loosing the unique sweet beefy taste flavour.

As for the toppings of beef slices and other cuts, they had a rougher texture as compared to next stall in this list but it had more ingredients as compared to the stall at Kafe 2828 at a slightly dearer price per serving.

Prices: Starts from RM6, RM7 & RM8. Any other additions charged accordingly. The opening hours are from 10.30 am to 4pm and closed on Sunday.

Our experience from this place:

2.8/5 for value (more toppings than Kafe 2828)
2.7/5 for taste & texture
2.5/5 for service
2.5/5 for cleanliness
2.5/5 for atmosphere (warm during the mid noon day)

2828 Coffee Shop Beef Noodles

Next on our list is the beef noodle stall at Kafe 2828. In the past I may have ate at this stall not more than 5 to 8 occasions, but it is in our list due to their sweet beefy stock and their delicate beef slices and firm tendons that made stand out of the 3 stalls contain in this post. Compare to the previous 2 stalls, the stock base is sweeter and lighter, and the beef slices and beef body parts have better texture, flavour and freshness.

The stall is at the corner unit facing the junction of Jalan Lim Khoon Huat and Perak Road.

Per bowl of white rice is RM0.60 and a 2 person serving bowl of beef soup with mixed toppings cost RM10.00.

The beef were cooked to the right consistency with some slices still maintaining a pinkish colour.

Although being our choice selection in terms of flavour and texture, it still could not suffice our demand. If compared to the yesteryears, we still find the popular beef noodles stalls still cannot compare to the earlier generation of providers.

Our experience from this place:

2.7/5 for value (better quality beef toppings but had lease amount amongst the 3)
2.9/5 for taste & texture
2.6/5 for service
2.5/5 for cleanliness
2.7/5 for atmosphere (cooler due to the trees and shade)

Popularity: 10% [?]

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Have you heard of fried porridge before? Fried the Porridge! How can the porridge be fried? How does it taste & looks like?

All the questions popping up in a sudden, after the mentioned of “fried porridge”!  Yea, its kind of weird without any logical sense right? Would you have the guts/urge to try this “weird” thing? Well, i am not kidding, the weird porridge it’s pretty delicious though. What i am going to introduce to you today is truly a good bowl of porridge that specially caters to those who have a fancy for heavy taste food.

Thanks to Criz for organizing this eating adventure for us and Steven Goh .

I think some of the local has heard of this “113 Fried Porridge” before. Through the years they have shifted to 2 different locations before setting foot at the current location in Tanjung Tokong just opposite of the Prima Tanjung shop houses. The first place they started business was on Burmah Road and then they moved to Batu Maung. At the current location, one can easily locate them by their signage that is of striking yellow orangey color, which stands out among the kopitiams.

Other then the unique porridge, they serve chinese dishes and a variety in their air-conditioned restaurant.

Small plate of homemade potatoes chip will be served before the order.

You may fine they have limited choices in the menu, as they just serve their specialties which is more then enough. It’s good to specialise in something and rather be a Jack of all trades, right?

Off the a alar carte menu, they also offer Lunch Sets for those who wants a trouble free and fast meal in the afternoon. And the Lunch Sets are quite reasonably priced at RM5.90. For the RM 5.90 you pay, you will be getting a plate of rice with one dish, fried egg, soup and a glass of tea. Can you believe it? In an air-conditioned restaurant! Where to get?

As we paid our virgin visit to this place, so we let the Host – Criz to make the orders and thus we end up savouring of some of their specialties.

We have total of 4 dishes, 1 porridge, 2 noodles….guess although the four(4) of us have double sized stomach the dishes served was more than what we can stomached….4 of us were filled till up to the brims! Thanks to the owner for arranging such a big feast for us…lol

Black Four Seasons Beans
Crunchy & young French beans are slightly deep fried into oil and then stir fry/sautéed with generous amount of garlic, chai por, dried shrimps and dark soy sauce. It was fragrantly salty with a hint of sweetness. This is indeed a good match for a bowl of white rice. Love it. Extra bowl of rice pls…

My Rating: 3.9/5

House Special – Yunnan Tofu
The homemade tofu deep fried to perfection. Once you bites on, it has some gluey feeling from the crispy outer layer and following by smooth and silky tofu. Guess it was coated by tapioca flour, to give the layer special & differently from others.
There are some dried shrimps and chopped wood fungus inside the tofu. The tofu mixture doesn’t have much taste by itself, so try to eat them with Thai chilli sauce.
Anyway, beware of your tongue will get burnt, when it was immediately from the kitchen. Piping Hot!

My Rating: 3.7/5

Wild Boar Curry
Fresh and lean wild boar meat were cut into slices and cook with onions & curry leafs with thick & fragrant curry sauce. I guess they were using milk instead of coconut milk, as it was not oily and too creamy. Although the curry was thick but it has sense of powdery still. Using curry powder? Still need some improvement, but it was a nice dish.
Criz said, the boar always is fresh as the owner hunts it every day! Who will be interested to join the hunting team? Anyone?

My Rating: 3.8/5

Oyster Omelette
Fresh Oyster fried together with eggs to perfectly golden. This is not a starchy type as usually found in penang. Pretty genuine as they serve purely eggs without flour.

My Rating: 3.6/5

Fried Porridge
The unique porridge was reached our table, and finally answered our curiosity.

What is Fried Porridge?

The below paragraph was exert from Criz post:
“Cooked porridge is stir fried in a wok with some herbs and spices, together with prawns, cuttlefish strips, dried shrimps and Chinese leek (koochai) & char siew. In fact, it looked just like dark soy sauce porridge but the taste is unique. “

The Porridge itself came with the mixture of some smooth (70%) and slightly rough (30%) texture, dried cuttlefish strips & shrimps brings up the fragrant of its own, Chinese leeks gave some refreshing green taste to the porridge. It was good I would say. Another way to descript the fried porridge, it would be something similar to dried cuttlefish porridge, just the different of extra ingredient, heavier taste (black sause), and method pf preparing.

My Rating: 3.9/5

Hor Fun with “sunny yolk”

Moonlight Hor Fun
It was an ordinary Stir fry hor fun with just added in a raw Egg Yolk. If you stir the raw yolk with the steaming hot hor fun together and eat it immediately, it shouldn’t taste raw. The fact to put in the raw yolk is to enhance the creaminess to the hor fun with special experience. Although I don’t really like to take raw yolk but the hor fun is still fine.

My Rating: 3.5/5

after mixing the Hor Fun & yolk

3 Taste Noodle
Yellow noodles stir fry with a unique sauce, bean sprout, prawn and garnish with lettuce & fried shallots. 3 taste in Chinese, means they have 3 different flavours has added in to the noodle. Although the flavour has became 3 into 1, but I still can roughly tell the mixing flavour of mee goreng & sambal. The taste is acceptable…hah.
It was a litter bit wet, a little too sweet to my liking, slightly adjust the sugar ratio would be perfect.

My Rating: 3.4/5

Dishes Rating:

* Black Four Seasons Beans: 3.9/5
* House Special – Yunnan Tofu: 3.7/5
* Wild Boar Curry: 3.8/5
* Oyster Omelette: 3.6/5
* Fried Porridge: 3.9/5
* Moonlight Hor Fun: 3.5/5
* 3 Taste Noodle: 3.4/5

Average Rating for this place:

* 3.9/5 for value
* 3.9/5 for taste & texture
* 3.7/5 for service
* 4.0/5 for cleanliness
* 3.5/5 for atmosphere

P/S: The quality may not be consistent during weekend & public holidays. I guess the young cooks still learning from the father (owner). The best is go in weekday. Young kids serve dishes and drinks, as this is the family business, so do watch out the kids with full hand of food.

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Popularity: 15% [?]

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Their noodles usually freshly made everday, and you can find their noodle is more springier compare to others.  It’s one of their in house specialty

For drinks we had Honey Lemon with Aloe Vera & Chrysanthemum Tea. The Aloevera was freshly peel from their restaurant’s garden. Its truly gaints my heart – fresh from the garden.

The Chrysanthemum Tea infused with Chamomile, no wonder it tasted different fromt the ordinary Chrysanthemum Tea.

After we had all the above items, and we reliase and understand, they really cooked from the heart and should praise the passion that they have.

Other than wanting to serve home cook meals and food to its patrons, they have also decorated their premises plants and made it as homey as possible.

Address: 44A, Jalan Cantonment, 10350

Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 12.00noon-10.00pm (Closed Monday)
Contact: 604-228 8084, 016-410 8098 (Ms. Ann Kee)

On average, I would give this place:

• 3.8/5 for value
  
• 3.8/5 for taste & texture
  
• 4.5/5 for service
  
• 4.5/5 for cleanliness
  
• 4/5 for atmosphere

Other bloggers that were also invited by CK were:

1. Penang Tua Pui
2. Heanenly Allie
3. Food Paradise
4. Steven Goh
5. Cariso Delicacies
6. Criz
7. Allen Ooi
8. Buzzing Bee

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Popularity: 7% [?]

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