Lor Mee @ Perak Road

copy & paste from wikipedia

"Lor mee (Chinese: 卤面) is a Chinese-inspired noodle dish served in a thick starchy gravy and thick flat yellow noodles (also known as lor mee). The dish is eaten by Hokkiens (Min Nan speakers) in Singapore and Malaysia. The thick gravy is made of corn starch, spices and eggs. The ingredients added into the noodles are usually ngo hiang, fish cake, fish, round and flat meat dumplings (usually pork), half a boiled egg, and other items depending on the stall and the price paid. Vinegar and garlic can be added as an optional item. The dish is also eaten with red chilli. Traditional versions also include bits of fried fish as topping though few stalls serve this version anymore."

They used to be just a small stall @ a coffee shop. Today, they moved to a new coffeeshop and have about 6 people running the stall just to accommodate their customer's orders...

Some place's lor mee taste funny... or should i say their spices are too empowering it just turns you off before you even eat it or after just one taste. But this one.... this one is really nice. Well balanced. Cooked to perfection I'll say.

Location: Along Perak Road

Price: RM2.50 (normal)

Rating: 7.5/10

Assam Laksa @ Gurney Drive

copy & paste straight from wikipedia my fave source!

"Penang laksa (Malay: Laksa Pulau Pinang), also known as assam laksa from the Malay for tamarind, comes from the Malaysian island of Penang. It is made with mackerel (ikan kembung) soup and its main distinguishing feature is the assam or tamarind which gives the soup a sour taste. The fish is poached and then flaked. Other ingredients that give Penang laksa its distinctive flavour include lemongrass, galangal (lengkuas) and chilli. Typical garnishes include mint, pineapple slices, thinly sliced onion, hε-ko, a thick sweet prawn paste and use of torch ginger flower. This, and not 'curry mee' is the usual 'laksa' one gets in Penang. "

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Asam Laksa is another dish which is synonymous to Penang... There are really just so many types of laksa... for more, read it up here

This bowl is without vege. Only noodle, soup & lots of chilli!

This one is the normal one... with vege, fish ball and more vege!

Location: Gurney Drive Hawkers

Rating: 6/10 (so-so only)

Duck Koay Teow Th'ng @ Lebuh Cecil

Most of the koay teow th'ng in Penang is cooked with chicken/pork.. Not very often do you find duck meat koay teow th'ng. It is not easy to cook good duck meat koay teow th'ng too!

This one is delicious... The soup is just so tasty you cannot stop slurping. It is served with duck meat, duck skin, duck intestines, fish cake slices & fish ball.

For those who haven't tried this.... You really don't know what you're missing out on!

Location: Lebuh Cecil Hawker Stalls (opened 7.30am - 7.00pm)

Price: TBA

Rating: 8/10

Chinese Pasembur (cheh hu) @ Lebuh Cecil Market

This is one of the busiest market in Penang. Right in the smack of Penang. Once you enter, there are so many stalls; even just deciding where to sit is a problem.

Chinese pasembur aka 'cheh hu'. It is a salad of fritters, shredded fresh vegetables, jelly fish, sesame seeds and the plum flavored sauce is sweeter instead of spicy peanut sauce used for indian pasembur.

Location: Lebuh Cecil Hawker Stall

Price: RM2.30

Rating: 6.5/10

Ah Pom @ Golden Sands Hawkers

There are many kinds of ah pom aka pancakes in Malaysia. There are:

1. Chinese style - "ban chien kuih" which is served with lots of peanuts and corn
2. Chinese style - "ah pom" which is served with banana
3. Indian style - 'apom telur' which really is just flour, egg & sugar...

This one is apom telur, the indian style... it is thick in the middle while thin & crispy on the sides. Very yummy!

Cooked using small woks over hot charcoal and bare hands! You will have to peel it with ur hands because of the thin skin before it is over cooked! Lots of experience needed...

Note: I forgot to take the pic of the final product coz we 'ta pao' home. Will do it the next time!

Location: Golden Sands Hawker Stall, beside Penang Chinese Swimming Club

Price: RM2.00 for 5 pcs or RM0.50 per pcs (of course 5 pc!)

Rating: Very yummy! 8/10

Kedai Kopi Cathay - Hokkien Mee

This coffeeshop is located opposite of Union Primary School. It is just before Him Heang biscuit shop. A corner coffeeshop which is not to be missed!

The hokkien mee stall is on a cart of it's own. So, if u wanna check if it's open or not, just look out for the cart. It's the 2nd one from the main road!

A normal bowl of hokkien mee (aka prawn mee) consists of mee, bee hoon, beansprout, egg, kangkong, sliced pork, fried onions and prawns! The prawns here is actually bigger than most! The taste of this dish is so-so. Not tasty enough but still slightly above average. (5.5)

Location: Kedai Kopi Cathay, Burma Road

Price: RM2.50 (normal) RM3.00 (add bah kut)

Ratings: 5.5/10

Sin Hwa Pulau Tikus - Char Koay Teow

This is one of Penang's very popular Char Koay Teow located opposite of Pulau Tikus's police station. A little difficult to get parking but it is best to park @ Pulau Tikus market and walk over. It is worth the walk... :)

A friendly aunty awaits to cook for YOU!

It's so good that they've even appeared on Wall Street Journal Asia!

The char koay teow is nicest when there's not so many customer where it is cooked one by one. When it is cooked for several people, the taste slacks off a bit.

Nevertheless, it is still ok. Still very aromatic... & tasty!

Location: Sin Hwa Coffeeshop Pulau Tikus

Price: RM2.50 (without egg) RM3.00 (with egg) RM4.00 (with duck egg) RM5.00 (BIG)

Rating: 6/10

Claypot Chicken Rice @ Golden Sands Tg Tokong

Most place, the claypot chicken rice tastes burnt, over cooked or sometimes, the rice is very soggy. This one is different. It is just right. The taste, the texture... overall it is really yummy! Can be better but after so many disappointments, this is a great change! Worth trying. Will definitely go back for it - hopefully it is CONSISTENT!

Location: Golden Sands Tg Tokong (in front of Naza Hotel)

Price: TBA

Rating: 7/10

Pan Mee @ Yee Hong

Another place worth going...

Noodles are made upon order with the pasta maker...

The uncle is amazed @ our lack of knowledge about 'pan-mee' being a penangite but he was nice and kind enough to share his knowledge with us :)

Quite similar to the one in Bukit Jambul, the pan mee here is also served with:

a small bowl of vege soup with fish balls, which comes with dry noodles

the dry & fat noodle is served with anchovies, minced pork, black fungus & fried garlics

and oohh... the chilli is really G.o.O.d!

and the soupy ones are served with fish ball soup, anchovies, vege & black fungus.

We found the pan mee's serving here to be bigger and more filling... compared to the one in Bukit Jambul. oh... and the soup is definitely more tasty!

Location: Yee Hong Food Court, Lip Sin Garden

Price: RM2.80 (small) RM3.30 (big)

Rating: 7/10

Char Siu, Siu Bak & Siu Ark @ Wai Kee

Located along Chulia Street, it is quite difficult to miss this blue-ish green 3-storey building. The 1st & 2nd floor is the sky hotel while the ground floor is home to WAI KEE, Penang's dee-licious char siu (bbq pork), siu bak (roast pork) & siu ark (roast duck).

We arrived at about 12.00pm and it was already full house. Kia-su we might have to wait long, we ordered even before getting a seat. We were estimating a 20-min lunch coz our coins for parking can only last that long! The place was packed; customers queuing up to buy takeaways were also long. Mostly motorist who stops by to takeaway as it is quite difficult to get parkings around this area.

Half hour passed... and we were still waiting. Changed coins and added for our parking meter.. then finally it was here. FINALLY - FOOD!

Siew Bak (Roast pork)'s most important element of a good roast pork is a balance of the meat and the fat. What we love most about it is the fact that the fat is cooked to perfection thus it is not all oily and chewy but instead, it is very aromatic. The skin is roasted just nice - crispy! Just the way we like it.... (7/10)

"Char siu" literally means "roasted on a fork," the traditional cooking method for the dish. Long strips of seasoned boneless pork are skewered with long forks and placed in a covered oven or over a fire. The meat, typically a shoulder cut, is seasoned with a mixture of honey, five-spice powder, fermented tofu, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, red food colouring (optional) and sherry or rice wine (optional). These seasonings turn the exterior layer of meat dark red, similar to the "smoke ring" of American barbecues. The char siu is really yummy... Don't really know how to explain the taste but it is very well marinated. Once you start, it is really very difficult to stop. It is not over burnt like most place. It is slightly burnt which enhance its taste. Very NICE!!! (7.5/10)

The siu ark is very popular but we found it to be average only. It doesn't smell very ducky like some places and the meat is very tender. But besides that, the taste is just so-so... (6/10). It is perhaps slightly above average.

To complement & balance up our meal is a plate of vege!

And a bowl of soup with pork intestines!

Overall... we will definitely come back again! Mainly for the CHAR SIU! We finished at about 1.00pm. Make sure you have enough patience & time at hand before coming... :)

Location: Chulia Street

Price: RM2.50 (1 type of meat); RM3.50 (2 types of meat)

Bangkok Lane - Mee Mamak

Mee mamak in Penang is almost synonymous with Bangkok Lane. That's how popular the mee mamak @ Bangkok Lane is.It is also know as Mee goreng or Mi goreng (English: Fried Noodles, Indian-style) which is a dish famous in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. It is made with thin yellow noodles. The dish is fried with onion, fried tofu, chili, vegetables, tomatoes and egg, and is available commonly at Mamak stalls in Malaysia.

The mee mamak here is cooked with sotong (squid) which adds to the nice aroma. Quality may be inconsistent when busy but on the whole, the taste is there. During rainy or hot & sunny days, just drive past, wind down your windows and shout your orders! They will then bring to your car for you. Easy & convenient.

Location: Bangkok Lane
Price: RM3.00 (with egg & sotong)
Ratings: 7/10