Aug

Penang Bloggers Gathering at Hai Nan Town Restaurant

Posted by: CK Lam in Events, Georgetown, Nyonya Cuisine, Penang, Penang Restaurant, Peranakan Cuisine

2nd August 2008 marked a very special day for all floggers in Penang! We collectively decided that this was the time to meet up and put a physical image on those virtual faces.

The dinner gathering was at Hai Nan Town Restaurant which offers “Nyonya and Hainanese” delicacies in town. Located by the jetty at Weld Quay with a stunning view of the marina, Church Street Pier and QEII, I reckon this beautiful seaside place needs not much introduction as many bloggers have reviewed about it. However, just briefly, this restaurant opened its doors in 2006 after their first outlet in Sungai Nibong . I arrived there earlier, taking the opportunity to go snap-snap before makan-makan.

Beautiful view of Church Street Pier, QEII and the marina from the restaurant.

marina ferry marina yatch

Ten of us turned up that day looking splendid, and it was such a joy seeing everyone in person! Here are among the floggers who made it…

Buzzingbee and Lingzie

Me and Carrie of Cariso – the birthday girl in pink

Gill Gill and Jason – the loving and friendly couple

The rest of the gang included Penang Tua Pui and Criz Lai – unfortunately they turned up that night with “photo shyness”.

Well, time was ticking and our tummies were growling already! Thus, time for dinner! After much deliberation, we made our choices and it wasn’t long before we were served. Dishes that we had were typical Nyonya and Hainanese cuisines – Fried Spring Roll, Asam Curry Fish, Mangkuang Char, Fried Mixed Vegetable and Inchi Kabin (fried chicken served with Worcester sauce).

These adorable floggers took some extra effort to share some sweets and desserts. Criz brought some mini-tarts while Buzzingbee shared her home-made fruit tarts with us. I have to say that it was absolutely delicious! We also celebrated Carrie’s birthday with this absolutely scrumptious green tea cake.

It was indeed a fun-filled night. I am really happy getting to know this new group of friends. To our new friendship, cheers! Really enjoyed myself. Here is a little token that I have made to commemorate this very first gathering for all you guys who attended this little party.

I was slightly disappointed to see that the other floggers could not make it; with commitments here and there as well. No matter, hope we can see each other on the coming gathering arrangement on the 20th of September! Lastly, a big thanks to Lingzie for organizing this event and making all this possible! Hope the semangat makan-makan among the floggers in Penang will continue on!

Hai Nan Town was indeed a great place for entertaining friends and guest. For those interested, the details are listed as follows:

Hai Nan Town Restaurant
Address: 8A, Pengkalan Weld, Penang.
Tel : 263 8633

Tags: Beautiful View, Birthday Girl, Criz, Delicacies, Floggers, Fruit Tarts, Green Tea, Inchi, Jetty, New Friendship, Penang, Physical Image, Pui, Seaside Place, Spring Roll, Stunning View, Tea Cake, Tummies, Virtual Faces, Worcester Sauce

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 9:53 am and is filed under Events, Georgetown, Nyonya Cuisine, Penang, Penang Restaurant, Peranakan Cuisine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

37 comments so far

durianberry

A great gathering I missed! Aww look at the food and dessert. I want some share! I hope I’ll make it to the next one

August 3rd, 2008 at 10:09 am

J2Kfm

aw, durianberry youre FAST!
haha … i was expecting some reviews by today.
felt bad I missed as well, though I’m not from Pg. hmmm … do invite Motormouth if there’s another gathering ok?

August 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 am

CK Lam

Durianberry – great to see you stop by! Well, there are plenty more gatherings to come and hope to see you real soon next month! Look at how much good dessert you were missing on

J2kfm – Criz did mentioned about you joining us but unfortunately you were busy but anyway there will be one gathering on the 20th September. Please do try and attend this one
Btw, how was your trip?

August 3rd, 2008 at 10:27 am

Criz Lai

Hey CK… You did not sleep at all after the dinner is it?? How come you can come out with the post so fast? LOL. Anyway, I enjoyed the laugh, the desserts, the the company of new friends in the gathering. Thanks Lingzie for organizing the mini gathering.

Hmmm… the next gathering would be a potluck and definitely be fun. I hope J2KFM knows how to cook..or he better bring something delicious from Ipoh… haha

http://crizfood.blogspot.com/

August 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am

CK Lam

I had a good night sleep and a sweet dream too… thanks to all the yummy sweet desserts.

I hope J2kfm will be able to join us on the next gathering … bringing some goodies from Ipoh for us too…haha

August 3rd, 2008 at 12:06 pm

New Kid on the Blog

sorry for not able to join.
well, i can see the gathering is very successful.
and the food are yummy !!!

August 3rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm

CK Lam

New KId on the Blog – Nice to hear from you….hope you are feeling better. Take care and I VERY much hope to see you on the next potluck gathering.

August 3rd, 2008 at 4:24 pm

email2me

Wah so syok ….. next time I’ll be there. This round manage to met Lingzie first before the official one.

August 3rd, 2008 at 7:45 pm

MyF

Hi, Just dropping by… Nice blog u have & such wonderful coverage on the Penang food! Your reunion pics looks wonderful & fun!

August 3rd, 2008 at 8:44 pm

gill gill

Wow, you are a very suficient blogger! Haha…i and jason was very enjoyed the gathering with you guys and finally we catched the RIGHT peoples to share about FOOD! so syiok!…eh, the next portluck gathering will be held in my relaxing garden with company of 4 doggies! Hahaha…

CK, you afraid of dog?

August 3rd, 2008 at 9:05 pm

CK Lam

Email2me – nice knowing you, its great having you dropping by my blog. Will post up the info on the gathering soon and try your best to join us…

MyF – so nice of you for dropping by my blog and glad that you like it.
This was our first gathering and it was indeed an enjoyable night. We would be having a potluck gathering on the 20th of Sept, hopefully you will take the time to join us then!

Gill Gill – we really had a great time last night. Thank you very much for offering your place for the coming potluck gathering…
Oh oh, looks like you know that I am afraid of dogs…so can you please tie up the doggies?

August 3rd, 2008 at 10:28 pm

Tau Sar Phneah

CK, wow…what i could said it’s indeed a successfull gathering with all the penang floggers..i’m always looking forward to join a bunch of peeps who share the same interest- MAKANNNNN…wish i could join you guys…too bad

days and nights im craving for penang food over here..haih..’kek sim’…hopefully i’ll be able to join you guys next year when im back for cny..

August 3rd, 2008 at 10:54 pm

PenangTuaPui

CK…. what shud I say…..

hmm….. ahh…. iiii…. eh…. ohh….

You are the BEST PENANG FOOD BLOGGER that be the first one to post about the gathering.

We are glad to have gathering with you are.

August 4th, 2008 at 8:42 am

Allie

Aiks! Penang Tua Pui and Criz Lai, I wanna see pics of your faces.

What a great gathering! So bad that I’ve missed it T_T

August 4th, 2008 at 9:20 am

CK Lam

Tau Sar Phneah – don’t be ‘kek sim’. you will be enjoying all the yummy food once you are back in Penang lor. Hope we get to meet up in one of the gatherings.

PenangTuaPui – I am happy to have met you guys and get to know you better. Each one of you have your own uniqueness and character which makes your blog stands out as one of the best in penang. PENANGTUAPUI ROCKS!!!

August 4th, 2008 at 9:38 am

CK Lam

Allie – It would be nice if you were there…you get to meet all the floggers.

Penangtuapui and Criz Lai are very shy to face the camera. These handsome and macho guys really are very friendly. You should try and attend the coming potluck and get to know them better.

August 4th, 2008 at 9:55 am

lingzie

wah ck..you are very fast!! haha…
it was really lovely to meet you.
and nice new template!!
ok lah i must put up my post already tonite… my streamyx like snail like that last nite.

August 4th, 2008 at 12:32 pm

buzzingbee

The fastest and most efficient flogger award must go to you…such a “lightning fast” post. I’ve just transferred my photos over and only about to post about it today!! *slowest award to me huh*

Feel really great to meet up with you. Hope we can go for more makan trips in the future.

August 4th, 2008 at 3:14 pm

PenangTuaPui

yaya… i forgot to mention that….

great template… better than the previous one…

August 4th, 2008 at 3:19 pm

CK Lam

Lingzie – It was nice meeting you too and looking forward to meet you again

I was quite free on that Sunday, no lunch appointment … so set up everything and had the post published. I hope to see your nice review soon!

August 4th, 2008 at 3:49 pm

CK Lam

Buzzingbee – It’s just that I have more free time than you, that is why the post was out earlier…haha
Remember the phrase ; slow and steady wins the race ??? So, fast is not always good!

PenangTuaPui – thanks…have thought of changing the template earlier but somehow only managed to do it now…do point out and share with me places on my blog that needs improvement.

August 4th, 2008 at 4:01 pm

PenangTuaPui

your new template looks amazing… great…

just some of the photo by the size bar might need to resize to fit into the sidebar and align them to center to make it looks perfect

the rest looks great

August 4th, 2008 at 7:21 pm

Duckie

i love that place!!! in fact, i had my wedding picture taken there too!!

will definately go for the next makan outing!!

August 5th, 2008 at 9:35 am

CK Lam

Duckie – You sure chose the right place to take your wedding photos. It is a very nice place indeed.

Hope to see you on the next outing and do stay in touch for the details of the coming event.

August 5th, 2008 at 11:16 am

550ml jar of faith

How absolutely wonderful! Really would have loved to be there! I have very fond memories of the fish. I miss Penang… boo hoo!

August 5th, 2008 at 12:45 pm

CK Lam

550ml jar of faith – the gathering was great…no worries as we have arranged for another one next month. Will update the details soon…hope you will be able to join us then.

Do share with me your makan-makan outings in your new place too.

August 5th, 2008 at 3:53 pm

cariso

I couldn’t sleep that night until nearly 4a.m. Every time having such post-gathering syndrome.
Thanks for the gift!

August 5th, 2008 at 8:23 pm

Steven Goh

wanted to visit this place for long time but not sure the food is nice or not, so haven’t done that yet. Seen you introduced that, I should try that out dee. Btw, I think I know Jason, he is my skool mate from CHCHS last time. Really want to see how PenangTuaPui looks like, not sure is there any food blogger gethering for all the Penang food lovers?

August 5th, 2008 at 11:34 pm

CK Lam

Cariso…you are most welcome.

Steven Goh – There will be a potluck around end of September. Watch out for the details and hope you will join us then to meet with all the floggers, your ex schoolmate and really get to see how PenangTuaPui’s look like.

August 5th, 2008 at 11:57 pm

Ah Shui

Hi there, ur blog looks professional ler…with brownish background colour, the colour that I like..hehe…will bookmark ur blog…

August 6th, 2008 at 10:20 am

CK Lam

Ah Shui – so nice of you to drop by. You have a fantastic blog yourself too with all the “shui” desserts and snacks.

Would you like to join us for the coming potluck gathering around end of September?

August 6th, 2008 at 10:42 am

Ah Shui

Hi CK Lam, thanks for ur comment…hehe…

I really wish to join, just let me know the date and time, if I am free, sure I will join…thanks for inviting…

August 6th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

Steven Goh

cool, please count me in. I am so excited to meet up with all the flogger

August 6th, 2008 at 5:29 pm

giNnA

Hi CK, I just come across with your blog.. It is so great and pro….I like the idea that can have a gathering with all the floggers.. Feel so fun…. How wish I can join as well…

August 11th, 2008 at 10:36 pm

CK Lam

Ginna – You are most welcome to join the coming potluck gathering…do email me with your details and I will get back to you.

August 11th, 2008 at 10:50 pm

chaiply

hmm.. informative.

May 18th, 2009 at 6:28 am

Vincen lim

I was at Penang on 1st Jan 2010 and based on your article, decided to check out the place. The food was good but definitely NOT outstanding.. a bit pricey but the ambiance made up for it. However, service was not up to par ..only 3 tables were occupied near the outdoor bar and I could count more than 6 waiters. Yet it 3-4 minutes of waving before a waiter came over to our table. They were too busy chatting away.

Dont go to Hai Nam Town Restauran with a full bladder because the condition of the men’s toilet is very bad… no toilet paper, mouldy sinks, a faucet with a broken handle and the smell is nearly enough to make you throw up.

I’m aware the toilet is not exclusive and is open to public.. but diners have no choice but to use it.

I think in order to give fair reviews, other relevant aspects should also be included so that readers can decide for themselves if a restaurant with filthy toilets is worth going to.

Who knows? Maybe the Hai Nam Town Restaurant toilets just happen to be dirty on that day.

Me? I’m not going to take a chance again by going to a restaurant that doesn’t make an effort to afford diners with a decently clean toilet….

I dare not even think about the condition of the kitchen.

January 4th, 2010 at 3:51 pm

One Trackback/Ping

Penang Food Bloggers (Floggers) 4th Gathering @ Vintage Bulgaria, Tanjung Bungah — Steven Goh’s Penang Food, Budget Travel and Unique Lifestyle Aug 24 2009 / 10am:

[...] flies, it was a year after the 1st Penang Food Bloggers (Floggers) gathering which was held at Hai Nan Town Restaurant, which I was not in at that moment [...]

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Armed with a camera and a huge appetite, this food writer & her family travel around looking for the best food and events & happily sharing all the good eats with you in this Penang Food Blog