Posted by: CK Lam Tags: Arborio, Atlantic Salmon La Dieppoise, Beetroot, Black Olives, Black Pepper, Blue BerriesReduction, Chef Dave, Chef Dave Looi, Chili Sauce, Creme Fraiche, Culinary Pleasures, Duck Confit with Caramelized Ontario Peaches, Egg Shell, Executive Chef Dave Looi, French Cuisine, Freshly Ground Black Pepper, Garlic Clove, Great House Of Penang, Guest Chef, Herb Marinated Rack of Lamb, Intricate Textures, Light Salad, Looi, Merlot Reduction, Mushroom Cappuccino, New Straits Times (Life & Times), Onion Garlic, Orange Mango, Parrot Cay, Private Chef, Purpose Flour, Refreshing Salads, Salad White Bait & Kale, Salmon Roulade, Shimeiji Ricotta Crepe, Smoked Salmon, Smoked Salmon Roulade, Soup Ingredients, Suffolk House, Suffolk Restaurant, Tabasco Sauce, Taste Buds, Truffle Mushroom Cappuccino, Tuna Tataki, Turks And Caicos Islands, Water Melon, Water Melon Gazpacho, Watermelon Gazpacho, Wild Mushrooms, Yabby, Yellow Onion
BY CK Lam
Over the past few years, Suffolk House Restaurant has had many different chefs. The latest is executive chef Dave Looi. His last job before arriving in Penang was in Parrot Cay, a private island which is part of the Turks and Caicos Islands. He has also worked as a chef in Taipei, London and New York.
Looi’s passion for creativity is apparent in the numerous dishes we sampled at Suffolk House Restaurant.
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Posted by: CK Lam Tags: Big Bowl Feast, Braising, Broccoli, Chinese Cabbage, Chopsticks, Feast, Fish Balls, Fish Maw, Flavours, Frag, Goodness, Hock, Lam, Mushrooms, New Straits Times (Life & Times), Oyster Sauce, Paya Terubong, Penang, Poon Choi, Pork Belly, Radish, Rich Gravy, Roast Duck, Sea Cucumber, Sesame Oil, Snapper, Soy Sauce, Traditional Dish, Treasure Pot, Yue, Zai, Zi, Zi Zai Restaurant
BY CK Lam
Poon choi or Big Bowl Feast is an indulgent affair with layers of ingredients in fragrant gravy. It is believed that this traditional dish originated in China, and the name of the dish came from the distinctive basin-like pot in which it was cooked and served.
There are only a handful of places serving this dish in Penang and one of them is Zi Zai Restaurant. Our group of 13 made our way to the restaurant in Paya Terubong to try its traditional poon choi.
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Posted by: CK Lam Tags: Air Itam, Air Itam Assam Laksa, Assam Laksa, Balik Pulau Assam Laksa, Business Hour, CNNGo, Cuisines, Delicious Foods, Dustin Roasa, Eagerness, Emas, Fish Base, Fish Smell, Fishy Taste, Flavour, Food Journalists, Food Survey, Forefathers, Great Testament, Hawkers, International Food, Mouthful, Penang, Penang Assam Laksa, Shrimp Paste, Tamarind, World's Most Delicious Foods
Penang’s Assam Laksa has been voted No. 7 under CNNGo International Food Survey as “foods worth traveling the world to gorge on”. This is indeed a great testament to the hawkers who work hard to make sure Penang Assam Laksa is not only delicious but as authentic as to what their forefathers did.
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Posted by: CK Lam Tags: 21st October, Arrabel Merlot, Beetroot Salad, Bit Of Fun, Camembert, Cap One, Chanterelle, Chapatti, Cheese Platter, Chef Nizar Achmad, Cooking Up A Storm, Crown Princess Victoria, Food Concepts, Great House Of Penang, Guest Chef, HôTe Menu, Indonesian Heritage, Love Affair, Malaysian German Society, Methodist Boys School, Michelin Star Restaurant, Michelin Star restaurant Feichmaker, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), Nobel Prize, Quesadilla, Rm95, Rooibos Tea Cured Swedish Salmon, Suffolk House, Swedish Forest, Szechuan Duck, Table D Hote, Table D Hote Menu, Tea Table, Vegetarian Pasty Lasagna, Zealand Lamb
* This article was published in the New Straits Times (Life & Times) on 26th November 2010.
An evening had me driving to Suffolk House to meet up with guest chef, Nizar Achmad. It was great to know that the chef is invited to cook at the restaurant which is situated in the “Great House of Penang”. Originally from Surabaya, Chef Nizar Achmad love affair with food and wine has inspired a culinary sojourn that has taken him to all corners of the globe, including Australia, New Zealand and Stockholm where he lived there for 14 years before returning to his homeland, Indonesia.
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Posted by: CK Lam Tags: Air Itam, Basic Ingredients, Business Hour, Charcoal, Charcoal Fire, Chili Paste, Flavorful Soup, Hand Towel, Hawker, Hawker Stall, Heat Proof, Hokkien, Hokkien Mee, Hot Chili, Hot Pot, Hot Soup, Kampung, Lean Meat, Mee, Neoh, Noodles, Penang, Penang Food, Penang Hawker Food, Piping, Shallots, Thirty Years
Dining with a twist would be more appropriate! Imagine holding a piping hot bowl of Hokkien Mee with your bare hands, while eating the steaming hot noodles! It is indeed an interesting experience, all taking place with the bustling traffic of the busy intersection of Jalan Air Itam and Jalan Kampung Melayu just mere steps away!
Air Itam’s famous Hokkien Mee
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Posted by: CK Lam Tags: Air Itam, Aroma, Assam Laksa, Banana Leaf, Bean Sprouts, Buns, Char Koay Kak, Chicken Egg, Chili Paste, Dark Soy Sauce, Duck Egg, Food Stalls, Green Bean Soup, Hawker Food, Kak, Kedai Kopi, Peanut Soup, Penang, Penang Hawker Food, Rice Cakes, Several Different Types, Takeaways, Tinge, Tong-sui, Wah Meng
My latest food outing had me patronizing the Char Koay Kak stall which is located along the bustling Air Itam main road, in front of Suiwah Supermarket. There is an upbeat vibe to this road with so many hawker food stalls around – the tasty fried buns and tantalizing Assam Laksa.
Thanks to my readers for recommending this Char Koay Kak to me at my Kedai Kopi Wah Meng post 
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Posted by: CK Lam Tags: Air Itam, Apong Manis, Bean Curd, Bean Sprouts, Char Koay Teow, Chewy Texture, Chili Paste, Chili Sauce, Chilies, Chopped Spring Onions, Cockles, Coffee Shop, Curry Mee, Delicious Bowl, Duck Meat, Fried Bean Curd, Hard Boiled Egg, Innards, Kedai Kopi, Koay Chiap, Kuali, Light Broth, Penang Hawker Food, Porridge, Roti Canai, Roti Planta, Soft Texture, Sweet Taste, Wah Meng, Wet Market
Over the weekend together with my blogger friends and photographers, we went around Air Itam to sample-fest some hawker food. We made our way to Kedai Kopi Wah Meng. The coffee shop located across the Sisters Curry Mee is a stone throw away from the Air Itam morning wet market, which itself is full of interesting local flavor.
How about a delicious bowl of Koay Chiap for starters?
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Posted by: CK Lam Tags: Air Itam, Bitter Gourd, Black Vinegar, Brinjals, Chili Sauce, Chilies, Coffee Shop, Corner Coffee Shop, Dumplings, Endless Variety, Fish Balls, Fish Paste, Fishcakes, Generous Portion, Gourds, Hawker Stalls, Kafe, Kah, Kow, Lady Fingers, Lazy Sunday Afternoon, Pantai Timur, Paya, Personal Preference, Pok, Prawns, Spot Fish, Stuffings, Sweet Bean Sauce, Yong Tau Foo
We were in Air Itam area on a lazy Sunday afternoon and since we were nearby Kafe Pantai Timur, we decided to stop over there for lunch. Located in the residential area of Paya Terubong, this coffee shop is home to many hawker stalls which mostly operate in the night. Among the sea of stalls includes the Pei Pa Duck stall.
It was relatively quiet, with only one stall selling Yong Tau Foo – an assortment of ‘ yeong liu’ which has fish paste stuffed in a variety of vegetables.
Crispy-crunchy right from the wok!
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Posted by: CK Lam Tags: Air Itam, Air Itam Laksa, Air Itam Market, Array, Assam Laksa, Babi, Bun, Buns, Carrot, Chicken Curry, Crowd, Deep Fried Chicken, Delicious Luncheon, Fillings, Left Hand Side, Light Moment, Luncheon Meat, Mushroom, Penang, Penang Hawker Food, Pot, Roti Babi, Sausage, Sausage Bun, Sausages, Simple Creations, Slit, Snack, Snacks, Spicy Food, Tea Time, Variety
Snacks are available everywhere in Penang! Plentiful indeed, however one particular snack caught my eye while I was slurping away my bowl of Assam Laksa in the Air Itam market. This lady was selling deep fried buns, similar to Roti Babi but with different ingredients and she uses bun instead of bread!
She makes a stunning serving of these inexpensive priced fried buns. The white fluffy buns are battered, deep fried and stuffed with four kinds of savory fillings: chicken curry, mixed turnip stuffing (similar to mangkuang char), sausage and luncheon meat…simple creations!
My favorite from this stall is the Deep Fried Chicken Curry Bun! Stuffed with pieces of chicken and potato, the filling is quite similar to curry puffs… however the deep fried bun makes it taste surprisingly good.
Chicken Curry Bun @ RM1.50
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Posted by: CK Lam Tags: 32 Mansion, Air Itam River, Amuse Bouche, Array, Art Paintings, Baby Shrimp, Bagan, Banana Crepe, Beach Blanket Babylon, British Settlement, Captain Francis Light, Chef John, Chicken Tikka, Coffee Tea, Creamy Chicken, Creativeness, Curried Parsnip, Fine Dining Restaurants, Fua, Garden Greens, Grand Marnier, Great House Of Penang, HSBC, Intimate Ambiance, Light Moment, Malaysian German Society, Methodist Boys School, Morsels, New Straits Times (Life & Times), Olive Butter, Penang, Penang Heritage, Penang Heritage Trust, Ricotta Cheese, Rm85, Suffolk House, Suffolk Restaurant, Table D Hote, Table D Hote Menu, Table D’Hote Menu, Tomato Relish, Tomato Sorbet
* This article was also published in the New Straits Times on 22nd May 2010.
An ambiance of calm and tranquility with stunning charm welcomed me as I walked into Suffolk House which is known as the first “Great House of Penang”. This recently restored 200-year old Anglo-Indian architectural building was built on the estate owned by Captain Francis Light, the founder of British settlement of Penang.
I had the pleasure of visiting their lovely Suffolk House Restaurant which is headed by Chef Johnny Fua for a food tasting session. This restaurant is run by the management of 32 Mansion, Bagan and Beach Blanket Babylon – all successful eateries in Penang.
Chef Johnny Fua & myself sharing a light moment…
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