By CK Lam
The following day, we make our way to Bako National Park. Located at the tip of the Muara Sungai Tebas Peninsula, Bako is Sarawak’s oldest national park. We are ferried from the hotel to the Kampung Bako jetty where the National Park Office is located. After filling up some documents, we hop on a boat from the jetty to Bako National Park, with the Gunung Santubong in view.
By CK Lam
It is exciting to hit the road again, this time on the Media FAM Trip to Kuching, Sarawak. The trip to the city of cats is organized by Sarawak Tourism Board in collaboration with Air Asia. Besides the orang utan and the different ethnic groups of Sarawak, there are other attractions, such as the many cat statues.
* This article was published in the New Straits Times (Life & Times) on 31st May 2011.
The Kota Selera Food Court adjoining Padang Kota Lama (Fort Cornwallis) is a favorite eating place for both locals and visitors to Penang. This spacious food court has several outstanding stalls doing brisk business with the lunch crowd looking for a quick bite.
One stall that stands out among the crowd is Makanan Hainan, serving local and Western fare, Hainanese style. Its small menu of 12 items includes the all-time favorites – chicken chop, fish and chips, prawn fritters, lamp chop and beef steak. Its popular all-day breakfast set is sausage and eggs.
The lamb chop (RM15) comes with two pieces of meaty lamb, pan-fried in a delicious flavour. The addition of fried onions gives a nice contrast of texture and sweetness, wonderfully complementing the tender meat, vegetables, french fries and baked beans.
* This article was published in the New Straits Times (Northern Streets) on 14th April 2011.
Nasi Campur Melayu is a relatively new addition to the nasi Melayu stalls in George Town. This stall was set up a few months ago in Pinang Delicious Food Court on Macalister Road by siblings Roslina and Rosniza binti Mansor.
Originally from a coffee shop in Island Glades, the sisters have since moved their business down town. The dishes taste different from those around Georgetown as the dishes have a greater Perlis influence, said the owners.
Batu Lanchang Food Court is a great local favorite for lunch and teatime. There is a wide variety of hawker food available from the 50 stalls in this food court. We sampled a colorful bowl of Ice Kacang (Ais Batu Campur) with fine shaved ice, syrups, ice cream, red beans, sweet corn, cincau (grass jelly) served topped drizzled with milk. Another good choice is a glass of cooling sugar cane juice.
Refreshing Ice Kacang from stall no. 39
* This article was published in the New Straits Times (Life & Times) on 19th November 2010.
Penang is truly blessed with many food street stalls, located on nearly every road and corner of the little island! But there is one place where every Penang-born will know like the back of their hand, and that is Padang Brown Food Court, or affectionately known as Padang. This food court is at the corner of Perak Road and Anson Road, beside a green field and directly behind Datuk Keramat Police Station. Padang has a historical significance to the island. It’s been on the isle since 1966 and it’s one of the first food court built by the Penang Municipal Council. Surprisingly, it’s still as popular with locals and tourists till today. On weekends, the food court is packed with diners.
The food court has an overwhelming choice of hawker fare. Do walk from one end to the other to make sure you do not miss the selection. The place is divided into two wings, with the left-hand side packed with Chinese hawkers in the afternoon. At night, the brightly lit stalls on the right-hand side are predominantly Malay and Indian stalls offering plenty of choices. Throughout the food court, plastic chairs, metal stools and tables are placed in front of the stalls, some under the shade and some without.
Chinese dumplings widely known in many countries as jiaozi, guoti and gyoza are also found in many restaurants and hawker stalls around Penang. One of the places that we do visit for the small bites is Pleasure Odyssey, a hawker stall in Northern Beach Cafe which is located in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah. This stall focuses on homemade pan-fried dumplings, with little parcels of minced meat and diced vegetable.
We had different plates of dumplings. These meat pies stuffed with meat and vegetables were flavorsome. Fried in oil with a crispy skin, they were delicious eaten with the spicy ginger chili sauce, a concoction mixed just right, not overpowering. A plate of four pieces of piping hot meat pies cost RM5.
Piping hot meat pie, simply delicious!
The power of talk by Chua Lam!
Lot 10 Concourse in Kuala Lumpur was buzzing with excitement with the presence of Hong Kong celebrity food critic, scholar and media host, Mr Chua Lam. He flew in to town specially for the Talk Show Preview for his upcoming “Chua Lam & Friends” Talk Show at a special Press Conference.
Medan Selera Mutiara is another popular hawker center in Tanjung Bunga, Penang with many tasty hawker food. The stalls are managed by various races of hawkers, each renowned for its specialty. The food court is surrounded by a row of shop houses where Ingolf German Restaurant and Vintage Bulgaria Restaurant is located.
