BY CK Lam
Chin Ho Plaza in Penang Times Square was the site of The Battle of Penang Hawker Masters 2012 competition finale, where 18 shortlisted hawkers compete in dishing out the best Penang hawker dishes. The event organised by Ivory Properties Group Bhd for the second year was packed with a crowd of 500 food lovers who came and watched the participants in action.
The competition comprising six categories, saw three participants from each category showcasing their skills. The six categories were Hokkien mee, curry mee, nasi lemak, char koay teow, pasembur and rojak, prepared with Khalis santan sawit, Carotino red palm oil and minyak Cap Buruh.
Rojak
Char Koay Teow
Nasi Lemak
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 (Northern Streets) on 2nd February 2011.
It’s been sometime since I last visited Kompleks Makanan Persiaran Gurney (KMPG). It is located along the Gurney Drive seafront promenade. It is small by any standard, and is occupied by a few Mamak hawker stalls. However, despite its size, this place has built a reputation for offering delicious mee goreng and pasembor, known also as the Indian rojak.
* 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.
Its been a while since I last visited the hawker center in Kompleks Makanan Padang Kota Lama (or more commonly known as Esplanade). This complex on the seafront promenade has many stalls offering Indian food, fresh seafood and Western food.
There are a few stalls offering pasembur and the most popular would be Hussain Pasembur.
A basic place of pasembur comes with thick cuts of cucumber strips, radish (mangkuang), blanched bean sprouts, crispy crackers, prawn fritters, bean curd and hard-boiled egg. The worker spoons several spoonfuls of warm orangey spicy and sweet peanut sauce over the salad, coating every part of it.
