BY CK Lam

Penang’s latest eatery serving giant river prawn is House of Udang Galah (HUG). Located on Hutton Lane, the restaurant housed in two renovated heritage shop houses offers fresh udang galah (giant river prawn) cooked in many different ways. Italian, Western, Malay, Indian and Chinese method of cooking is offered. The prawns are cut into halves and cooked with the head and shell intact.

One of HUG specialties is the Udang Galah in Chef Specialty Lime Sauce. The prawns steamed with garlic, chilli and ginger, made up a perky and appetising dish. Garnished with Chinese parsley, the dish costs a little fortune at RM109 (730g at RM15/100g).

Udang Galah in Chef Specialty Lime Sauce

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Tags: Bean Curd, Black Fungus, Chilli Powder, Chinese Parsley, Ck Lam, Drunken Style, Drunken Style Udang Galah, Giant River, Green Vegetables, Heritage Shop, House of Udang Galah, HUG, Hutton Lane, Lime Sauce, Little Fortune, Makansutra, Many Different Ways, Oyster Sauce, Peking Duck, Powder Mixture, River Prawn, Shop Houses, Soft Shell Crabs, Spring Onions, Udang Galah, Udang Galah in Chef Specialty Lime Sauce, Udang Galah Rice Soup in Casserole

BY CK Lam

Hawker food features prominently in the culinary culture in the state of Penang. Across the industry there are always places that constantly make headlines while others tend to be excellent but underrated, and the New Cathay Coffee Shop is classified as the latter.

Located along Lorong Kuching right off the ever bustling Burmah Road, this coffee shop is one of the decent places to sample a plethora of Penang’s street hawker fare. A favorite mostly with the locals, it begins to fill up as early as 7.30 in the morning and is absolutely packed during the peak hours of ten in the morning right through two in the afternoon.

For those opting for a lighter snack, the apom manis (Indian style pan cake) stall right beside the shop is an excellent alternative. Interestingly, the owner still maintains the tradition of using charcoal stoves and clay pots.

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Tags: Apom, Apom Manis, Banana Pancake, Bean Curd, Bee Hoon, Black Coffee, Burmah Road, Cake Stall, Charcoal Fire, Chili Paste, Ck Lam, Clay Pots, Coagulated Blood, Coconut Milk, Coffee Shop, Crispy Edges, Culinary Culture, Curry Mee, Decent Places, Duck Meat, Flat Rice Noodles, Flavors, Food Features, Food Stall, Half Boiled Eggs, Hawker Food, Indian Style, Koay Chiap, Leafy Vegetable, Local Delight, Makansutra, New Cathay Coffee Shop, Pan Cake, Penang Curry Mee, Penang Hawker Food, Pulau Tikus, Rice Vermicelli, Rm3, Roadside Stall, Street Hawker, Toast Bread, Toasty Flavor, Wantan Mee

BY CK Lam

Chef Chiam Choon Heng is back in his hometown here. A group of us had a wonderful dining experience at the Sesame and Soy restaurants in G Hotel, sampling fusion contemporary and traditional Chinese cuisine from the set dinner menu.

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Tags: Bean Curd, Beef Dishes, Bird Carvings, Chef Chiam Choon Heng, Chef De Cuisine, Chiam, Chicken Meat, Chinese Parsley, Ck Lam, Codfish, Crab Meat, Dried Fish, Fish Maw, Flavors, Fried Prawns, Fusion Contemporary, G Hotel Penang, Lime Juice, Magical Touch, Mango Sago, New Straits Times (Life & Times), Persiaran Gurney, Pomelo, Refreshing Course, Shrimp Mousse, Signature Dishes, Sole Fish, Soy and Sesame, Special Recipe, Stewed Wagyu Beef Cheek, Stuffed Fish, Stuffed Fish Maw, Taste Buds, Traditional Chinese Cuisine, Wagyu Beef, White Radish

BY CK Lam

Penang is bursting with restaurants and hawker food stalls but some of the most outstanding are those in inner George Town, particularly along Kimberley Street. It is where the crowds go for a variety of flavours and indulgences.

The area is overwhelming with hawker delights. With most stalls and eateries beginning operation at night, just a walk up and down this historical street will bring you face to face with some of the best hawker food! Enjoy such fare as koay chiap, economy fried beehoon, char kway teow, sweet boiled Chinese desserts, lok-lok and kway teow th’ng.

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Tags: Ah Seng, Almond Milk, Bean Curd, Best Hawker Food, Chinese Dessert, Chinese Desserts, Ck Lam, Dried Longan, Duck Meat, Economy Char Beehoon, Fried Crullers, Fried Noodles, Gingko Nuts, Kimberley Street Duck Koay Chiap, Kway Teow Th'ng, Leng Chee Kang, Light Snack, Lok Lok, Lotus Seeds, New Straits Times (Life & Times), Noodle Dish, Oil Paper, Penang Street Food, Red Bean Soup, Rice Noodle, Rice Noodles, Rice Vermicelli, Salted Fish, Soya Sauce, Street Food, Sungai Ujong, Sweet Bean, Sweet Dessert, Traditional Home of Desserts

By CK Lam

Opened since last September, the self-service Quay Cafe along Church Street Ghaut in Penang serves vegetarian dishes with a twist. The menu includes a variety of rice dishes, noodles and local favourites.

The brightly lit restaurant has glass windows and exposed walls. The ground floor dining area has rows of tables stretching all the way to the back of the restaurant while another dining section is furnished with high tables and chairs. There are also a few tables laid out on the mezzanine floor.

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Tags: Baby Corn, Bean Curd, Bento Box, Brown Rice, Church Street Ghaut, Flavors, Fresh Fruit Juices, Happy Set Meal, Healthy Twist, Lettuce Leaf, Lunch Crowd, Mezzanine Floor, Mushroom Soup, New Straits Times (Life & Times), Penang Vegetarian Restaurant, Quay Cafe, Red Bean Soup, Rice Dishes, Rm2, Self Service Restaurant, Sweet Sauce, Table Food, Toasted Sesame Seeds, Variety Of Rice, Vegetable Tempura, Vegetarian Dishes, Vegetarian Restaurant, White Radish

* This article was published in the New Straits Times (Northern Streets) on 5th September 2011.

Over the last few months, several Chinese restaurants marked their opening on Penang island, and the latest to go full swing is Ming Garden. Located in Penang Times Square, the restaurant is decorated in a modern Chinese style.

The efficient supervisor comes over to introduce what the menu had to offer as soon as we were seated. As with most Chinese restaurants, the supervisor verbally listed out the popular and signature dishes. We chose several dishes to go along with their signature Peking duck and braised goose web.

The crispy Peking duck is a house specialty

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Tags: Accolade, Bean Curd, Bean Sprouts, Braised, Chinese Mushroom, Chinese Restaurant, Chinese Restaurants, Chinese Style, Duck Meat, Freshly Cut, Full Swing, Goose Web, Ming Garden, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), Peking Duck, Penang Island, Penang Restaurant, Penang Times Square, Roast Duck, Shredded Meat, Signature Dishes, Smooth Texture, Sweet Sauce, Thin Layer

* This article was published in the New Straits Times (Northern Streets) on 12th May 2011.

Lameizi Restaurant in Bayan Lepas is famed for its spicy Szechuan-soup (ma la) steamboat. The soup is filled with dried chili, with a layer of chili oil floating on top. Besides this signature soup, there are several other tasty soup bases to choose from — chicken, old duck, pork knuckle, tom yam and fish. The clear chicken soup offers a welcome throwback for those who prefer a more traditionally-flavoured steamboat stock. Each of the stock is boiled for hours for it to acquire its natural sweetness and flavour.

The steamboat at Lameizi is cooked on an infusion plate, which is faster than the conventional potable gas stove or charcoal pot. We choose to have a sectioned pot with the old duck soup on one side, and the sour vegetable fish soup on the other. The sour vegetable fish soup was rich and sourish and includes plenty of salted vegetables (kiam chye).

Combination pot of sour vegetable fish soup (RM28) and old duck soup (RM10.50)

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Tags: Bean Curd, Beef Tripe, Button Mushroom, Chili Oil, Chopped Garlic, Duck Soup, Egg Mix, Fish Balls, Fish Soup, Jade Blossom Restaurant, Krystal Point, Lameizi Restaurant, Lameizi Restaurant Nagore Road, Meat Ingredients, Natural Sweetness, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), Raw Egg, Raw Meat, Red Chili, Soup Base, Steamboat Ingredients, Steamboat Restaurant, Szechuan Soup, Szechuan Style Steamboat, Tasty Soup, Thin Slices, Tom Yam

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

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Tags: Batu Lanchang, Batu Lanchang Market Food Court, Bean Curd, Beef Rendang, Best of Penang Hawker Food, Bilis, Char Koay Kak, Chinese Style, Fish Ball, Food Court, Fried Egg, Fried Vegetables, Fritters, Grass Jelly, Hawker Food, Hot Wok, Ice Kacang, Kak, Kuih Dadar, Kuih Lapis, Market, Market Food Court, Mee Goreng, Nasi Tomato, Pasembur, Penang, Penang Food Court, Penang Hawker Food, Red Beans, Sambal, Shredded Cucumber, Spicy Potato, Sugar Cane Juice, Sweet Corn, Sweet Flavor, Talam, Wholesome Meal

* 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.

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Tags: Bean Curd, Bean Sprouts, Boiled Potatoes, Chili Sauce, Chopped Spring Onions, Coconut Drink, Court Houses, Crispy Bits, Cucur Udang, Edgecumbe Road Mee Goreng, Edgecumbe Road Pasembor, Flavors, Fried Prawn, Gurney Drive, Hard Boiled Egg, Hard Boiled Eggs, Hawker Stalls, Indian Rojak, Kmpg, Kompleks Makanan Persiaran Gurney, Lime Juice, Mamak, Mee Goreng, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Northern Streets), Palm Sugar, Pasembor, Popul, Prawn Fritters, Shallot, Spicy Chili, Sweet Peanut Sauce, Thick Sauce