BY CK Lam

Secret Alley Cafe is a cozy outdoor cafe located at the ground floor of Bayview Hotel Georgetown Penang. This pork free cafe is gaining popularity from the surrounding office workers, with an interesting menu of nasi campur (economy rice). There are more than 30 dishes of fresh home-style healthy dishes at reasonable prices, with varieties of Chinese, Malay and Indian dishes.

Cost of the meal depends on your choice of dishes. In general, the concept is more akin to an affordable place for economy rice, yet it is housed in a comfortable environment. With its wide variety of ingredients comprising of fish, chicken, seafood and vegetables, the prices of the items are reasonable, staring from RM1 to RM5.

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Tags: Alley Cafe, Ayam Goreng Fried Chicken, Bayview Hotel Georgetown, Bayview Hotel Georgetown Penang, Coffee Tea, Curry Chicken, Economy Rice, Exce, Fresh Juices, Fried Noodles, Healthy Dishes, Indian Dishes, Kari Ayam, Lemon Fish, Nasi Campur, Nasi Lemak, Office Workers, Porridge, Rm1, Sambal Belacan, Savory Soup, Secret Alley Cafe, Side Entrance, Takeout Box, Tempting Dishes

BY CK Lam

Public Cafe is just another neighborhood coffee shop in the pleasant surroundings of Gurney Drive. Located next to the famed Song River Cafe, this coffee shop is a favorite spot for me as it has a stall that serves up both delicious yet reasonable seafood noodles and porridge.

Take a pick from the striking mix of ingredients and several types of noodles.  The prices varies according to the seafood ingredients, with pawns, crabs, paddy frogs (tin kai/chui kay) and varieties of fish.

Piping hot bowl of Seafood Noodle

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Tags: Chopped Coriander, Claypot, Coffee Shop, Crabs, Favorite Spot, Fish Soup, Flavors, Fresh Fish, Fried Noodles, Gurney Drive Restaurant, Light Seasoning, New Straits Times (Life & Times), Pawns, Penang, Piping, Porridge, Prawn, Prawns, Public Cafe Gurney Drive, Rice Vermicelli, Sambal, Seafood Porridge, Song River Cafe, Spring Onions, Steamy Bowl, Sweet Meat, Thick Pieces

* This article was published in the New Straits Times (Life & Times) on 7th November 2010.

I have been devouring tong-sui (Chinese dessert) stalls for years, so it was a great discovery when I finally found Sweet-i. The tong-sui stall operated by Soon and his wife for the last few years in Sungai Dua, has a wonderful sweet range of Chinese style desserts.

Previously located on the roadside at Jalan Helang, the tong-sui stall has since shifted into a nearby house. Customers can enjoy the desserts with sit-down service in the comfort setting of the house.

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Tags: Black Glutinous Rice, Black Sesame, Bo-Bo Cha-Cha, Brown Sugar, Bubur Cha Cha, Bubur Gandum, Cantonese, Cha Cha, Chinese Dessert, Chinese Style, Coconut Milk, Concoction, Creamy Texture, Dessert Menu, Gandum, Gao, Gui Ling Gao, Herbal Jelly, Husband And Wife, Lou Han Guo, Menu Changes, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), Old School Chinese Dessert, Peanut Tong-Sui, Penang, Porridge, Red Bean, Red Bean Soup, Red Dates, Rm1, Robust Flavor, Screwpine, Smooth Texture, Sungai Dua, Sweet Tooth, Sweet-i, Tong-sui, White Fungus, Wife Team, Zuk

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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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

We took a short and relaxing eating trip out of Penang island recently to Serdang, a small town in Kedah. It is our first visit to Sin Aik Kee, an old restaurant which is famous for their specialty ‘char moay’ (fried porridge) and plenty of other varieties.

The delicious fried porridge…chau jook (in Cantonese)

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Tags: Array, Bandar Bahru, Barley, Bie, Bie You Tian Restaurant, Cantonese, Chai, Char Moay, Chu Char, Cockles, Curry Suah Tui Bak, Curry Wild Boar, Cuttlefish, Deep Fried Fish, First Trip, Fried Clams, Fried Porridge, Gps Coordinates, Guava, Hong Leong Bank, Jook, Kedah, Kerabu, Kong Pow, Longan, New Experience, Outstation Trip, Parit, Parit Buntar, Peaceful Drive, Peaceful Journey, Penang Island, Penang Travel, Porridge, Right Combination, Rural Area, Seafood Restaurant, Serdang, Sin Aik Kee, Soy Sauce, Spicy Taste, Thick Texture, Wild Boar, Wild Boar Meat

Tho Yuen Chicken Rice Restaurant is an old Cantonese restaurant located in a two storey building at Campbell Street right next the popular sundry shop, Kwong Tuck. Business has been going around for many decades now and the place is still as popular.

This restaurant serves dim sum for breakfast and varieties of noodles, porridge and Chicken Rice during lunch hour. The interior of the restaurant was recently given a new paint job for a cleaner and brighter outlook! I was there during lunch break and the place was filled with customers with some having to settle for the tables set up in the pavement.

One of Tho Yuen’s specialty dish – Fish head steam with noodle

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Tags: Braised Duck and Ginger, Campbell Street, Cantonese Restaurant, Char Siew, Char Siew Buns, Chicken Rice, Delicious Delicacies, Dim Sum Dishes, Dish Fish, Fish Head, Fried Bean Curd, Kow, Lunch Break, Lunch Hour, Natural Sweetness, New Paint, Noodles, Paint Job, Pork Meat, Porridge, Red Chili, Stir Fried, Sui Kow, Tho Yuen, Vermicelli, Water Chestnuts

New Lane is truly a street food center in Penang and the place is jam packed with many hawker food stalls and food hunters. Tables are set up in the open, even occupying part of a parking lot of an office complex. The lane is accessible from Macalister Road and Dato Kramat Road. You have to bring a big appetite as there are many delicious goodies at this place.

There are a few stalls that I usually patronized. I love the Grill Chicken located in the Sin Yin Nam coffee shop. The chicken wings and drumsticks are simply delicious. The aroma is so seductive that could drive you insane.

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Tags: Apom, Apom Manis, Array, Char Siew, Chee Cheong Fun, Chicken Wings, Chili Paste, Chilli Sauce, Chu Chap Cheok, Coffee Shop, Curry Chee Cheong Fun, Dato Kramat Road, Delicious Goodies, Duck Porridge, Duck Sauce, Food Center, Food Stall, Green Chili Sauce, Grill Chicken, Hawker Center, Hawker Food, Local Delight, Long Strings, Macalister Road, Meat Chicken, New Lane, New Lane Penang, Peanut Sauce, Penang Food, Penang Hawker Food, Pig Blood, Porridge, Roast Duck Meat, Roast Meat, Satay, Shrimp Paste, Sin Yin Nam, Smoky Aroma, Street Food, Sunway Hotel, Sweet Corns, Sweet Sauce, Tasty Dessert, Thick Broth

My hubby and I spent our last weekend in the neighboring country, Singapore. Our main objective of this trip was purely to meet up with our friends, having fun hunting for interesting Singapore food and joining in the ieat Crab Fest organized by Leslie of ieatishootipost!

Something is lurking…

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Tags: Alaskan King Crab, Array, Ban Niang, Black Pepper, Blue Swimmer Crab, Chili Crab, Chin Huat Live Seafood, Chinese Wine, Clementi, Country Singapore, Crab Fest, Cromer Crab, Dungeness Crab, Egg White, Fri, Fried Bee Hoon, Fried Man, Golden Sauce Crab, Ieatishootipost, Lao Ban, Long Legs, Main Objective, Makan Makan, Mantou, Pair Of Scissors, Pan Fried, Porridge, Red Flower Crab, Singapore Food, Soya Sauce, Sri Lanka Crab

We had some nourishing porridge for dinner last night at Sin Geylang. The shop on Macalister Road (opposite Red Rock Hotel) specializes in claypot porridge, serve with dishes for lunch and dinner. The texture of the porridge was smooth, quite thick and topped with chopped spring onions with a dash of oil.

Steaming hot pot of plain porridge

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Tags: 3pm, 6pm, Array, Belacan, Bull Frog, Business Hour, Chai, Chili Padi, Chinese Wolfberries, Chopped Spring Onions, Claypot, Crispy Fish, Delicious Flavor, Dishes, Double Happiness, Drinks, Drizzle, Fried Egg, Frog, Geylang, Ginger, Gravy, Hot Pot, Kai, Koh, Krian, Makanan Dan Minuman, Penang, Penang Food, Porridge, Radish, Rm1, Rm5, Rock Hotel, Sin, Sin Geylang Porridge, Smooth Texture, Sour Taste, Soy Sauce, Steam, Subtle Taste, Sun Yat Sen, Sweet Taste, Tin