BY CK Lam

Penang Plaza in Burma Road has been given a new lease of life with the opening of the Hei Yeong Seng Chinese Restaurant. Also known as Noble Season Chinese Restaurant, it is a subsidiary of the Chinese Recreation Club Restaurant. Its cream-coloured table cloths and simple decor give it a bright and cheery ambience. There is an aquarium at one side of the restaurant that is filled with thriving fish of all kinds. There is also a mini-stage at the rear to cater for mass banquets and company functions.

Its menu is a selection of seafood and meat dishes, as well as noodles and desserts. The steamed chicken is garnished with plenty of spring onions. Prepared with Chinese wine and wolfberries, the chicken can be enjoy on its own, or with some pounded ginger.

Steamed chicken with Chinese wine

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Tags: Appetites, Bamboo Shoots, Belacan, Burma Road, Chinese Chives, Chinese Mushrooms, Chinese Recreation Club Restaurant, Chinese Restaurant, Chinese Wine, Ck Lam, Company Functions, Essence Of Chicken, Fried Crullers, Hei Yeong Seng Chinese Restaurant, Home Recipe, Meat Dishes, Mini Stage, New Lease, New Straits Times (Life & Times), Noble Season Chinese Restaurant, Penang Plaza, Recreation Club, Roast Pork, Sambal, Spicy Sauce, Spring Onions, Table Cloths, White Rice

* This article was published in the New Straits Times (Life & Times) on 24th May 2011.

If you’re at Chowrasta Market in George Town, Penang, stop by Tamil Street, located on one side of the market building. This street is worth exploring for its variety of street food. Look out for a stall selling Ais Tingkap (translated as window sherbet). This classic chilled drink is named such because it used to be sold through an open window.

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Tags: Ais Tingkap, Anggur, Bakso, Bakso Nasi, Basil Seed, Charcoal Fire, Chopped Peanuts, Chowrasta Market, Coconut Flesh, Cucur Udang, Curry Itik, Fragrant Herbs, Fried Tofu, Ground Peanut, Gum Resin, Hand Held Fan, Hawker Food, Itik, Lime Juice, Lontong, Mutton Satay, Nasi Pandang, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), Olibanum Gum Resin, Palm Sugar, Pecel, Penang Hawker Food, Pesto Bandeng, Rawon, Samosa, Satay, Selasih, Spicy Sauce, Street Food, Tamil Street, Tingkap, Tiny Shrimp, Vadai, Window Sherbet, Wooden Mortar

* This article was published in the New Straits Times (Northern Streets) on 9th May 2011.

Penang is dotted with many restaurants, with some hidden unnoticed even though we often pass by it. One such place is Chin Bee Tea Restaurant. Located on Noordin Street, or commonly known as ‘Ji Tiau Lor’ among the Hokkiens here, this tea house is unique in its own way. This place is not all only about serving Chinese tea, but also serves appealing Chinese dishes.

One of their best dishes offered here is the Hainan Kampung Chicken. Dosed in the chef’s concoction of light soy sauce and oil, the chicken is tender and juicy. The condiment of fresh and fragrant chilli sauce blend with garlic and ginger is a must-have. I highly enjoyed the chicken with its natural sweetness flavor.

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Tags: Chilli Sauce, Chin Bee Tea Restaurant, Chinese Dishes, Chinese Tea, Classic Steam, Egg Yolk, Fish Sauce, Freshwater Fish, Fried Tofu, Garlic Oil, Hainan Kampung Chicken, Hearty Dish, Hot Wok, Light Soy Sauce, Light Tug, Natural Sweetness, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Northern Streets), Non-Halal, Noordin Street, Pang Pang, Patin Fish, Red Pepper, Spare Ribs, Spicy Sauce, Sweet And Sour Pork, Tea House Penang, Tender Meat

* This article was also published in the New Straits Times (Life & Times) on 24th June 2010.

Things are getting interesting with the discovery of Uncle Zack By-The-Beach, a gorgeous dining place where you can enjoy meals and drinks while admiring a panoramic view of the sea. This newly done up diner, with a mixed clientele of tourist and locals, is Parkroyal Penang’s Cool Bananas’ newest extension.

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Tags: Beef Rendang, Changing Colors, Chargrilled, Cool Bananas, Italian Herbs, Juicy Meat, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), Oil Lamps, Onion Sauce, Parkroyal Hotel Penang, Parkroyal Penang, Prawn Sambal, Ratatouille, Rich Flavor, Roasted Vegetables, Robust Flavor, Spicy Sauce, Spring Rolls, T Bone Steak, Uncle Zack, Uncle Zack By-The-Beach, View Of The Sea

Sawara Restaurant is located in a corner shop house along busy Burma Road in Pulau Tikus area. Its main focus is on its fish steamboat and homemade Yong Tau Fu where the fish paste is made from mackerel fish. There are not many restaurants in town making their own fish paste nowadays.

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Tags: Ala Carte, Array, Burma Road, Burmah, Business Hour, Chicken Bones, Chicken Carcass, Chili Sauce, Combination Plate, Fish Ball, Fish Balls, Fish Ingredients, Fish Paste, Fish Soup, Fresh Fish, Jelly Fish, Mackerel Fish, Meat Ball, Meat Balls, Penang Food, Pork Roll, Pork Slices, Pulau Tikus, Quail Eggs, Sawara, Side Dish, Sotong, Spicy Sauce, Steamboat, Thick Chunks, Typical Dishes, Yong Tau Foo

Chicken rice can be found in most hawker stalls and food courts in Penang as the chicken rice is a popular and favorite food for many of us. There is one exceptional stall that sells Hainan Chicken Rice – Thai style located in a corner coffee shop along Penang Road. It is directly opposite KOMTAR Tower and a few shops away from Kek Seng which is famous for its durian ice cream and ice kacang.

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Tags: Aroma, Array, Assam Laksa, Bus To Penang, Chicken Dish, Chicken Meat, Chicken Rice, Chicken Soup, Chili Sauce, Chilies, Chinese Chicken, Chinese Wine, Chopped Ginger, Chopped Spring Onions, Coffee Shop, Coriander, Corner Coffee Shop, Dipping Sauce, Drizzle, Fish Sauce, Flat Rice Noodles, Food Courts, Garlic, Garlic Sauce, Ginger Garlic, Hainan Chicken Rice, Hawker Stalls, Herbs And Spices, Hong Thai, Kek, Komtar, Lor, Outsiders, Penang Food, Penang Road, Pots, Public Bus, Red Chili, Roast Meat, Roasted Meat, Sauce Mixture, Sausage, Side Dish, Siu, Soy Sauce, Spicy Sauce, Style Chicken, Thai Chicken, Thai Style, Thai Version

Penang has a number of Korean BBQ restaurants and lately we saw the arrival of Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant in our shores. The outlet opened in the middle of May, less than a month ago occupies two shoplots in Penang Bayan Point. Daorae operates by the motto ‘the customers is always right’, thus their main objective is to provide good services to their customers. We had a hearty meal there recently.

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Tags: Ample Car, Array, Assorted Vegetables, Authentic Taste, Baked Corn, Banchan, Bayam, Bayan, Bbq Items, Bbq Restaurants, Bean Paste, Bean Sprouts, Beef Ribs, Chili Sauce, Condiments, Corns, Cutlets, Daorae, Favorite Dish, Favourite Dish, Free Flow, Fresh Seafood, Fresh Vegetable, Gal, Galbi, Garlic, Garlic Sauce, Gas Stove, Ginseng, Grilled Meat, Head Chef, Hearty Meal, Heating Element, Kimchi, Korea, Korean Affair, Korean BBQ, Korean Bbq Restaurant, Korean Food, Korean Ginseng, Korean Soup, Lettuce, Main Objective, Odour, Pancake, Penang, Penang Korean Restaurant, Piece Of Meat, Pork Ribs, Radish, Restaurants, Seaweed Soup, Soy Sauce, Spicy Chili, Spicy Sauce, Steve Cho, Succulent Pork, Sweet Soy Sauce, Tea, Tofu Soup, Unpleasant Odour, Watermelon

As usual, we were browsing and hunting through for a nice dinner, and somehow Hubby had a great idea of having some Lok Lok! Commonly on the island, we usually go to Padang Brown or the Pulau Tikus Market at night, however this time; hubby wants to try out the Lok Lok at Butterworth’s Chai Leng Park, Wai Sek Kai.

We made a trip over there and we chose New Corner Lok Lok as it is the first visible stall when you enter into this one way street. In the evening, this street is turned into a hawker food haven with stalls lining up from the beginning right till the end.

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Tags: Array, Assortment, Business Hour, Butterworth, Chee, Chicken Pieces, Chili Sauce, Chinese Cabbage, Colorful Dessert, Cuttlefish, Dearest Family, Dipping Sauce, Food Haven, Food Items, Food Stalls, Ginkgo, Ginkgo Nuts, Hawker Food, Hawker Stalls, Homemade Sauces, Houses, Hubby, Kai, Kangkung, Leng Chee Kang, Lok Lok, Lokl, Longan, Map, Meat Balls, Meatballs, Mushroom Lovers, Nice Dinner, Oomph, Oyster Mushrooms, Padang, Penang, Penang Food, Rm1, Satay Sauce, Sea Coconut, Second Trip, Sek, Selection Choices, Shitake Mushrooms, Shrimp, Shrimp Sauce, Skewers, Spicy Sauce, Sweet Potatoes, Sweet Sauce, Thai Sauce, Types Of Mushrooms, Wai, Water Prices, White Fungus

*** Update:  Young Heart has closed

Recently, I was invited by Ann Kee of Young Heart Restaurant at Pulau Tikus to a food testing session as they are launching their Chinese New Year Special Dishes. Together with a group of food bloggers, we visited this restaurant located on Cantonment Road. I truly enjoyed the food of my last visit to this restaurant with my family.

This restaurant with its motto; The Fragrance of the Refreshment comes from the Heart has been around since 2005, emphasizes on simple dishes that do not reliant much on extra artificial flavoring.

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Tags: Allie, Aloe Vera, Amp Lee, Apple Cider Vinegar, Apple Vinegar, Array, Artificial Flavoring, Attendance List, Bloggers, Business Hour, Cantonment, Cantonment Road, Chili Oil, Chinese Dishes, Chinese New Year, Chinese Style, Chrysant, Criz, Deep Fried Chicken, Deep Fried Chicken Wings, Dipping Sauce, Dipping Sauces, Dishes, Food Testing, Fried Bean Curd, Fried Chicken Wings, Fried Noodle, Fried Prawn, Georgetown Penang, Goh, Golde, Ground Pork, Healthier Choice, Healthy Dishes, Invitation, Japanese Style, Lai, Lam, Leeks, Lotus Root, Lotus Roots, New Year, Ooi, Pan Fried, Penang, Pork Noodle, Prosperous Year, Pui, Rice Flour, Rice Paper, Rm10, Rm3, Rm5, Rm6, Rm7, Rm8, Scallop, Shredded Pork, Simpl, Sour Soup, Spicy Bean, Spicy Pork, Spicy Sauce, Sponge Gourd, Style Sauce, Surprise Winner, Surprise Winners, Tikus, Vege, Young Heart, Young Hearts