Hakka Lei Cha
May 28, 2008 | 4 Comments
Yesterday I had lunch at Jalan Bawasah, a hakka coffeeshop cum mini museum for Wong Pow Nee, the first Chief Minister of Penang. The coffee shop occupies 2 pre-war shophouse which was tastefully restored. On 1 side there is the coffeeshop, on the next shop there is a small museum where you can see photos of Wong Pow Nee and some historical news about him.
In the coffeeshop there are several dishes cooked traditionally by hakkas. We had the Lei Cha which is a tea based soup eaten with rice and some condiments. I had tasted one in Johor Bahru and according to my brother-in-law who is a Hakka, the JB one taste quite authentic.
Well, the one in Penang has a stronger tea taste but the servings for the vegetable condiments is a bit small. Overall, it is still tasty. Below are photos taken before we mixed everything in and after we mixed everything up. This is quite a treat because I think no other person in Penang island sells Lei Cha. Those of you know a good place in Penang please give me comments.
Lei Cha before mixing Lei Cha after mixing everything up
Durians!
May 8, 2008 | 3 Comments
My friend Carl has recently bought a 5 acre Durian orchard in Balik Pulau. He was so kind to invite my friends and I to visit his orchard and have a Durian feast there.
We were suppose to go to his orchard last week, but I had to attend Fabian’s review/graduation class so it was postponed to…TODAY!
After a light lunch (we want to save space in our stomach so we can pig out at the orchard), we met up at his place and off to his orchard.
The road towards Balik Pulau is winding and quite sickening to some people. But the anticipation of going to have Durians didn’t really affect us.
The orchard had 200+ Durian trees and they were all so fruitful.
Every tree had so many Durians
This bunch looks more like grapes instead of Durians
Once we arrive, we wasted no time eating the Durians. We had all the different Durian species in Carl’s orchard namely Hor Lor (Gourd), 15, D24, 14, Xiao Hong (Little Red), Ang Hae (Red Prawn) and the one and only Lilian. Yes I kid you not. There is a tree with no name and even the estate manager doesn’t know what is the specie, so Durians from that special tree is named after Carl’s wife, Lilian. This is so cool. Mind you, the fruit taste good too.
After a sumptuous meal of Durians, we took a walk around Carl’s orchard.
Durian flowers blown away before it had a chance to fruit
I’m standing between 2 vertical bamboo sticks used to support the branch of a Durian tree. With so many Durians on the branch and each fruit as big as my head, the branch will break without the bamboo support.
An unripe Mangosteen fruit on Carl’s orchard. Carl’s orchard have a range of different Durian species and a couple of Rambutans trees, Cempedak trees and Mangosteen trees.
This Carl and he is the owner of the Durian orchard. No I’m not joking, yes he is an ang mor, but not an ordinary ang mor. Carl is an American. If you don’t know him, you won’t believe that he loves Durians. Yes, he loves it so much that he has bought an orchard. Of course Lilian is also a Durian lover and I bet she was just as enthusiastic as Carl in getting this wonderful orchard.
In the past weeks, after talking to a few of our regular Durian seller, apparently this year’s Durian season will be different from the previous year. There will not be a bumper harvest all at a time. Resulting in an over supply which drives Durian price down. This year, Durians ripen on a more evenly spaced out time. I suppose it has something to do with the weather but a quick check in Carl’s orchard shows some trees are only begining to flower…
So looks like this year will have a longer supply of Durians but at a higher price.
Chinese New Year In Kuala Lumpur & Johor Bahru
February 14, 2008 | 5 Comments
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
It has been a while since I’ve updated my blog. I was busy with pre-Chinese New Year errands as well as getting ready for the Chinese New Year.
On Chinese New Year eve, 6 Feb, I flew down to Kuala Lumpur for the Reunion Dinner with my grand mother, uncles and aunts.
My youngest uncle TK, cooked up a feast of yummy food which is impossible to buy from restaurants. This is because the ingredients he used are 1st grade stuff. People will balk at the price if the dishes were served in restaurants.
I really enjoyed my dinner and everyone agreed that it was really really good. But cooking all day was very tiring for my uncle and I suppose it was the love of seeing his guests savouring the delicious food that drove him to toil in the kitchen.
I forgot to bring my camera to take shots of the dishes but manage to get a photo of a monster prawn…it was damn good prawn, and each of us had one each!
Usually on the 1st day of Chinese New Year, 7 Feb, we’ll have open house for our friends and other relatives. However, my grand father passed away last year, so we are not suppose to celebrate New Year for 3 years.
So my grand mother, uncles and aunts flew to Bangkok for a week of holidaying.
We went visiting my other grand mother as well as other relatives, something which we haven’t done before. Traditionally we are suppose to receive guest in my grand father’s house.
Anyway, 2nd day of Chinese New Year, we visited some friends and family which is the norm, and had another reunion dinner at my other grandmother’s house.
On the 3rd day of New Year, my family and I drove to Johor Bahru.
My family and I had our own reunion dinner in JB at New Lucky Restaurant with an extravagant dish “Pun Choi”. This is how it looks like…
As you can see it’s one big mother of all dishes! It has Fish Maw, Goose Web, Deer Tendon, Stuffed Dried Oysters with Fish, Prawns, Sea Cucumber, Roast Pork, Scallops, Giant Garoupa’s Head, Abalone and Smoked Goose. This dish is cooked for a table of 10 persons. There were 8 of us and good thing we managed to finished it without over eating!
I celebrated my birthday in JB too. We had seafood in Senibong. My youngest sister is missing from the picture. She is in Perth starting her Masters in Pharmacy (he he this time I got it right) in University of Western Australia.
Well, apart from eating and drinking, this Chinese New Year I also manage to take a rest for a week from all the work adn vege out watching DVDs of movies which I missed out. Now I’m back in Penang its money making mood!
My Trip To Sydney
December 20, 2007 | 5 Comments
On my first day in Sydney, I was just exploring Kingsford area which is where the University of New South Wales is located. I also went to East Gardens to shop for breakfast stuff. Bought really fresh and tasty ham off the bone, Hungarian Salami, button mushrooms, alfalfa, onion sprouts, apple and passion fruit juice and yogurt. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s breakfast. The sandwiches are going to be a blast.
Ham off the bone, Hungarian salami, button mushrooms, cucumbers, alfalfa & onion sprout sandwich
Smoke salmon & alfalfa open sandwich
Premium ham, beef pastrami, button mushrooms, cucumbers, alfalfa, 99% fat free semi sun dried tomatos sandwich
Day 2 to 5
2nd day I visited Paddington Market, this arty farty flea market is located in Paddington (quite a hip place). They have nice handcrafts and stuff. I had lunch there, steak and mushroom sandwich. Though it’s called a sandwich, its foot long like the subway one. I had to share half since it was so big.
After Paddington Market, my friends and I went to Max Brenner for our chocolate fix. After so much walking we need the sugar and chocolate to sooth our muscles. We had chocolate soufflé, cookies shake and chocolate shot. Everything was really good…
After tea at Max, we went to Darling Harbour for a walk. The place was HUGE! There are many things to see and many cafes to eat at. We didn’t finish seeing everything at Darling Harbour and will be back to see the Aquarium, tour the Destroyer and submarine too.
Pity it was a cloudy day at Darling Harbour
One of the few curious water features in Darling Harbour
We walked around Chinatown and finally had good Vietnamese Pho for dinner. Its not the best but better than those found in KL. We are going to eat the best Pho later on Wednesday night.
Chinatown
Wow they have Thai durians here!
Sunday we went to the Rocks (Not the prison) in Circular Quay.
Sydney Opera House viewed from Circular Quay while walking to the Rocks
There is a flea market in the Rocks on weekends and it is similar to the one in Paddington. Then we had late lunch, near Sydney Opera House. Along the seaside walk from Circular Quay to Sydney Opera House was a row of yummy cafes and restaurants. I had prawn salad, wedges and a glass of wine, Green Point Sauvignon Blanc. Imagine having delicious food with some friends overlooking Sydney Harbour Bridge while sipping a nice glass of wine in the afternoon…ahhhh…
My yummy lunch at a cafe along the walk to Sydney Opera House, overlooking the Harbour Bridge
Grand view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Climbers making their way to the top of the Harbour Bridge
After tea we walked around the Opera House to have a closer view of it. In the evening we proceed to Randwick to meet a friend for Italian dinner.
Monday we continued our exploration of Darling Harbour, finishing our tour of duty on the HMAS Vampire, an Aussie Destroyer and HMAS Onslow, a Submarine. The submarine was an eye opener. After the tour, my respect for submariners increase many many fold.
Captain’s chair onboard the Destroyer
Torpedo room on the submarine
Don’t ask me how the ang mos fit through the compartment doors or even sleep on the bunks
Before my tour on the Destroyer ended, my camera batteries died! Oh shit I forgot to charge it. I had to use my phone camera for the rest of the day. After the ships, we went to the Aquarium. It was really cool and we spent so much time in the aquarium, fascinated with the under water world. The Aussies really done it well.
I had dinner at Darling Harbour that night at Ice Cube Seafood Grill. The food was good but the pan seared Barramundi was not as good as Ember’s house special fish which was seared to perfection.
Tuesday I visited Coogee beach and Bondi Beach. I wanted to do the scenic walk from Coogee to Bondi but the weather was cloudy and very very windy. Good thing I brought along my trusty Lafuma Shell.
Cliffs at Coogee Beach
Rock pools are built next to the sea, and the water in the pool is recycled by the strong waves washing through the pool every second
I was shocked that the town council provide sophisticated BBQ facilities at Coogee beach. What is most shocking is the cleanliness of the BBQ stove! This is something you definitely won’t get in Malaysia.
This is NOT a new BBQ stove. Look at the shine, makes you wanna cook on it.
When I went to Bondi Beach later in the afternoon, the sun was up briefly but it was really nice. The air was very refreshing and the view calming.
Panoramic view of Bondi Beach
View from Ice Cube Restaurant, restaurant with top 5 best view in Sydney
Day 6 to 8
Wednesday we visited Mrs Macquarie Chair which have a great view of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Ha ha now its Hai Liang’s chair!
This is the most photographed spot of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge combined. Pity it was a cloudy day…
After visiting the chair, we went to the infamous Sydney Fish Market. The fish market has 2 sections, wholesale and retail. Only the retail section is open for public to buy seafood supplies. I think there is organised tour of the wholesale section but gotta wake up really early.
Sydney Fish Market is the world’s 2nd largest seafood market in terms of variety outside of Japan
We had lunch at the fish market, it was value for money and very very fresh. The best is heaps of fresh sea urchin roe! Back home, the Japanese restaurants serve meager portions of the roe in sashimi but we ate lots of it at the fish market.
The Spanner crabs look more like the “face hugger” in Aliens than a typical crab but it looks delicious. I wonder how it taste…
My lunch, clockwise from top right hand corner, mornay lobster, fresh sea urchin roe, grilled lobster set with chips and salad, 6 grilled scallops, 6 fresh jumbo size pacific oysters
Almost can’t fit the jumbo size oyster into my mouth. I haven’t eaten such oysters since I left New Zealand many years ago.
After a wonderful lunch, we travelled to Manly Beach in North Sydney through the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The bridge looks very grand with so many lanes on it, quite confusing for a visitor to drive on it. Manly Beach is the best beach so far. It is so many times bigger than Bondi and of course more nudist sun bathers ha ha.
I’m kicking myself for not taking panoramic shots of Manly beach. But you can look at the size of the beach taken from the left and right.
Thursday is late night shopping night. So on Thursday we spent our time mainly in the city looking at the shops. I got Christmas presents for my parents.
Friday we went to Blue Mountains for a day of bush walks. It was a great day as the sun is bright and sunny. One day is not enough to do all the bush walks and explore the surroundings. I think you may need a week to really explore Blue Mountains and the caves properly.
The walks range from easy to difficult grade, from 10 minutes return to 7.5 hours. We didn’t have enough time so we went straight to Scenic World since it has a cable car, skyway looking at the Jamison Valley, Katoomba Falls and the world’s steepest incline railway.
Bottom of the valley via the incline railway
All the rides were exciting, not roller coaster exciting but it was more of acrophobic excitement. The incline railway decended almost vertically and made you think that you can easily fall head over heels and tumble down the valley. The skyway is a horizontal cable car a few hundred meters above the valley with transparent glass floors. Standing on the glass floor you can see all the way down and it was really scary.
You can see all the way down to the valley and you’ll be too nervous to stand much less walk about!
The 3 Sisters before (left photo) and after they were “transformed” to stone pillars (right photo, bottom left side the 3 pointy thingy) by the magic man
Me attempting to climb up one of the 3 sisters. Difficult to smile properly while climbing ha ha…
The Blue Mountains viewed from Echo Point
The view is really spectacular. I think I understand why the area is called Blue Mountains. But I don’t understand why all the mountains are flat top and almost the same height all around. As if a giant used a giant lawn mower to trim the mountains to same height.
Saturday we made a day trip to Wollongong and Kiama. The lookouts from the various points were breathtaking. Even the pictures can’t show the vastness of the ocean and the bay areas.
Wollongong from Bulli lookout
After fish and chips lunch at a Wollongong seaside cafe, we headed to Kiama to look at the famous blowhole. We had to wait for a long time and trial and error to get a good recording below:
Today is also fish day! We had Smoked Salmon sandwich for breakfast, fish and chips for lunch (battered King Dory) and yes fish and chips for dinner too! Dinner was battered New Zealand Hoki and some calamari (big sotong) rings. Wollongong have lots of good fish and chips cafe and restaurants at the harbour and docks along the Grand Pacific Drive.
One of the lighthouses along the coast of Wollongong that is still functioning today
Sunday we woke up late because even though our mind is willing, our body is really too tired to move. We woke up just before lunch and yum char in city center. The dim sum is quite nice especially those scallops based dumplings.
After lunch, we went to Paddy’s market near Chinatown. Paddy’s market is a rojak of our wet market and cheap flea market. The fruits and vegetable stalls are all manned by asians and I suspect they are mostly chinese from China. There are so many vegetable varieties, much more than back home, bigger and healthier looking too! We got a souvenir for our travel agent aka Super Agent Joyce. She is able to get us flights to various places even though it is fully booked!
For our Sunday dinner we ate at…Doyles Restaurant at Watson Bay! Yay! The Watson Bay restaurant is the first restaurant opened by Doyles himself, the rest are just offshoots. It is also one of the restaurants with top 5 best view of Sydney. Unfortunately that evening it was raining heavily, so we can’t see much. We had the seafood chowder, fisherman’s platter and a braised vegetable on the side.
The seafood chowder is big and we had to share. It had half a blue swimmer crab, mussels, fish meats, prawns, calamaris and scallops. Its really delicious with loads of seafood stuff.
Can’t imagine this platter is for 2 pax. We shared among 3 of us and still can’t finish it. The blue swimmer crab is a disappointment but the rest is really good. The Eastern King Prawns is really sweet. There is unlimted refills of battered fish as well but we can’t even finish the original serving. Oh the best chips I’ve eaten in Sydney is here at Doyles too.
Monday we slept in again and stayed at the apartment because my friend had arrange for a workman to install the insect screens. After the guy finished his work, we only had time to explore the nearby University of New South Wales and then headed to Bondi Junction for dinner at Sushi Train.
Tuesday we flew back to Penang via Singapore. I need to have a bigger budget the next time I visit Sydney. Must try the Harbour Bridge climb and explore more of Blue Mountains and the surrounding caves.
Good Nasi Lemak In Penang?
November 19, 2007 | 3 Comments
Last Friday The Star reported a good Nasi Lemak outlet “Nasi Lemak Shop” on Chow Thye Road. Well my foodie friends and I tried it this afternoon for lunch.
The outlet is bare but clean. I suppose the boss wanted to maximise the space available and though there were quite a few tables, it wasn’t cramped. But more importantly, we’re here for the food!
We ordered the Nasi Lemak with assam fish and chicken rendang, chicken porridge and a small curry fish head for sharing.
They served the 4 sets of Nasi Lemak first and when they placed the plates on our table, well, the fragrance from the rice was what hit us. You can smell the yummy coconut rice beckoning you to eat it. Yeah the rice was practically shouting “eat me! eat me!“. Before we can eat, we almost made up our minds, “This is Good!“. Well the first spoonful of rice confirms it. There is generous helping in coconut in the rice thus the “Nasi Lemak” and you can almost feel the creaminess in each spoon! But be warned, so much coconut will have a side effect of having “wind” which mean you’ll fart like mad later!
The assam fish set had a piece of fried chicken and they might as well leave out the chicken. Its more like a bite size fried chicken. The assam fish was good as the fish is well marinated with assam. But between the chicken rendang and assam fish, we all agree that the chicken rendang taste better than the Assam fish.
The curry fish was served about 25 minutes after our order. To be fair, the guy said it’ll take 20 minutes to prepare it. Strange…isn’t curry fish pre-cooked before lunch?
Well, the curry fish head was a disappointment. When they served it, the fish head was half cooked. They had to further cook it. Well when we really tried it, the gravy was slightly thicker than the usual Indian curry fish gravy. But the gravy tasted “hollow” as if something was missing.
When we finally tasted the fish head, well…it wasn’t really mind blowing like the rice. The fish meat didn’t absorb enough of the curry gravy. The tomato slices were still raw and crispy, added into the gravy as if it was a last minute thought. Later a quick check with the boss, he said they use pressure cooker to cook the fish, so usually the head gets cooked but…well no wonder the gravy tasted “hollow”. Looks like the traditional way of cooking is better than the pressure cooker.
The porridge was the last disappointment. It was the last dish to arrive, about 45 minutes after we ordered. Mind you, the outlet was only about half filled when we ordered. Again nothing to shout about.
One last thing, the servings for the Nasi Lemak is only good for breakfast. Those of you going for lunch, should order extra rice, yum yum more carbo ha ha. Even the extra rice is so small. I think the 2 portion only make one normal bowl of rice. But for the ladies, it was just nice. Well, if Suan Bee can finish the rice by herself, then I’m sure its less than half a bowl!
I think the best dish there is the Nasi Lemak with chicken rendang, oh and order the top up dessert of white fungus too. The fungus is nice. For the porridge and curry fish head, there are better places for it and that is another story heh heh…
Long Lost Ox-tail Soup
November 14, 2007 | 2 Comments
Last night I had the best ox-tail soup in ages. Actually I lost hope of find this chef for a long time. The chef had his stall opened in Kek Seng on Burmah Road opposite the Seventh Day Adventist Church. However, 7 or 8 years ago, Kek Seng undergone renovation and the chef moved.
My friends and I searched high and low but to our dismay, we can’t find him anymore.
Thanks to Wai Ling, she told us during the coaching class that the chef has moved to the coffeeshop at the corner of Jones Road and Burmah Road. Yippee! I went there in less than a week after she told me.
His standard is still there man! My first spoonful of soup in my mouth…ahhh…pure oral sensory bliss…this guy’s soup, or rather broth, is really thick, tasty and concentrated with the beef essence. The soup viscosity is really thick thus it doesn’t feel diluted when you slurp it up. The generous serving of spring onions goes really well with the spices in the soup. Yum yum, thinking of it now makes me hungry for more!
My next trip there I’ll sure to bring my camera to take a shot of it and share it with you guys. Oh i didn’t even mention the crumbed fish and chips ya? Maybe next time then.
Newsletter Subscription
Categories
Recommendations
