Penang - Food Hunting Trip (Day 1)

After spending four days in Penang, I decided to blog about the food, as I hadn't done so in a while. We landed in Penang about late afternoon and went straight to hunt for char kueh teow. We were unable to find any good char kueh teow in Kota Kinabalu, and we have yet to find the best in Penang.

We stayed at the Sunway Hotel in George Town because of its strategic location. Siam Road Charcoal Char Kueh Teow is within a 12-minute walk (850m) from the hotel. When we got there on a Thursday afternoon at about 2.45pm, there was a big line outside the shop. You must stand in the queue and wait for a staff member to allocate you a seat. Since there are just two of us, we have to share a table of four with two other diners.

Finally, after more than an hour, our char kueh teow was served. The stir-fried rice noodles come with cockles, bean sprouts, chives, Chinese sausages, prawns and eggs. We chose less spicy and the char kueh teow was tasty. The rice noodles taste a little salty at first, but they are smooth, moist and not overly dry. However, the dish is greasy and contains a lot of bean sprouts.

Siam Road Charcoal Char Kueh Teow

Siam Road Charcoal Char Kueh Teow

Shop ambience

Iced water - RM 0.50

Char Kueh Teow - RM 9

Address:

Siam Road Charcoal Char Kuey Teow

82, Jalan Siam, George Town,

10400 George Town,

Penang

Next, we headed to this Biscotti Cafe to try out their cake. The cafe is cozy and there are many cute cakes available. I ordered a cup of chamomile tea and tried their green grape cake. The cake is moist and not too sweet. However, the frosting is quite stiff and dry. I enjoy the crispy, juicy and delicious grapes. Overall, it's a refreshing cake.

Cakes

Cakes

Chamomile tea - RM 12 and green grape cake - RM 22

Cafe ambience

Address:

Biscotti Cafe

261, Beach St, George Town,

10300 George Town,

Penang

This is our second time dining at Ka Bee Cafe. They have this signature soup with mee suah (also known as wheat vermicelli) that we enjoyed previously. This time, we ordered the same signature soup with mee suah, but we added fresh grouper fish meat, fish balls, minced pork meat and frog meat. We also ordered BBQ pork stick and lobak. Lobak is a Hokkien dish made from beancurd sheets, minced meat and vegetables seasoned with five spice powders.

There are three steps when ordering your noodles. First, select your soup: signature or tom yam. Next, select the type of noodles or porridge. Finally, you may add dishes like minced pork, fresh fish, fried fish, fish balls, prawns or frog meat. Their signature soup is very flavourful and goes nicely with the mee suah. The fish ball is too soft for my liking, but the fish and frog are both fresh and delicious. This time, I don't really enjoy the BBQ pork stick because I find it slightly undercooked and less flavourful than previously.

Iced water - RM 1.20 (drinking water - RM 0.60)

Signature soup with wheat vermicelli (mee suah) and fresh grouper fish meat - RM 16 add on fish balls - RM 3, minced pork meat - RM 3 and frog meat - RM 14. Total - RM 36

BBQ pork stick (3pcs) - RM 10.50

Lobak (3pcs) - RM 10.50

Address:

Ka Bee Cafe

9A, Seh Chew Jetty,

Pengkalan Weld, George Town,

10300 George Town,

Penang

We chose to end the evening with tong sui (sugar water), which is the Chinese word for any sweet soup served as a dessert after a meal. My search on Google brought me to this Four Season Dessert. We ordered ginger rice balls, mango pomelo sago and mantou with curry. Their ginger rice balls come with two peanut rice balls and one black sesame rice ball. The glutinous rice ball is soft and chewy, but slightly thick in texture. The mango pomelo sago is nice. It's creamy, sweet and comes with a lot of sago. Mantou, on the other hand is fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. It is served with a hot curry sauce.

(Total bill - RM 22.70)

Four Season Dessert

Ginger rice balls - RM 5.90

Mango pomelo sago - RM 10.90

Mantou with curry - RM 5.90

Address:

Four Season Dessert

114, Ground Floor,

Lebuh Noordin,

10300 George Town,

Penang

We decided to walk back to our hotel because it is just 800m (11 minutes) away from the Four Season Dessert. Along the way, we strolled past Komtar, Penang's tallest structure.

Komtar Penang night view