Penang - Food Hunting Trip (Day 2)

We had two Michelin Guide meals on our second day in Penang, and both of them let us down. The first is Ah Boy Koay Teow Th'ng, located at Lebuh Clarke in George Town. The shop is about a 5-minute drive (1.3km) from Sunway Hotel, Georgetown (Grab fare - RM 5). When we arrived at the shop at 11.40am on a Friday morning, it was almost empty. Both soup and dry versions of kueh teow are available. It comes with meatballs, fried fish balls, fish balls, pork tendon balls and chicken slices. You can add on fish maw, quail eggs, vegetables, chicken skin, dumplings or giblets.

We ordered a bowl of kueh teow soup, which comes with fish balls, a bowl of fish balls and pork tendon balls soup and bean sprout chicken. The lady got my order mixed up and gave me only fried fish balls instead of both fried fish balls and fish balls. The rice noodles are soft, but the broth is not flavourful enough. Other than that, the fish balls are soft and they have a fishy taste. The fried fish balls are so soft and mushy that I couldn't eat them. Apart from that, the chicken breasts are dry and tough. Overall, we are not pleased with the food.

(Total bill - RM 23.40)

Ah Boy Koay Teow Th'ng

Ah Boy Koay Teow Th'ng

Iced water - RM 0.60 and barley - RM 1.80

Bean sprout chicken - RM 9

Fried fish balls, fish balls and pork tendon balls soup

Kueh teow soup with fried fish balls

Address:

Ah Boy Koay Teow Th'ng

Lebuh Clarke, George Town,

10050 George Town,

Penang

From Ah Boy Koay Teow Th'ng, we took a Grab ride (Grab fare - RM 6) to My Own Cafe, another Michelin Guide meal. It's a small shop and a cat is spotted relaxing on a chair outside. The owner is very friendly and their lemak laksa is only available on Friday. We ordered a bowl of lemak laksa and asam laksa. Asam laksa soup is made with mackerel. However, I didn't notice any of it in the soup. Aside from that, the soup is watery, spicy and lacks flavour. I prefer their lemak laksa, but the noodles taste bland. We shared a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice with a slight sourness.

My Own Cafe

Lazy cat

Shop ambience

Shop ambience

Pure orange juice - RM 8

Lemak / nyonya laksa - RM 9

Asam laksa - RM 8

Address:

My Own Cafe

2, Cannon Street, George Town,

10200 George Town,

Penang

Yap Kongsi Temple

Ludwig Softserve is within a 100m walk from My Own Cafe. This is my second time eating their soft-serve ice cream. I tried their Swiss dark chocolate in a cone for the first time, and this time I went with their fresh raspberry soft serve in a cup without any toppings. The soft serve has a sandy texture and is not really tasty. I suppose I just like their chocolate flavour more.

Flavours of the day: Swiss dark chocolate, milk Himalaya sea salt, fresh raspberry and French vanilla.

Add on basic toppings (RM 2 each) - Oreo, colour sprinkles or choco rice pop

Add on premium toppings (RM 3 each) - Mini macaron, cartoon meringue or biscoff

Ludwig Softserve

Cafe ambience

Fresh raspberry - RM 14

Address:

Ludwig Softserve

37, Lebuh Armenian, George Town,

10200 George Town,

Penang

Street art

We then proceeded to Reggae Cafe, which was only a 2-minute walk (150m) from Ludwig Softserve. Since they didn't have any jasmine tea, we tried their eight-secrets tea. The tea is good to drink with the cake, but it's a little too flowery and sour for my tastes. I ordered a slice of peach roulade and it's tasty. It is filled with softly whipped cream and big slices of peach. The cake is very light and fluffy. Most importantly, it's not too sweet. However, the top frosting is a little hardened. We took a Grab ride back to our hotel after our tea break (Grab fare - RM 10).

(Total bill - RM 37.40 including 10% service charge)

Reggae Cafe

Cakes

Cafe ambience

Eight secrets - RM 17 and peach roulade - RM 17

Address:

Reggae Cafe

163, Lebuh Pantai, George Town,

10300 George Town,

Penang

The distance between Hock Seng Rojak and Sunway Hotel, Georgetown is approximately 1.4km, or a 20-minute walk. I walked to Hock Seng Rojak with my partner to help him reach his daily goal of 10,000 steps. This rojak stall is famous for their unique malt sugar rojak paste that tastes like caramel. The stall is operated from a three-wheeled hawker cart on the side of the road. We were lucky that the queue was short when we reached there before 6pm. The rojak contains fried dough fritters, cucumber, mango, jicama and guava, all drenched in rojak paste. The fried dough fritters are hard to bite into and the guava is overripe. Aside from that, the mango is sour. The rojak paste is too sweet for us, and we were unable to eat the entire bowl of rojak and had to toss it away.

Hock Seng Rojak

Hock Seng Rojak

Hock Seng Rojak - RM 11

Address:

Hock Seng Rojak

Gat Lebuh Cecil,

10300 George Town,

Penang

There is a hawker center nearby that sells a variety of local foods. We decided to relax there and order a glass of iced water and a can of 100 plus to quench our thirst before walking back to our hotel.

Mei Heong Coffee Shop

100 plus and iced water - RM 3.20

Address:

Mei Heong Coffee Shop

Gat Lebuh Macallum, George Town,

10300 George Town,

Penang

Komtar Penang day view

We had our dinner at Teksen Restaurant with Wilson and his wife. There is always a huge line outside the restaurant during dinner time. Recently, we discovered that we can make reservations for groups of four or more. As a result, we were able to avoid the long line. There are only four of us, but we ordered seven dishes! We used to enjoy their home recipe double roasted pork; however, since my partner requested lean meat instead of roasted pork, it doesn't taste as wonderful. The greatest dish of the night, I believe, will be the deep-fried fish with garlic, ginger and a thick soy sauce topping. The fish is well fried. Crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside. Besides that, the asam prawns are fresh and succulent. The staff recommended that we try their pork dishes, but they weren't very good. The pork has a lot of bones and fat.

(Total bill - RM 383.60 including 10% service charge and 6% service tax)

Teksen Restaurant

Spritzer 1.5L mineral water - RM 4.50 and ice - RM 2

Asam tumis (curry) stingray fish - RM 42

Stir-fried prawns with tamarind sauce - RM 58

Home recipe double roasted pork (lean meat) - RM 25

Stir-fried French bean with minced pork and dried shrimp - RM 18

Deep-fried fish with garlic, ginger and thick soy sauce topping - RM 128

Stir-fried winged bean with sambal sauce and prawns - RM 16

Pork - RM 30

Rice (big) - RM 1.80

Address:

Teksen Restaurant

18, Lebuh Carnarvon, George Town,

10100 George Town,

Penang

After dinner, we had our dessert at Four Beans. Even though the business closed at 10.30pm, there was still a line outside when we arrived at 9.40pm. We had Taiwan watermelon shaved ice and cold soy beancurd with three toppings. You can choose three toppings from a choice of thirty-nine! We struggled to choose the toppings and ended up selecting grass jelly, brown jelly and rose jelly toppers. Taiwan watermelon shaved ice comes with fresh watermelons, longan and coconut jelly. It tastes ordinary to us. However, I quite enjoy their soy beancurd. It's soft and smooth.

(Total bill - RM 33.65 including 6% service tax and 10% service charge)

Four Beans

Shop ambience

Drinking water

Soy beancurd with cold soy beancurd (RM 1) and three toppings (grass jelly, brown jelly and rose jelly) - RM 14

Taiwan watermelon shaved ice - RM 15

Address:

Four Beans (George Town)

7, Jalan Krian, George Town,

10400 George Town,

Penang