Having arranged this particular trip since last November—Sharon, Lester, Frankie and me travelled to Penang for a 24-hour food trip last Thursday (07/01/10).
11.20am Having the luxury of renting a car with GPS, we set off to our first eatery—roti canai on Transfer Road. Weather was lovely.
12.05pm Shortly after the roti canai, we made our way towards Toh Soon Cafe on Campbell Street to experience a local, traditional breakfast—a cup of coffee and fresh toast. The bread is toasted over charcoal embers, giving it a crisp but not tough and hard texture when eaten.
Once we managed to get the point across that we did not understand the local dialect, deciding on the choice of bread was made slightly easier. We understood what was available. Chocolate, coffee swirl, wholemeal, kaya? Steamed or toasted?
2.10pm What would be a food trip without a taste of the Penang-style Char Kway Teow? Our first choice was closed on Thursdays hence the latter option—Heng Huat Coffee Shop on Lorong Selamat. The cook is easily identifiable by her trademark red beret and goggles (refered to some as the goggle lady). This particular eatery is notorious for its long waiting times and rude behaviour.
We experienced it first hand when our food arrived an hour later (A good fifteen minutes longer than the average time it takes). Apparently, we started to notice that customers who arrived later than us were being served first. One has to wonder whether we were intentionally pushed back in the order queue. Because by the time the food arrived, we were among the last customers.
3.07pm When the four plates of spicy Char Kuey Teow arrived, we were such in a foul mood that enjoying the food was impossible. What a horrible experience la!
3.53pm We ‘cooled’ down with a bowl of chendul on Keng Kwee Street. There’s even a photograph of television icon Phua Chu Kang taken enjoying a bowl of this dessert!
4.30pm We were eager to taste the seafood popiah at Padang Brown. But to our dismay much later on, we realized it was closed on Thursdays! For the next few hours, in a possible attempt to avoid the evening traffic, we headed to the Queensbay Shopping Mall to jalan jalan.
7.30pm Dinner at New Lane Hawker Food Centre which is just a minute’s walk from our hotel, Sunway Georgetown Hotel. We tried the satay, duck porridge, chee cheong fun and chicken wings here. Followed by a plate of wan tan mee on Chu Lia Street.
10.02pm Ended the night with a quick visit to the G Hotel on Gurney Drive where I had a cup of tea and chocolate fondue to end the night. Bloated and unaware of the fact that I was constipated.
Next day 10am Return flight to Kota Kinabalu. Still constipated.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
looks like a pretty well spent day, to avoid constipation, just down about 15 glasses of teh tarik. :P
I thought you stopped blogging, Hin Ching! You purposely wait until 10.01.2010? :D
Is your first choice of char koay teow Ah Leng Char Koay Teow? It has big prawns and mantis prawn too. You should try that. For me, that is the best ckt in Penang!