Posts Tagged ‘Penang’

Penang Foodies, Hard At Work

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

At the risk of exposing my entire gluttony being, I bring to you pictures from the recent Penang getaway where we promised to eat at each stop and made no attempt to stop eating and test the stretchability of our tummy power.

The best of the rest is this char kway teow. At a hefty price of 8.50 ringgit a plate for the biggest plate (which is really not big at all), we would have screamed foul if it hadn’t been so incredibly, mindblowingly tasty. It was the first stop of the day and set the precedent for every single meal after. At the end of the day, it won the unanimous vote of championship from our 6 greedy mouths.

We were told that there is a good wanton mee and hor fun store just down the road from where the char kway teow is but we didn’t know how near we were. It was barely 2 minutes before we sat down again in a different kopitiam no less and continued ordering.

The texture of the noodles in Penang is different from the ones in Singapore. The noodles here were springy and bouncy, a product of it being well-made and well-cooked. You know how noodles turn into a starchy lump when overcooked? These noodles are what I’ll like to call as well-defined but it’s probably the wrong term for it. The gravy of the hor fun is a little too starchy for my taste but overall, they are delicious. For one, I am impressed by the number of bones stewing away in the broth to give them the flavour.

Tzi Char, a mix of vermicelli and noodles, stir-fried.

Prawn noodles with hardly discernable prawns but the soup base is amazing.

I am not a big fan of assam laksa but I ate because it is one of the signature dishes of Penang.

Succulent, barbecued chicken wings but the ones in Singapore could be as good.

This wanton mee is cooked in a dark soy sauce as compared to the one we had earlier.

Suddenly Penang

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

I missed a call when I went to pee and on my return, found that I was spammed with a slew of BlackBerry messages asking me to wake up, don’t sleep, reply and basically, I couldn’t sleep even if I wanted to. My dear friends made sure of that.

On calling back the aforementioned said person, she asked me excitedly if I have anything on tomorrow and if I’ll go Penang with them. Take note that they gave me exactly 12 hours notice. It so happened that a girl who was to go on the trip tomorrow backed out but the accommodation and air ticket was already paid for. Therefore, I just have to pay SGD 60 for “administrative purposes” and top up the difference for the then purchased ticket and the current price which is SGD 48 to go. And so after some deliberation, I agreed even though I envisaged a relaxing weekend just lazing in bed for prolonged period. This was to be the last trip, at least for quite awhile for the travelling group, as 2 of our friends are going back to Canada.

I packed some clothes and a few toiletries and left the rest to them to make the name change with Tiger Airways. We had to make any name change 4 hours in advance but it was already 10+ in the evening and Tiger Airways call centre had already closed for the day. Their opening hour is at 9 a.m. which means we definitely couldn’t make the name change in time for the flight due at 9.50 a.m. So a little disappointed after all the worked-up hype, I unpacked everything again.

In the midst, my friends called again.

This time, they told me in more words than I am going to explain here that they would really enjoy my company and would like me to join them which means they are going to get a new ticket for me and topped up the SGD 100 difference. I was feeling really embarrassed and offered to pay them back but they wouldn’t hear of it. And so the ticket had been booked, things finalized and I am going to Penang in a few hours. It touched me no end about the things that good friends would do for you and for the pleasure of your company. I am glad to have such friends by me and this entry is testimony that I am very grateful indeed.