Sungai Pinang Food Court Revisited

I can't recall if there was any food court in Penang when I was a kid. Back then, the streets are the food court. Penang people really make full use of their street. Streets in Jelutong town centre are converted into market in the morning. They revert back into streets in the afternoon and transform into hawker centre in the evening. This was the norm everywhere around the island.

But now with rapid urbanization and heavy traffic, roadside trading is gradually becoming less practical and hence the beginning of the food court era in Penang. While the situation is definitely getting more organized, I find that the food is less appealing compare to those served by traditional roadside hawkers. The reason is simple, those roadside hawkers are both chef and proprietors of their own business. They are serious about what they do and will try very hard to earn a decent living. They labor hard everyday to make ends meet and as a result of their passion and seriousness, we as the customers got to enjoy delicious food.

Those stall owners in modern food court however employ people to operate the business for them. There are very few who would personally manage their stalls. Sometimes you would find Indonesian maids serving you Penang Hokkien Mee for example, it just doesn't feel right and you could easily taste it as they are not authentic.

As you would probably know by now that I'm not a big fan of food court but if there is any food court to recommend then I would suggest the one in Sungai Pinang for its many choices of food, comfort and some stalls do serve authentic Penang delicacy.

Ikan bakar or BBQ fish Malaysian style - Golden Pomfret.

Have you tried BBQ vegetable before? This one is a bit too salty for me.

East Coast BBQ is the first prominent stall that greets you at the entrance to the food court.

Variety of seafood to choose from. Sometimes you just can't decide.

Customers are spoilt for choice.

Squid, fish, prawn and so much more.

Deep fried chicken skin always appeal to the locals as we are not very health conscious people.

Black chicken herbal soup. Not really a common dish in Penang and that makes it unique.

Noodles that goes with the black chicken herbal soup - my personal favourite.

Now this is the stall that boasts authenticity where the man himself shows you how he makes his famous biscuits.

The boss, the chef and the marketer.

He hit hard with wooden mallet onto the ingredients that make his biscuits.

Some cute lanterns hanging above the Lok Lok stall.

Customer thinking of which skewer to choose from.

Variety of meat and seafood in skewers on display at the Lok Lok stall.

I always go for fruit juice whenever I was there. A way to balance out all the greasy food that I took in.

The spacious interior of Sungai Pinang Food Court.

Spencer Village - Asian Food Court

I was particularly delighted to discover this place called Spencer Village in Thornlie, Perth a while back ago. That day we were driving around visiting display homes in Piara Waters. Thanks to my daughter who couldn’t stop playing in the neighbourhood playground, it was fast getting dark and my stomach has started protesting that it needed food pretty soon. So I dragged my reluctant daughter into our car and head off to Spencer Village which is the nearest we could find from that place. You see finding food after dark in Australian suburbs is a challenge, it is something that is very different from Asia.

I’ve heard of this place before and most people have positive comment about its food. So we decided to give it a try. Hawker stalls and little food courts are something that I have grown up with and it is quite unusual for me that there are so few of this type of places in Perth. So it is a big thing for us to be able to find this place.

The first impression was definitely a good one. We saw the car park in front of the place was almost fully occupied, that means good business and most importantly good food! I managed to find one parking spot at the back and we walked straight in to start our food hunt. Upon entering the building, it was as though we have been teleported back to Asia in one of those Star Trek high tech devices. Almost the entire space was filled with Asians, the ambience was noisy and chaotic, exactly what you would experience in any Asian cities. I saw familiar names like Laksa, Char Koay Teow and Roti Prata.

We ordered a Unagi Rice and Fried Hor Fun Cantonese style. As you can see in the photos below, both came in very big portions. If you get bored with Perth lifestyle at night and would like to go for supper just like you normally do in Asia, then Spencer Village is the place. And the food is really value for money. But if you have high expectation in terms of taste and quality of food, then this may not be a place for you. I’m more for taste and that’s why I’ve only visited the place once and have never gone back so far. I may go again in some nights when I miss experience the Asian ambience while in Australia!

Spencer Village Main Entrance

Malacca and KL Food Stalls

Spencer Village Interior

Stall selling Indonesian food

Hong Kong and Japanese food stalls

Roti Prata stall

Cantonese Fried Hor Fun

Unagi Rice

Sungai Pinang Food Court

Right at the intersection of Tun Dr. Lim Chong Eu Expressway (formerly known as Jelutong Expressway) is the Sungai Pinang Food Court. You can find many Penang delicacies here like all the major local noodles dishes, dim sum, fried oyster, chicken herbal soup and last but not least my personal favourite Ikan Bakar (grilled fish)! The Ikan Bakar stall is right at the main entrance and is named East Coast BBQ; sounds a bit confusing especially when you are in West Coast of Malaysia.

The seafoods at the stall are very fresh from the catch by local fishermen, this is the advantage of living on an island surrounded by sea! It is always fortunate to be able to live in Penang because there is always no shortage of seafood all year round! Last time I always thought that seafood could be found anywhere in the world until I visited China. I went to Shanghai and Suzhou and realized that the menu only have fresh water fish and not fish from the sea. I prefer fish from the sea as they have sweeter taste and less bones. After that trip I started to be more grateful and contented that I am able to have seafood anytime and anywhere I want while in Penang.

More on the food court at Sungai Pinang Food Court Revisited.