First time I went back to Penang in such a short period of time for the Tomb Sweeping Festival or 清明节 in Chinese.
After a long 8 hours flight from Melbourne to KL and another 35 minutes to Penang, my mind is full of images of delicious food floating and spinning around my head.
Our flight was slightly delayed and found my aunt has already waiting for me at the pick up area. The heat (or Penang's warmth to put it more beautifully) enveloped me as soon as I stepped out of the air conditioned arrival hall. However the heat wasn't going to pin me down as I was full of anticipation and in high spirit to start my week long food adventure!
Day 1:
First stop, Ka Bee Cafe along the Clan Jetties area.
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| Ka Bee Cafe |
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| Bandung - popular among kids. |
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| My double boost of orange juice - need to lift up the immune system and not falling sick in the heat |
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| Small deep fried fish as entree - the fish can be eaten whole as the bones break when you bite. |
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| Fish fillet bee hoon soup garnished with spring onion and deep fried lard. |
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| Deep fried fish fillet Maggie noodle soup. |
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| The beautifully painted mural of the interior. |
After a full and satisfying lunch, it's time to head back home and catch some sleep before coming out to hunt for food again.
After recharge my body with some 2 hours of deep afternoon nap, it's time to be active again! Went to this new place near Karpal Singh Drive called Waterfront Food Court and Market.
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| Waterfront Food Court and Market |
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| Fresh coconut juice - just the right drink to cool off! |
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| Seafood Char Koay Kak. |
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| Crab meat fried bee hoon - I never thought crab goes along well with bee hoon. |
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| The crab meat bee hoon was not enough for me so decided to order another Fried Ee Mee. |
The food at this place wasn't that great but I did enjoy the environment right next to the sea. The building has high ceiling and made the interior cool compare to other smoke clog hawker centre.
Day 2:
The highlight of the day was having Chu Char 煮炒 at the popular Gurney Drive's Public Cafe.
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| Public Cafe main entrance. |
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| Loke Sok Seafood right at the side of Public Cafe. |
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| Fried crab with salted egg sauce, yum! |
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| I came to this place mainly for this dish as you won't be able to find it anywhere else! Some sort of mince prawn meat ball. |
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| Beautifully cooked stir fried bitter gourd with egg. |
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| Fragrant coconut juice import from Thailand. |
Day 3:
Went to friend's daughter's birthday previous night and heard that Penang Times Square has been renovated and was getting popular. Decided to pay a visit and have lunch over there. Went into this new restaurant in M Mall called The Six which serves Hunan Ramen.
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| The Six at Penang Time Square. |
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| Cut chilli and chilli oil - first time saw such fine chilli oil. |
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| Enoki wrapped in bacon as entree. |
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| Fish fillet ramen. |
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| Roast duck ramen - a bit dissapointed as it wasn't the roast duck that I had in mind, the skin just wasn't crispy. |
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| Beautiful interior. |
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| Staircase to upper level decorated with lighting in bird cage lamp shades. |
Overall the food wasn't great and a bit disappointed but the cool environment compensate for this imperfection.
Day 4:
This is what I have been craving for more than a year! The best roast pork and roast duck in Penang! Used to be Sky Cafe but heard that the owner has renovated the once dirty interior and even kicked out the previous snobbish drinks operator. In my opinion the operator was the one responsible for the dirty interior and lousy service. Anyway that were all the past and what is more important was that the original roast pork hawker was still there!
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| The reinvented Wai Kei Cafe at Chulia Street. |
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| It was full house - it was not 12 o'clock yet! |
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| Undoubtedly the best Char Siu in Penang. |
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| Assorted roasted dish. |
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| Lemon, lime and plum juice - perfect way to stay cool! |
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| Now that's called roast duck! The best part is drumstick. |
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| The best roast pork in town! |
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| Soup is complimentary |
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| But vegetable is not. |
Day 5:
Decided to stay simple during the day, the highlight was just to enjoy a slow lazy afternoon with the aromatic rose milk tea only available at Winter Warmers Gurney Plaza. Nothing is more enjoyable than sipping good tea, read travel magazine and watch the world goes by through the floor to ceiling glass window.
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| Rose Milk Tea |
At night have the must try dish in Penang which is Char Koay Teow at Bee Hooi Cafe at Pulau Tikus.
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| Penang Char Koay Teow. |
Last Day:
All good things come to an end eventually, such is the cruelty of life. So the dinner on my last night in Penang has to be at somewhere special - a place with a view. Uncle Zack by the Beach in Parkroyal Hotel ticked the box with fantastic view of sunset.
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| You will be greeted by great canopies of tropical trees in front the hotel lobby. |
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| Buffet dinner with Cod fish. |
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| Lobster. |
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| Prawn |
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| But I wasn't there for the food - I was there for this, the golden sunset. |
The setting sun symbolizes the end of my Penang journey but as the sun will rise again the next day, so would I come back again to this tropical paradise!
