Hatyai Seafood Restaurant, Farlim, Penang by Gneb

It’s been a while since I last went to Farlim, Bandar Baru Ayer Itam. The area has apparently turned into a highly developed satellite town, densely populated with high rise apartments, shop houses, fast food chains and a number of supermarkets.

I’ve always been told that there are quite a few excellent eating places in Farlim. For example, there’s the famous Farlim Laksa (which I’ve yet to try), Bali Bali and a number of other “chu char” (cooked dishes with rice) restaurants.

I went to this particular “chu char” restaurant called Hatyai Seafood Restaurant in Medan Angsana 2 (opposite the field where the weekly night market takes place).

Hatyai Seafood Restaurant looks more like a coffee shop, but it only serves “chu char”. Come to think of it, I think it looks more like a “tai pai tong” as they even set the tables along the corridor, due to limited space in the restaurant and the large patronage they get especially in the evening.

One thing I noticed, most of the workers at Hatyai Seafood Restaurant are teenagers (could be the owner’s sons). They take orders, make drinks and serve the dishes. The bummer is that most of these teenage boys do not know how to recommend their specialty dishes.

As a result, we resorted to the following common dishes. Looks like they really have to get all these teenage boys to remember their menu by heart.

Prawn Curry – Yeah, again! Boring huh? I like this though and the prawn curry here at Hatyai Seafood tastes really nice. The prawns are also fairly big and very fresh.

Salad Fried Chicken – This is simply divine! Not only that the fried chicken is nice and crispy, there’s also a generous dollop of mayonnaise to go with it. As if this was not enough, there’s also extra mayonnaise in a saucer for you to top up.

Fried Asparagus With Sambal (spicy chili paste) – This is very delicious too. The asparagus is fresh and crunchy. The paste is also tasty.

All these for RM32. Not bad at all.

My scores (out of 5):

Taste: 5

Environment: 1 (as mentioned, this is “tai pai tong” )

Service: 2 (hope the next time I visit, the teenagers will know how to promote and recommend their lovely dishes)

Price: 3 (Acceptable)

Parking: 5 (Plenty in front of the restaurant and around the area)

Address: Medan Angsana 2, Bandar Baru Ayer Itam, Penang (those of you who know Farlim well, it’s just right opposite the weekly night market)

Roti Bakar Kopitiam, Times Square, Penang By LENG

I think this is one of my best find in Times Square, Penang. Recently while thinking of somewhere new to hang out during our weekly catch up, we decided to head over to Times Square.

As far as I know, there are very few shops that have actually set up business in this new mall apart from eateries. You can find quite a number of cafes and restaurants there, including The White House (which serves Nyonya food), Old Town Coffee, Mary Brown's etc. The lack of tenants is actually a pity since it is quite a nice and huge mall with a beautiful outdoor extension.

The place I am pitching today is none other than Roti Bakar Kopitiam. I have never heard of this cafe before but apparently this is the second one in Penang.


This one in Times Square is in a good location, it's outdoor area is well shaded from the heat and you get the air from the air-conditioning coming out from the large side entrance to the mall.



Upon looking in the menu, I was quite surprised that the prices are very reasonable and provide a good variety.

I highly recommend the Roti Bakar Cheese! It's exactly what you'd expect with a name like that, very cheesy!!!

The other toast we tried was the red bean butter roti bakar. Good.

The drinks were good too, we ordered iced lemon tea, iced coffee, iced tea and a soft drink.

My scores (out of 5):

Taste: 3 (comparable to other similar cafes serving nostalgic type food)

Environment: 3 (new building, cooling, casual)

Service: 3 (attentive)

Price: 5 (very reasonable, 4 drinks and 2 roti bakar costs us about RM16)

Parking: 4 (free parking at the moment at the Times Square car park, be careful of the awful design of the car park on the way up)

Address: As above pic :)

Hai Onn Restaurant, Penang by Gneb

Hai Onn Restaurant in Burmah Road has always come across popularly for its Koay Teow T’ng (Flat Noodles Soup) and Hokkien Mee (Prawn Noodles) in the morning. Little do people know that it also serves excellent and unbelievably cheap chu char (Chinese cooked dishes) and Hainanese Western Food in the evening.

Hai Onn Restaurant is located opposite the junction to Transfer Road and diagonally from Kamdar Burma Road.

Hai Onn Restaurant is an old fashioned kopitiam (Coffee Shop). The marbled tables (as seen in picture below) are becoming rare nowadays.

The staff recommends their signature Hainanese dishes to us:

Hainanese Chicken Chop – This reminds me of a dish my mum used to cook. It’s an East meets West dish that’s good to eat on its own as well as with rice. There’s egg, chicken cutlets, potatoes and tomatoes slices in it. The savoury gravy is rich and tasty.

Stir Fried Tofu with Leek in Bean Paste Sauce – This is a famous Chinese chu char dish to go with rice. The idea of this dish is to balance the strong tastes between the leek and the bean paste, so that they complement rather than overwhelm each other. Hai Onn has done it perfectly right!

I’m the kind who needs something spicy hot to go with rice, so they recommend to me their Asam (tamarind) based Prawn Curry. There must be about 8 to 9 medium sized prawns in the curry. The soup is so delicious and steaming hot (which further spices up the flavour). By the way, the prawns are all peeled, which is good for me.

So, guess how much all these cost (plus 2 gigantic portion of rice, a can of coke with ice and a cup of black coffee)?

Only RM21!!

Blimey, I’m touched Hai Onn still empathizes with the hardship general public would have to face in this economic downturn. Sob..sob..

My scores (out of 5):

Taste: 5 (I’d give it full marks as I like all the dishes mentioned above)
Environment: 2 (This is just a kopitiam, but I still think they should do up the place a bit)Service: 3 (Kopitiam style, but friendly in general)
Price: 5 (Can I give it a 6?)
Parking: 3 (Illegal parking: in front of the restaurant; legal parking: along Macalister Lane and Kinta Lane)
Address: Burma Road (direct opposite to Transfer Road’s junction)

Sun Yoon Kee Seafood Restaurant, Penang by Gneb

A friend of mine told me how he enjoyed the “chu char” (Chinese cooked dishes with rice) at Sun Yoon Kee Seafood Restaurant, which is located in Lebuh Cintra, Penang. I happened to pass by Campbell Street (aka Penang’s Chinatown) the other day and since Lebuh Cintra is just around the corner, I decided to check out this typical old-fashioned Chinese restaurant.

Lebuh Cintra is located between Chulia Street and Campbell Street. Lebuh Cintra is fairly short but it’s also house to several famous eateries in Penang. The most famous of all is the “Bak Chang” (Chinese meat dumplings). There’re also Curry Noodles, Hong Tau Sar (Red Bean Soup) and the Hainanese Chicken Rice at the corner. I also noticed that there’s this newly opened Bee Hoon T’ng (Vermicelli Soup) place which apparently, is packed with people.

Sun Yoon Kee Seafood Restaurant is an old-fashioned Chinese restaurant. The shop-houses here are typical of the pre-war architectures seen around the City of Georgetown.

I was so tempted by the Roasted Pork at the shop front, so I decided to order some. The Roasted Pork is so delicious and the skin is so crispy.

The Prawn Curry tastes a bit like “asam laksa” soup. Very nice but a little salty though. The consolation though, there are so many prawns in the curry!


“Nam Yu” Fried Chicken – although a bit oily, this is so juicy and satisfying. Love the prawn crackers as you seldom see them being served with fried chicken these days.

Steamed To Fu in Gravy – the gravy tastes like “Sar Hor Fun” (fried flat noodles in gravy) a bit. Mind you, they serve very good “Sar Hor Fun”, so this dish is not bad at all.

If you’re looking for an economic meal for your weekend dinner, this is not a bad choice after all. The entire meal costs only RM34 (plus 2 iced Chinese Tea)

My scores:
Taste: 4

Environment: 1 (don't expect too much, the restaurant is old)

Service: 2 (not rude but don't expect 5 star service either)

Price: 4 (cheap and worth it)

Parking: 4 (in front of the resturant and along Lebuh Cintra)

Address: Lebuh Cintra (opposite the Bak Chang place)

Lebuh Melayu "Koay Chap" by SamT

If you like “Kor Cha Bi” or traditional taste in English, I would recommend the “Koay Chap” in Lebuh Melayu, Penang (Thai Goo Aw – in Hokkien). Not many people are aware of this store, only those that are of older generation or those who followed their parents since young; also this store used to be at one of the coffee shop alongside of Carnavon Street.

“Koay Chap” is an old time local delicacy where the noodles are made of rice flour and shaped into thin slices. The aroma of the blackish soup contains the sweetness of duck meat.

"KOAY CHAP"


To enrich the taste, there are side dishes that you can choose. Usually, I would go for a combination of braised duck meat, braised hard boil eggs and bean curd. To me, they are the perfect match for “Koay Chap”. Of course, you can choose to have either of them, and price will be different from the combinations.

BRAISED EGGS; BEAN CURD: DUCK MEAT

This shop opens in 2 sessions, one in the morning and the other during lunch hour. Both sessions serve different kind of dishes. Starting at 6.30am till 11.00am, only “Koay Teow Th’ng” is sold. The taste of “Koay Teow Th’ng” is compatible with the “Koay Chap” as they are cooked by the same owner, using the same genuine ingredients. From 11.30am to 3.00pm, it will followed by the sale of “Koay Chap”.

Apart from “Koay Chap”, this store also serves duck porridge and rice, which are equivalently tasty. Even though the time of interval and closing are stated clearly, I would recommend you to go early due to its popularity.


My Scores: (Out of 5)
Taste: 4
Environment: 2.5
Service: 3
Price: 3
Parking: 3 (parking spaces alongside the )
Address: 113, Lebuh Melayu, Penang
Others:
Morning session: 6.30am – 11.00am
Afternoon session: 11.30am – 3.00pmClose on Sunday afternoon.

Wen Chang Hainan Chicken Rice by Leng

Hainan chicken rice must be my ultimate choice when it comes to what to have for lunch. So when my regular outlet rests every Tuesday, this is where I come for my fix of Hainan chicken rice.
From the newspaper cuttings pasted on the wall, it seems that this chicken rice shop started out as just a stall and now being run by 2 generations of the family. I remember this location used to house Green Planet Cafe which served western and oriental food, catering mainly for Western backpackers.

As you can see, it is now buzzing with mainly the local busy lunchtime crowd. Food here is served very quickly since all the things are cooked beforehand. Chicken only needs to be chopped, and rice only needs to be scooped.

Within minutes of ordering, voila!

When having chicken rice, the chilli sauce which accompanies it, is very important. I feel it will either make or break the deal. It should have the right balance of garlic, ginger, chilli, vinegar and sugar. All combined will be like a mini explosion with every mouthful of chilli, chicken and rice!

My score:

Taste: 4

Environment: 2

Service: 3

Price: 5 (cost less than RM15 for 2 people including drinks)

Parking: 4 (plenty along the road)

Adress: Cintra Street, Penang.