// Penang Street Foods

My hubby and I wanted to go to Cold Storage to get some alphabet shapes pasta this morning. So, we thought it is convenient to just stop by Zealand Bak Kut Teh for breakfast. We saw a lot of people eating there all the time and thought it must be really fantastic.

They have noodles and bak kut teh. It was around 10 am so we ordered a plate of fried fish head beehoon. As you can see, you cannot even find where the beehoon is because the portion is so tiny, the five pieces of fish bones covered it. It is too oily and dry as well.

Since the place seems to be famous for bak kut teh, I thought of ordering a single portion of soft bones and pig’s tail. Do you know how much it costs? RM12 for this unattractive, single portion. No rice, no yau char koay, no additions of mushrooms or anything. Just pieces of meat and a very diluted soup.

The total bill for our breakfast comes up to RM28, with drinks. I should have gone to CoffeeBean if I know it is that expensive.

Sigh….price of foods are spiralling out of control. The cream puffs that my child love has shrunken to half its size. Rice shortage is felt here in Penang hypermarket. Thai fragrant rice costs RM50+ and now, I no longer waste leftover rice. I don’t keep the leftover rice for my housekeeper to feed the stray dogs anymore. I keep the leftover rice for either fried rice or even make fish broth.

If this goes on, there will be less eating out. Maybe I will turn it into Penang Kiamsiap, Panjee economy foods blog. Hehehe.

We go to Ang Hoay Lor quite often for our meals because the Hokkien dishes are good. I have blogged about their new branch which is open only from 12 noon to 6 pm (close on Wednesday). Do avoid the lunch crowd because waiting time is horrendous as they only have one or two cooks only.

We went to have lunch at 2.30 pm and it was a breeze because lunch time is over. I didn’t know that Ang Hoay Lor serves stew pork leg noodles until now. Or maybe it is a new dish? Anyway, the pork leg noodle is really nice. The pork leg does not smell of the canned pork legs. I guess they must have drained off the gravy from the canned pork leg and put only the meat into the regular orh mee or oyster noodle.

I think the plate costs around RM20 which is enough for three person. The noodle is packed with lots of large prawns, oysters, fish fillets and vegetables.

My children all time favourite is the fried rice. It is rather oily but it is darn good.

They oysters omelette which is loaded with more oysters than anywhere else. If the chilli sauce is a bit nicer, it would be better but I dislike the fakey looking chili sauce they give.

I have an earlier post giving the direction to this branch of Ang Hoay Lor.

Until now, I haven’t find a better pohpiah yet. So, I shall declare the Padang Brown’s Pohpiah as the best. The stalls in Padang operate from around noon till night. This pohpiah stall has been around for decades and I am glad that quality remains the same, with fresh crab meats and mantis prawns for the pohpiah.

This uncle has been selling pohpiah since he was a young man. I know ‘cos I used to take my secretarial course when I was in my late teens.

The pohpiah has chunks of fresh, sweet, flavourful crab meat or mantis prawns. You can select them and pay a big more for the ‘keh liau’. I have forgotten the price of a pohpiah but it is worth it because you cannot find better ones around.

The poh piah is served with this gravy, very much like Hokkien prawn mee. It has distinct smell of prawns or is it crabs. So you better like them or you may find them a bit off putting.

Business is always brisk and you may have to wait for a while during weekends when the place is crowded.

Padang Brown is the green field with these roads bordering it - Jalan Perak, Jalan Anson, Jalan Datuk Keramat and Jalan Johor. The place has a 42 years old history and there is even a little monument over there.

We went to pick my son from school and head over to the ferry area with intention of going to the beef koay teow that one of this blog reader, Yu Jen, mentioned. But we ended up at another beef koay teow stall opposite the Balai Bomba in Leboh Pantai. In fact, there was an emergency and I heard the fire department siren. I stopped eating and took a video of the firemen getting ready. It takes only one minute for them to gather, wear their suits and boots and leave the fire station.

Three of us ordered one bowl of beef soup which costs RM15 and three bowl of dry koay teow, costing RM1 each.

The beef soup is not bad but I do not like the sweet taste of the soya sauce in the dried koay teow. The flavour just kill off the chilli sauce.

My way of eating beef koay teow is to pour in the chilli sauce and mix it with the dried koay teow.

Overall, it is not very expensive because there are lots of stuffs in the bowl of beef soup. There are tendon, the cow’s stomach (?), beef balls, slices of beef and various types of meats.

However, I prefer the beef koay teow in Perak Road. Still beef koay teow or gu bak koay teow is extremely nice to have during cold, rainy days like today. It is very comforting to sip the hearty soup and enjoy the various parts of the cow.

I am very bad with directions and road names. But the coffeeshop is just across the Balai Bomba. Not open on Sunday and public holidays.

I don’t get to eat much Ang Chiew Mee Suah because it is not easy to find the ang chiew or red, rice wine (usually homemade) in Penang. I have meant to ask my bro-in-law, a Hokchiew from Sitiawan, Perak to buy me a bottle and some mee suah but so far, I didn’t manage yet.

So, when I saw this sign on a stall selling Ang Chiew Mee Suah, I hurry over. The coffee shop is at the junction of Burmah Road and Kedah Road junction. Just a tiny coffeeshop with not many other hawkers.

The bowl of mee suah is RM4 and it comes with a chicken drumstick, some black fungus, ginger and spring onions. The taste is good to me because I have not tasted other ang chiew mee suah sold in Penang before.

Long time ago, when I was in Sitiawan at my bro-in-law’s home, they actually slaughtered the chicken to prepare it. And the original Hokchiew folks picked wild mushrooms from their rubber plantation to prepare the ang chiew mee suah. How original! Usually, it is served on birthdays and other major celebrations.

I must make a mental note to ask my bro-in-law to bring back a bottle of ang chiew and some Sitiawan’s special mee suah so that I can cook it myself.