// Penang Street Foods

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.

Telok Tempoyak is a little fishing village accessible from Batu Maung.

It is very laid back and I always enjoy walking on the plank walkway, out to the sea. The Malay kampong nelayan style ikan bakar only opens around 6 p.m. It has several stalls but the main attractiion is the ikan bakar served with nasi lemak.

I love this photo of the grilled crabs with the blurred background of the sea. Price for the crab is not cheap actually, if you compare to other seafood places. But then, it is nice to feel the kampong nelayan feel so it doesn’t matter, really.

They wrapped the fish in banana leaves and grilled till the scales and outer skin are all blackened. However, the fishes which are all still fresh (and some alive) taste really nice with the chillie paste, the asam dip, kari ikan bilis and nasi lemak. I didn’t manage to take much photos of the foods we ordered because the lovely smell of the burnt banana leaves and nasi lemak made me too hungry to bother with the camera.

The satay from another stall.

Batu Maung is somewhere near the airport/industrial area. Do find your way there by following the road signs. There is a war museum in Batu Maung, a paint ball park and also an acquarium. I have never been to any of these places before though. Long, long, long time, they have a community of lepers in Batu Maung but of course, that was like 40-50 years ago.

Now, Batu Maung is getting more developed and the houses there are rather expensive as well. I have another two posts about the views of Telok Tempoyak and the ikan bakar Telok Tempoyak on my Best Recipe blog.

I went to Balik Pulau today and found that the old market is closed. They have sealed up the place with zinc sheets. I love to go to Balik Pulau for its kampung feel and the little run-down market is the highlight of the visit.

The moment you stepped into the old Balik Pulau market, your nostrils will be assaulted or welcomed (depending on how Malaysian you are) with all kind of smells. The above is the bachang (or is it machang) which is a bit like mango but has this very, very strong smell. It is not palatable on its own but good as a kerabu. Then, there are the smell of the famous Balik Pulau Laksa, dried seafoods, belacan, different kind of pickles, nangka, chempedak, durian and a million other ‘homely’ things that make you feel so in touch with your Malaysian roots.

The old market is no longer there. All the traders have moved into this spanking new, huge complex somewhere on the outskirt of Balik Pulau pekan. There is a bus station, hawker centre, wet market, pasar malam wares and the original dried seafoods and pickles stores.

Although I think development is good for any place, somehow, the feel of the authenticity of Balik Pulau is no longer there. It is kind of different to have laksa in a brand new hawker centre. I miss sitting on those wooden benches, around the dinghy market, feeling like one of the villagers. So, I sort of lost my apetite for Balik Pulau Laksa.

The fruit stalls are still there but the number of stores seem to have increased three folds. I hope the traders there will get brisk business in future. At the time when I visit, the place was quite deserted. One of the trader told me it is normal around noon as the people (locals) usually visit the market early in the morning.

Balik Pulau is undergoing very fast development. New housing estates are coming up like mushrooms. So make a visit to Balik Pulau before they totally wipe out the magic of this little corner of Penang island. Balik Pulau is one of the rare constituency which still remains under Datuk Dr. Hilmi’s KADun. The Parliamentary seat was lost to PAS (or PKR) though. I hope they realise that Balik Pulau has the potential to attract tourists because it is less developed.

By the way, the durians are falling now. So if you are going to visit Penang, another week or two will be the best time to visit Balik Pulau for the best durian on earth. (I said so)

Related : 1) Laksa Janggus Balik Pulau

2) SamYeap’s post with more photos.

3) Balik Pulau famous handmade pau