Penang Street Foods

It was a cold rainy night. It has rained the whole day and somehow, you feel your soul missing it’s sunshine. I am lucky I don’t live in a country where they have 3 months of winter or I am one of those who will die of depression. Just one or two days and I am all emo and dramatic about needing something comforting.

And there is no better place to get warm than Kedai Kopi Ho Ping bak moey or pork porridge. Before you even get near, you can hear the fire roaring and the heat that feels so good during cold nights. However, it is another story during hot days. You do not want to eat there unless you are prepared to be drenched in sweat.

The few men there who sell the pork porridge and bee hoon outside are probably made of inflammable materials. Gosh, it is so hot and yet, they are always so cheerful, attentive and hardly forget your order. As with pork porridge, there are lots of ‘tailor-made’ orders. Like me, I want kidney, liver, brain and minced meat. For others, the mention of those innards will throw them into fits and they will lecture you about the evils of taking pig’s innards which are used to filter all the toxic stuffs like antibiotics and steriods they stuff to make pigs grow big, strong and pink. So, each bowl is different.

Actually the rows of tiny saucers filled with red chillies and red plastic spoons look nice. But I was only using my Nokia N97 so the photos aren’t that smashing. So, I turned them black and white, hoping it evokes the nostalgia most Penangites have with old coffee shops like Ho Ping.

It is really an old coffee shop with a lot of old folks eating there. The Ho Ping coffee shop sells nice lor bak, char koay teow, fried rice, economy rice with lovely dishes and other hawker fares. But the main attraction is the pork porridge.

If you are not the squeamish one, order the pig’s brain. It is soooo smooth and creamy..And my mother told me when I was a kid, pig’s brain is supposed to make me brainy. She lied of course, cos I did eat a lot.

The bowl of hot porridge that takes away the blue on rainy nights. Kedai Kopi Ho Ping is located at the corner of Kampung Malabar and Penang Road. Very easy to locate because you will see a brightly lite stall with roaring fire and several men in pagoda t-shirts with pots.

I have visited all the states in the Peninsula Malaysia and had also traveled to Sabah and Sarawak. Never have I come across any koay teow th’ng like those we have in Penang. Sure, there are some really delicious koay teow like the famous Ipoh koay teow which has a very rich soup made of shrimps. But there is nothing like the exotic and sometimes icky (to some) stuffs in our Penang Koay Teow Thng.

Koay teow is the flat, white, rice noodles. Th’ng in Hokkien Penang means soup. We have many varieties of koay teow thng here in Penang, understood only by us Penangites.

We have sai toe fish ball koay teow (sai toe is a type of fish), instant cook koay teow (i.e. fresh minced meat and stuffs added to make the soup), Chinese opera koay teow thng (these are stalls that follow the Chinese opera troupe, dry koay teow usually on the mainland of Penang and duck meat koay teow. What’s duck meat? Usually, they use old ducks to boil for a long time to make the stock.

Duck Meat Koay Teow Thng is usually packed with a lot of stuffs that you either like or find disgusting. The above bowl of duck meat koay teow is from the Cecil Road market, available in the afternoon. What you see are coagulated duck’s blood. You can tell duck’s blood from pig’s blood by the jelly-like of duck’s blood. There are pig’s intestines, lard, duck’s meat and fish balls.

Cut red chillies and tiny cili padi with sauce is a must when eating koay teow thng. I have the bad habit of dumping all the chillies and soya sauce into my bowl of koay teow before I even check if it is too salty. Just a ritual

So….do you have the stomach and courage to try a bowl of Penang Duck Meat Koay Teow Thng? Complete with pork’s intestine full of ‘flour’. We call that hoon-cheong. Not sure what are those floury stuffs in the intestine though.

Figo just opened and is only a few houses away from home. I totally crave their Melaka curries because it is not like our local Nyonya curries. The last time I went to Figo’s, I had chili crabs. It was so fantastic and finger licking good.

Today, we went to Figo’s again for dinner. Just four of us, i.e. my little boy, 3rd son and hubby & I. My eldest son is working in Sigi’s and my second son’s is doing part time work in Figo’s cold kitchen.

I had a hard time deciding what to order. Initially, I had wanted gumbo and jambalaya because they are not something I have sampled before. However, my eyes kept staring at the 3-chillies on the devilled curries, a symbol that the dish is very hot. The devilled pork ribs for 2 person was my choice. I ordered bread while hubby had white rice.

I find the potatoes not floury enough and some of the pork rather lean. But I wiped clean the plate with my hot bread because the gravy is so appetitizing. Devilled pork ribs is RM15 for two persons. Rice and bread are not included.

The Southern Fried Chicken is rather cheap too because three large pieces of freshly fried chicken with crispy skin cost only RM10. It comes with a large portion of fresh fries, salad, BBQ sauce and mayo. Though the skin is a bit salty, the inner meat is well flavoured.

My #3 son ordered the foot long chili dog. Initially, I was a little bit turned-off by the hard looking bun. However, one bite I love it. Although my hubby said it is rather spicy and tastes like tandoori, I like the crispy bun with soft insides coupled with the oozing meat sauce and sausage. RM12 and sure to fill you up.

With a chocolate brownie, one Tiger Crystal, 2 fruit juices and all the dishes above, the whole meal costs about RM58.

Figo’s is only opens for business at 6 pm. They are close at lunch. Currently, they are close on Tuesdays. If you are going to Figo’s on weekends,best to make reservations. But oops, I do not have the phone number yet.

Business is picking up and there are lots of expats patrons. I think they find the choices of Tex-Mex, New Orleans and local Melaka dishes interesting. I saw one English gentleman enjoying a steamed fish in banana leaves, several others enjoy Enchiladas, Fajitas, Buritos and locals trying out the devilled pork ribs.

My son told me their homemade hamburger is a hot selling item as the burger is made of pork. So, if you are hankering for pork burger, head over to Figo’s.

Figo’s is at Jalan Sungai Kelian, opposite Esso Petrol Station.
Jalan Sungai Kelian is that housing area opposite Copthorne/ The Cove.

I thought I should just forget my bad experience eating at Anna Thai in Pulau Tikus, a place where a lot of food bloggers raved about. But the next day, I was reminded again how expensive their foods are.

I had to pay RM26 for some terribly bad dishes from Annathai which come in very small portion. It was just a quick lunch I had with my little boy. He had only a piece of overcooked fried chicken and a tiny piece of pork which he spitted out. I had only a few pieces of bamboo shoots, loh han chye and some pork leg bones.

RM 26 is a lot of money for two persons eating economy rice, ok?

On Saturday evening, my hubby, two sons and I had chu-char at Green Lane, Singkapoh Seafoods (behind Caltex). We had belancan fried chicken wings, freshly fried, 6 pieces, a claypot of pork ribs with yam and cuttlefish and a big plate of stir fried cauliflowers with prawns. The whole meal costed us only RM27.50. So, when I thought of my RM26, I am of course very pissed of being slaughtered. And what more, being misled by so many food bloggers.

It makes me wonder, did I had a random bad experience or did they over rated the place?

This crab noodle deserves a post on its own because it is really so yummy and unique. The crab noodle is from Sunshine Bay which I had blogged about their seafoods in Tanjung Bungah.

The place is pork-free. So, at first I was a little apprehensive about not having lard and fatty pork in yellow noodles because sometimes yellow noodles has the alkaline smell. However, the gravy from the sweetness of the flower crabs have masked all alkaline smell and it tasted great.

The flower crabs are caught fresh from the sea, unlike the mud crabs. So, the taste is much sweeter and fresher too. The flesh was firm and solid too.

So, if you go to Sunshine Bay, don’t forget to order the crab noodle, apart from the lala mee-sua which is also one of our favourite items.

Living so near to the sea here in Tanjung Bungah actually does not give us more seafoods. We always ended up at this place because we are too lazy to drive down town or go all the way to other places. So, Sunshine Bay and Pearl Hill seafood places are our regular haunts.