Penang Street Foods

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.

This mee juta is my perennial favourite from Goodall. It is like the only place where I can get the simplest handmade noodles. There are no fanciful stuffs, just basic minced chicken and nothing more.

I wonder what makes the noodle so nice? Is it because of the eggs they used to make the QQ noodle? Is it because of the amount of lard they use to smoothen it?

A plate is not entirely filling at all because of the ‘clear’ taste. You don’t feel the icky, full feeling like having wantan mee. Though I wish I can have two plates each time, I am too embarrassed to eat a double portion.

Put the pickled cili padi into the noodle, mix and slurrrpp….

Goodall is a huge hawker place located along Jalan Gottlied, opposite the Penang Chinese Girls High School. I have blogged about it before.

Remember to order the roti pisang, crispy version from the Indian stall too.

Since we moved to Tanjung Bungah in October 2009, we have been lamenting about the lack of nice foods in the neighbourhood. Previously, we live near Air Itam/Georgetown area and good foods are just minutes away.

We have explored the eating places around here and most of them are not worth mentioning. Sunshine Bay is one of the rare ones that I will share. It is the most humble looking Chinese kopitiam that can be found in any Chinese pekan. In the morning, the kopitiam also known as Kedai Kopi Sin Eng Huat sell nice roti canai and char hor fun. At night, Sunshine Bay Seafood enjoys brisk business.

It is located along Jalan Tanjung Bungah at the traffic light junction of Chee Seng Garden. If you are coming from town, go to the Floating Mosque or further to make a U-turn to get over to the other side of the road.

The place is famous for its Kappa Mee Suah. Kappa is the grayish clams used to cook spaghetti vongole. Mee suah is a type of Chinese noodle made of wheat flour. The mee suah is cooked with eggs, some deepfried sole (or is it salted fish, I can’t tell) and the fresh kappas. Surprisingly, the kappa doesn’t smell fishie at all and tastes good.

I forgot to take a photo of the deep fried mantis prawns. My boys love mantis prawns and this deep fried mantis prawns from Sunshine Bay is good. The prawns are not hard and the outer layer is crispy. They have probably put some ammonia powder (chow fun, used to make yau char kwai) to give it a really crispy outer side.

There are ‘chiu phai taufoo’ and there are bad imitations. The chiu phai taufoo (or house brand tofu) is smooth and good. It has a simple gravy with minced pork.

The sweet potatoes leaves stir fried with sambal and prawns. A nice balance of belacan and a bit of sourishness.

Almost every tables have one of this coconut thingie. So, we also ordered one. It is only RM30 and filled with fresh, white prawns and squids. It is not exactly tom yam but a mixture of assam pedas flavour. Definitely a must try.

There were only 3 of us yesterday so we didn’t managed to sample more dishes. The bill only comes up to RM70. Each dish is about RM8-RM10 only, which is rather reasonable. The place is full at dinner time with families having their joint dinners there. Service is fast though.

Sorry I didn’t get more details like when are they closed, what time is their business hours etc because we were rushing for some condo viewings. Just google for Sunshine Bay Seafood and a few Penang bloggers’ reviews may interest you.

I have posted about these coconut jellies in my Malaysia Best food blog. But it is worth a mention again on this Penang Foods blog.

If you are in Penang, don’t miss the chance to saviour coconut water in jelly form. It is so freshing and cooling for the hot weather in Penang. A coconut costs only RM3.70. The shop, Joez Coconut Jelly is a rather messy place with coconuts all over, which lends to the authenticity of being in Penang. They have a few tables in the shop so you can eat the coconut jelly on the spot.

You can get the contact from the label on top. Remember that this is the only coconut jelly which is decently clean and hygienic. There is another shop across call Thum Enterprise. But their version is a little bit dubious cos they scrapped off the flesh (read : dirty hands scrapping it) and then, make a jelly out of it.

Joez is next to the Sports Toto along Jalan Datuk Keramat where the Petani Road Police Station is.

Usually, when I want to buy, what I did is to wind down my window, point the number of nuts I want and pay. I may have caused a bit of jam but who cares lah, it is just a few seconds. I need my coconut jelly fix, you know?

During Earth Hour day, I had dinner with the in-laws at Coconut Palm Seafoods. It was the Cheng Beng weekend and after calling a few restaurants, I settled for the never tried before Coconut Palm Seafoods restaurant. I read the review from Lingzie and had also talked about the place with her and CK Lam.

It is kind of intimidating picking a place for the hard to please in-laws, you know? My eldest-bro-in-law said he is buying dinner because he is from another state and only comes back for Cheng Beng annually.

I phoned early in the morning and managed to get a table for 12 persons in the dining area. They also have tables at the back part which has no aircond. The above plate is the four seasons.

I have forgotten what the four dishes are because my kids ate most of them. All I know is the complaints of the kerabu being too hot (from the cili padi). My two younger kids love the rest of the choices.

When I phoned, I only order a few dishes. My bro-in-law added in this sharksfin soup in the menu. (disclaimer or else someone may accuse of killing sharks ). It is quite good with chunks of fresh crabmeat. But one of my four sis-in-law complained it has crab’s shells. *roll eyes*

This is the much talk-about Bangkok chicken. I highly recommend it because the chicken has an interting twang to it. They probably seasoned it with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and if you look closely, they sprinkled bunga kantan (ginger flower) on it. But someone else said it is too sweet. *roll eyes again*

It slips my mind that two of my four sis-in-law are above 60 and 2 above 50 yrs old. They complained and complained that the choy-tam is too tough. *sigh* It is crunchy to me, you know?

This fried oyster is really, really goooood. It is not your regular or-chien. Instead it is a huge, fresh oysters and prawns in a hot plate with almost cooked eggs and a special sweetish sauce. Since there are 12 of us, the waitress gave us two hot plates of this. Again, I kena for ordering so much. My son and I can easily whacked a whole plate.

I read on Lingzie’s blog about their curry prawns. So when I phoned to order, I asked for this. I love the prawns because they are so fresh and the curry has a nice basil leaves fragrance. But all the sis-in-laws said it has too much curry powder lah, it is not as good as the Indian curry lah bla bla bla. They didn’t finish the dish so I tapau for my lunch next day.

They recommend to me their signature taufoo dish which is homemade taufoo with angled okra. Everyone said it is nothing special. I think so too.

Verdict – I am definitely going back again. Minus the in-laws, of course. And making mental note never to order for them in-advance.

Coconut Palms is an aircond restaurant along Jalan Burmah, opposite the junction where Jalan Perak ends. It is using the old Audees building. Hmm…I rarely complained about food outlets but I did to Audees and it met it’s fate…..

Do phone in advance because the place is packed all the time. Imagine they even have a RELA guy to be the jaga kereta. Tel: 04-227 6686, 012-455 8236