Chili Padi @ Kuchai Lama

When we arrived at Chili Padi on a Sunday lunch time, the place was packed, we were ushered to our table by a man clad in a  maroon flowery batik-ish  uniform. At the time of visit , there were some special  promotion on, for ‘ re-opening after renovation’ which was also the main reason for our visit ( and maybe also the reason for the other patrons ?)

The menu include stand alone meals as well a la carte orders , and include : salad lobster, Assam/ curry fish head, prawn petai, chicken rending, soft shell crabs, clay pot beancurd , lorhon style vege, foo yong egg, nasi bonjori etc etc.

The nasi lemak + cendol combo was on promotion for RM7.99, so that was a must order, (w/o the promotion,  nasi lemak was priced at RM9.90/ plate and the cendol , err..can’t recall, i think it was >RM4), we decide to order a curry chicken and for vege – kangkong belacan .We also had a cut out coupon for free iced jasmine tea ( normal price RM1.80) – aiya..got freebies, then save a bit la.

Nasi lemak- ahh..the curry chicken was tender and rich with the flavour of santan, the ikan bilis and onion sambal was spicy and sweetish ( the version that I like), the acar ( pickled vegetable –cucumber, cabbage and carrot)  was tangy and crunchy,  and my favourite was the prawn floss..ohhh..the distinct flavour of prawn was brought up with each bite, what a wonderful combination. I loved this nasi lemak.

 

Kangkong belacan – this was slightly spicy and the taste of belacan was not over the top.It seemed that only the young and tender shoots were used in this dish as there were no tough chewy kangkong  to train our jaws, and there were also  enough of the wok-hei ( stove fire) . Very nice .

 

Curry chicken – well, if we had known that this was the same as the curry chicken served with the nasi lemak, we might have chosen to have the rendang chicken or some other dishes so that we could sample other flavours Chili Padi had to offer, but anyway, thank goodness that this was an enjoyable curry chicken, so we weren’t  overly upset about our blunder.

 

Cendol – the santan was slightly dominant over  the flavour of the gula melaka- which was a not a bad thing, meaning that it wasn’t overly sweet, I find the ice shavings a bit coarser than what I would like it to be, this was rather ok.

 

I find that the environment was good ( u can sit indoor ( air conditioned) or at the kaki lima( natural air))  service was efficient, the staff were friendly and the meal was yummy , overall – an enjoyable meal.

The bill came to RM31.50 for 2 pax ( plus 1 rice), without the promo, I guess you can add another RM8 or so to the bill.

NB: one thing we found a bit weird was that at each table packets of creamers were available, but we couldn’t find coffee or tea on  the menu (or maybe our menu was a misprint / we can’t read  / what creamer  ? there were no creamers, we were seeing things / creamers go with nasi lemak /creamers were for taking away/ those were paper weights, not creamers /those were salt in disguise/ etc etc  )

 

Location and business hours :

Chili Padi faced the main road and being  a corner lot, was s very easy to locate 

 

Jia Xiang @ Simpang Ampat, Penang

We were suppose to leave SC’s place at 6:30, but between gossiping / catching up, origami, pizza, SC screaming at her kids, kids stuck to pc playing zombie, the rain, people taking overly long time in the shower, resuscitating the goldfish and a few more other reasons,  we lost track of time, and by the time we arrive at Jia Xiang, we were almost half an hour late or if you are Malaysian, we were on time

We were told that there might be a big crowd and to minimize the wait .PW had call up earlier to  pre-ordered the dishes . So, we could only stare at the whiteboard and prayed that she made some good choices

 

On the whiteboard ,  include : kung po froggies, curry powder sotong, claypot crab / flower crab rice, kum heong crab/flower crab , black pepper prawns, curry tofu, marmite chicken, yam duck, thai style trotters , roasted peanut pork ribs etc etc…

And our order : -

Stir fried sweet potato leaves with garlic – the tender sweet potato leaves was plainly fried in garlic and some sauces, a simple dish and yet so delicious.

 

Claypot Crab rice— my saliva went through an overdrive when I heard them ordering  crab rice  over the phone, images of succulent crabs, steaming fragrant rice..oh la la. The dish arrived in a clay pot and after the steam had cleared, we could see quite a generous amount of crabs in the pot. Although provided with the necessary tools ( crusher thingy  and hammer) it was not an easy task to ‘break’the shells , well..no pain no gain..i was a bit disappointed with this dish, no complaints about the crabs which were meaty and fresh, but i had expected that the sweetness of the crab would have seeped into the rice and added some crabby sweet flavour to the rice, but sadly, this was not the case.

 

Pei Pa duck –the skin was brown and crispy, the meat was tender (and with some fat) , the sauce was gooey sweet – I thought this was a very good duck but surprisingly we couldn’t even finish half a duck, I guess I was the only one with a sweet tooth.

 

Bittergourd with salted egg – I couldn’t really taste the salted egg in this dish, I find it a bit too wet/ soggy for my liking, luckily the guord was well cooked, the thick slices were  succulent, soft  and not too bitter. This was so-so.

 

Steamed fish – can’t remember what was the species of the fish, the broth was tasty but the fish was overcooked, which gave that tough/ tongue grating texture. What a waste.

 

Tofu in minced meat – homemade mushroom ‘soaked’ in a sea of minced meat, muchroom and spring onions, the gravy was wonderful,  the tofu was smooth and tasty, this was the best dish of the lot.

 

The total bill came to ~RM150 for 7 pax ( plus rice and drinks) , which was reasonable. A friend tarpau the claypot crab rice for two, which came to RM38.

Overall, an average meal.

Location : I lost the location map, will look for it and update this post ( soli soli)

Hainan 48 海南 48 @ Jalan Raja Uda, Butterworth, Penang

‘Have you ever tried mee sua ala sharkfin ‘ was the question, and ehh..how could a kaypor like me not be curious ?

So off we went to Jalan Raja Uda and came to a zinc-roofed and zinc cladded hawker area. Which was not too far from a petrol station, Caltex, it was, I think .

PW ordered the necessary

Mee Sua Ko面线糊, the mee sua  ala sharkfin. The few strands of  mee sua came in not too starchy/goeey soup, the mee sua came with prawns , mince meat and egg flower. They will also provide a bottle of vinegar with the mee sua, just like sharkfin soup horr ? this was interesting and taste pretty  good too.

 

Fried Sarng Mien – deep fried crispy noodles soften by thick starchy gravy. The noodles came with prawns, vege, char siu, slices of meat. The sambal..oohh..the sambal enhanced the  taste of the already so tasty noodles  .Yummm…I liked this  very much

 

Char Hor Fun炒河粉–mee hoon and koay teow, fried and then thick gooey gravy were poured  over the noodles. the noodles were kinda clumpy and the taste of the gravy were quite similar to that of the fried sarng mien.

 

Overall, an enjoyable meal.