Bual Bual Kosong

Tasty thoughts and belacan breath

Posts Tagged ‘Penang’

Jia Xiang @ Simpang Ampat, Penang

Posted by pegasuskl on November 19, 2009

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 :D

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)

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Ku Cheng Tse Temple 北海苦僧寺@ Butterworth

Posted by pegasuskl on November 16, 2009

Two charging elephants greet us as we enter the Ku Chen Tse temple, they  looked like a pair of friendly ( and rather cute, I must say)  elephants with their tucks raised and all that. Of the many Thai temples that I have been in Kelantan, elephants were not featured so predominantly ( I only remember one temple in Bunohan which had a sitting one) but in Penang, of the 2 Thai temples that I have visited, both had elephants. Why harr ?

 elphy

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see offerings of sugar canes placed on the tusks  and bunch of bananas at their feet . I saw some people rubbing the elephants’ belly, touched it’s feet and tusks.

I asked the caretakers’ permission before taking photos in the shrine hall,  and smilingly he said ‘ go ahead, take as many as you like, just don’t take a picture of me’, I replied ‘aiya,Uncle, you also rather photogenic mahh’. I think he was rather happy with that reply :D

The  main shrine hall is  a rather large area where devotees can pay their respects

 main hall

 The main altar with statue of the Buddha , flank by his two disciples ( Mongalana and Sariputta ? I am just guessing) and also statue of a monk.

 main altar

And there are 2 rows of Lorhan ( 9 in each row) at the side of the hall

 9 lor han

Are you one of those who sometimes get confused on where to put the big bunch incense after you untie the rubberband that held them ?  or wonder if there are any correct sequences in placing the incense into the urns, well, have no fear, at Ku Chen Tse, there are clear instruction on the hows and whens .

 joss stick

There was a big water container close to the main altar, where it is a DIY collecting point for holy water to take home, there were also packets of pre packed uncooked rice for the devotees to take home, which after consumption will provide peace, harmony and safety.

Next door to  Ku Chen Tse is an Hindu temple, you can catch a glimpse ( and the sounds) of the  going ons at the Hindu temple. And interestingly you can see some of the devotees praying and making offerings to both temples. Double protection horr, why not ? It was starting to drizzle, so I didn’t get a chance to kaypor at the Hindu temple.

 front

Lotsa  pixs here http://zoompg.com.my/viewthread.php?tid=29

Temple hours :

 hrs

Location :

Head on towards Sunway Hotel, Butterworth

No. 1350, Jalan Bagan Jermal,
12300 Butterworth,
Pulau Pinang Darul Mutiara,
Malaysia.

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Dinner & Breakfast @ Bukit Mertajam, Penang

Posted by pegasuskl on November 8, 2009

Ok, lets talk about dinner first..

Friday p.m

We headed off to the Tua Pek Kong temple at Bukit Mertajam, ronda-ronda and finally managed to get a parking spot, ‘parking attendant’ immediately appeared and offered his hand umm…not as in marriage proposal.. so, we dropped a few shiny coins into his open palms ( kinda like paying protection money, I guess), walked a few steps to the temple area where the hawker stalls were  and ohh..food galore..PW wanted to try a fishhead dish that a friend had recommended so we hunted around and finally found it at a shoplot at the street beside  the temple

The fishhead dish is like the deep fried chunks of fish meat ( and other parts) that we get in fishhead noodles, and these are cooked in a gravy with celery, spring onions, cabbage and tomatoes. You have a choice of porridge or bee hoon to go with this dish. We chose porridge and this seemed to go rather well with the fish which was rather tasty, umm..not bad

 fish head

We ordered mixed  vege from a tai-chow stall at the same coffee shop – this was average,nothing to shout about.

 vege

Also ordered deep fried Belacan chicken, I wish the belacan flavour was a bit stronger. This was average

 belacan chic

aturday a.m.

After the usual ‘what u want to eat ah? “ questions, we headed off to Kampung Baru for breakfast

The coffee shop occupied a corner area and was packed ( I didn’t note the name of the shop though ( clever me, eh?))  but I recall  it was near to 2 dialysis centre ( not a good enough clue ?)

I had Koay Chiap , I hadn’t come across any stalls in KL selling this yet,  The soup and the duck ( and whatever parts that were served : gizzard, intestine, skin, meat , liver etc) was rather tasty albeit a bit salty.

 kueh chiap

PW ordered dry prawn mee, there were 2 stalls selling prawn mee and after many many minutes of pondering ( and after a bowl of Kueh Chiap) , looking around the other tables to see which stall had the majority of the customer the decision was made- the stall at the front. PW paid extra to have some chicken feet added to the bowl. Looks good hor ? according to PW, this was not bad.

 prawn mee

i tried some apam from the Indian stall, which was rather ok. ( anyway, what could go wrong with apam ?)

apam

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