Fresh from our nap, we dragged our lazy arses out the hotel in search for our dinner. It was close after 8PM when we walked out of our hotel. At first, we thought of having street / hawker food for dinner. And hence, we walked our way toward Kimberley Street as we knew it was the place known for good street food. Upon reaching there, the sight of the food stall did not catch our attention. There were a couple of stalls here and there selling noodles and rice. Not attracted by them, we made a decision not to dine there and walked a little further to Penang Road for the famous Nasi Kandar Line Clear.
It is said to be in the business for more than 45 years whereby tourists and the locals flocking at this place to taste its famed nasi kandar. A simple set up with chairs and tables located at the behind for customers’ usage while at the front, that’s where all the foods are.
At the entrance, on the right, pots of assorted curries, vegetables, fish, muttons, prawn and squids were placed on shelf readily for customer’s selection while on the left, we saw the staff was frying bucket full of marinated chickens.
We were lucky that there weren’t many customers when we arrived at the scene as there were empty tables and chairs and the queue wasn’t long. Maybe it was still early or the peak hour has passed. Nevertheless, it was a good sign for us as we didn’t have to queue for long. Hehe. We had seen the long queue before when we passed by there earlier in the day.
With the option of briyani or white rice, I took the latter as my carbs. Drenched with various types of curries, I opted for some greens, an egg and a huge piece of fried chicken. Although the fried chicken was lukewarm, the batter was still crunchy and the breast meat was moist. Each mouthful of the curry-drenched rice boasted an inviting appetizing flavour of various spices that were used in those rich curries. What’s more was that the curries were not fiery hot (for me at least) as it didn’t give me a tongue-numbing experience toward end of the meal. I tasted some of my friend’s mutton curry and it was pretty good. The meat didn’t have strong gamey taste and it did absorb the spices well. I paid RM5.90 (including drinks) for my share.
As we walked back to our hotel, my friend suggested that we should stop at Kimberley Street for some tong sui (desserts). I didn’t object as I could do some sweetness after the hefty meal. Besides, we were going to pass by there anyway.
This was the shop my friend was talking about; Restoran Traditional Home of Dessert. It’s a simple shop with tables and chairs placed along the walls and a stall outside where we placed our orders before finding a place to sit inside. The good thing about this shop / stall was that we were able to order food from other stalls and bringing it inside the shop for consumption.
And we did just that. We could not resist the temptation of ordering a plate of char koay teow as we sat near at the entrance of the shop watching the man busy frying in front of the wok under intense heat of charcoal. The flame itself was good enough to convince us to order a plate from the stall. Suckers we are. Haha. How could you resist a plate of CKT that is fried using charchoal as heat source? Tell me… tell me!
We waited for about 10 minutes or so before our orders arrive. Sad to say, there was nothing to shout about the desserts. Simple to say the least, they were just mediocre at best. RM2.20 per bowl, I wouldn’t go back there again unless I have to.
Probably due to different frying technique as well as different heat source, the char koay teow was sloppy, oily and slightly on the wet side than usual. The usage of duck egg didn’t help much either as the taste was just alright. My friend didn’t like it due to the wetness but I didn’t mind about it. I couldn’t remember how much it costs, but I guess it is within RM4.50 to RM5.00 for a normal plate. There’s a famous stall selling duck koay chap (located just opposite of the dessert shop), but we didn’t manage to try it, although we should have, as we were really stuffed by then. After the meal, we took a long stroll back – we took it as an exercise and to digest our meal – to the hotel.
But we didn’t call it a day just yet. We refused to. Instead, we headed out again for supper after we had our bath, rest and flipping a couple of TV shows in the hotel room. We had something in mind for supper and with that, we drove out looking for it even though it was close to 12AM already. The journey was rather a pleasant one as there were few cars on the road (even for a Friday night).
It took us about 10 minutes (from George Town) to arrive at this place; Restoran Old Green House. Pardon me for horrible photos as I only brought my compact camera out. This restaurant / coffee shop is located along Burma Road and it is said to be the hot spot for night owls for supper. Although it was packed with customers when we arrived, we were able to grab an empty table inside the shop.
There were a couple of food stalls in there but we were there for only one purpose; that was to try out the Hokkien Mee (or a.k.a. Prawn Mee). The good thing about this stall is that you get to add extra ingredients apart from the usual prawns and sliced pork meat. A small bowl cost RM3.50 and additional RM1.00 for each topping. We ‘customised’ ours by adding pork balls and siew yoke (roasted pork).
Safe to say, it was alright with the soup met its requirement; hearty, tasty with natural sweetness. The chilli paste adds extra kick to it but it wasn’t spicy enough. Siew yoke was good as the skin was crackling crispy while the pork balls were firm and bouncy.
Apart from that, my friend ordered a plate of steamed chicken (a thigh and a breast meat) from the porridge stall (I think). For RM8.00, it may look pale and unappetizing but don’t let that fool you. They were good; smooth, moist and tender even for the breast meat. The soy sauce was kept to a minimal in order to not let it affect the natural taste of the chicken.
Satisfied with our meal, we adjourned back to our hotel and called it a day.
Address :
Nasi Kandar Line Clear
177 Jalan Penang (Penang Road)
10000 Georgetown,
Penang
Old Green House Restaurant
223 Burma Road
GPS Coordinates: N5 25.421 E100 19.261
Business hours: 8pm to 4am (Closed on Sundays)
Kimberley Street Hawker Stalls
Lebuh Kimberley,
10100 Penang.
