For some of the best of Penang's hawker food and snacks, pay a visit to Cintra Street - a bustling street located in the heart of George Town, Penang. Entrance to this one way street is via Jalan Dr. Lim Chwee Leong. Its located in the same vicinity as KOMTAR and Prangin Mall. You will be able to find many varieties of foods and snacks, from dawn to dusk.

 

  

 

As you stroll along this narrow street, you will find the famed Yau Char Kuai stall on your left. They used to run the stall on the ground floor of the People's Park flats just behind this street. However, I reckon they moved out to the main road so that its more accessible to the public. Its available from late morning till night. They even supply it to other hawkers as well, especially to those selling porridge, bak kut teh and tong sui.

 

Amazingly, the Yau Char Kuai (sometimes known as You Tiu) maintains its crisp nature even after a few hours. Definitely the makings of a good teatime, served with a cup of kopi-o kau.

  
 
The culinary journey continues! Wen Chang Hainan Chicken Rice shop; located just right opposite, sells traditional Hainanese Chicken Rice. Roast chicken, white chicken and loh bak are just part of its items. Other than chili sauce, they do have the grinded ginger which is a nice complement to go with white chicken.

 

This stall was previously located a stone's throw away from the Dumpling shop (read below) and has since made it big; relocating to this shop of their own.

 

 

 

Right beside the chicken rice shop is Ng Kee Cake Shop. This bakery shop sells a wide selection of freshly baked Cantonese biscuits and snacks. They also accept orders of the biscuits for special occasion - birthdays and weddings. I do drop in once in a while to treat myself to a box of pepper biscuit. The biscuit is crunchy with nuts, sesame seed and pepper powder.

 

 

 

 

A few doors down the bakery shop, you will come across the all time favourite Dim Sum shop, De Tai Tong Cafe. Dim Sum is served during breakfast and dinner, while there is an ala-carte menu for lunch. For noodle lovers, do try out their noodle - Yee Foo Meen, Char Hor Fan and Hong Toh Meen.

 

 

Opposite the dim sum cafe is a small stall selling pancake and steam rice cake. It may look modest and simple, but I reckon this stall sells the best Ham Chim Pang & Pak Tong Goe in Penang. Among the few varieties of Ham Chim Pang ranging from sweet tau sar, with five spice powder and with glutinous rice.

 

 

Just look at the amount of five spice powder which gives it a slightly salty taste. Been having it for years now, and still enjoying it every time. :D

 

 

 

 

  

If you happen to be in town earlier in the evening, you can buy it directly from their shop which is just located behind De Tai Tong Dim Sum cafe. Of course its always fresher when its just out of the oven.

 

Across the junction of Cintra/Campbell, you will see the popular Dumpling shop - Cintra Food Corner on your left. This place is famous for its bak chang, tau chang, yam cakes and red bean tong sui boiled with dried orange peel. Environment is much better now since it has shifted into this shop as compared to its earlier trading days by the roadside.

 

 

 

Two doors away from the 'chang' shop is the Curry Chee Cheong Fun stall. You get to savour this curry version with tender pieces of chicken (only drumstick) and soft potato for RM3.50. The spicy flavors of the curry chicken makes this a delicious meal. You are allowed to bring the CCF and consume it in the 'chang' shop :)

 

 

 

  

Spoilt for choices? Me too! Which food are you going to have, the next time you visit Cintra Street? No matter which,  Happy Eating!

There are many varieties and flavours of porridge in town but lately we were recommended to try out the frog porridge at a shop located in Datuk Keramat Road, Penang which was set up three months ago. Their main menu is frog porridge with three different portions - small, medium or large all served in claypots. They also have other dishes besides porridge.

We had a medium pot of frog porridge (tin gai zuk) RM20. The porridge is very fine and smooth and comes with generous amount of frog pieces. It is topped with chopped spring onions, dash of sesame oil and strips of fresh ginger.

Apart from the porridge, they also serve eel and frog with kiong choong (spring onion and ginger) or spicy kung poh (dried chilies). These dishes makes a good complement with plain porridge or plain noodles, and similarly comes in three different portions too. We went for the medium pot of spicy kung poh eel (RM20).The eel which is stir fried with the ginger, onions and dried chilies really give a kick to the taste buds.

I ordered an extra bowl of plain noodle which cost RM1.20 to go with the eel. I find it a bit expensive for the plain noodle.

Another side dish of boiled lettuce with oyster sauce and bah hu (floss meat) RM4.

This meal is slightly expensive because frog and eel is considered exotic meat but we did enjoyed this tasty meal recommended to us by K.Leong.

This is their first outlet in Penang island with existing outlets in Kampung Baru, B.M. and Raja Uda in the mainland. You should hop over here for some steaming hot porridge which is specially fantastic taken on a rainy day.

Updates ! The addresses for their two other outlets...

3215, Jalan Kampung Baru
Taman Tampoi Indah
Bukit Mertajam
H/P 012-4786368

6172, Ground Floor
Jalan Ong Yi How
Raja Uda
Butterworth
H/P 012-4919099

Hurray, I have just received news from Lingzie that she has managed to organized The Flogger's Makan-Makan Get-Together outing. This is the details...



The Makan-makan get-together
Date: 2 August 2008 (Sat)
Time: 7.00pm onwards
Venue: Hai Nan Restaurant at Tanjung City Marina (next to the jetty)



All floggers near and far are most welcomed to take part in this event! If you’re interested, do send your confirmation to her at lingzie@gmail.com by 31st July.

It was just yesterday night, I was just blogging and surfing when I sat there pondering. I've been blogging for a year now, and just sitting here thinking of all that I have gone through.

Initially when I started this blog, it was actually meant for my two sons, who weren't at home at that moment of time. Hubby and myself  just wanted to keep the boys up to date with happenings at home, and also show them  the nice Penang food that they were missing out.

So much have happened since I first visited Blogspot in June 2007. Looking back on the archives really put a wide smile on my face. When I first started, I was so new to this; pictures were too small, some images blurry, words were not justified, titles not named properly etc all silly mistakes that I have learned throughout the months.

Today, What2See is already one year old. A feeling just came over me to say thank you to so many people. Really appreciate all the support from everyone! Ultimately, my Hubby who is always there with his trusty DSLR!  Not forgetting my youngest son, ever ready with the  back-up camera and assist me in the blogging! (by the way he eats/drinks the most as well  :D)

 

Big shoutout to my blogger friends as well! Firstly,  thanks Lingzie for your advice on watermarking. There was once when my blog posts were stolen, together with my images. Being a newbie, I sought for help and Lingzie was kind enough to teach me. Thank you my dear!

Also to CrizLai for creating the cute yellow blog  logo for me!  Really appreciate your sincerity, and will catch up with you real soon on our Genting trip!

I was excited to hear that there may be a blogger's gathering as well, kudos to Lingzie and Penang Tua Pui for putting this in the works. Really can't wait to see everyone in person too! Keep checking this blog for more updates, will put it up as soon as I get confirmed details. :D

Really proud about our Penang blogging community, who are really supportive of each other. All the rest of the Penang bloggers, whom I failed to mention in this post, you know who you are! Its only with your support that puts What2See where it is today.

CK

For lovers of Nasi Briyani, do drop by Restaurant Kapitan at Chulia Street as they serve, I feel, one of the best claypot Nasi Briyani in Penang. There are many varieties and we chose the Chicken Briyani (RM7.00) and the Beef Briyani (RM6.00). The rice flavored with many spices is serve in a claypot and comes with a light curry gravy.

The image above depicts the Claypot Chicken Briyani while the equally superb Beef Briyani is right below - both meats are tender and tastefully marinated while the portion is relatively satisfying.

There were plenty of ready cooked dishes. We chose a plate of pickles and mix vegetable to go with our meal.

Besides the hearty rice, we added a plate of Chicken Cheese Naan costing RM8.50 which comes with some onions, mint sauce, reddish sauce and coleslaw. I personally prefer the Naan that I had in Sri Ananda Bahwan in Tanjung Bunga.

We had a peek inside the open kitchen where they cooked the Naans and the tandoori chicken in the clay oven. The kitchen is filled with the aroma of the grilled chicken.

For drinks, we tried something different. We had the hot Badam Milk (Almond Milk). The pure cow milk is boiled with grinded almond, cashew nuts and raisins in a big kuali. Sugar is added for the sweetness.

Before it is being serve, the milk is "pulled" from one teacup to the other, just like the teh tarik.

The boiled raisins and cashew nuts adds flavor to this soothing and wholesome drink. This is the first time we had this drink and to our surprise, it turns out to be very pleasant indeed.

Just like most Mamak shop, it is open 24 hour and is located at 93, Chulia Street - a block away from the famed Bomba beef stall. It has a separate dining area, with upstairs fully air-conditioned. A great place for Nasi Briyani and of course a cup of nutritious Badam Milk.

If you can't make it downtown, drop by their branch in Gurney Tower (outside Gurney Hotel) and another one near Queensbay Mall.

Other food outlets along Chulia Street :
Ecco Cafe
Sky Hotel
Rainforest Bakery


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