GEORGE TOWN, May 5 ― It is true that we Malaysians are willing to drive a long way just for food. Good food.
A couple of my colleagues took a leisurely drive up to Penang recently for a weekend of local hawker food and some cafe hopping.
The first stop when they arrived was Woosh Coffee, which is located within the INTI International School building in Bukit Jambul.
Now, Woosh Coffee is not your typical students' cafe despite its location, because it serves its own specialty coffee at very reasonable prices. Its owner, Jonathan Lee, was also our coffee guide for the weekend.
He introduced his signature drink, American in Tokyo, to us. It's a special concoction that will surprise you as it has hints of green tea.
After the long drive, some refuelling was necessary and these came in the shape of the extra large, chewy and delicious cookies at Woosh Coffee. Baked by Lee's wife, Wendy Tan, these are just the perfect snacks to tide one over till lunch.
Next stop after coffee was to head on down to George Town where they checked in at the newly-opened Jawi Peranakan Mansion at Hutton Lane. Located just outside of the Heritage Zone, it is easily accessible and has parking along the road and also within the hotel grounds.
Like the rest of Malaysia, Penang has been suffering from a dry spell for months so after freshening up at the boutique hotel, it was time to cool down with some Teochew cendol at its original stall along Lebuh Keng Kwee.
This is a very narrow lane off Penang Road and the stall is easily spotted by the long queues of people waiting for their bowl of ice-cold cendol. The cendol is a sweet concoction of coconut milk with strings of green rice flour, red kidney beans, creamed corn and sweetened with gula melaka.
Then it was on to the next stop for some deep fried goodness such as pisang goreng, sliced sweet potatoes and tnee kueh (sweet glutinous rice cakes) by the roadside right in front of the entrance to the heritage clan jetties at Weld Quay.
Over at Tan Jetty, there is also a stall selling another type of deep fried snack; lor bak and crispy prawn fritters. These are delectable crispy bite-sized snacks that will have you reaching for more.
As night fell, we headed out for dinner at Kebaya in Seven Terraces. It was just a short five minutes' drive away so we arrived early to beat the weekend crowd at the restaurant known for its Nyonya-inspired fare.
When we talk about Nyonya food, joo hoo char, pai tee and otak-otak come to mind so we ordered Kebaya's own style of Nyonya starters where the joo hoo char is served in crispy rolls, pai tee made with fresh julienned vegetables and prawns and otak-otak baked in a crispy pastry paired with a rich otak-otak sauce.
These were perfect to whet the appetite for the next course, the main dishes of roast pork, grilled chicken kapitan, hong bak lamb and four different types of greens from plain stir fried vegetables to sambal goreng French beans, crispy tempura vegetables and wing bean kerabu.
The good thing about eating out in a large group is that we got to order several servings of the set dinner. We ended the meal with more Nyonya-inspired desserts.
The must-try is the tang yuen. This is a bowl of glutinous rice balls stuffed with coconut and simmered in a nice thick rich coconut milk broth sweetened by gula melaka. The pana cotta is a crowd favourite as well because the creamy coconut pana cotta is given sharp tangy flavours from the passion fruit, poached pineapple while candied pistachios added a nice crunch to it.
The evening ended with a visit to another coffee place, The Constant Gardener, along Light Street where they serve hand poured coffee and single origin hot chocolate so you can have your coffee and chocolate too.
Early morning the next day, breakfast at Toh Soon coffee stall along Campbell Street was the perfect way to have a cup of local coffee, charcoal toasted bread and half boiled eggs. We followed it up with a drive to Datuk Keramat, outside of town, to try out Ah Leng char koay teow. Though not as well known as other stalls, this char koay teow comes with large shrimps and is rather good too.
A visit to Penang is not complete without a thick savoury spicy and sour bowl of assam laksa which we found at Taman Emas Coffee Shop along Gottlieb Road. There is also a curry mee stall so we got our fix of curry mee here too.
The first coffee stop of the day was The Alley, a tiny little cafe along Stewart Lane. This is another artisanal coffee place known for its cold brew. They recently introduced the decadent salted egg yolk churros where crispy fried churros are dipped in a creamy salted egg yolk sauce. They also have salted caramel cronuts for those craving a sweet and salty dessert.
This time, dinner was in a more casual setting at the row of hawker stalls along Presgrave Street where a variety of hawker fare is available including fried oyster, fried beancurd, Hokkien mee, char hor fun, lor bak, char koay kak and claypot noodles.
Again, the night ended with a visit to another coffee place, this time the relatively new Frank Laurent at Udini Square. This is a quiet place for a cup of coffee brewed from beans they roast on their own.
Finally, on the last day before the drive back down to Kuala Lumpur, we got up really early to try the quintessential Penang nasi kandar. For this satisfying meal of “nasi banjir”, we again drove up to Datuk Keramat, just after the Lorong Kulit junction, to Sulaiman Nasi Kandar.
After a heavy meal of nasi kandar, it was time to hit up another coffee place. Our final coffee stop was at Coffee Lane along China Street. This cafe that teamed up with a fine dining restaurant in a large space,serves highly flavoured coffee that is brewed and roasted using unconventional methods.
The coffee was perfect to prepare them for the drive down to Kuala Lumpur and as they headed towards the Penang Bridge, a brief stop at Genting Coffee Shop at Island Glades. This is the place where we can get one of the best Penang chee cheong fun with a thick, sweet, special ingredient prawn paste that is enhanced with the addition of peanut butter.
There is also a muar chee stall offering delicious warm morsels of steamed glutinous rice cakes coated in a mix of crushed peanuts and sugar. The stall owner was even obliging enough to pack the glutinous rice cakes separately so they could bring it back to Kuala Lumpur to enjoy later.
