Five Days in Penang, Part 2

It's been just over a month since I got back from Penang but I can't believe how much has happened in that short amount of time. Big Life Stuff. I feel like almost like a different person, yet definitely more 'me' than before. I suppose all of that makes this post a little bit strange to write now, but I made some fabulous memories in Penang. I was so inspired by the architecture, the culture and the cuisine. Looking through these pictures again has definitely made me want to have another adventure and get a few more passport stamps very soon.

Did you see Part One of my Penang adventure? Click here to check it out.

Kek Lok Si Temple

One of my favourite parts of the trip was visiting the beautiful Kek Lok Si Temple (Temple of Supreme Bliss), which is one of the most well-known temples on the island located in Air Itam, a short taxi ride (about 30 ringgit/$10) away from Penang city. I literally took hundreds of photos in the few hours we were there. Everywhere you looked there were beautiful and ornate architecture and statues, beautiful gardens, rich vibrant colours and textures.





After exploring the temple, we walked down to the bottom of the hill to find some lunch. But first, some fresh coconut juice to beat the heat. The guy expertly hacked off the top of the coconuts, filled them with ice and delivered them to our table. I was lucky enough to catch it on film too.




This Char Kway Teow was a little different to the others we tried on our visit, as it was much lighter in colour and didn't have as much 'wok hei', yet the prawns were nice and plump. Again it was interesting to me to see the amount of variation in so called 'signature' dishes of the region, depending on where you got them. The Hainanese chicken was beautifully cooked and so flavoursome.

Kek Lok Si Temple, No. 1, Tokong Kek Lok Si, 11500, George Town, Pulau Pinang Malaysia

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George Town Street Art

George Town is full of surprises, like this incredible interactive and 3D street sculptures and painted murals. I would definitely recommend either taking a guided tour or following a map like this one to explore them for yourself. Georgetown is a great city for wandering and you truly see so much more of it this way. We didn't find all of them, but this was still one of the highlights of the trip.

My favourites were by 25-year-old Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic, in the project called 'Mirrors George Town' as part of the city's biggest festival in 2012. Some of these murals are combined with 3D elements like the bike above which is located on Armenian Street, making it interactive. I saw dozens of people taking photos, and putting their own spin, with the street murals like this.





There is also a series of these quirky melded iron artworks scattered around the city, depicting parts of the town's history in caricature form, making it easy (for visitors especially) and humorous to get a bit of insight into the history of this vibrant city. We visited a week before Malaysia's election, so there were blue flags absolutely everywhere, including adorning the sculptures!

Various locations, George Town, Pulau Pinang Malaysia

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Tek Sen

On our last night in Penang, we visited Tek Sen restaurant, famous for it's double roasted pork belly, aka pork candy aka pork crack. It has been raved about on various blogs and even in Gourmet Traveller, and now I can see why. Crunchy, sweet, fatty, a little bit spicy and totally amazing. This place gets so busy, and is popular with locals and tourists alike! We arrived quite early and were seated right away, but we noticed a line out the door and down the street start to form very soon after that.

The stir-fried eggplant with pork mince, fermented bean sauce and dried shrimp doesn't really photograph well but it was so delicious. And I got to eat it mostly on my own since the boy wasn't a huge eggplant fan. Win! Another fabulous dish was the Oatmeal Chicken, which is similar to Cereal Prawns that appear on quite a few Malaysian restaurant menus in Sydney. I totally loved it. The chicken was juicy and perfectly cooked with a super crunchy coating.

18-20 Carnavon Street, Georgetown, Penang Island, Malaysia

Stay tuned for Part 3 soon!

Five Days in Penang, Part 1

Five days in Penang are barely enough to even scratch the surface of this amazing island's incredible food scene. Famous for having some of the world's best street food, it's definitely a must visit destination if you’re a food lover! But between the shopping and markets, beaches, museums, guided tours, temples, street art (more on this later) and incredibly beautiful scenery, there's plenty to keep you busy in between meals too. 

Penang has a rich and multi cultural history and the food and architecture speak volumes. Hindu and Buddhist temples are just down the road from Mosques and Anglican churches. I was most looking forward to trying regional specialties Char Kway Teow, Assam Laksa and Cendol, but was also happy to find some of my other favourite Malaysian dishes done extremely well too, sometimes hugely differently to those tried in Australia or KL.

But before the onslaught of photos, here’s a little video I made, just with a bit of footage I’d caught on my iphone!

Joo Hooi Cafe

Located on Penang Road, the "cafe" is just a set up of tables and chairs, with a group of hawkers cooking from their own carts just outside. We had come here specifically to try the Char Kway Teow but one of the ladies laughed out loud when I tried to order it. Of course it must be common local knowledge that they don't serve it on Wednesdays!



But nevermind, we order a bowl of Assam Laksa instead. Also known as Penang Laksa, this is one dish you can't leave the island without trying. An intense tamarind infused fish broth is ladled over thick noodles and garnished with onion, pineapple, mint, chillies and thick shrimp paste, for 3 ringgits, which is about $1. I have to say that this dish is an acquired taste and while I can definitely appreciate the melding of sour, sweet and spicy flavours, I found the soup quite overpoweringly... fishy! Hope that doesn't offend any fans or purists, I know my girls Karen and Steph would have totally loved this.




The Teochew Cendol from the cart outside goes down a treat on this already very warm morning, no fancy plating up here - just whack the shaved ice, red beans, pandan jelly worms and coconut milk into a metal bowl and eat as it all melts into a soupy puddle! Very refreshing.

Joo Hooi Cafe, 475 Jalan Penang, Georgetown, Penang Island 10000, Malaysia

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New World Park

When one friend learned I was in Malaysia, she warned me not to eat street food or crushed ice desserts - er, that was my diet for the entire week! As it's so competitive, Penang seems to have incredibly high standards as far as hawker food goes, but if you prefer to play it safe and eat something prepared in an actual kitchen, New World Park might be for you. We discovered this food court on our second day, and returned a few times since it was only a few steps down the road from our hotel.

The Popiah was the best I've ever had. Like a fresh spring roll with a thin crepe containing turnip, bean sprouts, lettuce, crab and a few other things I'm sure! On top was a scattering of fried shallots for some extra crunch. This dish is all about texture, as the flavours are a little more subtle.



We tried a bunch of dishes from different stalls - the Koay Teow Soup made a great breakfast one day. This dish originated in China, with migrants bringing the flat rice noodle 'koay teow' with them to Malaysia. The soup is a delicious nourishing clear broth with fish balls, pork mince patties, chicken slices, lettuce, shallots and chillies.

We also tried two of my favourites - Roti Canai and Ais Kacang. The Roti was freshly made while we watched and so crisp and fluffy, served with a flavoursome curry sauce. The Ais Kacang was served with pieces of durian and papaya as well as the usual corn, grass jelly and red beans.



There is truly an art to Char Kway Teow, which is prepared in a hot wok with rice noodles, bean sprouts, prawns, Chinese sausage, chives and sometimes with cockles. The seasonings can vary between different hawkers but usually include light and dark soy sauce, fish sauce and chilli paste. It's served piping hot on a banana leaf. This was a great example and one of my favourite dishes of the whole trip.

New World Park, Lorong Swatow Georgetown, 10050 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
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The Green Mansion

This was originally not on our agenda at all. We had wanted to visit the 'Blue House' (the grand  Cheong Fatt Tze mansion) but there was a mixup of the times on the website and we were unable to go on the guided tour. We were then told about the 'Green House' (Pinang Peranakan mansion) which was meant to be even more opulent.



The mansion was built in 1890 and belonged to Chinese Kapitan Chung Keng Kwee. He was a 19th century Hakka tin-miner and secret society leader. After decades of neglect and decay, it has been beautifully restored.



For just 10 ringgits each (just over $3) we got to wander around three beautiful buildings filled with antiques that depicted how wealthy Babas and Nyonyas lived about a century ago. I just loved the mixture of Chinese and English influences within the architecture and furnishings. Next time I would love to see the Blue House to compare!

Pinang Peranakan Mansion, 29 Lebuh Gereja George Town, Penang, Malaysia
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The Joss Stick Maker

Master Lee is 83 years old, and is one of the last people to make joss sticks by hand in all of Malaysia. He learned the craft at a very young age and has devoted his life to perfecting it, even though demand for his handmade products have dwindled in recent years, with cheaper factory made incense sticks sold just around the corner.

He was excited to learn that we were from Australia - saying that he uses Australian sandalwood in his joss sticks for fragrance. It was an honour to meet him and take his photograph. If you'd like to see more about him, I found a little doco on Youtube here.

Stay tuned for Part 2 next week!

Chin Chin, Melbourne CBD

The first time I tried to visit Chin Chin in Melbourne's CBD, we arrived before 6pm and were told there would be a 4 hour wait for a table of two! So we went round the corner and had a truly fantastic meal at Movida Next Door instead! Luckily on my next Melbourne trip we tried for a late Friday lunch and were seated straight away.

There is a lot of hype surrounding this restaurant. It is one of the most reviewed on Urbanspoon, and now I can see why. The offering seems simple - modern Asian dishes to share by exec chef Ben Cooper - but the food and drinks are excellent, the decor appealed to the designer in me, and the place exudes a very cool, very Melbourne vibe.



Arriving back from Malaysia just the day before, my mind was still on Asian flavours and it was rather difficult to choose a drink because the whole cocktai list sounded great. This Lemongrass cocktail with 10 cane rum, fresh lime, ginger syrup and palm sugar hit the spot perfectly. Refreshing, delicious with a nice kick from the ginger syrup, I really loved this drink!



I couldn't go past the Chin Chin Pork Roll Ups with red braised suckling pig (mmmm), pancakes, sour herbs and slaw. Get interactive with your entree and build your own pork pancake! This dish made a perfectly relaxed and delicious start to the meal. I can hardly remember a time where sharing menus weren't the norm! I think the concept is here to stay, and it works particularly well with this style of Modern Asian cuisine.

We also shared the Caramelised Sticky Pork with sour herbs and chilli vinegar. The pork fell apart under your fork into a tangle of crispy, sweet pork. While it was seriously delicious, I almost wish we had picked something a little more different to our entree as the two dishes were quite similar and there are so many amazing sounding dishes on the menu. A return visit is definitely required!

The Palm Sugar Ice Cream sundae with salted honeycomb and lime syrup was our first pick off the dessert menu, and our favourite of the day. While the flavours weren't overly complex, they worked quite well together. Steve and I had a spoon fight for the last pieces of honeycomb.



As I mentioned, we had just flown in from Malaysia the day before, with our first stop being Melbourne's new Mamak outpost, we definitley had roti on the brain! I knew we had to try the Grilled Banana Roti Bread, even though we were struggling for stomach space by this point! My eyes lit up when I saw the pool of condensed milk that it was served in. We enjoyed this dish but the roti was quite thick in places and not flaky like the similar dish at Mamak. I liked the addition of cinnamon, and I suppose I should have expected it, but this dish was super sweet, even for me!



Restaurants like Chin Chin and Ms G's almost need a restaurant genre all of their own - modern fusion Asian casual fine dining, perhaps? But I can now definitey understand why it's so popular. Take my advice though, and head over there early as there are no bookings taken for smaller groups, or have a drink in the very cool Go Go Bar.

Chin Chin, 125 Flinders Lane Melbourne (03) 8663 2000

A few days in Melbourne

 Oh Melbourne, I miss you. It’s probably better if I don’t tell you how long ago this trip actually was (!!) but it was filled with so much fun and so many delicious eating adventures with my sister that I still wanted to share with you, so here is a post filled with ‘mini reviews’ of some places we visited!

Pacos Tacos
When I heard that Frank Camorra of Movida fame had turned his hand to tacos, I knew we were in for good things. It was a warm and sunny Friday when we headed there for lunch, in the same complex as Movida Aqui with Earl Canteen downstairs. It’s a super casual canteen-like set up and I spotted Frank himself in the kitchen.

We started with a few glasses of sangria, and then placed our order at the counter. Tacos were a must of course, we chose the pulled pork with pineapple salsa and the marinated chicken, both of which were very messy but tasted pretty good. However compared to really good tacos at places like Mamasita and Barrio Chino with such interesting flavour and texture combinations, I thought they were perhaps a little uninspiring.


We also ordered the nachos, with toasted tortilla chips, salsa verde, pico de gallo, guac and queso fresco. I think it would have been nice to choose a meat filling to go with the nachos because the pulled pork would have been awesome with these! I also liked the scattering of pepitas on top. While the setup and atmosphere of Pacos Tacos was great, I was expecting the food to be a little better.



Pacos Tacos, Level 1 500 Bourke St (03) 9663 3038


Little Creatures Dining Hall
The next day we ended up back at one of my favourite Melbourne haunts that I seem to visit on every Melbourne trip, the Little Creatures Dining Hall in Fitzroy. I have never experienced a hot Melbourne day until now, and after a morning spent exploring Brunswick St, we were dying for a nice cold cider.

There is a lot to be said for consistency. On every visit, the staff have been consistently lovely, the food has been consistently awesome and the atmosphere has been great no matter what time of day or night we visit. We share a meatball pizza and a bowl of their awesome frites

 
We don’t want to return outside quite yet, so after a little while we order a serving of the warm cinnamon doughnuts to share as well. I wasn’t expecting the portion to be quite so generous but they were delicious and we polished them all off.



Little Creatures Dining Hall, 222 Brunswick St Fitzroy (03) 9417 5500


Burch and Purchese Sweet Studio
One place that I had been meaning to check out for quite a while was Burch and Purchese. Half patisserie, half science lab, these guys are doing some exciting things with cake (and also have a cookbook coming out soon too, which I will definitely be getting my hands on!). There are delicious things everywhere you look – from handcrafted chocolate bars and a tower of meringues to a whole wall of jams, spreads and curds of every flavour imaginable, not to mention the display case of absolutely gorgeous desserts.

It took quite a while to decide what to get (and the staff were so lovely and very patient!) and we eventually decided on a rather summery sounding dessert served in a clear tube so you could see all the different layers – a coconut mousse, passionfruit curd, coconut tapioca ‘caviar’, passionfruit jelly, oat and ginger crumble with a white chocolate mint wafer, with two tiny macarons on top. Such a great flavour combination, although I remember thinking it could have done without the chocolate wafer.


My other choice had to be this one, if only for the gingerbread man on top! But with the promise of milk chocolate, mango, coconut and ginger in its various components of this cake, we couldn't say no. I would have loved if there was a little more variance of textures in this cake as everything was quite "soft" and some crisp or crunch in there would have been great, but the flavours worked really well together. I'll definitely be back on my next trip, as all of the desserts looked incredible, and they have just added a Gin and Tonic flavoured one. Mmmm.



Burch and Purchese Sweet Studio, 647 Chapel St South Yarra (03) 9827 7060


La Belle Miette
On our last morning in Melbourne, we brunched at The Hardware Societe and then headed down the street to check out the new macaron place that everyone had been talking about. Translating roughly to "beautiful small thing", this is probably the most beautiful way to describe a macaron... and everything sounds better in French, right? I am a sucker for unusual ingredient combinations and pretty packaging, so obviously I fell in love with this place right away.


We chose a couple of flavours - Violet and Blueberry, Moet et Chandon with Blackcurrant, Salted Caramel (with Fleur de Sel), Earl Grey and Chocolate (with Mariage Freres tea) and my favourite - Pimms and Pomegranate. Each was delicious and the perfect example of what a macaron should be. There was not a tiny bump to be seen on their beautiful smooth shells and of course each had perfect little feet. You can tell that they are made with care and of course beautiful ingredients. With the beautiful boxes (you get to choose the colour you like too), they make absolutely wonderful gifts. I hear that they have now also opened a second shop in Richmond.



La Belle Miette, 30 Hardware Lane Melbourne (03) 9024 4528

The Hardware Societe, Melbourne

My boyfriend has called me a Nanna on my occasions. Sure, I like to potter around the kitchen much more than I like to be doing, well, almost anything else. I have quite an epic collection of vintage flatware, often fall asleep in front of the TV, and wear a lot of cardigans. All of my Nanna-like tendencies culminated recently… but more on that later…



On a recent trip to Melbourne with my sister, one place that I knew we had to go was Hardware Societe. I had been once before, almost a year ago to the day in fact, but I only snapped a few photos on my iphone and they didn’t really do the place any justice. This time around, the first thing I notice is that the café itself is bigger, having also taken over the space next door sometime in the last 12 months. I love their airy white fit out with bursts of yellow and quirky touches like the wall of teacups behind the coffee machine.



I order a long black, which hit the spot perfectly on that drizzly morning, though I remember on my last visit that the coffees had come with a tiny cinnamon doughnut on each saucer, but is missing this time around. Beth decided on a French Earl Grey tea, which was served with the most adorable tea cozy, which totally made my inner-Nanna flip out, and my breakfast envy officially begin!



I was in the mood for something savoury, preferably with bacon, so the BLT sounded perfect for me. When it came out, it was much bigger than I had expected, sandwiched on a crispy baguette. It was pretty great – a fine example of a BLT for sure, but as good as it was, it never had a hope of impressing more than this…



Yes folks, that right there is the Fried Brioche, probably the Hardware Societe’s most famous dish that changes seasonally. It’s hands down the best version of French Toast that I’ve ever had – this time served with a generous amount of nutella, strawberries and a scattering of roasted hazelnuts. On my last visit it was salted caramel and red wine-poached pears. Oh how I wish I had ordered it for myself, but Beth was nice to share some with me. I can’t wait to see what new twist they’ll come up with the next time I’m in Melbourne, because there will definitely be another brunch at the Hardware Societe in my future.



Another thing to mention is the Mini Marchet set up inside, selling gourmet products like cordials, jams, breads, eggs, and much more. Excitingly for me, they also sell those tea cozies, which are made especially for the café... And I bought one, which earns me at least 100 more Nanna points. I’m 23 going on 60.

It’s easy to see why this is one of Melbourne’s most blogged about cafés. I love the quirky touches and attention to detail (even though my coffee was missing a doughnut!) and the great menu, which effortlessly straddles the line between modern Australian and nostalgic French cuisine in a quintessentially Melbourne laneway.



The Hardware Societe – 118-120 Hardware St, Melbourne (02) 9078 5992