For the last day in Penang, the office crew took me to Ang Huay Loh, a little makkan place next door to the State Chinese Association. My awesome co-workers (can I say again how much fun they were?) took me there, only to find out that members of Esther's family are the owners of this little gem. Her Aunt and Uncle have created one of my most memorable meals in Penang.

First we started off with some prawn fritters. How awesome do these look? They were breaded in a very nice, sort of sweet breading and deep fried right into my heart.

Deep Fried Yum.

And Tofu

My third day in Penang, I was still not sated, but starting to get full. On the advice of another co-worker Margaret, who like almost every Penangite I have met is a true foodie...(oh by the way is it Penangite, Penangian, Penanger????), I went to dinner at Song River on Gurney. Originally I had in mind a bit of the Kung Pao I crave, but saw a bowl of Mee Suah, with crab and the simple soupy dish won the day.















The noodles were great, a nice chicken flavored broth with good size hunks of crab. I tend to shy away from crab in many places because growing up in Oregon, there is little in my mind that can beat the freshness and taste of Dungeness Crab. Besides, crab improperly kept in tropical countries, not pretty for the digestive system. But, Song River is a busy place, lots of turn over and this is Penang where seafood is part of the culture. So, crab it was. And I was happy. Big hunks of crab, fresh and briny, a very light crab flavor not so much as to overpower the noodles or the broth. A perfect dish before a early night to bed.








Also on Margaret's recommendation was the BBQ wings. The uncle cooking the wings was as nice a guy as I have seen. He let me sit and watch him do his thing, and when the thunderstorm started rolling in he helped me move inside out of the rain and wind.

I am not sure what kind of a sauce was used on the wings, maybe a soy marinade, but they were perfect. I could have eaten many of these little wings and I see a need to get Jeff up here to taste these so we can replicate them at home!















I only had one more day of food (oh yeah and work in Penang) so it was off for a quick massage at the hotel and to bed early in order to head into work and an early breakfast of Mee Suah (a different type) with Esther the next day.

It all started with this post on Eating Asia. Now I had to try it. Eating Asia is one of my favorite food blogs, great pictures and compelling stories. It is more than a simple food blog, it is a celebration.

So, knowing I was going to be in Penang, I set a mission to try this Chicken Rice. Now after living in Singapore for 5 years I have become a fan of the simple dish of Chicken Rice, it is the soup, it is the rice cooking in chicken broth, it is the simple juicy tender chicken. Nothing fancy, simple honest food.


When I got to the office we started talking about food and I mentioned the site that I had seen and mentioned the Chicken Rice stall. At first my co-workers were skeptical, there were a lot of good Chicken Rice places in town, what made this one special? So we opened the website, they recognized the Aunty running the stall and a date for lunch was set.




So the next day, after a morning of trainings, we all packed into the car for the short drive down the Kafe Khen Ping (80-82 Jalan Penang, Georgetown). There were lots of other dishes I need to do posts about, the Chicken Rice was the reason we were there however. So, to report. The Chicken was excellent, tender and juicy full of real chickeny flavor. The rice was very good, but frankly I have had better and the soup was simple, clean and delicious. I loved the whole experience, the chicken was the star of the show and I will be back next time I am in Penang. I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars if I was a ranking kind of gal.

Penang is supposed to be a city of food. Hard to tell when you are alone and not particularly famished. So yesterday was a day of comparisons.

Two versions of the ubiquitous Char Kuey Teow. First, a stall off of Gurney Road.




Noodles were soft and moist, but bit bland. Veggies had good flavor. Shrimp (only one) was not the freshest. But all in all, better than the second of the day. Zealand Resturant. RM 7 for a plate of noodles and a coke.

Second in time and in flavor




































Noodles were dry, smaller portion than lunch at Gurney and while the seafood was fresher, it was pretty unispirational overall. Located at the Esplanade Food Court. Beer was cold and tasted good. View was great. RM 11 for the beer. RM 3.50 for the noodles.