Hai Boey Seafood 海尾海鲜

4.3.14 (Tues)

On Sun (1.3.14), my sister, aunt, cousin and a friend came to visit us. We went to Penang around noon time to meet up with them.

Initially I wanted to bring them to the Pinang Peranakan Mansion but none of them were interested..sigh..so we went for some must eat food in Penang - Cendol, Char Koay Tiao & Asam Laksa at Lebuh Keng Kwee. This round, we sat down at the restaurant next to the cendol stall and ordered our food. The cendol seller told us, if we want to have our cendol in the restaurant, he has to charge us more (kinda paying "rental" to the restaurant for using the place). We also ordered a bowl of asam laksa (not really nice as compared to the Air Itam stall..the soup was too watery), a bowl of Hokkien Mee (aka Prawn Mee, not nice too), a bowl of fruit rojak (expensive and so so..) and a plate of Char Koay Tiao (RM6.50 and it was good, but gotta queue up)

Then, we headed to Lebuh Siam for the famous Ah Pek Char Koay Tiao (the last round we went, the stall was closed coz it was on a Sunday). I was very disappointed coz the stall was closed again!!!!!!! Reason: it was Ah Pek's birthday and there was a party for him! Gosh...why was it so hard to taste a plate of Char Koay Tiao???

And it was almost 5pm..so we decided to go for early dinner at Hai Boey Seafood Restaurant, Teluk Kumbar, located near to the sea. Actually, there was a opening celebration for the Penang 2nd Bridge at Batu Maung. After confirming with the restaurant owner that the shop is open and no road blocked heading to the shop, we reached there by 6pm+.

Weather was good and we took many photos at the beach. There was a mini playground and both Abby & Ian, having fun playing with the sand as well as the slide.

We ordered 10 dishes and bill came to RM264.00 which was very reasonable. Food was yummy too!

Various live seafood are displayed in the aquarium and price of the seafood are based on market price.

This was one of the signature dish of the restaurant, 明虾河粉. As you could see from the picture, the prawns were big and fresh. I specially liked the gravy, very thick and tasty. And for a big plate liked this cost RM33.00.

Fried sotong, RM12.00. I found the sotong was quite small and too dried.

This was another signature dish, 日式茄子, RM15.00. Hubby was not a fan of brinjal but he liked this dish. It was quite special as the brinjal has been cut into thin slice, and stuffed with fish paste, and then deep fried. Hence, it was very crunchy.



Next, 白玉菇豆腐, RM16.00, a simple tofu dish, not too salty and kids liked it.



古法虾姑肉, RM18.00, deep fried shrimp with kerabu style. A bit too dried for me.

The most expensive dish of the night, 生煲海斑, RM75.00. The fish was really fresh and the way it was cooked, made the fish meat soft and sweet.

Sweet & Sour Steamed Lala酸辣留哇, RM18.00, best served with rice.

Big coconut drink, RM4.50/each.

My aunt saw that most of the customers ordered this drink, so hubby also helped to order. Apparently, it was nutmeg drink, very refreshing and cooling. RM12.00 for a big bottle.

Dessert time! The restaurant owner recommended this special dessert, 河粉芒果包, RM10.00. The mango was really sweet, wrapped with a layer of QQ jelly, topped with some sauce. It was a first time tasting such special dessert.

Another recommended dessert, 果条冰, RM6.00/bowl. It was mango sago with ice cream. Nice!

Verdict out of Five (1-not good, 5-very good):

1. Quality of food: 5

2. Ambiances: 4 (near to the sea, you can enjoy sunset scenery)

3. Audiences: 5 (full house, prior reservation is recommended)

4. Price: 4

5. Services: 4 (very efficient services)

6. Hygiene: 4 (for the guys, do pay attention to the Gents..you may see fishes when you pee..lol)

Hai Boey Seafood Penang 海尾海鲜

29, MK-9, Pasir Belanda,

Teluk Kumbar,

11920 Pulau Pinang

Contact No.: 013 488 1114 / 019 479 1114

Business Hour: Open Daily from 5.30pm-11.00pm

Kemunting Lake View Restaurant 甘文丁湖上美食馆

8.1.14 (Wed)

Yesterday, I took my cousin to Kemunting for lunch. Initially I wanted to bring her to Restaurant Kolam Ikan as it was nearer to my house, but Hubby suggested we should go to Kemunting Lake View Restaurant if wanna enjoy the nature and to let the children feed fish. So, after picking Abby from Kindy, we drove to Kemunting (about 20mins) and reached the restaurant "safely". (it was my first time driving there and glad that I could locate the place based on Hubby's help and my memory)

Useful signboard

I think this should be my 5th or 6th time having meal at Kemunting Lake View Restaurant. And, if you are not local, you might have a bit of problem finding this place and it is located at a secluded place. So, usually we will only come here when we have guests or feel like eating fresh fish. The view here is very "green" with fish ponds surrounding the restaurant. 

I guessed due to weekday, so there were not many customers. We ordered steamed catfish清蒸白须公, 三味金凤鱼，vege and egg. The price of the fish is much more cheaper than Restaurant Kolam Ikan. And you can also feed the fishes for RM1. Abby and Ian were so excited and happy to feed the fishes especially Abby, she jumped up and down when she saw the fishes rushing for the food!

Food here was good especially the fishes. As I mentioned earlier, I prefer the 三味鱼 here due to the tasty sauce. The bill came to RM65.80. The owner here was very friendly. If you also want to eat fresh fish, come and visit me in Kulim!

Verdict out of Five (1-not good, 5-very good):

1. Quality of food: 5

2. Ambiances: 4

3. Audiences: 4 

4. Price: 4

5. Services: 4 (family business, friendly staffs)

6. Hygiene: 3

 

 

 

Kemunting Lake View Restaurant 甘文丁湖上美食馆
Plot 1635, Jalan Simen,
Kampung Kemunting
Dusun Karangan,
09700 Kulim, Kedah
Contact no: 04 405 6046 / 017 405 7551 / 019 472 1183
Business hours: 11am - 7pm (closed on Wednesday)

Food hunting in Penang - Sister's Char Koay Teow, Air Itam Laksa & Lebuh Keng Kwee Teochew Cendol

5.1.14 (Sun)

Today we welcomed our first guest of the year, my cousin MeiYi. We picked her up from the Penang Airport around 9.40am and headed to Georgetown for food! 

 

First stop - Siam Road Char Koay Teow. I knew about this Ah Pek, frying koay teow using charcoal at Siam Road from a blog that I followed. The stall is located at the intersection of Anson Road and Siam Road. If you spotted the Hock Ban Hin Cafe, then you are near the stall, because most of his customers will order a plate of char koay teow and eat it at the Hock Ban Hin Cafe.  However, the stall is closed on SUNDAY!!! Gosh..was a lil disappointed. (the blog mentioned above said it is open from Tues-Sun) So, we decided to go for Lorong Selamat Sister's Char Koay Teow. As Hubby was driving, we passed by Macalister Road and I saw the Sister's Char Koay Teow at Lam Heng Cafe (one of the recommended stall by most food bloggers). I quickly stopped Hubby and we had our breakfast there. 

 

As we walked into the cafe, there were not many people yet. Not sure if it was too early or because it was a Sunday morning. Anyway, our purpose here was to try the fried koay teow. We ordered 4 plates. One of the specialty about the Sister's Char Koay Teow here was they added shredded crab meat besides big prawns. But, we were surprised to see that n old man was the one frying the koay teow. So, I asked the owner of the cafe and was told the old man was the son of one of the sisters. (one passed away last year and the other was too old with heart attack sickness) We also ordered one bowl of "Hokkien Mee" (aka prawn mee in Penang) Hubby and cousin liked it. 

Second stop - Air Itam Asam Laksa, another must eat food when you come to Penang. The stall is located near the morning market besides Kek Lok Si. The stall is open from 11.15am to 7.30pm. However, finding a parking was not easy especially during public holidays. With RM4 per bowl, you could find rice noodles, vegetables, cili padi, lemongrass, onions, peppermint topped with spicy mackerel based soup. I liked the sour and spicy taste of the soup..delicious!

 

Third stop - Made in Penang Interative Museum, located near the Weld Quay Bus Terminal, the latest tourist attraction in Penang. Will have a separate blog on this later.

Fourth stop - Teochew Cendol at Lebuh Keng Kwee. I always like cendol as dessert, especially during the hot day. It was not hard to spot the Penang Road famous teochew cendol, especially when you see a long queue of people, awaiting for their bowl of cendol under the hot sun. My cousin chsoe to eat her cendol beside the stall while I "da bao" the cendol in the cup and enjoyed it inside the car.

Fifth stop - Penang Street Art. We went there during last November. But since we were around the Penang Street Art areas, so we decided to just quickly 'visit' the famous wall painting. There were some new additions to the wall paintings for eg The Legoman, Bruce Lee kick etc. However, I was surprised to see that the Legoman wall painting was actually a sticker, and not hand drawn. And, the sticker almost came off due to the hot sun. We managed to stick it back using a creative way..hehe..

FInally, after a long day under the hot sun, we went back to our house and rest!

A useful link on must try food in Penang.
 

Dragon Door Inn Steamboat 龙门客栈火锅店

26.12.13 (Thurs)

Happy Boxing Day!

 

Tonight, together with my mum, sis, aunt, cousin and a friend, we went to this steamboat restaurant in Cheras - Dragon Door Inn Steamboat 龙门客栈火锅店 for dinner. (recommended by my sis's friend, Jay) As it is a working day, so we left Klang around 5pm and guessed what, it took us more than 1.5hrs to reach the destination. Jammed in Klang Valley is crazy mann!!!!

 

One problem about the place is parking! We were quite lucky to get a space right in front of the restaurant. Else, you gotta double park, leaving a contact number in front of your windscreen or anywhere visible to others.

 

Dragon Door Inn Steamboat is located at the first floor of the shoplots, on top of the Shi Fu Wantan Mee Restaurant. (shoplots next to Leisure Mall, Cheras) As you climbed up the staircase, you will see many photos hanging alongside the wall, all taken with local/international celebraties. The interior designs are quite nice too, very unique & artistic. The restaurant uses charcoal for the steamboat but because it is air-conditioned, so you won't be sweating while enjoying your meals.

Another specialty of the restaurant was the sauce. There were 11 ingredients prepared for you and a list that taught you how to mix all ingredients together for a tasty sauce.

We had 7 adults and 2 kids..so we were able to order many varieties of food (7 categories of food - poultry, seafood, vegetable, homemade, noodles, mushrooms, BBQ)..we chose the pork bone soup猪骨汤 (RM19) as the base (the other two soups base were herbal soup药材汤 and spicy soup川辣汤) or you can also choose a mixture of two soups. We ordered the Australian special lamb and beef slice (highly recommended, RM13/plate), squid (RM7/plate), cuttle fish (RM5/plate), dumpling (RM13/plate), prawn wantan (RM13/plate), fishball (recommended, RM6/plate), pork ball (recommended, RM6/plate), needle mushroom (RM5/plate), abalone mushroom (RM6/plate), vege RM6/plate), bean curd (RM4/plate), ji zhuk (RM5/plate), fu pei (RM5/plate), udon mee (RM5/plate), yee mee (RM2/pcs).

Food was good and price was quite reasonable as well. It would be better to make reservation before dining and advisable to come early to avoid jammed.

Verdict out of Five (1-not good, 5-very good):
1. Quality of food: 5

2. Ambiances: 4 (very artistic typed of interior designs)

3. Audiences: 4

4. Price: 4

5. Services: 4 (lots of waiters awaiting to serve you)

6. Hygiene: 4

Dragon Door Inn Steamboat 龙门客栈火锅店

18-1, Jalan Manis 4,
Taman Segar, Cheras, 

56200 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03 9130 1062 

Business hours: Mon-Fri 5pm-12am, Sat-Sun 3pm-12am
www.dragondoorinn.com
www.facebook.com/DragonDoorSteamboat  

 

Restauran Kolam Ikan 鱼塘小食馆

15.12.13 (Sun)

Hubby woke up quite late today. He asked me, "what are we having for breakfast?" "You meant brunch?"

 

I suggested to go this restaurant  -Restoran Kolam Ikan, (recommended by Axian also)nearby our house (5mins drive) for lunch. He agreed! So we went!

 

Initially, we thought it would be easy to find the restaurant than the old place in Sungai Kob. But we were wrong. Though there was a signboard leading to the place, but don't know why, we just can't find it! (coz in our mind, we were looking for a big place with fish ponds around and we couldn't find one!) So I called the owner and she said, once we make the left turn following the signboard, go straight and the restaurant is the second house on our left! Finally, we reached the place. The signboard that was hung on the gate was blocked by the cars and that explained why we missed the place just now.

 

 

There was no fish pond inside the house. The owner explained due to the road leading to the old place was blocked, they gotta shift to a new place to continue business. However, the fish ponds were still there in Sg Kob.

 

So, we ordered our normal dishes - Steamed White Catfish (清蒸白须公) & Three Flavors Tilapia Fish (三味金凤鱼) and one vegetable. (We couldn't order more food as the kids don't eat much)

 

I liked the 白须公 very much..so fresh and the "fish oil" on the skin was so thick! As for the 三味鱼， I still prefer the one we had in Restaurant Lake Kamunting, a place near the old Restaurant Kolam Ikan. The price here was abit pricy as compared to Lake Kamunting. However, we will come again for meals (when we have guests) especially for the fresh fishes!

 

三味金风鱼，RM35/kg, you can taste sweet, sour & spicy from the saute.

清蒸白须公，RM44/kg, best served while hot!

 

Verdict out of Five (1-not good, 5-very good):

1. Quality of food: 5

2. Ambiances: 3 (home-based restaurant)

3. Audiences: 4 (mostly locals)

4. Price: 3 (price of fish is abit pricy)

5. Services: 4 (family business, friendly staffs)

6. Hygiene: 3

 

Restoran Kolam Ikan 鱼塘小食馆

9, Lot 492,
Padang Kulim, Kelang Lama, 

09000 Kulim,

Kedah.

Tel: 013 437 9606 
Business hours: 11.30am-5.30pm

(Closed on every Mon)

 

 

Restaurant Aik Hoe 益和茶楼

2.11.13 (Sat)

Today is Deepavali, public holiday. We already planned to go to this famous local dimsum restaurant in Georgetown, Penang, to try out the dimsum, and at the same time, go "hunting" for the famous wall painting in Georgetown. Seriously speaking, we hardly find any nice and delicious dimsum in the North. So, hopefully by waking up 6am+ is worth it, to make a trip there!

 

We left Kulim around 7.10am and reached Georgetown by 8am. I keyed in the address of the restaurant into the GPS but couldn't locate the shop! Then, we tried the GPS coordinates, still failed! Gosh..we spent almost 30mins, wandering around the area and finally, found it! (By that time, hubby already quite frustrated..he never like to drive around Penang especially with those one way street and the driving style of the Penang ppl, no offense to the Penang ppl)

 

Anyway, we parked our car at Love Lane and walked to the restaurant, located at Carnarvon Street, in front of the morning market. We invited another friend of Hubby to join us, so that we could order more food to share. Most of the customers were the local old folks, and you could see some tourists too.

 

From what I read from the other blogger's blogs. you should see the waiters carrying the bamboo basket filled with dimsum and you just choose from there. But, today, we didn't see any. Instead, we gotta go to the main dim sum counter and choose from there. I think we took more than 20 plates of dimsum and also ordered the fried noodles.

 

 

As we always have dimsum at this Restaurant in Klang (yummy, delicious and really those high-class type of dimsum), so, when we tried the dimsum here, we were not satisfy. As Hubby always say, whenever he goes to a dimsum restaurant, he will benchmark the prawn dumpling aka "Har Gao" first. If "Har Gao" is nice, then the rest of the dimsum should taste good too..so, today he was pretty disappointed with the "Har Gao" here..it's abit different where you hardly see prawn inside the "Har Gao", but a mixture of minced pork and chopped prawn meat. Then the "Char siew bao", I think the skin layer was abit thick and the fillings were less. Well, perhaps we went there with high expectation, hence, we were not satisfied with the food. However, the restaurant was crowded..I guessed the local people like these type of dimsum. The bill came to RM112.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Verdict out of Five (1-not good, 5-very good):

1. Quality of food: 2.5

2. Ambiances: 3 (old styled kopitiam)

3. Audiences: 4 (mostly the local people)

4. Price: 3 (reasonable price)

5. Services: 3

6. Hygiene: 3

 

Aik Hoe Restaurant

No 6 & 8, Lebuh Carnarvon,

Georgetown,

10100 Penang.

Tel: 016 472 0971

Business hours: 5am-2pm

Closed on Monday & Tuesday

GPS Coordinates : N05 2502.8 E100 2009.8 (you can try using these coordinates but it failed on our GPS)