In my earlier post of Lam Ah Coffee Shop, I mentioned there is another famous Beef Soap Koay Teow in the same coffee shop, crazily hidden gems in the same shop. I'm still into the Penang food crave thing, yes it's crazy how much we ate in our earlier two trips into the Penang Island. Bear with me for another while, only two more post to go then I'm done with Penang.
Here is a glimpse of the shop selling the good Beef Soup Koay Teow in Penang. It's operated by a young lady and as indicated earlier, this place is also famous as name of calling the beef noodles opposite the Fire Station. Look for Lebuh Chulai and Lebuh Pantai, you wouldn't miss it.
A close up shot of the pretty operator of the beef noodles, young and beautiful lady. A good surprise on the good beef noodles is actually served by her. She gives me a good smile when I'm asking her to give me a pose. There you go buddies, the also famous beef noodles lady. You have it first from me.
We made our order and she started working. We got there in the middle of Saturday and surprising it's a little empty. I do a quick eyes around the place and took this shot. The preparation of the ingredients is waiting around the corner for our enjoyment.
While we are enjoying our Fried Oyster as in my earlier post, the famous beef noodles arrived. I've tested lots of beef noodles and I would say this bowl of Beef Noodles fall only in the middle group with not bad nor good rating. The ingredients are fresh but the soup is a little plain to my liking. However, there is always a reason for it being popular, it's quite nice nonetheless. I love particularly the beef meat and the beef intestines. Such soft and tasty but still go together very well with the beef soup. The standard bowl of this famous beef noodle is price at RM7.00 while the bigger bowl will cost you an additional more RM1.00 for your sinful appettite. If you are into beef noodles when you are in Penang Island, I can't seem to find anything better than this. As said, there are better beef noodles, but this one will have my vote for one of the best beef noodles, if not number 1.Beef Soup Koay Teow @ Lam Ah Coffee ShopCrossroad of Lebuh Chulia & Lebuh PantaiPenangLocation Coordinate: N5 24.925 E100 20.367Opening time: 10.30am till 4.30pm (closed on Sunday & Public Holiday)
Introducing a nice seafood restaurant in Penang this time, named Bali Hai Restaurant located just right along the Gurney Drive. There are lots of seafood restaurant along the famous eatery road, and I think Bali Hai topped the list without any doubt. It's highly recommended by a friend of mine and we will see if it live up to expectations. Another important point is that, this place is pork free, good news for muslim friends.
A view of the restaurant along the Gurney Drive, and you won't miss it with its big neon lighted signboard. They have a slogan, called "IF IT SWIMS, WE HAVE IT". True, I couldn't find anything that they don't have from the display, maybe I've not eaten enough =P
A good view of the fresh seafood available, it's surprising tidy with good label of names & price.
More seafood on the ice, I feel so hungry just by taking photograph.
And more seafood on the plate, it's all so fresh, so colourful and clean. You will want to dine in this kind of place.
Some romantic bamboo set-up along the main street to give you a different ambience in case you need some privacy.Only three is available, and it's all taken by young couple. Lovely.
Some classy decoration at the entrance of the restaurant, can't help to snap a photo.
The dining area has high ceiling level, the setup is comfortable with lots of room for movement and importantly the high ceiling help alot in giving a good airy environment to the entire restaurant. If you visit other seafood restaurant you will notice the place has good decoration on the ceiling, it's their tiny idea, and it works very well. I love it.
Here is our table with her fake smile. She is actually quite tired after a long hour of walking in Penang heritage town, so I'm longing to bring her out for a good dinner, hope this is excellent choice for her.
First to come is the Stir Fried Pea Shoots priced at RM15.00. It's kind of expensive but still within expectations considering the serving is quite big. The vegetables are fresh and importantly there is lot of "wok hei" in the plate, which is most important for stir fry style food. It's also seasoned well and it's delicious. Nice green add-on to the dinner.
Next to come is the Claypot Crab Glass Noodles priced at RM50, recommended by the waitress. The portion is big and we nearly couldn't finish it. What to say, the crab is super fresh and super tasty as well. Only complain is the glass noodles is a little dry in comparison, got to swallow it sometimes to get things moving. Highlight is still the crab, and I'm loving every piece of it.
Lastly the Teow Chew Style Steamed Fish priced at RM52.00. Again, the size is big for two of us, and it's incredibly delicious. The fish is extremely fresh without any mud taste and the Teow Chew sauce is incredibly delicious. I'm trying to avoid as I'm having hypertension but still couldn't help it. 
Our choice of drinks, Watermelon juice and a can of 100Plus, priced at RM3.20 and RM2.80 respectively. The fresh juice is worth every cents, forget about the 100Plus if you are visiting. Grab the the juice, it's cheap, fresh and nice.
I've highlighted many times that those little touch in restaurant will give lots of add-on to the dining experience without the diner realising. I can't stress enough on the conveniency of all above on every tables within reach of every diner. They also have a good handful of waitress around the area sniper-ing all customers need. Nice.The whole dinner totalled up to amount of RM135.30 including the 5% government tax and 5% service tax, surprising reasonable for such a restaurant. Good food always required less write-up because it's not describable on words in my blog. If you notice the food review is short, meaning it's good. If I wanted to eat a good dinner on seafood in Penang, this will be my only favourite so far. Couldn't stress enough on the freshness of the food and constant delicious quality of taste across the dishes we tried. There you have it, the recommended seafood restaurant in Penang Island.Bali Hai Seafood Restaurant90, 90A~DPersiaran Gurney10250 PenangTel: 04 2288 272Opening Time: 7.00am till 11.45pm (Dim Sum served from 7.00am till 2.00pm)Location Coordinate: N5 26.025 E100 18.925Website: http://www.balihaiseafood.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
Lots of food post holding up because of my busy schedule, pouring out remaining food review in Penang. The next upcoming food is Loh Mee in the famous Old Green House, Penang. Those Penangites night walkers will definitely know this place as the stall only open after late night. 
The good Loh Mee is located in the famous Old Green House along the Burma road. The place is easily recognise from the road as you will notice it's crowded with night crawlers and lots of motorcycle stopping for a quick bite. It's silent in the morning, and come bustling at midnight.
Lots of food in Old Green House, but forget about the rest and find this particular store. Burma Road Famous Prawn Mee & Loh Mee. I didn't have the chance to try the Prawn Mee, and my friends insisted on the Loh Mee instead, which they claimed it's really good. We came to this place after a wedding dinner, imagine the food in our stomach when we got here.
Here is the messy workstation for the stall that continuing chunking out good food for night crawlers. It's messy, and it's a good messy for good food. Loving every bit of the traditional stalls around the town.
Now here is the best bowl of Loh Mee to fill up your midnight hunger in Penang. Order the Loh Mee with Roast pork, and it's going to cost you RM5.50 only. Keep the chili on the bowl, you are going to love it. The sauce is so plain that the ingredients help to taste up the entire experience. I got it with bihun mee, and the experience is incredible. It's really good that I will go back for more every night that I spend in Penang. As usual, the good food is hard to put into words, but if you try it and it's not nice, come back to me. I will pay you back.I heard that Greenhouse stall's prawn mee (or known as hokkien mee) is also good, they also serve cintan mee. Try them out, and if you are there, try out the recommended extreme Hokkien Mee that's going to cost set you back RM12. Insane.Loh Mee @ Old Green HouseBurma RoadPenangOpening Time: 8.00pm till 4.00am (closed on every Sunday)Location Coordinate: N5 25.421 E100 19.261
My food crave continues and I think I didn't mention that I love oyster very much. Particularly the chinese style fried oyster is my favourite, but nowadays, it's hard to find a good place to really enjoy a plate that's real nice. The search for best fried oyster ended in my recent trip to Penang. Let's go.
Introducing the Lam Ah Coffee Shop located at the crossroad of Lebuh Chulia and Lebuh Pantai in Penang. This place is also known as the coffee shop opposite the Fire Station. Penang folks should know. Penang really got lots of hidden gem, a small place like this is serving the best fried oyster I've ever eaten. Let's get closer.
This is the uncle that's serving us. A small simple store, operated single handedly, and you don't even look at it when you pass by. But the fried oyster that he serve is really really very good. 
The way of preparing the fried oyster is a little different, I noticed. First, he fried the eggs first with the oil and add in some of his recipe sauce in really high heat. Done until crazy crispy then he put the fried eggs onto a plate. he then fried the oyster and this time he cooked very quickly and throwing in his special sauce just to heat it up. Then pour the oyster & sauce onto the fried eggs and serve it. He spent most of his time preparing the fried eggs, weird. Normally other shops will just throwing in everything onto the frying pan and let it cook. That's why the oyster sticked to the fried eggs, most of the time. Then I noticed the problem with the usual way of cooking after trying his. Let's see where is the secret.
Ok, now here is the final masterpiece of the best Fried Oyster I've ever tasted! The price varies on the portion you order, starting from RM5 for small, RM8 for medium and RM10 for big. I visited this place twice in a few months time and I got the RM5 and RM8 respectively. Take the RM8, don't worry about it. My first visit, I ordered the RM5, and regretted. It's so good that I'm craving for another plate. But my size is holding me back, cannot eat too much though.So the secret, first of all is the fried eggs. It's done in high heat with sauce, so it's crazy crispy. The eggs is also tasty because of his special sauce and normally he done it into a triangle shape as you see. His signature I suppose. Then come the oyster, it's so fresh that you will not taste some funny smell. And importantly, the size of the oyster is also big enough, but not too big, to give you a good snacking feel. Finally the sauce is incredibly delicious. Whoever eating this, you will find them picking up the last piece and drag all around the plate trying to scoop up the remaining sauce on the plate. Finger licking good for KFC? Plate mopping style for the best fried oyster. He can save on cleaning the plate later =)So what's the different? If you eat them in separate manner, it's pretty normal fried eggs, oysters and stuff. But together, it's a good thing. Different is the eggs are so crispy, something that other shop cant do. Because other usual shop will do everything together on the pan. You either overcook the oyster or undercook the eggs. That's why you shouldn't mix it. It's a secret revealed I suppose, but still doubt people will learn from him. It's my must visit place if I ever step onto the soil of Penang Island.Conincidently Lam Ah Coffee Shop is also famous for the beef noodles, which I will blog about it later.Mr. Gan Fried Oysters @ Lam Ah Coffee ShopCrossroad of Lebuh Chulia & Lebuh PantaiPenangLocation Coordinate: N5 24.925 E100 20.367Opening time: 10.30am till 4.30pm (closed on Sunday & Public Holiday)
Alright, continuing my journey on the land of food heaven, we reached the 2nd stall of recommended Char Kuey Teow in Penang, the famous Lorong Selamat Char Kuey Teow. Some people tend to call it Sister Char Kuey Teow, that's a mistake. Most of the mistaken idea come from the same rules of the shop that don't allow outside drinks or charge you if you dont order any drink from the shop. I got it mixed up initially.
The Char Kuey Teow stall at the Lorong Selamat in Kafe Heng Huat. It's so visible from the road side, and easily recognise with the chef always wearing yellow and a red chef hat. She also wear the yellow industry goggle last time but I missed it this time, not sure why.
A look into the shop, it's always pack from morning till evening. Main highlight of the kafe of course its the Char Kuey Teow. You will need to wait approximately 30-45 minutes for a plate, I've warned you. There go the rules of each person must order one drink, or be ready to be charge for 50 cents. It's not that bad, because of the long waiting time, you might as well get an ice kacang to kill time. There are other stalls nearby that serve food into Heng Huat as well, so if you are hungry, go ahead and order it.
Now here is a close shot of the chef. She is quite famous for your notorius temper. There is story that some of her customers were so angry that they throw bricks to her stall. Do a quick search and you will get something. She is getting better after than incident, but the waiting time is still the same. Go over, make your order and make sure she heard you, then leave, sit and wait patiently. She treats me alright =)
Here is my bowl of Ice Kacang. Since it's compulsary, I get this for myself to kill the time. It's not bad, but nothing to shout about. Next.
Some herbal tea to kill the thirst after the hefty Char Kuey Teow & Ice Kacang. Next.
As we are waiting patiently for our food, I noticed something on the opposite table. Check it out.What you see? Pigeon Baby Wipes. There is no baby on that table, only a uncle auntie couple. Maybe it's a leftover from their earlier baby, but ...
Alright, after a long wait, here is the plate of Lorong Selamat Char Kuey Teow priced at RM7.00. She only serve one size type of Char Kuey Teow with a healthy portion and three big fresh prawns. If you ask me, I think the Ah Leng Char Kuey Teow prawn is bigger, which of course more expensive. You can ask for more prawns, I heard it's RM9.00 a plate instead. How it taste?It's very good. She is famous for a reason, and you wont be wrong when people still go to her no matter her bad reputation. How is it compare to Ah Leng Char Kuey Teow? It's different I would say, not really similar but it's equally good. If you ask me that I can only got 1 place for Char Kuey Teow, then I will choose Ah Leng Char Kuey Teow. For all readers out there, I'm comparing against both best Char Kuey Teow in Malaysia, and it's a close fight. Anyone of them will kick whichever your favourite Char KueyTeow ass. Make sure you don't miss it any of them. For me, I will still eat both stalls, even on the same day! It's that good ...Lorong Selamat Char Kuey TeowHeng Huat Cafe108 Lorong Selamat10400 PenangOpening time: 11.00am till 5.00pmLocation Coordinate: N5 25.026 E100 19.477
My stay in Penang continues and how I can miss out the famous Char Kuey Teow in this food heaven land. After a good search, I found two places. One of it is Ah Leng Char Kuey Teow stall located along the Jalan Dato Keramat. 
This is the stall, Ah Leng Char Kuey Teow and if you look closer, the regular plate will cost you RM5.00 while a special plate will cost you RM9.00! That's not cheap for a special plate, but what's included? Check out below. There is also an option to use duck egg instead of chicken egg for an additional RM0.50, take it up. You don't go there just to eat a normal plate of Char Kuey Teow, tick all the options for maximum enjoyment =)
Each time I got there I also met this uncle with a young lady assisting him. Looking at the way he prepare the Char Kuey Teow is an entertainment. He work slowly and you got to wait for a while for your plate. The serving is slow partly due to his speed, not the crowd. It's worth the wait, trust me.
The stall is located in the Khoon Hiang Cafe located at the cross road of Jalan Dunlop and Jalan Dato Keramat. You are likely to miss it if you are coming from Komtar direction, but look out for Jalan Dunlop. If you can't find it then you probably miss it. I went there twice and missed it twice, sigh.
Alright, first to come is the regular plate of Char Kuey Teow and it's served with duck egg. This plate cost RM5.50 and it's not cheap but I'm alright with it considering their super large size of prawns. It's super fresh and super size. The only problem is, as you can see, the portion is very small. Covering only half of the plates is not going to get you going. A highlight is the duck egg, somehow it gives a very special taste to the Char Kuey Teow, raising its overall taste to a higher level.
Here come the special plate that's priced at RM9.50 with duck egg. Note the colour difference. I ate this plate on my 2nd trip back to Penang few weeks later, and I order the special plate instead. No regret, this is what you should order. Forget about the regular plate. The price is easily worth it. There are four pieces of large prawn, and more cockles with some additional mantis prawn! Add in the duck egg, this plate became the best Char Kuey Teow I've ever eaten. It's so good that it's not expressable on words. Try it out, just go.Don't even compare the quality of Penang Char Kuey Teow with others, it's just special and very nice. Not the Char Kuey Teow in KL is not nice, but just that Penang serves much better Char Kuey Teow only. How is it compare to the 2nd stall I'm going to blog about, stay tuned for updates later.With my write-up above, what's there more to say? Just make sure you don't miss it if you happen to be in Penang. I'm definitely heading back for as many plate as possible before the uncle can't move anymore.Ah Leng Char Kuey TeowKhoon Hiang CafeJalan Dato Keramat10150 PenangOpening Time: 8.30am till 2.30pm (Closed on Thursday)Location Coordinate: N5 24.776 E100 19.171
I went for the Penang Marathon last year and had a chance to explore the food heaven in Penang, and of course the main mission is to find the best famous Laksa in town. KL people call Laksa as Assam Laksa and Curry as Curry Laksa, not sure why. My parents brought me to Penang since I'm kid and the taste of the delicious Laksa still linger around my mind after such a long time. Ipoh also do have some nice Laksa around, but still the Penang Laksa give me the deepest impression. Where is the best Laksa in Penang? I think no one will argue that if it's not the Laksa serves in Joo Hooi Cafe. There are different opinions, but no one will argue it's not good. Let's see.
Joo Hooi Cafe occupied the corner shoplot at the cross road of Lebuh Keng Kwee and Jalan Penang. It's not easy to miss it as you will see a big crowd of people surrounding the small store beside the road.
The name of the shop? Penang Road Laksa. Either name, people recognise and will know how to direct you. That bowl of laksa is what you want to bring home. They doesn't seems to be very busy, true, because they serves very fast!
A good nice bowl of Penang Laksa with a spoon of delicious shrimp paste. A simple way to identify if the Laksa is good, check out if they give you the shrimp paste. If they mixed it up before serving you, it's probably not a good shop. The serving is relatively small, and it won't fit your normal lunch portion nicely and it's ok, consider they only charge you RM3 for each bowl. I like it, not like those Char Kuey Teow fellow that starting to charge outrageous price for a plate.Come into ingredients, some people don't like it because the ingredients alone will easily match up amount of noodles they put in, but that's how Laksa suppose to be eaten. Ingredients includes lemongrass, onion, mint leaf, pineapple slice, chilli, galangal, and of course the mackarel as well. When it's all mixed together, it's really nice especially the great sour laksa soup. Take it as snack between meals, you won't be full anyway.
A view of the cafe and it's really packed with small tables & small chairs. Those little partition at the side is what you will see in those old cafe like 50 years ago. Incredible good experience. Anything on the wall is also easily older than you. The place is surprisingly well ventilated but with a good laksa bowl, you will sweat nevertheless.For visiting the Joo Hooi Cafe, there is no way you will miss the special Cendol served beside the cafe. It's so good that crowd will start to pack up and you will be attracted to it to find out what's the big deal there.
It's called the Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul, a really long name. However, don't mistaken it as the other stall as along the Lebuh Kwee Keng, there are two chendul stalls just right opposite each other. I heard that their are rivals and the one beside the Joo Hooi Cafe is much better, I'm not risking it as I couldn't wallop two bowl of Chenduls.
A small road side stall but have 4-5 people working serving Chendul and Ais Kacang to the customer. They are working really fast and lots of people will normally order and eat beside the stall. When the crowd build up, it can be really messy and you will have problem getting near to the stall without getting a few drip of Chendul. Crazy, so advice is to get into Joo Hooi Cafe, order a good bowl of Laksa and order the Chendul in the cafe instead. Enjoy your Chendul there and leave. It's allow!
The famous Chendul that people talking about. I personally don't think there is a big deal with their Chendul. There is a special taste on their Chendul, which they added something into it giving a different taste, but I'm not sure what is it. If you are not sensitive, then you probably won't notice it. I think it's Teochew taste =) Anyway this bowl will cost you RM1.70 and there are better Chendul out there like the one in Klang. I will blog about it when got chance. Anyhow it's a good bowl of ice to cool you down after a hefty laksa.Conclusion, this place has been drawing crowd since it's open 60+ years ago and no reason for them to stop and no reason for you not to visit them. It's one of the best, if not best, no doubt. It's one of my must visit whenever I'm in Penang. Cheap & good food is always my best friend =)Joo Hooi Cafe475 Penang RoadPenangOpening time: 12.00pm to 5.30pm (closed on wednesday)Location Coordinate: N5 25.027 E100 19.835
