Alcohol-free and vegetarian meals aplenty in Penang!

Puppet Ponyo presided over our table at 

a banana leaf rice restaurant ;b

 

It may not look it but the kacang botol (winged bean) salad

was the spiciest of the dishes on this table!

 

One of my favorite snacks/desserts when back in Penang :)

 

The evening after I returned to Hong Kong from my most recent trip back to Penang found me once more spending time with friends at Sake Bar Ginn.  As it so happened, the previous time that I had drank any alcohol prior to that occasion also happened to be at Sake Bar Ginn a few days before my eight day Penang trip.  Put another way: I didn't drink anything alcoholic while back in Penang this time; and despite there being a particular watering hole there that I do like, it really didn't take much effort to be alcohol free while there! 

 

As I explained to my fairly incredulous friends at the sake bar that I've come to think of as a cross between the eponymous establishments in TV series Cheers and the Midnight Diner movies for me: I prefer to drink during meals rather than outside of them but I also tend to steer clear of alcoholic beverages when eating spicy food -- and as it so happens, a lot of my favorite Penang foods are on the spicy side.  Consequently, my drinks of choice at meal times in Penang tend to be non-alcoholic concoctions like rose syrup with lime and ice or various fruit juices.     

 

Something else that I noticed this time around is that I really do tend to eat a lot more fruits and vegetables when I'm back in Penang; and this even when it's not durian season!  As it so happens, I had a few vegetarian meals on this recent trip, including a banana leaf rice lunch, an ethnic Chinese fried noodle dish known as "cheap mee" because it's traditionally one of the cheapest dishes on offer in Penang and has mee (egg noodles) as its main ingredient, and a large order of the distinctly Malaysian fruit salad-prawn paste combination known as rojak.  And in addition to the many glasses of fruit juice that I drank on this recent trip, I also once again enjoyed eating more than one portion of coconut jelly as well as the flesh of the fruit that serves as its container.

 

More than incidentally, I also love drinking coconut water but won't drink coconut milk and was horrified to discover while living in the West that people there actually drink the latter liquid and have it as ingredients of alcoholic cocktails such as piña coladas!  Something else that shocked me -- and would similarly shock my brother years later when he went to boarding school in England -- was that quite a few people we knew in England (and, in my case, the USA too) had no idea that coconut water existed, since the coconuts found in their parts of the world didn't have any clear liquids inside of them because they already were old and dry! 

So frustrated, in fact, was my brother when trying to convince his boarding schoolmates of the existence of coconut water that he told us more than once that he wished he could bring a young, clear liquid-filled coconut, with him back to England from Penang.  Adding to his vexation was his schoolmates also not believing that coconuts were anything but brown and hairy on the outside, and -- what with it being the days before the internet came along -- his having great difficulty finding pictures of green young coconuts to show them! ;b

Drying and dried seafood

Hundreds of shrimp drying in the sun on Cheung Chau

Dried fish arrayed in an artistic manner in Macau

For many people, fresh is best when it comes to food.  But while I do feel that way with regards to such as my sushi and sashimi, I also do like my share of pickled and otherwise preserved edibles.  Still, it's only since moving to Hong Kong that I've come to like looking at -- and photographing -- dried foods; not least since they often are arrayed in eye-catching style!

One of the thing that fascinates me about Hong Kong (and neighhboring Macau) is how people can feel so secure about leaving seafood (as well as such as lime and tangering peels) out in the open in public space such as busy roadsides.  Something else I found intriguing was my learning that while dried salted fish was viewed in the past as food for the poor, dried shrimp is actually more expensive these days than fresh shrimp -- with the reason being that dried shrimp is considered to possess a more desirable intense flavor than its fresh equivalent!

If truth be told though, I generally prefer eating fresh shrimp to the dried variety -- and raw shrimp and prawns at that (particularly in sushi-ya and Thai restaurants)!  At the same time though, I also am fond of both Hong Kong-style and Malaysian-style shrimp paste (that's made from dried, fermented shrimp)!  And while I like Malaysian shrimp paste (i.e., belacan) best when mixed with other ingredients to make Penang rojak, I like the Hong Kong-style shrimp paste best as a dip for cooked squid -- something I was introduced to at the amazing Wah Kee over in Mui Wo (which I found out about via the very cool Tom Eats, Jen Cooks blog -- though Tom, if you're reading this, sorry, it's Wah, not Wai, Kee... :b ).

Juicy (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

Feast your eyes on the first photo in this week's Photo Hunt entry -- for sometimes, a picture can indeed say a thousand words! Alternatively put: I may have excluded mention of it from my most recent post on Penang eats but if truth be told, no food pilgrimage to, and around, my home state would be complete without a visit to the Swatow Lane ais kacang stall that now plies its trade indoors in the New World Park hawker complex on the former site of the same-named amusement park (which, at times, featured attractions such as a floor show by Rose Chan).

Although ais kacang literally translates from Bahasa Malaysia into English as "ice bean(s)", the dish is actually composed of far more than just shaved ice and (sweet red) bean(s). For starters, a sweet syrup (usually rose-flavored, but you can also opt for that which is sarsi (AKA sasparilla) flavored) is poured onto the shaved ice. And underneath the shaved ice, you'll usually find creamed corn, textured atapchi (aka pine-nut) and smooth strips of black grass jelly mixed with the red beans.

(Hmmm, upon reading the above description, I think a lot of people who have never tasted ais kacang might think it all sounds like quite an unpleasant mix -- but if you're ever in Penang, give it a go, and you might just like it! Oh, and for the record, I also like this cool concoction with an extra topping of bananas!! :D)

Additionally, although it's popularly known as the Swatow Lane ais kacang stall, that particular establishment also offers other eats -- including rojak (a fruit salad that sometimes also has cuttlefish in the mix and is always slathered with a thick concoction composed mainly of prawn paste) and a selection of fresh fruits for a bargain price (i.e., look at the prices and bear in mind that 1 Malaysian ringgit is about 32 American cents or 23 Euro cents!).

On my most recent visit there, I had a bowl of their ais kacang (but of course!) but also a plate of fruits served with ice shavings on top to nicely chill them. And yes, I grant that persimmons and nona (aka custard apple) may not have been the most juicy of the available fruity options -- so, yes, I may be stretching things a little this week -- but I am trusting that you'll agree that they make for an interesting as well as appetizing picture that's worth sharing. :)

Penang eats (that I ate while in Penang!)

A delicious lunch for just RM4.90 (~ US$1.59)

Greetings again from Hong Kong! "But of course", I hear you say, dear reader -- only the truth of the matter is that I only just got back to the Big Lychee a few hours ago after a little more than a week's stay in the food(ie) paradise that is Penang.

The main purpose was to attend my brother's mega wedding dinner (which included/was preceded by a traditional Chinese tea ceremony along with more informal cocktails). What with my having been under the weather lately, I also felt obliged to make time (more or less a whole day, all in all) to go for a general medical check up. (Since my home state has become a major regional center of medical tourism, this arrangement ended up working pretty well for me.) But as the photo at the top of this blog entry shows, I also definitely wasn't going to miss out on making the rounds of my favorite Penang eateries while back there!

As has become a ritual of sorts, my mother was there to meet me at the airport and took me straight to the Perak Lane stall that is famous for its fish head bee hoon (but whose pork balls and kidneys are what I like to have with my white rice noodles). And over the weekend (since they are only open on Saturdays and Sundays -- albeit from 7am to 7pm on each of those days), I went to patronise my favorite Malay assam laksa stall at Shamrock Beach even though it now is sadly minus its founder, the late Makcik Putih (who passed away in February of last year).

Other foods that I cannot miss on visits back to Penang -- and definitely didn't this time around -- include the Hokkien Mee from Kwai Lock Coffee Shop, the seafood (crabs, of course, but much, much more!) at Crab Village and Majestic Rojak (which really is, well, majestic!). And I also ended up having suckling pig -- thanks to my family playing hosts to guests who came from England, New Zealand, Singapore and elsewhere for my brother's wedding but all seemed to pine for that particular dish (which is not native to Penang but which is done very well at May Garden).

Additionally, for the first time in years, I went to the Malay food stall in Tanjung Tokong that was introduced to me by the powerhouse husband-wife pair of Lubbis and Khoo Salma some years back to get myself some delicious home cooked goodness -- and for a mega bargain price. And for those who can't see what I got for RM4.90 (i.e., around HK$12.33), here's detailing that it was curry fish roe (yum!), a slice of sour as well as spicy curry pineapple (more yum!!), fried chicken liver and kidneys (I know... not for everybody but mega yum to me!!!) and a fresh vegetable mix of cut kacang botol, onions and bits of red chili peppers (for added oomph!) on top of a fairly substantial portion of fluffy white rice.

And should there be any doubt: yes, I'm salivating upon recalling that wonderful lunch feast... and am already making plans to go back to that stall for more the next time I return to Penang... ;b

Arguably Penang's greatest cultural heritage

Halal - Malay style Penang assam laksa
from my favourite purveyors of this dish
(a grandmother and her grandchildren
who operate their seaside stall only during weekends)

Not halal - lok lok (AKA dip dip --
so called because you take the sticks and dip, dip,
their contents into boiling water to cook them!)
from my mother's and my favorite stall in Gurney Drive

Reading the description of George Town (and Melaka/Malacca) on the UNESCO web site, it seems like the main reason for their recent inscription on the World Heritage List is that they are full of architectural treasures. Ask most Penangites (or Malaysians, or our Singaporean neighbors for that matter) what's the best as well as most Penang thing about Penang, however, and the answer will very probably be: Its food. And that for sure will be the immediate answer -- yes, often times even ahead of "family"... ;b -- when you ask Penangites abroad what they miss most about their home state.

Given this state of affairs, you would most definitely be right were you to surmise that I spent quite a bit of time during my most recent trip back to Penang checking out my favorite eating spots and eats. Among these were the Perak Lane beehoon that's famed for its fish beehoon and porridge (but whose beehoon with pork and kidneys is my dish of choice there!), Gurney Drive rojak, the Tari (Dancing) Cafe in Tanjung Tokong that grew out of a small Tari Burger stall (whose hot dogs -- sorry, New York, Chicago, etc. -- truly are the world's best!), Penang Hokkien Mee from a stall near the Pulau Tikus market, and the delicious fare in the two photographs at the top of this entry.

Sounds and looks good? All I can say to those who've yet to sample them, they probably actually taste far better than you can ever imagine! As for the cost: Believe it or not, each bowl of that heavenly assam laksa costs quite a bit less than US$1 while each stick/skewer of the lok lok goes for 70 Malaysian sen (i.e., less than 25 US cents). :b

Rare (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

The Kek Lok Si Temple (AKA "Temple of Supreme Bliss" or "Pure Land Temple") that's situated on Huock San (trans. Crane Hill) is said to be the most visited tourist spot in Penang. This prominent local landmark which can be seen from miles away and dominates the surrounding Air Itam (AKA Air Hitam; trans., "Black Water"!) area -- yet appears to still be constantly being added to! -- also is widely considered to be one of the finest Buddhist temples in Southeast Asia as well as is generally recognized as the largest Buddhist temple complex in Muslim majority Malaysia.

In the middle of my photograph of what is just only a section of the Kek Lok Si Temple stands its most famous structure: A rare -- unique, even -- pagoda variously known as the Pagoda of Rama VI (on account of the temple's foundation stone having been laid in 1915 by King Rama VI of neighboring Thailand) as well as the Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas (because it supposedly is home to ten thousand images of Buddha; many of them affixed on to the interior walls of the structure).

"So what makes this pagoda so rare?" I hear you ask. In order to answer this question, let me direct you to look carefully at the seven storey monument in question and point out that it's actually an amalgamation of architectural styles from not one but three different major Buddhist cultures. (By the way, if you click on the image above, you will be shown an enlarged version of the photograph.)

More specifically, the 30 meter high pagoda combines a Chinese octagonal base with a tre-foil arcade- and niche-rich middle tier that is of Thai design and a Burmese domed crown; with the idea behind this being that this religious tower physically testifies to the Kek Lok Si Temple's embracing of not only Mahayana Buddhism (as represented by its Chinese elements) but also Theravada Buddhism (as represented by its Thai and Burmese sections).

On a secular note: I'm inclined to look at this cultural and architectural mixing as yet another example of the general Malaysian tendency towards "rojakness" -- this despite the pagoda's construction having pre-dated the creation of Malaysia, the country, by a few decades -- that I discussed some months back on this blog and, frankly, would love to see more of, be it in this country or pretty much elsewhere... :)