Koay Teow Soup & Pan Mee Sri Nibong Cafe-Breakfast-Penang Bayan Lepas

In Penang, there are four common noodle type Chinese food which include Har Mee (Prawn Soup Noodle), Curry Noodle, Wan Tan Mee (Noodle with Dumpling) and Koay Teow Soup. Koay teow is a kind of flat rice noodles. You could easily find these four local foods everywhere in Penang, but be reminded that those sell at the Chinese cafe or food court mostly are not Halal. 

Among all, koay teow soup or koay teow t'ng in Hokkien (soup = t'ng in Hokkien) is a non spicy food. Commonly the soup base is cooked with pork bone for many hours. Good soup base is the critical factor in determine the taste of the koay teow soup. After survey for many food stalls, the stall in Sri Nibong Cafe is one of the best that I ever tried. Sri Nibong Cafe is located along Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, almost opposite with Police Station Sungai Nibong.

Koay Teow Soup Stall in Sri Nibong Cafe

Although the stall looks simple but there is always queue who waiting for their 'take away' food to be packed. 

Koay Teow & Yellow Mee Soup

Similar to others, koay teow soup offer here is served with ingredients such as minced pork, fish ball, fish cake, fried garlic and scallion. But the unique point is the minced pork is fresh while the fish ball is spongy. However, the most important point is the soup base is tasty. To make it even delicious, lets add an egg..wow!! Excellent!

Koay Teow & Yellow Mee Soup with Egg

For locals like us, some people may prefer solely koay teow for this food while others may like to mix the koay teow with yellow mee. The thin rice noodles (mee hoon) also could be an option. If I'm not mistaken, this food is sold at RM3.50 for standard bowl while RM4.00 when additional egg is requested.

Besides koay teow soup, I did discovered another good food from this cafe. It is 'Pan Mee' (hand made flat noodles). It is different from koay teow. Physically, koay teow would be slightly oily than pan mee. Normally the stall owner would make the flat noodles from the dough upon customer order. The dough would be pressed by a small hand-operated machine and later become flat noodles. If you interested, you could stand there and observe. Normally 'Pan Mee' is offered in 2 styles which is soup base and dry base. The soup base is normally not spicy but the dry version could be slightly spicy ya.

'Zha Jiang Pan Mee' by Sri Nibong Cafe 

As shown in photo above, I always prefer the dry pan mee with 'zha jiang' source. I'm not sure the actual ingredient of 'zha jiang' prepared by this stall but in certain websites, 'zha jiang' could be referred to salty fermented soybean paste. Anyway, the taste is good. Besides the noodles, other ingredients include anchovies, minced pork, black fungus, fried onion and lime.

Before eating, make sure the lime juice is dropped onto the noodles. Then mixed well all the ingredient with the chilli source provided. After all, the first bite would give you such a wonderful taste. Don't believe? Lets come and try it out!! The pan mee would cost you not more than RM4.00.

Other than Koay Teow Soup and Pan Mee, there are also lot of foods that could serve as your options. Among all include Chee Cheong Fun, Jawa Mee, Popia, Western Breakfast, Lam Mee, Nasi Lemak, Prawn Soup Noodle, etc.

Sri Nibong Cafe Interior

Sri Nibong Cafe Interior

Sri Nibong Cafe is still within walking distance from Terminal Bus Sungai Nibong, maybe around 10 minutes heading to the big round about near Crystal Point. Enjoy!

Related Post
Ah Soon Kor Har Mee - Breakfast- Penang Georgetown
BB Food Court Penang Curry Mee - Breakfast- Penang Bayan Lepas
House of Dim Sum - Breakfast - Penang Georgetown
Sister Curry Mee - Breakfast/ Lunch - Penang Ayer Itam

Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) Part II- Bangkok 2013

As mentioned in Part I, after we visited the Ordination Hall, we then proceed to the Phra Prang. Phra Prang is the main landmark of Wat Arun where its image could be found on the 10 Baht coin. Have you noticed?

10 Baht

There are total 5 prang (Khmer-style tower) where the huge centre prang is surrounded by four smaller satellite prang. The prangs were constructed during the reign of King Rama II and completed during the rule of King Rama III. I'm not too sure how high is the centre prang but commonly it is described to be around or over 70 metres. This is the reason why this landmark could be seen from far, even during you are on the Chao Phraya River.

Phra Prang Wat Arun

Before enter the compound, please make sure you proceed to the counter below...

Wat Arun Ticketing Counter

Haha..it is the ticketing counter la...Due to it is not next to the entrance, initially we thought that the entry was free. But later being stopped by the guard and directed us to get the ticket as below:

Wat Arun Ticket

Each ticket only cost us 50 Baht. Oh ya, please also check your attire before enter the compound or you would be once again stopped by the guard. The attire requirement is quite similar to The Grand Palace. I did noticed the guard got issued scarf to those who not met the attire requirement but not too sure whether need to pay or not.

Wat Arun Entrance

Upon entering the compound, the first image we saw was the Golden Buddha. I don't know how the locals named the Buddha but in Malaysia, we named it as Happy Buddha.

Golden Happy Buddha

In front of the Golden Buddha are the donation boxes. Each box is labelled with the purpose of the fund use for.

When I faced the Phra Prang and look upward, I had nothing to say but just voice out 'wow..wow..and still wow..'.

Phra Prang Wat Arun

When we walked close to the prang, we could noticed that the prang is decorated with the colorful porcelain which believe from China that being used previously as the ballast by boat from China to Bangkok.

Porcelain that encrusted on the Phra Prang

Besides, there are also rows of demon and monkey that designed to support the tower. It is similar to those we saw in The Grand Palace.

The tower is supported by the demons

The centre prang allowed the visitors to climb up, provided you are not scared by the steep staircase. When I looked up from the bottom, I really scared after looking on the step.

Centre Prang Wat Arun - Steep Step

However, I don't want to regret and miss the top view from the highest point of the centre prang. I saw many people include those elder ladies who also managed to do it, why not me!! So, even with fast pumping heart, I decided to go for it.

The steep staircase could be divided into two sections. Although the first section is quite steep, but I believe the angle is around 45 degree. It is manageable by most of the people. The first section will bring us to the middle level of the prang. Although this level could give us some of the top view, but some scenery still blocked by certain structures.

After snap shot few photos, I move on to the second section of the staircase. I think the angle of staircase at this section is closed to 90 degree. No problem for me to climb up because I was facing the Prang.

When I reached the highest level, I found that it is worth for me to do so. I was having the top view without any blockage of building, some more I could view the activity on Chao Phraya river. Besides, from top I could take a photo on entire satellite prang that surrounding the centre prang.

View from Highest Point of Centre Prang

One of the four small satellite prang

The top part of the centre prang

After took my time appreciating the scenery on the highest point, it was time for me to go down. I really panic when look at the steep staircase. I had made few attempts to go down but failed because really scary. I just wonder I would be fainted if continue to look at it. But no matter how, I still need to going down. Luckily I caught an idea finally. The trick was stepping down the staircase by not looking down from top. We shall making our body not faced down but faced side, then hold tightly the railing and going down step by step. By follow this method, I reached the base at last..haha..

Before we left the Wat Arun, we noticed that there was a statue stand up in front of the Chao Phraya river. Without knowing who is him, I still took a photo. After all, during I gathered the information then only I found out the statue is King Rama II. Luckily I snap shot before left the attraction.

King Rama II Statue

In overall, Wat Arun especially the Phra Prang really provide me a good learning lesson in understanding the architecture, as well as the history behind. It is worth to give it a visit. However, I read from The Nation that reported the Wat Arun stupa to be closed for three years to undergo repair and renovation. Perhaps those who interested to visit Wat Arun could check the status for better planning to avoid disappointment.

Related Post
Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) Part I - Bangkok 2013
Wat Pho (Reclining Buddha) - Bangkok 2013

Pork Noodle & Seafood Porridge-Restaurant Lye Lee-Bayan Lepas

If you bored with the oily food or lost appetite, then please consider to take something light while easy to digest. Among all, I would recommend the rice noodle soup or porridge by Lye Lee Restaurant located in The One, Jalan Mahsuri, Bayan Lepas Penang. The One is a new location to hangout, especially for those who love to eat like me..due to majority of shop lots here are restaurant or cafe.

Restaurant Lye Lee

The name Restaurant Lye Lee may not give us any special impression, but its Chinese name '高渊' (means Nibong Tebal) would definitely attract someone that love seafood noodle soup or porridge. Why?? It is because Nibong Tebal is famous with this food. But please be informed that Nibong Tebal is not in Penang Island and it is located around 49km from Penang International Airport.

I'm not too sure whether the chef of this restaurant is really from Nibong Tebal, but the soup base is definitely tasty. Frankly speaking, I normally take rice noodle soup or porridge when I'm sick (because the doctor always advise not to eat too oily..hehe). But the rice noodle offered by Lye Lee Restaurant could make me have the intention to revisit, due to I was attracted by it tasty soup base and the fresh mantis prawn.

Restaurant Lye Lee (Interior)

Restaurant Lye Lee (Interior)

My favourite order in this restaurant is mantis prawn rice noddle soup. Although it just served with simple ingredient like mantis prawn, rice noodle, vegetable and soup; but the simple combination that make the taste fresh and delicious is definitely came from the technique and experience of the chef. As mentioned, the soup base was fresh and not oily. It is definitely a good choice for those who lost appetite.  

Mantis Prawn Rice Noodle Soup

The noodle is served with vegetable but as usual, I ask the staff to remove it out from my order. Although this meal cost me RM8/bowl, but as you could see, it is full of the mantis prawn!! It is not cheap, but at least it worth for the price quoted.

During my visit, I did noticed that some customer was trying out the fish head steamboat. Looks like delicious too. Perhaps my next visit could try out this food. Enjoy!

Related Post:

Joo Leong Cafe Half Boiled Egg and Toasted Bread, Penang Bayan Lepas
BB Food Court Dry Curry Noodle, Penang Bayan Lepas

Blooms Restaurant Set Lunch Penang Bayan Lepas    

House of Dim Sum (槟城点心之家)-Breakfast-Penang Georgetown

Nowadays, the word 'dim sum' is widely known, even by non Chinese. The unique of this Cantonese food is it commonly served in steam basket and carted around by the staff within the restaurant. Without leave the dining table, we could choose the food on the cart. 

In Penang, one of the famous dim sum centre is House of Dim Sum (点心之家) located at Anson Road, next to The One Academy or opposite the KDU College. 

The House of Dim Sum is always my favourite restaurant whenever I think about dim sum. The food offer is delicious, full with ingredient and value for money. Due to this reason, this restaurant is always full house and need to be there bit early to avoid disappointment.

There are various food served in this restaurant, of course include the steam items such as dumpling and pork ribs, fried item like egg tart and carrot cake, Hong Kong style Chee Chon Fan, different kind of 'pao', porridge with century egg, oyster noodle and etc. 

Besides the food cart, there are also dim sum self service counter. Due to the frequency of the food cart getting around is low or the food offered is not preferred, so most of the customer choose to collect their favourite food at the counter. But for noddles, we just need to place order and the staff would deliver to our table.

After got the seat, the staff would take order on which type of Chinese tea that the customer prefer. Oh ya..forgot to inform that the dim sum is always served with Chinese tea. In this restaurant, there is no coffee or other cocoa drinks offer. For those who not like Chinese tea, there are soya milk or luo han guo as option. If you would like to try out Chinese tea but don't know which one to start with, perhaps could test the 'Kuk Bou' (Pu-erh tea with chrysanthemum). The taste is mild with chrysanthemum scent.

Chinese Tea

For this round, we choose to order oyster noodle as main dish while few steamed items as side dish. 

Oyster Noodle (RM10)

The oyster noodle was served after 10 minutes we placed the order. Supposedly the noddle is come with green vegetables, but we requested the staff not to include it for us. I dislike the vegetable especially in this dish. Could you see how juicy the oyster?? yes, it is juicy as expected. Besides, the noodle was also came together with prawn and the pork slide (cha sao). Really delicious!

Steamed Pork Ribs

One of the steamed item that I never missed is the steamed pork ribs. After tried out the same dish at different restaurant, I still love the pork ribs offered by this restaurant. Not like others, the pork ribs served by House of Dim Sum is bigger in portion while the pork is more than the rib. This famous dish is steamed together with garlic and salted black bean. Nice!

Siu Mai

The third item we ordered was Siu Mai. It is a steamed pork dumpling. Siu Mai and Har Kao are the most popular steamed items of Dim Sum. See, one of the three pieces already been eaten before the photo was taken! Haha..

Fish Ball

Fish ball offered by House of Dim Sum is tasty. Although the fish ball looks plain, but it is spongy and you could taste the freshness of the fish. Fish ball sell in some other restaurants could just be tasteless.

Bacon Crab Filament Pork Dumpling

The last dim sum we ordered was pork dumpling with crab filament and bacon. It was new to us and the portion was big. When we had our first bite, we was so satisfy with the taste. Beside the ingredients above, this dumpling did contain prawn as well. Delicious!!

Two of us enjoyed the dim sum breakfast for around an hour in House of Dim Sum. It cost us RM24 in total which include the Chinese tea charges. But the food portion made us too full and found sleepy again...hahah..Recommend to try it out!!

Remark : The term 'House of Dim Sum' is direct translation of '点心之家' and may not be the actual English name of the restaurant. 

Related Post
Penang Ferry - Attraction & Transportation
Sea Pearl Lagoon Cafe (海珠屿海鲜)
Penang Dim Sum - Red Tea House

Occupy Beach Street Every Sunday

Fa Guo San(花果山)-Tea Time-Penang Ayer Itam

If you did followed my previous post that share about my experience in Tang Bo Fu, then possibly you will still remember the All Seasons Place in Ayer Itam where the Tang Bo Fu located. All Seasons Place is the first retail lifestyle 'strip mall' in Penang. Almost 70% to 80% of the shop lots are restaurant and cafe. Of course, Fa Guo San is one of it.

Fa Guo San (Front View)

The name 'Fa Guo San' might not be meaningful unless you know about the Chinese fiction "Journey to the West'. The main character in the fiction, the 'Monkey King' is from Fa Guo San. So, when I noticed the cafe name at first time, I was so curious and would like to give it a try.  

I visited Fa Guo San around 3pm on Sunday. Although we had made reservation but there was not much customer on that moment. After flip through the menu, we noticed that the dessert offered is quite unique and have a nice look. Since we still full after lunch, so we only ordered two desserts and one drink. While waiting for desserts to be served, we just enjoy ourselves with snap shot on cafe design.

Fa Guo San Logo

Few minutes later, our drink was served. The drink is called Mix Fresh Fruit Soda (活力水果苏打). As described in the name, it is soda drinks with mix fruits such as strawberry, apple, grapes, lemon and etc. A bit sour taste but it is nice especially when you are thirsty.

Mix Fruit Fresh Soda (活力水果苏打) - RM 6.90

After a while, our target for the visit was served - the Cheese Cup. Before I paid my visit, I did explore website related to Fa Guo San, and suprisingly I noticed majority of the sharing was on the 'flower pot'. Although it was stated as dessert but I truly attracted by this flower pot and would like to check it out by my own.

Vanilla White Chocolate Crumble Cheese Cup (香草白巧克力香脆起司杯) - RM 11.90

The favour we ordered was Vanilla White Chocolate Crumble Cheese Cup (香草白巧克力香脆起司杯). The portion was not big, just like small flower pot. But the outlook really unique, if put aside then we possibly thought that it was just a display item.

Cheese Cup

Oh ya..the flower is for decoration only..cannot eat wor!! But whether the flower is real or artificial, then I leave it to you for your own discovery. Guess what the so called 'soil' made from?? It is the cheese cake with cocoa topping. Since I like cheese cake, the rich cheese taste make me love this dessert very much.

Our last order was waffle and the one we choose was Waffle with Mango & Ice-cream (芒果冰淇淋松饼).

Waffle with Mango & Ice-cream (芒果冰淇淋松饼) - RM 15.90

By looking at the picture，don't you think that it is tasty? I told you, it is really tasty if you like mango. The waffle's thickness was just nice. Frankly speaking, I'm not sure the correct way to taste this dessert, so I took it with my way. For each of my 'bite', I tasted the waffle with different combination, from the mango concentrate, to cream, ice-cream, mango cube and strawberry. Among the combination, I love the combination of waffle plus ice-cream.

Besides the items we ordered, Fa Guo San do offer Honey Toast, Panna Cotta, Sandwich, Chocolate Fondue, Milk Shake, Fruit Juice, Scented Tea, etc. We spent almost an hour in Fa Guo San and total expenses for two desserts plus one drink was at RM 38.15 included 10% service charges. It might not be cheap, but not expensive too. I would still recommend it for a try, at least on the cheese cup. Enjoy!

Related Post
All Season Places_Tang Bo Fu
Blooms Restaurant Set Lunch Penang Bayan Lepas

Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) Part I- Bangkok 2013

Before drafting my travel plan to Bangkok, I not really aware on the existence of Wat Arun or Temple of Dawn. I just know that Bangkok has many temples. However, when I started to compile the tourist information for my trip to Bangkok, then I got to know about the Wat Arun. After the first impression though the photo share in website, I talked to myself not to miss out this attraction for whatever reason.

Wat Arun - photo taken on Chao Phraya River

The easier way to Wat Arun is through taking the water transport. At the Tha Tien Pier (opposite Wat Arun and close to Wat Pho), there are express boat ply in between at high frequency. The boat trip would take around 5 to 10 minutes while cost only 3 Baht per passenger. 

Express Boat Ply Betweeb Tha Tien Pier and Wat Arun Pier (3 Baht per trip)

I believe most of the visitors like me who travelled with express boat on Chao Phraya river would be amazed by Wat Arun or more accurate as Wat Arun Ratchavararam, which majestically sitting at the river side, become landmark and the only major tourist attraction on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya River. According to the information, the Emerald Buddha was previously housed in Wat Arun before it was moved to Wat Phra Kaew that within The Grand Palace today.

When we reached the pier and walked for few steps, we saw the signboard below.

Signboard

We decided to go to the Ordination Hall before visiting the Phra Prang. Guess what we seen? The Yaksha that similar to those in Wat Phra Kaew (Emerald Buddha). The two demons are having their own name. The white on the right is named as Sahassa Decha while the green on the left is named as Thosakan(Ravana).

The Ordination Hall was build during the time of King Rama II. Phra Wihan Khot (Gallery or Cloister) was built around the Ordination Hall, with brick and mortar, and roof with ceramic tiles.

Phra Wihan Khot

Inside the gallery, there are rows of Buddha image but in the style of Subduring Mara (right hand over the knee, while left hand remains on lap and palm up).

Buddha Image in the style of Subdurng Mara

Surprisingly there are stone statues in traditional Chinese costume that appeared on the bottom part of the small pagoda.

Here is the Ordination Hall...and it is surrounded by the stone lions.

The Ordination Hall

The stone lions are surrounding The Ordination Hall.

Due to time limitation, we were not enter the hall. But it is said that the hall is housing Niramitr Buddha image that cast in the reign of King Rama II. The face of the Buddha imgae is said being moulded by King Rama II.

After visited the Ordination Hall, we made our move to the Phra Prang. Stay tune with me for the Part II. Enjoy!!

Related Post
Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) Part II - Bangkok 2013
Wat Pho (Reclining Buddha) - Bangkok 2013
The Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha Part I - Bangkok 2013