Penang - Tanjong Bungah - Ingolf's Kneipe

Restaurant: Ingolf's Kneipe (German Restaurant & Bar)
Type: Non-Halal
Address: 1F, Jalan Sungai Kelian, Tanjung Bungah, 11200 Penang
Contact: 04 899 5796

The hand-sign symbol is pointing exactly the shop location.







Environment: Good (until I wish to drink beer :-P)
Parking Convenience: Good
Hygiene: Good

Operation Hour:
Mon --> OFF
Tues - Sat --> 1200 - 1430; 1900 - 2230 (forgot to confirm the bar drinking available hour, ouch!~)
Sun --> From 1500



Owner is going outstation
Didn't manage to talk to the restaurant owner. So far, I only see 3 staffs were working to serve customers. One was handling the bar center, another two were walking around to serve customer with foods and drinks. I personally dare not hold them for too long to dig information. The only thing I dig out - the chef who was cooking - local chef, not the German chef.



Good price with good environment
If you are looking for good price with good environment, I vote for this German restaurant worth to try out. This is the first place that make me wanna have beer. Ok, I try best not to side-track on beer first. Let me talk about foods my wife and I ordered. It was the post birthday celebration with my wife - reason? I was working during her birthday, bad boss disagreed to approve my leave application. (I hope boss does not read this "kutuk" / curse, psssh, zip your mouth please.)

During lunch hour from 1200-1500 (if not mistaken), when you order lunch - the ice lemon tea is free (not free flow). Great saving.

Our orders: -
1) Home made German Porkpattie - RM12.30
2) One piece of Grilled Boneless Chicken Leg - RM12.30
3) Two bowls soup of the day (mushroom soup) - RM4.30 each
*notes: if you have small stomach size, you can avoid ordering soup - it's simply too heavy.



I would say the mushroom soup was too creamy - Not my preference. The creamy taste hide the mushroom smell totally. I prefer strong mushroom smell, it's taste more wilder :-) The bread bun was not so warm, at least not that level to see oven smoke come out from bread bun. My wife highlighted regarding this.





Sauces that penetrates your taste buds
I personally ordered German Porkpattie. It is grilled minced pork, accompanied by smoothly mashed potatoes and salad garnish. It was finalized with black pepper corn sauce. First, try the sauce first before you start. The black pepper corn sauce is indeed superb. Once it touches your tongue, you can feel the heat start coming out from your ears, smoke from your head and neck. I'm kidding. In conclusion, good black pepper sauce - you can directly feel the heat. Hmmm... mind you - the aroma of black pepper corn sauce able to penetrate your taste buds easily. Share with you my secret - if black pepper sauce is superb, by smelling the aroma, I started to feel like sweating. Don't laugh, it's true! This sauce really makes me sweat! Check out the black pepper sauce texture yourself :-)



The grill level was just good, not over-grilled. You can still feel the juicy minced pork very soft to bite.



Mashed potato, playing another role, is just like ice cream if you blind-fold your eyes to taste its smoothness. Ok, I bluff - there is no potato ice-cream as far as I know :-P Lovely smooth and nice. Sping onion and fried onion gave a mixtured of fried and freshy taste to synchronize. I also love large portion of salad garnish. It gave fresh feeling of eating salad like that. Simple dressing dances with salad just nice. I couldn't raise more question to dig out in detail on the dressing they composed :-) My wife warned me to stop hunting info from staffs :-P Please blame my wife, ok. LOL!~ :-P



Grilled boneless chicken leg is accompanied by french fries, grill tomato and salad garnish. Covering with mushroom sauce, you can find the nicely sliced mushroom button. The mushroom taste is heavy. Those who love mushroom like me - you will find this mushroom sauce easily hook your tongue. One word - superb!

You will find this restaurant do not charge on service tax. All prices shown are final. No government tax as well. Worth to visit.



The place that makes me wanna drink beer, I'm serious!
My previous visit with my wife (forgot what celebration, I'm truly absent-minded) during dinner, I ordered a bottle of German beer - Paulaner Munchen brand. When I discovered this beer, I totally forgot about the price. It was RM25 above per small bottle (I didn't see any big bottle like Tiger or Heneiken). When I made payment - just realized probably this beer is fully imported from German. Converting from Euro money should be considered terribly expensive. Worth to try. The beer is very smooth. In fact the bar counter is very nice, this location indeed making me wanna drink beer :-) The fact is when I told this to my wife - she threw me unbelievable stare :-) Why not rewarding myself? What says you? :-)

Penang - Jalan Tengah - Burger

Food: Burger
Type: Halal
Location: Jalan Tengah, Bayan Baru
Price: Normal - RM2.80 | With egg - RM3.30 | Special RM3.80 (customised order will determine the final price)

Stall Owner: Mr. Hilmee (012 409 3644)
Stall Operation: 2000 - 0300 (depends on customer volume - may rest earlier if finishes)

Parking convenience: Fair (this depends on parking space available - one warning - small drain do not cover up - you may aware with tyre gone into small drain accidentally)
Hygiene: Fair

Direction:

If you are coming from Penang International Airport, right after the famous snake temple, take left turn, then drive for 20-30 meters distant, turn left into residential area. You will see the stall is facing the road.

When you are bored with McD
Imagine when you are working in night shift, there is limited choice to have meal around. Most of the food stalls are closed and mostly you will find Mamak chain restaurant open 24 hours. When you are bored with McD burger taste - try something local burger that may change your impression.



Irresistible Taste
The stall owner had been there for 25 years. Both stall owner and his chief assistant were camera shy. I respected their decision - I only went spy-shot them. Hmmm, my bad - the photo still "broadcast" in public.



This local burger is different from other stalls. There are two things differentiate from other stalls. First one is pepper. If you ever taste for most of the local stall - you will find most of the cook over-shake the pepper on burger. I love pepper but not in this way. You don't expect to eat pepper powder at the end of day, do you? Secondly, mayo mayo mayo taste. The most obvious stuff in front of the cooking section - mayo sauce giant container. If you order directly for burger without specifying anything - the stall owner will assume you wish to have all kind of sauces - chilly sauce, tomato sauce and mayo sauce.



There are two options of burger meat to choose - chicken or beef. You will find the burger not over-fried, the frying duration is just in time. During the frying time, bread was put with butter to toast at the same time. Bread is ready when the brownish appear like after BBQ. Owner will take out the bread and put nicely. Veges, sliced cucumber and chopped onion put on top of bread, then both chilly sauce and tomato sauce follow up on top of vegetables :-) The burger will be finalised with little pepper and Lea & Perrins Sauce. No nonsense cook and don't judge by the out-of-shape-bread. Taste once, who knows you may hook with it.

Penang - Chulia Street - Hainan Chicken Rice

Food: Hainan Chicken Rice / 海南鸡饭
Type: Non-Halal
Location: Chulia Street / 牛干冬街
Price: Less than RM7.00 (depends on your customised order)

Shop Name: 新冠华茶室 (Sin Kwan Hwa Coffee Shop)
Shop Owner: 庄福海先生 - Mr. Zhuang (016 431 3315)
Shop Operation: 1100 - 1500 (depends on customer volume - may rest earlier if finishes)

Parking convenience: Fair (Suggestion: Try Cintra Street parking space before reaching )
Hygiene: Good

Direction:

T-junction in between Chulia Street and Cintra Street






-1964-



"How long you started your Chicken rice business?" I threw direct question. "Since 1964". Wow, this shop history is even older than me :-P I love the coffee shop environment which is giving me an old feeling in George Town. The table set at corner. Very hygiene place to eat. When I went near the shop - directly I can smell the aroma of chicken rice - drooling!~

Throw away your diet plan
Chicken rice itself is already melted it. I can eat it without any chicken, just rice. What a rice barrel you start to know me personally. Pssshhh... it's secret! The rice is not particularly oily - just fair and able to accept for those who is health conscious.



I love eating chicken breast, all lean meat - also favoured as those fitness practitioners one of the protein input. There are two type of version to choose - roasted or cooked. This round I ordered two version of chicken breast (didn't expect the portion was quite a lot, end up I need to add small bowl rice to finish it) to eat.



Roasted version - the roasted chicken taste able to flow in your lung via your teeth when you put in your mouth. The unique aromatic chicken oil mixed with soya sauce able to "melt" your tongue. The roasted chicken skin is superb. Little bit of crispy and dry. Don't get me wrong - when you have the roasted meat - the water within the meat is not totally roasted until dry. You can still feel the softness within. This is the roasting kungfu - control everything just in time in terms of roasted duration, smell, taste and the water within.

Cooked version let you taste another option to enjoy. When you eat cooked chicken - try best not to remove the skin though it looks oily. The reason why - it is because the moment you put it in your mouth and crunch - you will appreciate the juicy taste that caught your tongue seriously :-) Didn't I alert you to throw away your diet plan? Pay attention please - worth to sacrifice.




The sweet and fresh cucumbers able to refresh yourself - it is a perfect combination to eat with chicken.

Hainan chilly sauce
I love particularly how they keep their chilly sauce. This unique sauce able to keep you awake. Of course, I have to point out - if you are those who unable to accept strong ginger & garlic taste or smell - please give this up.



The chilly sauce consists lots of ginger (in fact, if you ask me to take raw ginger like that - I will reject), garlic, red and green chillies in blended liquids plus certain porpotion of pure water to mix it. For me, it's not so spicy but little bit sour to stimulate your tongue nerve. My style - beside I eat the chicken with chilly sauce, I also normally use few soup spoonful to put on the chicken rice. The rice taste become totally different experience. Recommended to try this.

Penang - Jelutong Market - Wantan Noodles

Food: Wantan Noodles / 云吞面
Type: Non-Halal
Location: Jelutong Market
Price: RM2.30 (small) | RM2.60 (medium) | RM3.00 (big)

Stall Owner: Mr. Khoo Lee Koon (邱美焜) (016 456 8181)
Stall Operation: 0600 - 1100 (will rest on normal 1st & 15th Chinese Calendar month - except big day fall on Chinese Calendar month)

Parking convenience: Bad (You have to find a place to park far from the Jelutong market - advise - try best not to drive into market, you may stuck there from crowded place)

Hygiene: Fair (the stall location is not near with those wet market stalls - no worry)

Direction:

The stall is just beside the unique colour building - pinky colour with very yellow colour accompanied. Please don't assume this is Hello Kitty shop nor banana boat shop. Check out the hand cursor there by yourself.

Very busy - still have great customer service
When you come to this stall - first impression - Mr. Khoo is extremely busy. His wife and mum are taking order from customers nonstop. You may see them still getting prepared the final "touch" on noodles while talking to customer. Don't get stunned by not having eyes-contact with either one of them. They are listening to customer for specific order such as more chillies or "cham" (combined different types of customisation - allow me to show you one in my capture later). Impressive family business and still have great customer service. Every customer is their friends. Sold since end of year 1993 when Mrs. Khoo was pregnant for first child. Truly romantic.



Stall Owner --> Mr. Cool :-P


Accessories


Unforgettable taste - No. 1 super-duple fan shouted at me
Don't get misled by the subtitle. I was not having fight with someone. Just another portion to fuel you reading on. If you were to ask me about the taste - it's hardly describing in words. One word - great!~ Have you ever missed old taste? Have you ever heard a moving stall that selling "tok-tok" noodle? How the stall owner attracting potential customer? When move around, the stall owner will use spoon to heat the bowl to generate a high frequency sound. Certain time, certain moment - when you hear this "tok-tok" sound, you know the stall is near. I hardly assume all of you had this memory, probably some of you did. The fact is I gone through this and I missed the old taste very much.

Serving customers


Perfect teamwork


Basically, part of the noodles ingredient is made of egg. To retain the quality, they take high quality of raw noodles instead of cheapo one to increase profit margin. “The most important thing is the food quality and worth to pay to eat", highlighted Mrs Khoo

The interesting part is one guy claimed himself as No. 1 super-duple fan told me. His name is Jimmy, the clothes seller. He seriously described in words - When the wantan noodle served at table, DO NOT straight away pick up your chopsticks and start "slurpping". Give yourself 2-3 minutes, let the noodles absorb the dark soya sauce. Then starts your engine. The taste will be totally different from the impression you had normally for wantan noodles. Well, sounds very expert huh? This is according to that No. 1 super-duple fan. Why No. 1 super-duple fan? Whenever the stall is there for one whole week, he will only eat wantan noodles. Yes! No other food! You know what? Even the stall owner's mum smile tenderly to claim this guy also a bit insane to eat like that, from her smile - I quickly understand it is the food quality and taste hold someone's tongue firmly.

The freshly served wantan noodles is very springy and tasty. In Chinese - 弹牙 or very Q in Cantonese. The secretly made dark soya sauce mixed with pork oil plus sesame oil will directly stimulate your hunger via aromatic smell. This Jimmy even share one more secret - The raw noodle is even tasty after overnight. Wow, this is something new I never heard before. Jimmy did ask what kind of special ingredient added in for overnight raw noodles - Mr. Khoo said nothing and couldn't find a word on this to describe.

Wantan - the meat dumpling

Another options


Without this - the wantan noodles mean nothing at all. There are two version of dumpling you can choose. One is fried and another one is cooked. It may look small for you or you can easily stuck 3-4 dumplings into your mouth. Don't under-estimate the taste. It is not only minced meat. Little "adjusted" salt, pepper powder and other ingredients normally bring out the unique taste of dumplings. You can order separate dumplings with soup to enjoy.


Another secret weapon - my preferable version
If you are not yet ready - don't try this. Otherwise smoke will come out from your both ears and hair. Yes, I'm talking about sambal. My preference for this food - one soup spoon of sambal add in. Smelling the sambal before mix with wantan noodles is the most wonderful moment. Check out the texture of sambal.

Are you ready for this?


I can say my tolerant level of spicy sambal considered good (better than my wife - I used this training to tackle my wife :-P pssshhhh - don't tell her - I can treat you another spoonful of sambal). This sambal still make me drop tears and sweat like after bath. When you eat with sambal, you won't immediately feel terribly spicy. The spicy feeling will only come after you finish a few mouthful of noodles. Still wish to challenge yourself? Get prepared to order another two glasses of cold drinks :-) Hmmm... just love this.

Built-on-order

No sidetrack topic here. Not hardware, dude. I'm still talking about wantan noodles. There are normal noodle, the thin and thick one, Hor-Fun and Bee-Hoon. You can mix thin noodle with Hor-Fun or Bee-Hoon with Hor-Fun. As far you like - just let Mr. Khoo know.

Thick version


Thin version


Mixed version


Mr. Cool may look cool when taking order as he is very busy to cook the noodles with perfect timing. Talk to him several times - this firm mid-age guy may throw smiley face via your satisfaction to taste. Pardon me? I'm drooling while busy closing ceremony for this writing with several interesting shots... Can't stand for that anymore - I better grab my meal :-) Happy eating then!

Penang - Burma Road - Apong Guan

Foods: Pancake / Apong
Type: Halal
Location: Penang Burma Road

Price: RM0.30 per piece

Stall owner: Mr. Uan Cheng Guan / Apong Guan (Mobile: 016 409 3701)
Stall operation: 0900-2100 (preferably 1100 to drop by to avoid queue)

Parking Conveniency: Bad (you only able to stop by but just beware of cars around as beside that has one traffic light. You may try best your luck to check out any available parking space nearby)
Hygiene: Fair

Direction:

From Penang Road (Komtar direction), keep left, follow the road, you will pass by Mekio Furniture (on your left), further down you will pass by one crossroad traffic light. If it turns red light - you will notice Penang Plaza on your right with Giant brand (green with yellow brand colour). On your left, luxurious cars able to catch your eye in See Hoy Chan building :-) Go straight, you will pass by Pykett School (on your left) and old shoplots... slow down and you will notice the Apong Guan stall on your left at roadside just before another small traffic light.



"Beng" indeed Mr. Apong

Did I say "beng"? Yes. This is local dialect :-P No worry for foreigner who may stun for 1 second :-) "Beng" means cool, arrogant... Oppsss... sounds negative. Don't get me wrong in the first place. Mr. Apong will chop me straight if he reads my writing. I arrived there not in the good timing. He was busy with big order. How big the order? 200 pieces for Kuala Lumpur (KL) order!!! He highlighted he already rejected some of the orders due to this big order. Unbelieveable? Look at the below picture. He didn't even have time to look at me. Geez, unless I'm pretty lady :-P





I used dirty trick to get his attention - my camera. Mr. Guan quickly asked - "are you a reporter?" I wish I am (me bluff again!) but the fact is no. "Ask whatever stuffs you wish to know - I'm ready to answer and cooperate with you", confessed Mr. Guan. Did I sound like Captain Soldier? hmmm... let me ponder after finish writing this. OK, I admit I'm talking crap to get you read on. Let's get into topic.

Solid experience
Over 40 years experience to sell Apong there, Mr. Guan is very fast on getting all the pancakes ready within 3 minutes. I clocked this silently. Apong is the term that used across cultures. In English, it is pancake.

Mr. Guan highlighted he uses a lot of eggs. Holy Mama!~ check out the eggs' tower below!



Get ready with your handkerchief
Yes, bingo. Another subtitle to make you move on - I say - get ready with your handkerchief - does not mean environmental hygiene problem. Look out your saliva leak, pal!

Before ...


After...


Apong consists of rice flour, eggs, coconut, coconut milk, sliced bananas and creamy sweet corn. You can see the nine-hole-griddle. At one time, there are nine pancakes prepared. Per piece only cost you RM0.30. The ratio of composition - pssssshhh... this is secret. See whether I can crack this secret or not. I'm bluffing though :-P

Beware - Dangerous roadside



It is advisable to take pre-cautious step to avoid standing in front of the stall - there are lots of cars and motorcycles pass by. When you enjoy taking order there, please please please beware of this. Safety first :-)

Penang - Pitt Street - Mee Goreng - Bak Chang

*Update (6 July 2009): Chinese Bak Chang no longer available as the original owner rented her shop to others.

Foods: Indian Mee Goreng + Chinese Bak Chang
Type: Halal - Indian Mee Goreng; Non-Halal - Chinese Bak Chang
Location: 椰脚街 / Pitt Street / Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling

Price: (Mee Goreng) RM3.00 | (Bak Chang) RM2.80

Stall owner: Mr. Raja (Mobile: 016 432 0183)
Stall operation: 0930-1730

Heng Seng Coffee Shop (恒盛茶室) owner: Mdm. Au-Yong (欧阳坚苹) (House: 04 261 9716)
Shop operation: 0800-1700

Parking Conveniency: Good
Hygiene: Good

Direction:



From Pitt Street, drives all the way to Khoo Kongsi direction - you will see the Heng Seng coffee shop & stall located at cross junction in between Pitt Street and Armenian Street (本头公巷). Further down is Cannon Square. From the front of coffee shop, you can see another Muslim's Mosque in front of you at the end of T-junction in between Cannon Square and Acheh street :-) Lots of interesting things to catch with your eyes there. I guarantee personally :-)



Coincidence - when Mee Goreng meets Bak Chang
It was my selected location to have photo-shooting session with my friend at Armenian street. Right after exhausting photo session, to compensate both hunger and thirsty, mee goreng and ice lemon tea were the rewards I should deserve :-) Bak Chang was 2nd round "dessert" to wipe out for the sake of my weight-loss-program-failure :-P Seriously I'm kidding.

Part 1: Mee Goreng

My awesome misunderstanding - Mr. Raja's Mee Goreng
Few years ago, I tried out the mee goreng before but not up to my expectation thus I stopped trying. It was not Mr. Raja's fault - after Mdm Au-Yong shared out with me - Mr. Raja actually will work for 1-2 years here, then he will travel back to India for 1 year. This firm and strong old man still continue to send back money to his family in India. Respect him from bottom of my heart!~





According to Mr. Raja - he sold there for 23 years - Mdm Au-Yong argued that this may over 30 years the stall already there. Hardly imagine this!

Traditional taste



I still love to taste traditional mee goreng, no matter how good the other version of Mamak franchise restaurant. Probably this reminds me of my earlier age of tasting Indian food and impression was definitely imprinted so deep. No additional chicken meat nor any green chilly beautify the texture of yellow noodles. It's just a plain yellow noodle fried with spicy "sotong", special marinated fried flour, boiled potato and tomato sauce like that added the fried noodle taste. Not forgetting the well-sliced lime serve as an option to give you a fresh taste of sour in between this. You can find fried egg all over the noodles with crunchy peanut mixed around with the mee goreng. Fresh veges added on top of the Mee Goreng to enhance overall food presentation. Superb combination!~ I still have a major problem - the moment I wrote this - I already gone there for twice within 2 days. See - how sick am I :-P

*Update (6 July 2009): Chinese Bak Chang no longer available as the original owner rented her shop to others.
Part 2: Chinese Bak Chang

Is there any official name for Chinese Bak Chang? I wonder or I assume myself already outdated on the so-called official name to google it :-) Well, you can call it Chinese meat dumpling or bak chang in Hokkien dialect. Whatever it is called - you will miss the taste definitely after trying this here.

Thanks for Mdm Au-Yong for giving me chance to further understand both delicious foods.



Bak Chang, anytime

For Chinese, normally during Duan Wu Jie (端午节), for foreigners - it is well known Dragon Boat festival. We normally able to have Back Chang to eat during 5th day of 5th Chinese calendar month (五月初五).



At Heng Seng coffee shop, you can have Bak Chang whenever the stock is available. Wonder why? Everyday Mdm Au-Yong only prepares Bak Chang for only 50 in total to ensure freshness. Each Bak Chang only sells for RM2.80. Worth try.

My dear Tongue - please pay attention
When you eat this Bak Chang, you can feel its solid taste and packed. If the packing done poorly, you will see "crackness" in between external wall of rice dumpling. Do I sound insane to use "crackness"? I disagree - by the way if you can find suitable term - shoot me please.



Fried sticky rice dumpling packed with both fat and lean meat marinated with special dark soy sauce, salted egg york (orange colour one if you hardly find :-P), chestnut (I'm nut with this!) and thin-sliced mushrooms. Normally chilly sauce will serve as an option for you. My preference - no chilly sauce to spoil the original taste.

Geez ~ don't be greedy
Bak Chang is made of sticky rice. If you have big appetite, two Bak Chang should be enough. Otherwise - don't let your stomach suffer from fullness :-) Come on - you should leave some rooms to have the mee goreng, didn't I write clearly at the abovementioned statement? :-)