Missing the dim sum

On days when you have to go to work on weekdays, don't you wish you had the time to enjoy a hearty dim sum breakfast?

Think of all the varieties spread on the carts flashing before your eyes, and you are just spoilt for choices (momentarily shuts the thoughts of unhealthy consumption of dim sum for breakfast)

Fish balls from Town Dim Sum - one of my favorites in Penang!


Har Kao from Town Dim Sum


Unique stuffed crab meat



It's been a while since I've been to this place for dim sum, time to revisit perhaps?

Now, time to get back to work!

Birthday Course Set Dinner @ CRC

CRC is known to me as one of the most exclusive Chinese restaurants in Penang, or so I thought and a recent dinner invitation to a birthday changed my perception of the place.
It is just the same as any other Chinese restaurants I have seen anyway, and exclusive? No. High-class? Not really, but it's just decent.

Since I've just mentioned that there is nothing different from any other Chinese restaurants, I won't be sharing any photos on the interior and will go straight to the food served during the 8 course set dinner for an elderly aunt's birthday.

We started off with the birthday buns; which is significant for most birthdays meant for the elderly folks in the Chinese society.

(The buns are shaped in the peach, and is associated to the Heavenly Mother; Jade Emperor's mother in Heaven's magical longevity buns. The name of these buns in Chinese is "Sau Pau" which means longevity buns)

You can get these buns at most stalls selling kueh and steamed buns like these, and you can find them in paste fillings of either peanuts or sweet lotus paste.
It's been a while since I've tried the sweet lotus paste, which is actually my preference and I was delighted to find that this version was exactly that.
My only complaint was that it was not steaming hot as it should be, and I guess it was just microwaved and due to a wedding happening at the same time outside (we're in a private section), ours was left to serve when it was cold.

Four Seasons Combination

From left: Marinated roasted minced meat slice atop pork fats, seafood balls in sweet and sour sauce, fried fish cakes, and kung pow shrimps with chicken.

Notice that little pink dragon on the right side of the dish?
It was actually made of sugar and I liked how it was intricately carved.

Even the children were fascinated by it and it was hard preserving the original stature of the dragon with the kids constantly touching it, LOL!

Back to the food, the next dish was the roasted suckling pig

I found it funny that this was served during a birthday dinner as I remembered my grandma telling me that Hokkien folks are not particularly fond of this in happy events as they usually serve this in mourning events.
Anyway, I guess one tradition for one clan may not serve for the other, right?
Furthermore, I do remember the Cantonese use this in weddings for their daughters =)

Braised broccoli with mushroom and beancurd sheets


Butter tiger prawns


Steamed red snapper fish

I was really disappointed that even the fish was served cold, ughs!

Birthday noodles

It was really funny how everyone called it Birthday wanton noodles.
Everyone was bewildered how the noodles were served so long and almost wanted the waiter to cut it off.
I had to stop them and explain that these noodles were meant to be served long.

I remember my grandmother and mum used to tell me that this is supposed to be the Birthday and Longevity noodles (in Chinese, you call it the Sau Min - Longevity noodles).
When this is associated to longevity and age, it is inevitable that the Chinese wish for length; the longer the better.
Therefore, to preserve the auspicious significance, it is best to ensure that this should be kept long and not to be cut before serving!
This will ensure that the birthday celebrant has long life and happiness =)

Before dessert was served, the hosts decided to have the birthday cake session and this was nice cake with longevity illustrations




Finally, the last in the course set; the dessert.
Honeydew sago

This was the right one to be served cold; and it was cold and refreshing.


The best part?
There was no coconut milk and I enjoyed the thick sago with the fragrant scent of freshly cut honeydew (although I could barely bite on any honeydew)

Overall the food was quite good but I was disappointed that they were all served rather cold.
I guess I can't complain much since they have another wedding dinner out there and they are short of serving staff.

In fact, the price for the course dinner was only about RM350 per table of 10 pax and I think we were given discount.

Oh, I heard that they even provide 10% discount for walk-in customers, I am not sure how true that is?

Second Attempt @ Shang Place - Lunch on Saturday

Okay, to prove my previous point that I was probably just having a rather upset tummy the night of my first visit to Shang Place, I went back the second round (sans colleagues and boss) to try their set lunch on a Saturday afternoon.

Their set lunches are available in different sets catered according to the number of people in your group.
Prices start from RM28++ for 2-3 pax and can go to RM68++ for 5-6 pax (I think)

For the 2-3 pax, there are four dishes for you in the set lunch and the following are the ones in our set

Fried Fish Fritters

This is something like the fried cruellers (Yau Char Koay) except that it was stuffed with fish paste and it tasted really nice although I find it too oily for my liking.


Stir-fried Vegetables/Yau Mak


Signature deep fried homemade beancurd


This was actually seafood beancurd, and I have to give it to them for making it taste really good (despite it being oily again)

Claypot fish fillets in tom yam soup


As you can see, there were four dishes in the set lunch and for two people; inclusive of white rice, that's really a lot!
The food was not too bad, but unfortunately, as if to prove my point, I ended up with another bout of food poisoning! =(

I don't know whether it's my luck or not, but I guess one time is coincidence, twice? I don't think so...I don't think I have the permit from my sensitive stomach to enjoy their offers =(

Thanks for all the concern from you fellow bloggers =)

Another place for Chu Char in Penang: Shang Place?

**Beware of low-light and unclear photos ahead**

One of the places I always passed but never tried was this inviting Chinese restaurant located along the shoplots in Krystal Point.
You know, whenever you're stuck in the queue for the traffic jam at the famous Bayan Baru roundabout in front of I-Avenue, you are always checking out the different shoplots available on your left.

Anyway, on one such occasion where my colleagues were in the state for a meeting, we proceeded to dinner after a day-long meeting in the office and this was the place picked; Shang Place.

I won't go into the details of how it looked like as it pretty much is just nothing different from any decent and air-conditioned Chinese restaurant you walk into everywhere.

Well, we made our orders while waiting for some of the drunk colleagues to join us for dinner.

Steamed garoupa slices

It was actually a whole fish; but we requested for them to have it properly sliced so that it is easier for everyone to take a piece (at the same time, we don't have to endure everyone trying to pick through the flesh and I don't want to go into how gory that sounds)


This is their recommended dish: Spare ribs in lotus leaf


Another recommendation: Boiled soup of the day

It was some double boiled winter melon with meat

Stir-fried Hong Kong kale with garlic


Claypot Curry Prawns


Stir-fried Broccoli (another plate of greens)


My boss loves roast pork which we ordered with leeks


The Specialty beancurd



Overall, there seems to be too many dishes ordered for a group of 12 people; 4 ladies and 8-10 guys (most of the guys were drunk anyway)

The food was not too bad, although I suffered from minor food poisoning that same night after dinner (but it was probably due to my own sensitive stomach?)

The best part was; the price was reasonably priced as it costs only about RM290++ (close to RM300) for all the above dishes; inclusive of white rice and also fruit juices.

Now, that's really a great deal, although I can't say the same for myself, or my tummy=P

Penang Seafood: How You Seafood, Teluk Kumbar

On the days when I am suffering from food poisoning and gastritis, I am reminded of the wonderful and simple seafood meals in this favorite seafood haunt which I am sure to go whenever my family is in Penang or whenever my friends call for a gathering.

Seafood meals always start best with the golden fried sotong (squids) - RM8


I am reminded of my childhood seafood visits to Pandamaran (Klang) with my family whenever I see this dish.
The squids here are just so big and round, and fried to perfection, with that crispy crack when you bite into it.

The sambal and chili sauce here is one of best too, and they just go well with your seafood



Another of the guys' favorite dish would be something with shells; and this is it
Fried bamboo clams (RM10)


Stir-fried brussel sprouts (RM8)



Whenever we go for seafood, I'd prefer to go with noodles which makes it all rather relaxing compared to the conventional staple white rice
Sar Hor Fun (RM8)


Hokkien Char (RM8)


That's one simple seafood meal, and who says we must have big fish, prawns and crabs to call it a seafood dinner? ;)

Homemade dishes @ Siang Pin, Tanjung Bungah

It is always hard to find a good "Chu Char" restaurant which fulfills our own personal criteria/requirements.
It must be good, and prices must be reasonable.
There should also be ample parking spaces and location, does not really matter.
Oh, recently, healthy food is also added to the list; preservative-free, organic, MSG-free, whatever, anything that sounds free sounds good.

One of my favorite haunts when I crave for homemade dishes that is close to Mum's at home would be this particular Chinese shop in Tanjung Bungah; along the shops near the Tg Bungah market, or more precisely, the bus station.

Siang Pin restaurant is run by a family, and they offer a wide range of dishes for you to choose from.
They are open for breakfast; offering good ol' toasts with kaya, butter and coffee and they also have set lunches.

I am always there for dinner; and the following are the few dishes we enjoy, with my family and relatives sometimes =)


Recommended dishes include:
Signature famous Fish Head curry (ranging between RM22-RM35) with a choice of pomfret, garoupa/grouper, and snapper fish in it.

It had a heavy scent and delightful amount of curry mixture which was just aromatic and appetizing when it goes with the white rice.
You can't seem to get enough of it, and even if you are someone like me, who can't really take spicy food or is intolerant of coconut milk in curries, you are bound to love it (they don't have coconut milk in it anyway)

It is one of the favorites here and you can see them on practically every table especially on weekends.

Kung Pow mantis prawns (RM8)

If you had followed my blog closely enough, you would have realized that I am a big fan of this dish as I seem to be ordering it everywhere I go; be it North, south, east, west!
Here, their version was good, with juicy and generous sizes of mantis prawns cooked with such delicacy that it was just almost finger-licking good!
(That much of publicity should earn me the privilege card of patronage here, don't you think?)


Recommended by the boss who took our orders all the time, this was their tiger prawns served with their specialty Patong sauce (RM20)

The prawns were huge; not to mention that they were fresh, succulent and juicy.
The abovementioned Patong sauce was a rather unique mix of sweet, sour and spicy and was appetizing. There were curry leaves thrown in the gravy to give it that aromatic and fragrant spicy scent which draws you to put them in your mouth.


For fish, you can also try their Sweet and sour fish fillet (RM10)

I can't tell you how great it tastes; as I have always been a big fan of fish fillets or fish in general, so it may be biased, but that per se, I have no complaints about this =)

Or for a more value worth option, you can also try their braised fish fillets which comes with an abundance and mix of vegetables and also beancurd in a good ol' piping hot claypot at only RM12

This was one of my favorite dish of all times!

For beancurd dishes, if you are big fan of soy protein, there are also lots of varieties available.
For instance, you can go for the conventional Claypot Tofu with everything in it (RM5-8)


Or you can try this simple and plain but healthy recommendation; steamed smooth beancurd with eggs (RM12)

It came with an abundance of freshwater prawns and also some crab meat floss along with snowpeas and mixed vegetables.
A good choice when you have kids who just want gravy and healthy food to go with their rice (healthy does not means you have to compromise the taste here;)

Finally, when it comes to greens, you can opt for this healthy option of Stir-fried spinach the good old style; with garlic (RM8)


Or when all runs out, there is also the Mixed vegetables dish where you just throw everything in and you get all that everyone wanted (RM8)


Looking at all the pics and the food just makes me crave for home-cooked dishes more, furthermore after suffering from food poisoning and gastritis for a whole of last week and was told by my doctor to take home-cooked food.

*Whines* I want Mummy's homemade dishes*

Theirs is the closest to home-cooked food and minimal in MSG, or so I feel after my few rounds here, and judging from the customer base every weekend, I dare say the responses speak for themselves.
To avoid disappointment, do be there early! =)