REVIEW – NEWW BT FOOD COURT @ BURMAH ROAD

For those who frequent the Georgetown area for food, you would have noticed that there’s a chain of food court by the name of Neww BT Food Court popping up at many places on Penang island as well as some places at the mainland. These food courts are big and have many choices of food available. I have been testing out majority of the food at both the Weld Quay outlet as well as the Burmah Road outlet but to date have barely found one stall that really gave me that oomph for repeat visits.

For the past few weeks, I have been sitting down at the Burmah Road outlet to identify which are those stalls that had the most orders and tried them out. To my conclusion, most of those ordered dishes were barely up to the standard. Maybe I could be wrong as taste bud is something that differs from individuals but from the leftovers on the plates and bowls that I had noticed, I might not be the only one that had the taste problem. Let me share with you my experiences at the food court.

Some people might consider presentation skill of a dish important. As for me, I would rather have tastier food rather than the presentation. Better still, I would prefer if the restaurant or hawker can provide both. I tried out two of the Western dishes on one occasion.

The presentation on the Black Pepper Chicken Chop (RM7.50) plate was impressive. It had some turmeric colored oil and dark soy sauce as presentation. Even the main meal itself was beautifully presented as you would get from a fine dining restaurant or a 5-star hotel. The most noticeable problem on this dish is the choice of batter and the chicken meat. The crust was too thick and hard and the meat was too soft. There wasn’t any taste or springy texture of a chicken meat bite. Worst still, the black pepper gravy was so diluted and does not have any pepper taste or saltiness in it. This is totally disastrous!

The Grilled Chicken (RM7.50) had the same problem as the dish above. The taste is totally bland and burnt. You can see how burnt the piece of meat is. The bottom section was even worst with almost 50% was burnt. The recommended gravy was also bad. No sweetness, saltiness or even sourness in it. Moreover, it’s also rather diluted. This was the worst Western dish I had taken in ages.

Luckily the Pasembur (mixed fritters with boiled potatoes, egg with shredded cucumber and jicama/yambean/sengkuang – RM5) saved the day. At least all the ingredient that I had chosen plus the gravy was quite acceptable although not the best around.

The two piece of Poh Piah (thin Asian wheat flour crepe with shredded jicama filling) ordered was a disappointment. I expected something better for the RM3 paid. It ended up soggy, tasteless with hardly any filling. There was not even a single piece of crabmeat in it. Each roll has only barely noticeable mashed bean curd and some minced meat. I felt so cheated!

The next dish was a joke. Baked Cheese Seafood Macaroni was priced at RM9. I expected to see at least some reasonable amount of seafood presented but all I got was barely one button mushroom, less than half a artificial crabstick, 3 pieces of broccoli, four medium sized prawns, a large amount of macaroni pasta with some crushed oregano sprinkled on top. There was hardly any cheese taste and the sauce was sour and diluted. I did not even finish this dish as it was too tasteless for me.

I saw quite a number of people ordering the Ampang Yong Tau Foo (mixed fish balls, meat balls, tofu related by products and vegetables of your choice - RM5) served with Yam Rice (RM1). When the dish was served, it was always my style to try out the soup first. First taste was quite fine but rather too mild considering that all the richness from the ingredients and the seaweed that I had chosen would have left some sweetness in the soup. The ingredients were like, “Gosh! How long have they boiled them? There wasn’t any taste in every single one!”

The Yam Rice looked great with all the loose grains with some pieces of yam but the dish was extremely cold. Now you get what I meant about great presentation? The rice was totally inedible. Not only was the rice tasteless, it didn’t even have the fragrance from the soy sauce or dried shrimps in it. I had to force myself to finish it.

There are many other stalls selling Pei Pa Duck Rice, Braised Duck Herb Noodles, Curry Chicken Rice, Fried Belacan Chicken, Satay, Wan Than Mee, Hokkien Mee, Portugese BBQ, Char Hor Fun, Koay Teow Th’ng, etc that I had not tried to comment more. One thing I had noticed, these few stalls were not getting orders as they should. I guessed the consumers would know better right?

If you are coming from Jalan Penang into Jalan Burma, drive on until you reach the second traffic lights at Jalan Burmah and Jalan Anson/Jalan Larut junction. BMW Showroom is on your left and Giant Supermarket if on your right. Drive straight amd keep to your right. You can see the food court on your right. Drive into Jalan Arratoon and find a parking space within the ample car park provided by the management.

Name: NEWW BT FOOD COURT @ BURMAH ROAD
Address: Jalan Burma, 10050 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 9.00am – 2.00am
GPS: 5.422672, 100.323300

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 5.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 6/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

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REVIEW – ROSLI NASI AYAM @ LORONG KULIT

The Malay version of chicken rice is totally different compared to the Hainanese Chicken Rice. Instead of roasting with some sauce on the outer layer of the chicken, they would coat the chicken pieces with a thin layer of batter and deep fried them until they become crispy. One of the nicer ones which I had recently was from a stall within the surrounding of the Penang City Stadium along Lorong Kulit. The stall has been there since 1995, serving their yummy chicken rice to all walks of people. The name of the stall is Rosli Nasi Ayam.

You have a choice of ordering the different parts of the chicken meat but as for me I would always like to have the chicken thigh. The Chicken Rice set will come with a large bowl of rice and a bowl of soup and it only cost me RM3.50. Surprisingly, the meat within the crispiness of the batter still maintained its tenderness and was very delicious.

As for photography purposes, I requested for the specially prepared soy sauce and chili sauce to be separated. The rice which is fragrant and not dry at all also came with a bowl of chicken soup garnished with some sliced lettuce and fried onions.

If you are driving from Georgetown towards Air Itam along Jalan Dato Kramat, you will reach a traffic light (The Patani Road Police Headquarter is on your left). Drive on until you have reached the second traffic light (Padang Brown is on your right). Drive on until you see another traffic light (Maybank is on your left). Turn left into Lorong Kulit and you will see the stall at the junction of Lorong Kulit and Persiaran Stadium. This place is where the City Stadium is and has a flea market from as early as 8.00am until 1.00pm.

Name: ROSLI NASI AYAM @ LORONG KULIT
Address: Lorong Kulit, 10460 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 8.00am – 3.00pm
Contact: 016-433 2517 (Kak Min)
GPS: 5.412817, 100.313233

RATING:
Ambience: 5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 5/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

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REVIEW – YONG PIN RESTAURANT

You may not know but there are about 13 dim sum shops in Georgetown area alone. Some are newly established with great ambience and choices, whereas there are still a few older but well established ones that regulars would still frequent. One such shop ios the Yong Pin Restaurant located along Jalan Sungai Ujung, Penang. Instead of covering on the not-so-many varieties but delicious dim sum they have, let me share with you their yummy noodles.

One such noodles that I have not seen from other dim sum shop is their Fried Duck Yee Foo Noodles (RM5.50). The yee foo noodles dish was great with all the gravy from the stewed duck seeped right inside the noodles, making the whole combination very tasty. The restaurant only serves this wonderful dish on Friday and Saturday.

Another noodle dish that’s worth mentioning is the Hong Tu Wo Mian (RM5). It came with some yee foo noodles cooked in some thick soup, somewhat like the sharksfin soup. It had some pork, prawns and beaten eggs in it. You can add in some black vinegar if you want it to be more sourly. The dish tasted great too.

The next dish we ordered was the Sheng Mian (RM5). The crispy noodles was actually fried wan than noodles which were topped with some gravy, prawns, fish slices, pork slices and vegetables. This is another dish worth eating.

Most of you might not be aware of Sunday Metro’s SMS Pick of the Best Dim Sum in Malaysia as published on 6 July 2008. Yong Pin Restaurant was voted as one of the top choices in Penang, as highlighted.

This restaurant sure did provide some great authentic dim sum such as the Black Vinegar Pork Legs, Broiled Fried Chicken Legs, Fried Paper Wrapped Chicken and so on. Although the varieties are not as many as those bigger dim sum shops, there are quite a few of their steam as well as fried dim sum that’s worth trying out.

Of all the dim sum that I had in this shop, I would never miss out their Prawn Rolls and Fried Water Chestnut Cake. The Fried Water Chestnut Cake is soft and fragrant with lots of finely sliced water chestnuts inside while the outer layer has a bit of crispiness. I would have two to three plates on each visit as I find them to be not overly sweet. Do try them out if you ever visit this place.

If you are coming from Jalan Penang into Jalan Dr. Lim Chwee Leong (road leading to KOMTAR/Prangin Mall), keep to your left and turn into the second road on your left which is Jalan Sungai Ujung. Find a parking space as the shop is just on your right along a row of shop houses.

Name: YONG PIN RESTAURANT
Address: 11-B&C, Jalan Sungai Ujung, 10100 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours:
6.00am – 12.00pm, 7.00pm – 12.00am (Closed Monday)
Contact: 604-261 1355
GPS: 5.415989, 100.332175

RATING:
Ambience: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

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REVIEW – RESTORAN AZIZAH (RESTORAN MAK LONG)

If you are in Georgetown area, you could always try out the kampung style cooking at Restoran Azizah, a subsidiary restaurant of the famous Restoran Mak Long in Bayan Lepas. This little Malay restaurant serves quite a variety of Malay dishes with rice at a very reasonable price. Some of the vegetable dishes would be as low as RM3.00, whereas fish would be charged according to market price. If you do not want to have rice with dishes, you could always order their fried rice and noodles which won’t cost you more than RM4, unless you order their special which would be RM1 additional.

Here are some of the dishes I had tried out in this restaurant. The Tom Yam Udang or Prawn Tom Yam (RM4) has 6 medium sized prawns, some fresh mushrooms and tomatoes. The dish was quite tasty and appetizing to start the meal.

Next was the Sotong Goreng or Squid Fritters (RM4). The flour used was of a different kind. They were using plain flour which did not give the crunchiness I had expected. That was quite a disappointment.

Sayur Campur or Mixed Vegetables (RM3.50) was next. Nothing to fuss or boast about as they did give quite a lot of squid slices there.

I also tried out their Telur Bungkus or Wrapped Omelette with Minced Chicken (RM4). There were quite a lot of minced chicken, chopped onions and mixed vegetables cooked with a touch of tomato puree wrapped inside the omelette. This dish is normal but at least the filling and the omelette blended in quite nicely.

As I saw many customers ordered their set fried rice, I decided to try out their Nasi Goreng Padprik Ayam or Padprik Chicken Fried Rice (RM4). I was impressed by the generous amount of chicken meat and vegetables given, considering the amount I had paid. As for the taste, it was a new experience as the gravy from the dishes blended in very nicely with the fried tomato rice.

I was chatting with the person-in-charge of the restaurant on what were the most ordered dishes in the restaurant. He recommended me the above fried rice as well as the Nasi Goreng Special (RM5) which has a few more seafood added in. Maybe I can try that next time.

If you are coming from Jalan Penang into Jalan Burma, keep to your right and turn into the second road on your right which is Jalan Transfer. Drive on until you have reached the third junctions on your left (Jalan Dinding). That’s where the restaurant is located. You can always park your car along Jalan Dinding.

Name: RESTORAN AZIZAH (RESTORAN MAK LONG)
Address: 162, Jalan Transfer, 10050 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 4.00pm – 1.30am
Contact: 604-641 4450 (Restoran Mak Long)
GPS: 5.419714, 100.330077

RATING:
Ambience: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

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REVIEW – BRAISED BEEF BRISKET WAN THAN MEE @ KEDAI KOPI KEAN LAI SENG

Nowadays, Braised Beef Brisket Wan Than Mee, a Cantonese delicacy, is getting to be quite scare in the list of hawker food available in Penang. The younger generation of hawkers today barely wanted to continue with this traditional yet delicious dish as it involved a lot of preparations. Choices of beef, mainly the brisket part (the lower chest area, above the shank, which overlies the sternum, ribs and connecting costal cartilages), were braised in some spices (eg. fermented red beancurd, fermented soy bean, etc.) until the meat became soft and tender. The braised beef is then topped on your chosen noodles with some soup broth.

Braised Beef Brisket Wan Than Mee (RM5) also known as Ngau Lam Mee has a more herbal taste compared to the usual beef noodles. Recently, I brought Steven and Allen to try out this dish in Georgetown area. You can opt for either the thick or thin Wan Than Mee noodles.

If you are not adventurous to try out the Braised Beef Brisket Wan Than Mee, you can always choose to have the plain Wan Than Mee served with Char Siew and Chicken slices or you can even order an additional bowl of Shui Kow Soup (RM3 for 5 pcs). But I can assure you that the soup does not have the overpowering taste of beef, neither is the braised beef brisket.

It is very easy to find this stall as it is strategically located along the roadside of Jalan Kampung Malabar off the main road of Jalan Penang. If you are coming from Upper Penang Road, just keep to your left. You would pass Jalan Chulia (Opposite Odean Theatre which aired Tamil movies). Just turn in the road on your left after that. You can see there is another coffee shop by the name of Kedai Kopi Ho Ping at the junction. The stall is just on your right next to this coffee shop.

Name:
BRAISED BEEF BRISKET WAN THAN MEE
@ KEDAI KOPI KEAN LAI SENG
Address: 55, Lorong Kampung Malabar, 10200 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 11.00am – 8.00pm (Closed Monday)
GPS: 5.419103, 100.332319

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

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