Qing Tian Coffee Shop at Chulia Street is a place where you can find lip-smacking char siew. This coffee shop is located below Sky Hotel which is near to a Fuji Film building.

A 'siew mei' platter which consist of char siew, roasted pork (siu yuk) and chinese sausage (cheung). The char siew taste good in a way that the meat is tender and very fragrant. Although the slices is not as thick as the one I ate at Hong Kong, but still it's good enough for one bite.

The roasted pork aka siew yuk meat is tender and juicy. The skin is very crispy.

A plate of vegetable to balance up the meaty diet.

A bowl of water cress soup to clear the body heat away. :-)

This place is always packed with people during lunch hour. The char siew sold out very fast, thus if you wanted to try this out try to reach the coffee shop at around 12pm.

Map for those who are not familiar:

It's 12am in the midnight and our stomach is crying for food. Since it's weekend, so we decided go out to hunt for supper. Hahaha...

Suddenly thought of this stall which was told by a friend of mine. The stall name is Ali Kopi which is located at the lane beside Sek Men Sri Pelita. Or I can say that it's opposite old celcom building for those who are familiar with Penang.

We ordered tomyam maggi goreng and roti john hong kong.

There's a fried egg on top of the maggi goreng. The egg yolk is just half cooked, just the way I like my fried egg. The maggi goreng tasted not too spicy and not too dry. There's a small chicken drumstick is hidden in the maggi.

The person who took order from us highly recommend the Roti John Hong Kong to us. So, we gave it a try.

There are 2 fried eggs on top of the bread. There's a sausage and a piece of cheese just below the egg. This will be a very full supper for us.

The bread was fried with some minced chicken. It looks burnt to me but taste wise still ok.

Although it's already passed midnight when we left this place, there are still lots of customer having supper there.

I read about this restaurant in Criz's blog and longing to dine there since then. This restaurant is located at Tanjung Bungah just behind Mutiara Selera Food Court.

This is the outside of the restaurant. There are setting of tables and chairs which are meant for dining, but we chose to sit inside as it's in the afternoon where the weather is hot.

The ambient of the inside gives a very comfortable feeling. I believe it's due to the yellow down light and the decor. There are some souvenirs sold by this restaurant.

Souvenirs...

Just a while after we were seated, we were served with these: 2 cups of tea OR 2 bowl of soups? It looks very much like the cup we used for chinese tea. But it's soup inside it. Isn't it too early to serve soup? The soup is cold when our food arrived. Anyway, the soup which is FOC doesn't taste good. Taste too artificially sweet to me.

We ordered Mayonnaise Chicken, Chicken Omelette and Claypot Ginger Beef.

The Mayonnaise chicken doesn't disappoint us as it taste good. Each piece of chicken is coated with mayonnaise and the meat is so tender. There are some chill powder in the mayonnaise sauce. It doesn't make the chicken taste spicy but added fragrant into it.

Next is Chicken Omelette. This dish looks very home style where fried eggs were topped with a gravy of minced chicken with onions. The gravy tasted more to sweet side.

How can I not ordered a claypot dish when I am in the Claypot Restaurant. The Claypot Ginger Beef came in a small claypot. The beef is tender and not chewy. The gravy is just mediocre. Maybe I am expecting some exotic flavour in this dish.

I opt for plain noodle to serve with all those dishes. The plain noodle as the name spelled, is plain and bland which is suitable to pair it with dished. A hint of soy sauce taste in the noodle and it is QQ. It's an alternate choice from rice. I am not a fan of rice anyway.

The address of the restaurant:
48 Jalan Sungai Kelian, Tanjung Bunga, 11200 Penang, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: 12.00noon – 3.00pm, 6.00pm – 10.30pm (Closed on Monday)

It's baking time again!

This nyonya layer kuih is no longer a stranger in our life. In my hometown, we called this kuih '9 layer kuih'.

We found this recipe in my aunt's new cooking book and decided to give it a try after we bake the mango cheese cake.

Let me share with you the result before I share the recipe. This is how my layer kuih look like.
The colour looks a bit dull ya. But too much colouring also not good la. Haha...

Following the recipe, we only manage to produce 7 layers. Taste pretty good and it's not too sweet.

Recipe:

Batter Ingredients:

200g rice flour
100g tapioca flour
10g sago flour
300ml thick coconut milk
1/2 tsp salt

Syrup:

220g caster sugar
400ml water

Colouring:

Few drops of red colouring

Method:

1. To make syrup, cook sugar and water until sugar is well dissolved, set aside.

2. Combine the batter ingredients, add in syrup. Strain it.

3. Divide batter mixture into 2 equal portions, mix one portion with red colouring. Leave the other portion white.

4. Line a greased 8 inches round cake tin with plastic sheet.

5. Pour a layer of white batter (about 150ml each layer) into the cake tin. Steam over high heat for 4-5 minutes. Then pour a layer of red batter and steam for further 5 minutes.

6. Repeat the above procedure until finished up the remaining batter. Steam the final layer at medium heat for another 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from heat, leave to cool, cut and serve.

Nowadays, when we are talking about mee goreng, we would always link to the one at Bangkok Lane.

But today I am going to review another mee goreng and definitely a good one. This mee goreng sotong is sold at the food court next to Fort Cornwallis at Esplanade.

Business start in the evening. The stall name is Hameed "Pata" Special Mee.

See, a very very generous amount of sotong. The noodle colour is not as red as the one at Bangkok Lane, but it's definitely more spicy than that one. The mee goreng is slighty wet but very fragrant.

The sotong taste sweet and spicy at the first few mouthful. Then it tasted spicy all the way until I finished the noodle. *Sweat*

If you are a sotong lover, you should definitely try this out.

I prefer this one than the one at Bangkok Lane. This is just my personal taste.

Do not read this post if you are not a banana lover...

Haha... no offence ya. Anyone can read this post.

I found out this stall at New World Park selling yummy banana pan cake. This stall is located next to the stall selling famous ba chang, chai kueh, tong sui and chee cheung fan.

The stall owner is very generous with the banana and also the grounded peanuts. The banana pancake tasted sweet and fragrant compliment to the banana and also the grounded peanuts. The edge of the pancake is crispy while the center of the pancake tasted soft.

Suitable as light snack in the evening. Another alternate choice for afternoon snack will be a crispy pisang goreng which is located at the roundabout of Jalan Free School.

100 yen... what's the first thing that come across your mind? Must be Japan ya...

There's a new shop in town - 100 yen shop at I-Avenue. It's located at the same row with Watson.

It's a new franchise shop selling Japanese stuffs such as tidbits, drinks and household accessories.

I would like to introduce a dessert sold at this shop which is snow ice. It's something like our ice kacang but the ice is much smoother. This is the container used to store the snow ice which can maintain the ice temperature.

There are 7 flavours available which are Mango, Strawberry, Lychee, Milk, Peanut, Green Tea and Coffee Snow Ice.

I ordered Mango Snow Ice. The mango flavoured ice is topped with mango chunks and mango puree. The ice is so smooth. It taste quick sweet but it's acceptable for a sweet tooth person like me.

See the texture of the ice. So smooth.

It costs RM 4.90 per bowl.

I was invited by Criz to attend this food review session organized by Ms. Saigon at E-gate. It's the first time I join a food review session together with other food bloggers, so it's kinda interesting. I've never visited this restaurant before.

Back to the food review. Miss Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine is located next to Old Town Kopitiam at E-gate. Upon arrival, we were served with pandan taste water.

The Street Food Corner menu is categorized in a few categories and it's distinguish by colours in the menu. There are summer rolls, exotic side, salad, rice noodles and vietnamese sandwiches.

I will pick and review a few of the food served but not all of them due to I did not get to taste some of them.

First they served us with all types of summer rolls available in their menu which are Traditional Northern and Southern Rolls, Farmer's Egg Rolls, Fresh Vegetable Rolls, Southern fish Rolls, Classic Hor Fun Rolls (Chicken / Beef).

Farmer's Egg Rolls - vegetables wrapped in thinly fried egg. It was served with some sauce which tasted sweet and sour to me. Nothing special bout this dish though.

Traditional Northern Rolls - A very thin layer of rice paper were used to wrapped vege and sliced prawn. Taste wise - taste just like salad without any mayo.

Crisp Fried Hanoi Rolls - This one taste good where the mushroom added fragrant into this dish. Some minced meat, mushroom, egg and vegetables are wrapped in rice paper then deep fried. Although it's fried, but it's not too oily. Pardon me for the blurred picture.

Wok-fried Flower Chicken - This is a special dish where Pergularia flowers are used to stir fried with chicken breast. The Pergularia flower taste mild and sweet. But overall this dish tasted more at the salty side to my tastebud.

For beef lovers, there's a Beef version for this dish.

Ms. Saigon served a wide variety of salad from mango salad, papaya salad, Ms. Saigon Salad, glass noodle salad to jellyfish salad. Most of their salad taste more to sourly side which is appetizing.

Sour Green Mango Salad - Except mangoes, grounded peanuts, sesame, onion and prawns are used to garnished the salad. The prawn used is very fresh and not over cooked.

Jellyfish Salad - The jellyfish is very crunchy. Taste is similar to other type of salad.

Traditional Southern Chicken BUN - Laksa noodle served with chicken, mint leaves, bean sprout, lettuce and cucumber strips in clear broth which taste a bit like our laksa taste. It tasted sour but not spicy.

A beef version is available too.

Frog Curry with Garlic Spiced Baguette - The curry is too thick to my liking. According to my bf, the garlic spiced baguette is very garlicky. Suitable for those who love garlic. I am a big NO NO to garlic. But the baguette tasted slightly burnt.

Vietnamese Street Baguette (Chicken / Beef) - According to the owner, the speciality for this sandwich is the spread. There are some tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, ham and sausage in this sandwich. The spread tasted slightly weird to me. I prefer mine with thousand island spread still.

Grilled chicken T-shaped wings - I like this chicken wings. The shape looks more like a mini drumstick to me. It's nicely grilled with a hint of lemongrass fragrant in it. The meat is tender and juicy.

Traditional Vietnamese Chicken PHO - taste like a Malay version of koay teow teng to me. This dish was served with some yau char koay (which taste pretty hard), some lettuce and bean sprout. The presentation of the vegetables is very unique. You were supposed to add in some of the lettuce and bean sprout into the noddles before you eat it.

This is also available in beef version.

The prawns and lettuce used are fresh. As the ingredients use for most dishes are normal, I feel that food prices are slightly over priced.

Overall I feel that the food served were not agreeable with my tastebud. Maybe Vietnamese cuisine is not my cup of tea?

Anyway, thanks to Ms. Saigon for organizing this food review as I get to taste so many Vietnamese food at the same time.

My aunt is good in baking and cooking. She buys lots of cooking books and make reference from there.

One day I came across this new cookbook which teaches on how to bake cheese cakes. Lots and lots of cheese cakes recipe can be found.

I am not a big fan of cheese cake but I like to bake. So my aunt and I decided to bake this mango cheesecake.

She bought some mangoes from market and we are ready to bake a cake.

Before I share the recipe with you, let me show you my result.

Taraa... mango cheesecake by Allie and Aunt:

It's a chilled cheese cake. The cake texture is very smooth. And the biscuit at the bottom layer is very fragrant. Taste not too sweet. Good comments from my colleagues who gets to eat this cake.

Recipe:

BASE:
150g digestive biscuit (crushed)
100g melted butter
50g toasted cashewnuts (chopped)

CREAM CHEESE MIXTURE:
A:
500g cream cheese
60g caster sugar
3 tbsp fresh mango puree
1 tbsp lemon juice
250g mango flesh (diced)

B:
200g non dairy whipping cream (whipped)
1 1/2 tbsp gelatine powder, mixed with 4 tbsp water and double-boiled until dissolved

TOP LAYER:
1 tsp gelatine powder, mix with 100ml water, double-boiled until dissolved
2 tbsp fresh mango puree

METHOD:
1. Base: Combine all the ingredients and press into a 9" round spring form baking tin. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes or until the base is firmed.

2. Cream cheese mixture: Use a K-beater to beat cream cheese, caster sugar, mango puree until smooth. Add in mango flesh and stir well.

3. Mix in whipped fresh cream in 3 or 4 batches. Lastly add in gelatine mixture and stir well. Pour mixture onto the prepared base.

4. Chill in the fridge for 3 hours.

5. Top layer: Mix mango puree with dissolved gelatine. Pour onto the set cheesecake and return to the fridge to chill overnight. Cut into pieces and serve.

Tips to cut cheesecake: Soak your knife in hot water, wipe the knife dry and cut the cheesecake. You'll get a nicely cut cheesecake.

It was my colleague who introduced this place to me. One of our Singapore counterpart came and this is the place we brought him for breakfast. My Singapore colleague had visited this stall a few times during his previous trips.

Aiyo... I'm so paiseh lo... I've stayed in Penang for ~5 years and yet I do not know about this stall. You should really know this stall as they serve the best fried fish fillet bihun I've ever tasted.

The mandarin character spelled that they sell fish stomach bihun. After we confronted the stall owner, this was they old stall name. Last time they used to use fish stomach but as times goes by, they change to fish fillet. As there are lots of bones in fish stomach and many people don't like it.

It's very easy to locate this stall. It's located opposite Red Rock Hotel, in the restaurant where at night the very famous Lye Lye Bah Kut Teh operates.

This is a bowl of bihun soup with mix ingredients. They are an egg, pig liver, fu chuk, minced pork and fish ball. You can opt for koay teow or maggi mee to replace the bihun.

The fish fillet is served separately. One bite into the fish fillet, you'll be mesmerized by the crispiness of the batter of the fish. It's so crispy that you do not want to stop munching on it. The fish meat is tender and without any fishy or muddy smell.


I luv to dip the fish into the soup for a while before I bite on it. It'll add some juicy feeling in the fish and yet the crispiness is maintain. Talking about it already make me drool.

They use siakap fish. All have been deboned.

See the fish fillet. Lots of them. They are cut into thick pieces.

More pictures to make you drool. Hehe...

I like mine with just minced meat and fried fish fillet. It's a MUST visit place if you like fish. :-)