FOOD: Sun Seng Fatt "Wat Tan Hor" ...a.k.a. Slippery Egg Hor Fun

Phew...it's been a long break. Too lazy to write. Can't find the urge to write, though have a lot to write. Somehow, the rain gives me the urge to write something tonight.

This time, i'm bringing you out of Penang. Where to ? This time I'm gonna show you something really really special, and this only happens in Ipoh...

Kafe Sun Seng Fatt

Yeah, crappy old shop. In Ipoh Town. Wonder what's so special ? Before i venture to the food part, let me tell you what's so special of this shop. And its something that you need to have before you go.

One word.

Patience.

Yes. Patience.

You really need to have big patience attitude and excellent anger management. Plus with high EQ. Or you are gonna start cursing and giving "The Look" at the cook. Well, this SSF does cook up great food, but he takes like forever to cook up a dish.

cook of the year

The cook is early fourties man, with his father presumably next to him, frying the noodles and walking around. You might gonna start asking... have to wait how long ?

Well, the shop starts cooking around 9pm, so, if you reach around 8++ and wait, you might get your dish at 9pm. But if you reach like 930 or 10pm, be prepared to watch 2 episodes of House or Desperate Housewives, which is what we did. Don't even think of coming in at 11pm , thought the later it gets, the lesser the customer are. Wrong. It's the same.

Ok, i might be exaggerating a little bit. But that was what we experienced every time we have supper there. It might not be on other nights. But you can be sure that your turn is just around the corner when they pass you the bowls and chopsticks. Don't get it wrong, what i mean by just around the corner is 5-10minutes more... :P

Father and son

Most anticipated bowl and chopstick

Well, enough crap. Let's move on to food !!

They serve very limited dishes, but they are absolutely popular with their 2 dishes. First up, the "slippery egg Hor Fun", or we call it the "Wat Tan Hor".

Wat tan hor

"Wat Tan Hor" is basically a thick soupy 'hor fun' cooked with egg and some vegetable. It's very tasty as its not too watery, yet not too starchy like eating glue.

Two thumbs up...Yummy

Added with some prawns to give some chewing feel to it. What's special of their "wat tan hor" is that the taste was somewhat quite perfect and tasty. The soup base was similar to shark fin soup, and that's what we call it as the "shark fin Wat Tan Hor".

Prawn !!

Their 2nd best dish would be the fried noodles and beehoons. Also take ages to fry, but does worth the wait. Can't explain much here. It's just fried noodles. But , taste better than the Ong Cheng Huat's fried noodles. It's really that good.

Delicious fried noodle

Well, it does need some waiting, but its well worth the wait. If you are around Ipoh, and want to crave some soupy noodles for late dinner or supper, do head down there.

My last advice. Watch out for your drinks. No, its not the flies. While you wait, you sip a little and a little and then you are halfway down the road and you realise that you are out of water. So be prudent in your drinks before anything arrives on your table.



Sun Seng Fatt Restaurant is located at
Address: Opposite Wisma Peak Hua, Leong Sin Nam Street, Ipoh Perak
Business Hours: 9pm to late night
Directions: From Jalan Hospital, go straight until Bulatan Sultan Iskandar. After that, take the 1st exit onto Jalan Raja Musa Aziz. Head straight until you saw Jalan Leong Sin Nam on your left. Turn left into this street. Then, go straight and you can see Kedai Makanan Sun Seng Fatt on your right.

Price: 8/10
Ambience: 2/10
Service: 3/10 (service is good, but takes too long to serve)
Food: 10/10
Cleanliness: 5/10
Entertainment: 2/10

Visit http://picasaweb.google.com/thexnix/SunSengFatt# for more photos

Bukit Genting Hill

Fancy seeing a sunset while enjoying some thai food ?















Look at the silhouette at the back of those clouds, dreamy..

Or maybe a bright sunlight view ?















Sun coming down

Lo behold, Bukit Genting Hill is the place for you. Situated on top of a hill at Teluk Kumbar, you get to see the picturesque view of the paddy fields , and the south side of Penang, while enjoying hot and spicy Tomyam !















Paddy field

As our friends from KL came to visit us last weekend, we immediately bring them here. It was raining cats and dogs for the whole week, but somehow, that night was surprisingly crystal clear. I even feared we won't get the chance to see the lovely sunset.















Nice flora in Bukit Genting

Bukit Genting serves popular Thai dishes that bear similarity to our neighbour up north. Apparently, they have another outlet down hill at Sg.Ara called Cherry Blossom. You can patron there if you just wanted to have some Thai dishes without having to climb up a hill. I even found they gave bigger portion at Sg.Ara. :p















Here, the chicken bigger than the van, don't play play















Yeah, its pork free. If you find pork, they wont charge you for that.















Bottomless rice

First up, we have some stuffed crab for starters. Stuffed with chicken meat, this exotic stuffed crab tasted great. Not spicy though, unless you dip into their chili sauce. But, it gives a nice aroma of a fusion of chicken meat and crab. A must try !















Stuffed crab, 7/10

Next comes the main dishes. First up, Tomyam !!
They serve 2 types of tomyam, the red and the white type. To taste the difference between both types, we ordered both of them. The red tomyam has that spicy and sour taste to it, and its delicious too. Not spicy enough though to make us rush for water. Speaking of spicy, I'm still twinging from the spicy steamboat at Lameizi.















Red hot tomyam, 7/10

The white tomyam on the other hand wasn't as spicy as the red tomyam, but nevertheless, it does taste good. It has that subtle taste to it, it wasn't spicy at all, and you can choose either with only prawns , or with seafood. Don't bother with prawn, get the seafood better. Same price, more variety inside the soup. I even felt this white tomyam is much better than the red tomyam.















White smooth tomyam, 8/10

Next up, we have this sour-tasting dish. Finely cut mango and mixture of sour and spicy sauce, this kerabu mango is a good compliment to any meal. Take a spoonful if you think you are already almost full tank, and you suddenly felt your stomach has room for 2 more bowls of rice !















Kerabu mango, the miracle to fullness, 7/10

Aside from tomyam, they do serve different types of chicken, such as pandan chicken, pudpet chicken ( spicy ). We thus ordered the green curry chicken. Well, i'm not a big fan of basil soup, thus the chicken was okay to me only. I prefer the pudpet chicken to this though.















Green curry chicken, Incredible hulk's favourite, 7/10

What we like most of these Thai restaurants are their fried kangkung. They are really brilliant in this. Of all i've eaten, Bukit Genting Hill serves the best fried kangkung, better than Lemon Grass or even Kun Thai. Fried together with kangkung, fried dried shrimps and onions. Never leave without it.















Fried kangkung, 10/10

Last but not least, we ordered one of their fish menu. Its siakap fish cooked in spicy sauce and topped with pineapple cubes. I wouldn't recommend ordering seafood especially fish in Thai restaurant, as they are sure to slaughter you. However, the fish was quite good and spicy. They even have a fish dish on top an antique heater.















Pineapple spicy fish, 7/10

By the time we finish our meal, the sun has completed its sunset mode. You might not get cool view from Hong Kong's Victoria Hill, but it still gives that peaceful and cool feel to it.















Peaceful and cool

Apart from food, the owner manage to renovate the place, complete with mock up of elephants , chicken and even a big porch overlooking the whole paddy field..unobstructed.















Big porch, can cater a group of more than 10 persons
















Nice decoration

It's packed during the weekend, but they do have ample seats around to cater for big crowds. But, if you are looking for some sunset shot, get yourself up there before 6pm, and you are guaranteed a nice table with nice sunset view, while enjoying these lovely Thai dishes.

























Bukit Genting Hill Restaurant is located at
Address: Jalan Teluk Kumbar, Balik Pulau
Business Hours: 1130am to 1030pm
Directions: From Penang Bridge, go towards airport. Once you reach the split between airport and Teluk Kumbar, take the flyover. Go all the way till you pass a mosque and some shophouse.
Take another 15mins drive till you reach a stretch with a wooden bridge. Once you pass the bridge, pay attention to your left for any junction with big signboard "BUKIT GENTING".
Contact: 04-6299801, 04-6299805

Price: 7/10
Ambience: 8/10
Service: 7/10
Food: 8/10
Cleanliness: 5/10
Entertainment: 7/10

Visit http://picasaweb.google.com/thexnix/BukitGentingHill# for more photos

Ong Cheng Huat a.k.a. Spring Chicken

Penang although perceived as a small island, but in fact, the whole Penang consist of Penang island and Mainland. While Penang has quite a number of popular food, Mainland do have a fair share of great local food around. One of them is what they dubbed as "keh kia" a.k.a small chicken. Small chicken here is what we called as Spring Chicken. The most popular thus, is no other than Ong Cheng Huat Seafood Restaurant.















Ong Cheng Huat Seafood Restaurant

Ong Cheng Huat is located at Bagan Lalang, about a 20 minutes drive from Penang Bridge. Its not that hard to find, but the restaurant is located so deep inside, that you might still wonder where is it even after turning into the junction.















Keh Kia, 9/10

This is what we came for, and its none other than the Spring Chicken! Crisply fried, the chicken tasted delicious with spices locked into it. Definitely one of the best fried chicken i ever ate.

Besides Spring Chicken, OCH does offer alot other great food, such as this fried prawn crackers.
Crunchy and tasty, this prawn crackers are great as a starter.















Fried Prawn Crackers , 8/10

OCH does not serve rice, but they do have fried noodles and fried beehoons. The fried noodle tasted better than the beehoon, a little bit similar to mamak mee.















Fried Noodle, 7/10















Fried Beehoon, 5/10

Mainland is also popular with steamed baby octopus, especially the one in front a shop selling Indian movies around Raja Uda. OCH does serve baby octopus too.















Baby Octopus, 5/10

However, it wasnt as good as the one at the Indian movie store near Raja Uda. It tasted so so, and its not quite crunchy enough.















Steamed fish, 6/10

Fish was quite fresh, but however, it seems overcooked. But, its well compensated with a tasty soup base.















Lala, 8/10

The lala was however, tasted great with a good soup base. As its served steamed, the lala need to be as fresh as possible, and it doesn't disappoint here.

Last but not least, fried tauhu. Its a mixture of meat and seafood, and tasted great, with or without chili.















Fried tauhu, 7/10

All in all, great spring chicken, so so seafood.

Ong Cheng Huat Restaurant is located at
Address: 2004, Bagan Lallang,
13400 Butterworth
Business Hours: 11.00 am till 5.30 pm, Closed on Mondays
Directions: From Penang Bridge, go straight till you passed Tesco Extra on your left. From here, lookout for Sg. Dua signboard. Turn left once you see the sign to Sg.Dua underneath a flyover.
Go all the way, till you see Bagan Lalang. Once you turn into Bagan Lalang, be prepared to turn right into a junction with the sign Ong Cheng Huat Seafood.
Contact: 04-331 4782, 012-453 5188

Price: 7/10
Ambience: 4/10
Service: 7/10
Food: 7/10
Cleanliness: 7/10
Entertainment: 4/10

Visit http://picasaweb.google.com/thexnix/OngChengHuatAKASpringChicken# for more photos

Hot Bowl White Curry Mee and Chicken

White steamed chicken. or "white chop chicken".
You might be surprised why do we blog on something so normal, that you can easily find in your neighbourhood. There are also popular chicken rice such as the Melaka's rice ball chicken, Serdang's white chicken or even Ipoh "Lou Wong" Beansprout chicken. But this is a real gem hidden in Georgetown.
















Hot Bowl

The shop is called Hot Bowl and its situated in Jalan Abu Siti Lane. You might never heard if this lane, but its smack right in between Jalan Anson and Lorong Selamat. If you also don't know either roads, then try the Penang map or google it. The chicken is hot, but its not in a bowl. Don't get it wrong. Apparently, this shop was even on Ho Chak!.
















Owner of the shop, he's too shy to look at the camera

And even newspaper...






















Newspaper cutting

"Talk more is useless". In fact, we will first intro you the "part-time actor" before going into the main actor.















White Curry Mee

Now this is what they mean by Hot Bowl. A hot bowl of curry mee, and its white in color! Served with some tangy sotongs, juicy beancurds, beansprout, cockles and cubes of pig blood. Well, if you don't like the grey blood cubes, just tell the owner not to put it in. Once served to the table, you can then add sambal to it.
















Become red color after added sambal

Now, the real deal is here. 'White chicken' , topped with corianders and spring onions, served in sesame oil and soy sauce. The chicken is so smooth and the mixture of sauces make it so tasty and delicious. We never knew there were such delicious chicken until we were introduced by our colleagues.
















Yummy white chicken, 10/10

Aside from the chicken and curry mee, they serve beansprout which is a good pairing with the white chicken. They also serve pork trotter in vinegar, salty and spicy vegetable, and also fish head curry ( call to order) .
















Crunchy Beansprout, 7/10
















Vinegar pork trotter, 8/10
















Fish head curry

They even serve lobaks, which i find it normal but can be a good starter while waiting for the delicious chicken and hot white curry mee.















Lobak , 7/10

This shop can be very packed during weekend and weekdays, thus be prepared to wait for a seat. Parking can be a hassle, as the road is only one way. As the shop is almost at the end of the road, start to look for parking once you passed half way of the road.
















Pricing wise, its very affordable. I find their White Coffee quite good too. Thus, do get yourself to Hot Bowl and try their delicous chicken and curry mee!

















Hot Bowl Restaurant is located at
Address: 16-A, Lorong Abu Siti, 10400 Penang.
Business Hours: 8am to 3pm, closed on Monday
Directions: From Komtar, go straight to Mccalister Road. Go straight till you see a yellow Red Rock hotel on your right. Turn right into Abu Siti lane and go all the way to the end.
Contact: 04-2273168

Price: 8/10
Ambience: 7/10
Service: 8/10
Food: 9/10
Cleanliness: 8/10
Entertainment: 4/10

Visit http://picasaweb.google.com/thexnix/HotBowlRestaurant# for more photos