However, I was invited by Criz to visit a new opening of bak kut teh shop which is located at Bukit Mertajam. The exact location of the shop is at Pusat Perniagaan Maju, Bukit Mertajam. If you are heading from Penang Bridge, the abandoned Mayang Mall is on your right. Head straight and you will see Wah Lee Electronic on your left, turn left to the junction and you will see Lorong Maju 2 on your right. Move another 20 metres ahead and you will see Shin Ki Xiang on your left.

Shin Ki Xiang Bak Kut Teh shop is branched out originally from Klang. The owner is also originally from KL and he is a professional in preparing bak kut teh. There are two options of bak kut teh, the soup and the dry version. The taste of the soup base was very normal. However, the dry type is the one that I wanted to emphasize.

There are many varieties of tea available. From Qiu Xiang Cha Wang (秋香茶王) and Xiang Pian (香片), to Ju Bao Cha (菊堡茶) and Tie Guan Yin (铁观音).

The original and usual soup based bak kut teh tasted like the one at Padang Brown or Lau Fu Zhi. It had the taste of herbs and was also thick in flavour. For those that love spare ribs, they were well cooked until the meat was not too lumpy. Accompanied with the soup were fried bean curd, meat balls and pork ribs.

Besides the original soup base bak kut teh, the one that I prefer is the dry type which is quite scarce in Penang. According to the boss of Shin Ki Xiang Bak Kut Teh, the ingredients of dry bak kut teh are marinated for hours and then boiled for than more than 20 minutes. This is to make the  gravy fully absorbed into the meat.

Even the white rice served at Shin Ki Xiang is different. Instead of normal white rice, the steam rice is mixed with fried small onion slices and oil. Very nice in fragrance.

Even the boiled lettuce did not have the normal meat floss or fried lard with oil garnishing. It was just a simple plate of Boiled Lettuce (油菜) with some oyster sauce and fried small onion slices.

Overall, both the soup and dry base bak kut teh here were delicious and up to standard. It is worth a try.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Quick Facts:

Family Friendly
Parking
Pork Free
Alcohol
Credit Card
Smoking
Reservation
Private Room

Operation hours: 8am – 10pm (Closed at 3 – 6pm)
Contact: 013 – 444 4488 (Ah Seng)
Address:Bukit Mertajam Outlet. No. 2, Tingkat 2, Lorong Maju 2, Pusat Perniagaan Maju Kg. Bharu, Bukit Mertajam.

(Stefanie Chuah, Miss Malaysia/World 2009, Runner Up)

However, there is a break away which can fulfill all the requirements above.  Packing up a few dresses which include your swimwears, prepare RM180 for the ticket and heading to Pulau Payar.

There are only 2 places that able to depart to Pulau Payar, one is Langkawi and the other one is Swettenham Pier, near Penang port.

It is indeed quite a long journey to depart from Penang port to Pulau Payar. The duration of travel takes approximately 2 1/2 hours. My advice, prepare some snacks and breakfast for your journey would be a wise choice.

Instead of sleeping during the whole journey, you can always walk to the deck of the boat to have a wonderful view back to Penang. What a beautiful island, from far.

If you are feeling tried after watching scenery, you can always take a short nap during the journey. Remember to beware of your outlook, someone is dripping saliva when sleeping.

The boat will drop you at the Pulau Payar platform upon arriving. The platform is quite big and stable.

At the side of the platform, you are allowed to snorkelling within the safety range to enjoy underwater coral and fish.

Fishes gathering around you once you step into the water. This underwater pictures are contributed by Waco Chan.

We were told by the safety guards that they always see naked ladies swimming at the island nearby, which I am very doubtful of.

There is also an underwater observation on the platform that allows you to enjoy the underwater world if you are not used to snorkelling.

There are many fishes under the sea which I am not sure of the species too.

There was also a mermaid who followed us to Pulau Payar for the modeling photo shooting session. Her name is Stefanie Chua, the winner of Miss Malaysia/World 2009 Runner Up.

Special thanks to Patrick Soon, the owner of Studio Moon Spell for the great arrangement so that I have the chance to brush up my shooting skill.

After first half, lunch was served at 12:30pm. There were 20 over varieties of food available to choose from. Anyway the taste of some of the dishes still have room for improvement.

After the lunch break, the second half session was to Pulau Payar Marine Park, to reach there we were taken a ride on a small motor boat.

The surrounding of the beach was very clean and picturesque.

You can see through the sea bed with its crystal clear sea water.

In fact, you can see dozens of fish swimming by.

The only drawback at this place is they have stopped the shark feeding session. As the life guard claimed there were too many casualties and also accidents happened. This program needs to be terminated. Therefore, not much sharks can be seen around nowadays.

Overall, this is a great place to relax and get away from the bustle city. There are many species of fish around and it was very comfortable to walk under the soft white sand beach. Other than the quality of the food that needs to be improved, the rest is up to standard.

I was told by one of my friends that dining at Suffolk House Restaurant during dinner requires about RM100 ++ per pax, which is a bit out of my budget. Even the set lunch is about RM70++ per pax. However, it is so coincident that I dropped by to this place on a sunny afternoon to check out the location. It was a great finding for me to learn that teatime for 2 persons is for RM64++. At first I thought it is out of my budget again until I checked out the quality of food they served, it is worth the money.

It is not hard to get to this place. If you are following Jalan Scotland from town area, Union High School is on your left. Keep moving for another 4oo meters and you will realise a small sighboard written “Suffolk House 100m”. In front of you will be 2 junctions that turn to Jalan Air Itam and also Jalan Masjid, follow the signboard and use the Air Itam exit and turn left at the next turning. Follow the signboard of Suffolk House all the way and you will eventually reach the destination. By the way, the last part of going to that place is slightly secluded. You have to keep driving although it looks like a private housing estate.

Suffolk House is also known as the first “Great House of Penang” and is said to have been built by Sir Francis Light, the founder of the British Settlement of Penang. However, there are still a lot of arguments that the house is built by other person.

The main selling point of dining at this place is not mainly about food. However, it is the ambience and also the feel of dining at a restored place which maintains its rich historical values.

The surrounding of this place is very peaceful and quite. You can feel the breeze from the trees is like whispering lullaby to your ear.

The main entrance to the restaurant looks grand and supreme. They still maintained the old structure of the mansion. The restoration to this place took more than 3 decades to complete.

Classic chandeliers at the dining area.

A good collection of wine and the bar counter outside the room.

The classy English-style private room.

The open air dining area for high-tea.

Set Tea For Two @ RM64+
Selection of tea:

• Earl Grey
• English Breakfast
• Green Tea
• Mint
• Camomile Fruity
• Darjeeling

Platter provided:

4 x Scones with strewberry jam & cream
2 x Smoked Salmon Sandwich
4 x Cucumber Sandwich
2 x Chicken & mushroom pie
2 x Cheese Cake
2 x Chocolate Cake

I was told by the waiter that the tea bags are imported from UK and there is no way to get it in our usual supermarkets. The English Breakfast tea is the usual and most common type of tea for those who prefer old-style black tea. While fruity camomile is the unique type of tea with fruity taste.

Besides the 2 pots of tea, the cakes and pastries listed above were served in a small platter.

First layer of platter, cheese cake with strawberry on top. It was very soft and fluffy. The cakes may look small, but they were very filling and rich when you finished it. The same goes to the chocolate cake.

The second level of platter contained scones and chicken mushroom pie. The scones were heated up prior to serving. The fre and the pie was also very crunchy with the standard chicken mushroom stuffed inside. The scones also came with fresh cream, strawberry jam and also butter to go with it. The combination was heavenly.

As for the ground layer, there were 2 slices of smoked salmon sandwich and 4 x cucumber salad sandwich. The salmon was very fresh and tasty while the cucumber cooled off our body temperature.

Overall, dining at Suffolk House Restaurant is not mainly for the food, but for the environment and dining experience. It’s not always that you will dine in an elegant and high standard restaurant.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Quick Facts:

Family Friendly
Parking
Pork Free
Alcohol
Credit Card
Smoking
Reservation
Private Room

Operation hours: 12:00noon – 2:00pm (Lunch), 2:30pm – 6:00pm (Tea Time), 7:00pm – 10:30pm (Dinner). (7 days a week)
Contact: 04-228 3930
Address:250, Jalan Air Itam, 10460 Penang.

It is not easy to find such place with all the requirement above. However, this  time I managed to discover this place which is Brown House. The location of Brown House is very easy to be spotted. It is located just opposite 1-stop Midlands Park Complex in Pulau Tikus.

The building is a big mansion with huge parking space.

Ground floor, the common dining area which is fully air-conditioned.

First floor, with private rooms as well as open-space dining area.

Main Courses:

Pork Chop – RM17.90, this is one of my favorites. Although it may have the plain Jane look, but the taste was definitely not plain. The pork chop was marinated with lemon grass and spices. It was than deep-fried and served with fries and salad. The crust was very crunchy while the meat was very soft and juicy. Therefore, never judge a book by its cover.

Kampong Nasi Lemak – RM7.20, other than the “plain look” pork chop, Kampong Nasi Lemak is also one of the tasty dishes. The curry chicken had a very strong curry aroma, while the level of spiciness was not too over whelming. It was a great combination with the coconut milk rice (nasi lemak), anchovies (ikan bilis), half boiled egg, fried peanut and spicy condiment (sambal).

Hanoi Roll (5 pcs) – RM11.90, These are the deep-fried spring rolls stuffed with meat. It went well with the chili sauce provided. It was a nice and delightful starter.

Puff Pastry Chicken Stew – RM12.90, the best part was the hot and crunchy pastry, when dipped into the soup it became semi-crunchy. The taste of the soup was not as thick and rich as the usual chicken mushroom soup. It was a fusion style of soup and definitely a pleasant starter.

PHO Beef – RM10.90. Compared to puff pastry chicken stew, I still prefer the chicken stew. Although this is an authentic Vietnamese food with tasty beef slices.

Braised Pork Ribs with Nuts – RM10.90. The pork ribs were braised until the meat turned soft. It had a nice aroma from the nut which were boiled together with the ribs. Still puff pastry chicken stew is my favourite.

Ee Chee Lou Fun – RM10.90, exclusively Hong Kong style, rice pagoda on shark’s fin soup. The shark’s fin soup was the usual one that we tried had at any Chinese restaurants while the rice was fragrant rice. There is a slight drawback on the shark’s fin as it was slightly overcooked and the texture became too soft without the bouncy “Q” feeling.

Baked Macaroni Cheese – RM12.90. Nicely baked macaroni and minced meat, it mixed really well with the paste. However, if you are a cheese lover you may not enjoy the mild cheese slices used on this dish.

Starters:

Potato Skin – RM11.90, the potato filling was removed and potato skin was used to stuff in minced meat with potato paste and topped with cheese. The drawback is also same as the baked macaroni cheese - the misuse of cheese type.

Arabian Toast – RM3.60, the unique factor was on the toast itself while the kaya and butter was just the usual stuff. The toast was crunchy and with some sweetness on the toast itself.

Potato Wedges with Paprika – RM6.90, The potato wedges were dipped with paprika powder which tasted like curry powder, then topped with mayonnaise. The taste is acceptable as starter.

Hot and Spicy Chicken Wing – RM11.90, this hot and spicy chicken wing has the taste of KFC, very suitable for kids who love crunchy and spicy chicken.

Honey Chicken Wings – RM11.90. For kids that don’t enjoy spicy food, honey chicken wings is another option.

Drinks:

Curacao – RM7.20, one of the very unique drinks. The color of the drink was blue with some lemon slices. The taste was surprisingly good as I thought all the while drinks with such color will have the taste of detergent. But not for this one.

Full Moon – RM7.20, it looked like the moon was on top of the white cloud. This ice blended drink is to wake someone up when he feels sleepy. It was sweet and sour. It is also a preferred drink for ladies who care about their diet.

Other varieties of drinks are also available as below:

• Ice Honey Lemon – RM3.60
• Ice Lemon Tea – RM3.60
• Ice Jasmine Tea – RM3.90
• Ice Traditional Coffee with Milk – RM3.30
• Ice Milk Tea – RM3.30
• Strawberry love – RM7.20

Overall, this is a very new and uncrowded place. For those who always travel outside and need a place for shelter or internet access, this is the place for you. Certain food are very good and the price range with such ambience is acceptable.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Quick Facts:

Family Friendly
Parking
Pork Free
Alcohol
Credit Card
Smoking
Reservation
Private Room

Operation hours: 12:00noon – 11am- 1am (7 days a week)
Contact: 016-494 4972 (Cynthia)
Address:2, Brown Road, Pulau Tikus, 10350, Penang (Opp. Berjaya Hotel & 1-stop)

If you are at the town area and hoping to avoid these 2 tourist-packed places, a good suggestion will be at Taman Emas Coffee Shop at Gottlieb Road, Pulau Tikus. This coffee shop is located at the Gottlieb Road, opposite Penang Chinese Girl High School.

The stall of Laksa is just in front of the coffee shop.

The Asam Laksa is the typical Penang Laksa (RM2.50) which is spicy, sour and appetising. The soup base has been cooked with slices of fish and curry flower. The side ingredients include cucumber, pineapple and also mint leaves. The thick dark shrimp paste is placed on the spoon to thicken the flavour.

Other than laksa, this stall also sells side dishes of fried poh piah chee (deep-fried spring rolls) and chai koay (vege “kuih”). Usually these side dishes are selling fast, by 3:00pm they will be all sold off. There is another way of eating these poh piah chee, that is to place them in the laksa soup and the poh piah chee will absorb the soup and will become slightly soft instead of too oily and crunchy. It is a new type of fusion dish.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Besides laksa, there is also curry mee at this coffee shop. The curry mee is the traditional type.

The curry mee is cooked with coconut milk, curry, bean sprouts, “Tau Pok” (fried brown beancurd), frozen pork blood and shrimp. The small bowl of curry mee – RM2.80 and large RM3.30. Anyway, in my own opinion, the soup was slightly too salty. It is not highly recommended for high blood pressure person.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Other than the curry mee and laksa, there is also a stall selling char koay teow. Small plate of char koay teow – RM3.50 and the large – RM4.00.

The ingredients of this plate of char koay teow are koay teow, bean sprouts, cockles (siput), chives, egg, chinese sausages and prawn. This char koay teow is up to standard with the usual requirement. However the chili was slightly too overwhelming and also another drawback is the attitude of the stall owner was a bit boosted as when I went to order, he didn’t acknowledge my order. He was just staring at his handphone like nothing was happening.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Overall, the laksa here is up to standard and the service is good, if you don’t want to drive all the way to Balik Pulau or get cramped with tourists at Air Itam, then this is the most suitable place for you.

Quick Facts:

Family Friendly
Parking
Pork Free
Alcohol
Credit Card
Smoking
Reservation
Private Room

Operation hours: Coffee Shop, 8:00am – 5:00pm; Laksa Stall, 2pm – 5pm (Closed on Mondays)
Contact: -
Address:The Corner Lot Coffee Shop (Opposite Peng Hwa)

• Melaka Chicken Rice Ball
• Melaka Style Cendol
• Satay Celup
• Portuguese Seafood

Hoe Kee Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball

One of the specialties in Melaka is the Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball. There are a lot of similar chicken rice ball stalls and shops in Melaka. To taste the chicken rice ball, of cause we need to find the most authentic one. One of famous shops is Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Shop.

It is located at the middle of Jonker Street. Usually you will need to queue up for your meal.

The kitchen cum office.

The chef was chopping the chicken.

When the crowd is too much to be coped, the shop will not serve soup.

This place is always packed with people even on weekdays.

The rice is boiled in chicken stock and added in with some chicken oil, salt and flavoured with ginger, garlic and shallot. The rice is then rolled into sphere shape and served with steamed chicken pieces, chicken liver pieces and garnished with cucumber and soya sauce. They also served with chili sauce for those that love spiciness.

The ultimate chicken rice ball. Some people love the the rice to be prepared in ball shape while some love the normal rice type. As for me I love the usual rice type, maybe due to I love the feeling of rice bites.

Steamed chicken which are chopped into pieces.

Fried mix vegetable is also available as side dish.

Overall, the taste of the chicken rice is delicious. The rice is packed with aroma of chicken and the meat of the chicken is fresh. So far, we waited for 15 minutes for the seat. For those who travel from outstation, it is worth the wait. The damage for us at here was RM68 for 6 pax, which was very reasonable.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Operation hours: 8:00am-5:00pm (Open Daily)
Contact: 06-283 4751
Address:4, 6, 8 Jalan Hang Jebat (Jonker Walk), Bandaraya 75200, Melaka

88 Dessert Cendol and Ais Kacang

After the delicious Melaka chicken rice ball, you can follow the path and walk down the street until you reach No. 88 Jonker Dessert. The place is actually a Museum Cafe where they display some antiques and also serves dessert.

The owner of the dessert stall was very busying slashing the ice  in every second. There is no time for him to slow down as the queue is always long.

There are plenty of dessert varieties, from Baba Durian Candol, EPC Cendol to Baba Ice Kacang and Baba Mango Ice Kacang. The price range is from RM1.70 to RM4 per bowl.

The cendol is served with green chendol jelly, ice, santan (coconut milk) and red beans like the usual Penang cendol. The only difference is they served it with thick gula melaka (pulm syrup).

Overall, I find this dessert quite unique and very different compared to Penang Style. I love the taste of Melaka-style Cendol. However, some may still prefer the Penang-style cendol as they couldn’t take the taste of gula melaka.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Operation hours: 8:00am – 5:00pm (Open Daily)
Contact: 06-286 8786
Address:88, Jalan Hang Jebat (Jonker Walk), Bandaraya Melaka, 75200, Melaka.

Capitol Satay Celup

Someone did tell me, if we go to Melaka without trying out the satay celup, he will not join us. Therefore I suggested that we try the most famous stall in town, which is Capitol Satay Celup. However after trying it out, he claimed that he will not try that again next time when visit Melaka.

The reason is due to its extraordinary long queue. Standing for one and a half hours just for the 20 minutes of tastebud-pleasure. It is actually not worth the long wait at all.

Satay celup or satay steamboat is similar to our ”lok lok” in Penang except that it is dunked in boiling satay sauce instead of water. When new customers are seated, an iron pot with satay sauce is then placed in the middle of the table and then bring to boil.

While the satay sauce is still boiling, the staff will keep adding in many ingredients into the sauce like gula melaka and crunched peanut.

The ingredients is then being stirred into the satay sauce.

The choices of sticks range from seafood, meat to vegetable. They come in raw to semi-cooked. Each of the satay stick costs 70sen.

Overall, the satay celop is very unique but it is not worth the wait. If you can’t stand for long and you don’t want to risk your life being knocked down by the cars or standing in the rain, I suggest you to give up and try the one next door. The owner needs to think of some solutions if he doesn’t want to lose his business to its competitors.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Operation hours: 5:00pm, till late night when the last customer leaves, (Monday Close)
Contact: 06-283 5508
Address: 41, Lorong Bukit Cina, 75200, Melaka

Portuguese Seafood

This place serves excellent Portuguese seafood. They offer home-style Portuguese fare. They serve small dishes such as otak-otak (fish cake) to larger dishes like Portuguese-style baked fish.

The location of this restaurant is inside the Portuguese settlement near the port.

One of the best dishes that I have tried in Melaka is the Portuguese style otak-otak. It is not the usual otak-otak that we had in Penang. The taste is more juicy with fish meat and the spices used are very different. It is a must-try dish in Melaka. The most important point is you don’t have to wait for one and half hour for the food.

The normal omelet with onions.

Fried Kailan in sambal style. Very delicious and the aroma of sambal was very strong. The veggie was also very fresh.

The Portuguese-style baked fish is their signature dish. The fish was very fresh and the marinated spices was hot and spicy. A very traditional way of serving the Portuguese-home-cooked-style dish.

Fried spicy chili clams. There were few big clams mixed with mussels. They were very juicy and tasty clams that mixed well with the chili sauce.

Fried Belacan Sotong in Assam sauce (Fried squid in assam sauce). It is a very uniquely prepared dish that I haven’t tasted in Penang or other places in Malaysia . The gravy was sour with some slightly sweet taste. The squids were cut into slices and it tasted fresh and crunchy.

Overall, it is a must-try restaurant when visiting Melaka. The price for 6 pax with all the dishes above is RM130. The taste was heavenly great with minimum waiting time. The only waiting time is on the  food preparation which took about 20 minutes.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Operation hours: 12noon – 10:30pm (Open Daily)
Contact: 06-284 8067
Address: 18, Medan Portugese Settlement , Ujung Pasir, 75050 Melaka.

There are places that must be visited and food that must be tried out in Melaka. If not you are not considered to have visited to Melaka.

First place to be visited:

Jonker Street, Jonker Walk or Jalan Hang Jebat. Jonker Street is part of Melaka’s old Chinatown. This place covers from the oldest temple and mosque to the priceless antique shops and delicious famous restaurants. This can be considered the heart of Melaka.

The oldest Temple in Melaka which is located at Jonker Street.

The oldest mosque in Melaka which is also located near Jonker Street

The delicious local delight – grilled squids which can be found on the road side stalls.

The Famous Chicken Rice Ball Shop (Will be covered on the next food guide in Melaka)

The Famous Dessert Stall (Will be covered on the next food guide in Melaka post as well.)

Capitol Satay Restaurant (Again, will be covered on the next food guide in Melaka post.)

St. Paul’s Hill (A Famosa), St. Paul’s Hill also known as A Famosa. The Portuguese came to Melaka in 1511 and ruled the place till 1641.  When they arrived at the shores of Melaka, the first thing they did was to build a fort overlooking the river.  They named it A Famosa.  The A Famosa is one of the oldest European Architectures present in Southeast Asia.

St. Pauls Church was originally a small chapel built by a Portugese Captain called Duarto Coelho in 1521 A.D and was handed over to the “Society of Jesus” in 1548 and enlarged in 1556. When Dutch took over Melaka from Portuguese, they changed the name to St. Paul’s Church. Later, St. Paul’s Church lost its tower when the British took over and added a lighthouse in front.

Old tombstones found inside the ruins bear silent testimony to the final resting place of several Dutch and Portuguese nationals.

Statue of St. Francis Xavier was built in 1952 to commemorate his passing and internment at this place.

The Melaka River or Sungai Malacca can be seen as the beginning of Melaka history, when it was called ‘Venice of the East’ by the Europeans who traveled to it.  Its historical importance also lies in the fact that, during the 15th century, the Prince Parameswara of Sumatra created his Sultanate at the entrance to this river.

The river has a very beautiful and colorful lighting at night which you don’t want to miss out like me, I have forgotten to bring my camera that night.

Christ Church Melaka. Exhibiting the true Dutch architecture, this Church was built in 1753.  The main attraction is the jointless ceiling, a brass Bible, tombstones written in Armenian, and the ‘Last Supper’ in glazed tiles. This is one of the main attractions in Melaka where most trishaws are waiting to pickup tourists.

The trishaw is waiting in a row for business with hi-fi and speaker blasting out the latest music to attract customers.

Clock Tower in the Middle of the Dutch Square, It was donated by a millionaire in 1886 with a clock imported from England. After a while, the clock died out like colonialism and was replaced by a Seiko in 1982.

The Queen Victoria fountain which was located near to the clock tower. The fountain is funded by local Chineses to celebrate the Queen Victoria, England who was then crowned as Queen Anniversary

The Portuguese Square is a central to the Portuguese community of Melaka.  The residents there are mostly the modern descendants of past Melakan colonists who settled and blended with the locale community during the last 400 years.  This square is also known as ‘Mini Lisbon’ for its location within this Portuguese settlement.

The seaside which can be seen from Portuguese Square is very nice, peaceful and clean.

There is also a nice restaurant which serves traditional Portuguese food which I will be covering on my next post.

Overall, Melaka is a great place which is famous for its historical and legendary stories. However, my advice is it is best to visit during off-peak seasons like during weekdays or non-public holiday as it gets very crowded from food and accommodation to parking and toileting. You need to have the patience to queue up for basically everything.

First of all, I need to thank CK Lam for the arrangement of this review and also enable us to have the chance to try out this delicious Korean cuisine.

It is not hard to locate this restaurant, if you are driving to Gottlieb road from Greenlane, you will see “Peng Hwa” Penang Chinese Girl High School on your left and there is a row of shops on your right and that place is called New Bob Center. At the left corner of New Bob Center, you will see the Korean restaurant called Sa Rang Chae. I remember there was a Korean restaurant (Arirang) here before and it has been taken over by Sa Rang Chae.

As soon as we arrived, our table was full with all the side dishes. There wasn’t even an empty space to place our rice bowl also. It looked just like a feast which will last for 3 days and 3 nights.

The side dishes are complementary from the main courses and they are all free and refillable.

The kimchi and the pickled raddish had the authentic Korean taste. Usually the one that I tried in other restaurants were abit sweet and not as spicy. However, this one was really spicy and tasted not as sweet compared to the OEM version of kimchi.

Maewoon Kalbi  (Spicy Pork Rib Stew) – RM30, This is my favorite. This hot pot of stew consisted of pork ribs, korean glass noodles. The soup base had been cooked with ginseng, dong gui and red dates. The strong aroma of herbs from the soup made my mouth watery. The spiciness of this hot stew is still acceptable and the base had some slight sweetness from the red dates and pork ribs.

Dakgalbi (Spicy Grilled Chicken) – RM50, if you tell me that you can really take spicy food, tell me about that again. Dakgalbi is one of the most spicy food I have taken. The level of spiciness is very different from Maewoon Kalbi. For maewoon kalbi it will spice up your tongue while dakgalbi will heat up your throat and will stuck there for long time. Moreover, Mr. Kim the owner told us this is just the first level of spiciness, are we still strong enough for that?

Spicy Hot Seafood Stew – RM80, the ingredients in the stew included crabs, mussels, squids, scallops and prawns. It is indeed a real seafood stew. However, this is not very suitable for a person with high cholesterol. This stew also came with a lot of excitement and happiness, you will be crying out of appreciation after having this stew.

Modeum BBQ Set – RM150 This set was made up of beef ribs, pork ribs (marinated), pork belly, chicken, flower crabs, prawns, squids and clams. You might think that this would be very expensive. However, the portion can really feed 4 to 5 persons and the ingredients given were really value for money. This time the BBQ was not as spicy as the stew.

The dip for the BBQ, the right one was similar to sesame oil and the other one was a sweet and sour sauce.

Sesame leaves were given as an option to wrap the barbecue meat.

Gentlemen it’s time to start up your engine.

Ladies please be prepared to burn some meat.

Jokbal, Glazed pig’s feet – RM70, besides BBQ, Mr. Kim told us that many Koreans came here for the pork leg. The portion has been standardized to one size and each can feed 3 to 4 persons. The tender of the meat was just nice and with the layers of some fat and big portion of meat made me couldn’t stop eating it.

Ojingeo Samgyeopsal Bokkeum – RM30, This is Stir Fried Squid and Pork Belly, extremely spicy dish. The combination of soft pork belly and chewy stir fried squid really made a great combination. However the spiciness has overwhelmed the whole dish.

Soju, Korean wine – RM25, it really went well with the BBQ. For alcohol lover, it is a must-order if you had BBQ or pork leg.

Thanks to the sweet couple owner Mr. Kim and Mdm. Lim who gave us a very warm welcome and with great food.

Overall, my conclusion is authentic Korean food is actually very spicy. However, certain  dishes like stew and BBQ are still very nice indeed. For those ladies who want to have good skin, then you should eat more Korean food and your skin will be as fair and smooth as Korean ladies.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Quick Facts:

Family Friendly
Parking
Pork Free
Alcohol
Credit Card
Smoking
Reservation
Private Room

Operation hours: 12.00noon-3.00pm, 6.00pm-10.30pm (Closed Monday Lunch)
Contact: 04-226 3587, 012-468 6700 (Mdm Lim/Mr Kim)
Address:11-G-1 & 2 Jalan Gottlieb (New Bob  Centre) 10350 Penang.