I will be going back to Singapore tomorrow after 2 weeks holidaying in my hometown Penang. It has been a fantastic break for me. No cooking or houseworks. Best of all is to have many “part-time” caretakers (aka my family members) taking turns to entertain my little boy. What a great relief! LOL!

Nevertheless, we can’t wait to go back home and join the Christmas fun. The is the first Christmas we will be spending in Singapore since moving over from Kuala Lumpur three years ago.

Here, I would like to wish all my blogger friends and readers “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year”!

Two weeks ago, I received an email from Mr Tan (the owner of Ivy Kitchen). He requested for permission to use the petunia photo in my food review post as his new restaurant signage. I was so thrilled and agreed. I went over to the restaurant two days ago to take a look at it and took this photo.

I had my 2nd food tasting session with a group of Penang food bloggers while holidaying back home in Penang last month on the kind invitation of Criz Lai of Criz Bon Appetite and Mr Tan, the restaurant owner of Ivy’s Kitchen.

Ivy’s Kitchen serves pork-free home-cooked dishes, authentic Penang nyonya cuisines, a variety of set meals, steamboat dinner, seafood dinner and fish head curry.

Located at Chow Thye Road (Off Jalan Burma), the restaurant is run by a husband and wife team Mr Tan and Ms Ivy. It has simple deco and basic dining layout, with its name on a banner hanging outside the restaurant.  I almost missed this place while looking for it as I expected to see a large signboard instead. 

We started our food tasting session with 7 different combination of set meals.

All of these set meals come together with a fresh fruit juice and homemade jelly.

Combo Set A and B are served with plain rice, with side servings of crispy crackers (papadom), hard-boiled egg, fried anchovies, roasted peanuts and pickles.

Combo Set A – Chicken rendang (RM9.00)
- Rendang is a dried type of Malay curry. The chicken drumstick is cooked just right. Its texture is moist, lending it a juicy bite. The blended curry spices used to marinate it tasted rich and flavourful. A thumb-up from me!

Combo Set B – Beef rendang (RM8.50)
The beef is cooked until tender with flavourful curry spices. As I am not a regular beef-eater, I am unable to comment.

Combo Set C – Nasi lemak (RM7.50)
- This popular Malaysian rice set is served with fragrant coconut rice, hard-boiled egg, fried assam fish, deep-fried chicken wing, ikan bilis sambal (spicy anchovies curry), fish crackers and pickles. The restaurant owner said it is the best seller.  A great bargain for customers looking for a value-for-money combo set!

Cincaru sambal fish (Set meal RM9.00/ Add-on RM3.80 each fish)
- For Combo Set C, for an additional RM1.50, one can replace the fried assam fish with a stuffed fried Cincaru fish (hard-tailed mackerel) instead. Side order is priced at RM3.80/fish.

This cincaru sambal fish has a spicy and soury taste with hint of finely chopped kaffir lime leaves. I find the chilli used for the sambal filling a bit heavy on the taste bud,  shadowing the taste of blended curry spices.

From counter-clockwise:
Combo Set E – Curry prawns (RM9.00), Combo Set F – Curry lemak fish (RM9.00), Combo Set G – Curry assam fish (RM9.00).

These curry set meals come with plain rice and some side dishes such as such as crispy crackers (papadom), hard-boiled egg, fried anchovies, roasted peanuts and pickles. (Refer to the photo above for the rice set on the top left corner).  Amongst all curries, I prefer curry assam fish as it is very appetizing and to my liking.

Combo Set D – Fried fish meal (RM9.00)
- For those who prefer a non-spicy meal, they can order this soup-based combo set. It comes with a choice of noodles -cintan noodles (instant noodles), bee hoon (vermicelli), tang hoon (glass noodle), or porridge, served with deep-fried dory fillets, minced chicken balls and some choy sum (green vegetables). The soup base is slightly mild but the taste is enhanced with the garnishing of fried garlic, sesame oil and spring onions. I like the minced chicken balls as they are well marinated.

After sampling the set meals, we sample some ala-carte dishes.

Grouper fish porridge (RM9.00)/ Normal fish porridge (RM6.00)
- This ala-carte dish is another selection on the menu for one who prefer to have a non-spicy meal.  It is a Teow-Chew style porridge, with the rice still visible.  This porridge comes with generous portion of fresh grouper fish fillet, minced chicken balls and some choy sums. It is indeed a healthy choice for me after eating so much of sinful food in Penang.   

Penang Nyonya cuisine 1 : Chicken lobak (RM6.00)
- This is a deep fried 5-spices chicken meat roll. It comes with a dipping sauce. Although my favorite is still the traditional pork lobak, this chicken roll is equally tasty. If more ingredients were added to the wrap, it would have created a firmer chewy roll.

Penang Nyonya cuisine 2: Joo Hoo Char (RM6.00)
- This stir-fried dish is made up of finely shredded yambeans, carrots, mushrooms, chicken and cuttlefish.  It goes well with sambal belacan (chilli paste) to give you an extra kick to the whole dish. This dish is my all-time favourite!

The right way to eat this dish: take a piece of lettuce, put it on your palm, spread a bit of sambal belacan, add a scoop of stir-fried mixture on top and wrap/fold it. Enjoy!

Penang Nyonya cuisine 3: Poh pia chee/ deep-fried spring rolls  (RM2.00 each roll/ RM3.80 double)
- These deep-fried spring rolls have a crispy thin outer layer which is not oily. They are filled with finely shredded chicken, carrot, black fungus, mushrooms and french beans. The accompanying sweet chilly sauce gives these rolls an enhanced flavour.

Penang Nyonya cuisine 4: Penang asam laksa (RM5.00)
- It is the most famous hawker dish in Penang. You should not miss it if you are visiting Penang for the first time.  The dish comes with a sour and spicy soup base, topped with generous serving of sardine fish, shredded cucumber, lettuce, onion, cut chilli and fresh mint leaves. A spoonful of shrimp paste (hai kor) will be added to the soup to give it extra flavour. The laksa noodle in this dish has a chewy texture. I find the soup slightly salty.

Fruit juice (RM2.20 – 2.80)
- Ivy’s Kitchen has a wide selection of drinks ranging from coffee, tea, homemade drink, soft drink and fruit juice. I had tried ambra juice with plum (RM2.20). It is a great thirst quencher on a hot day. The cucumber juice with mint is also very refreshing.

Homemade dessert – red bean soup (RM1.60)
- Our food tasting session ended with 3 bowls of homemade desserts.  This sweetened red bean soup with sago comes in 3 different combinations. It added white fungus, dried longan and dried lily bulbs for each combination. Although the red beans are boiled till thay are very soft, the soup lacks the thickness that I prefer.

Overall:
If you can forego ambience (and air-conditioning), Ivy’s Kitchen is recommended for those looking for quality homecooked dishes at reasonable prices in Penang.

Contact details:
Ivy’s Kitchen
58 Jalan Chow Thye
10250 Penang
Tel : 013 4337878 (Mr. Tan) & 016 4337130 (Ms. Ivy)
Business Hours: 9am – 9pm (except Saturday) & 6pm – 9pm (Saturday)
GPS Coordinates : N05 2529.0 E100 1914.6

Food bloggers (besides me) who had attended this food tasting session:
Bee – Buzzing with food
Criz Lai – Criz Bon Appetite 
CK Lam – What2see: The Best of Penang Food
Ken Chan – Foodpoi
Lingzie – Lingzie
NKOTB – My Love. My Food
Eunice, Siew Ying & Iris – Food Promotions

This is Part 2 of my recent invited food review at Ko-Fu-Loft restaurant. The management prepared 2 appetizers, 6 “dim sums”, 6 main dishes and 1 dessert for my group of fellow food bloggers to sample. We started with photo-shooting, then proceed to food tasting and lastly to complete a survey form given by the management with our rating and feedback for the review. The entire event took nearly 3 hours to finish. Here are my assessment of the dishes sampled.

Appetizers (AP):

AP1 – Ko Fu sesame seed balls 口福芝麻(RM10.90)
- It was one of the house signature dishes. These cute balls were made from marinated minced meat with finely chopped celery, carrots, mushrooms, water chestnuts, mushrooms and red chilly, and fully coated with black and white sesame seeds. It was served with dipping sauce that tastes like thousand islands.  To me, it’s the most impressive dish in the review.  However, the sesame seeds do need a bit more toasting to exude the fragrant flavor, and the minced meat needs a bit more seasoning.

AP2 – Crystal spring roll skin stuff with vegetables and chicken meat 公主水晶卷 (RM6.90)
- This dish was similar to Vietnamese summer rolls. I found the rolls were over-stuffed with ingredients, resulting in the wrapping looking loose. For an appetizer, the cut roll was fairly chunky.  On the ingredients, I would prefer a larger portion of chicken meat to balance off the vegetables inside the wrapping to give the dish more body and taste.

Dim sum (DS)
DS1 – Steamed fresh prawn dumpling – har kau 鲜明虾饺 (RM5.50)
- The inconsistent pleating made the dumplings not so appealing. They had a floury taste, most probably due to over-usage of corn flour.

DS2 – Pork dumpling with fish roes – siew mai 鱼子烧卖皇(RM5.50)
- To live up to its name, each dumpling should come with more generous topping of fish roes. I was disappointed that it was not. Taste-wise, the dish was not a standout to me. Maybe it would have tasted differently had I ate this dumpling steamy hot from the kitchen. I was too busy with my photo-shooting. They were already cold when I sank my teeth in them.

DS3 – Minced squid with crab claw meat 百花酿蟹鉗(RM6.90)
- I ate this minced squid steamy hot. The texture was very springy and the taste was delicious, much to my liking.

DS4 – Signature steamed custard creamy bun 美味流砂奶黄包 (RM5.50) [3 buns per basket]
– I think the bun needs a bit more working to get its texture smoother and fluffier. The custard cream was made of salted egg yolk, but too sweet to my liking. Look at the picture. The chef purposely tore open the bun to let the rich and creamy custard ooze out for our photo-shooting.

DS5 – Deep fried yam paste with minced pork 蜂巢炸芋角 (RM4.50)
– The outer skin was crunchy and not oily. The barbecue pork stuffing was well marinated. It’s easily the best dish of the day in term of taste and presentation. Thumbs up from me!

DS6 – Deep fried pandan lotus paste dumpling 翡翠煎堆仔(RM4.50)
- The taste of pandan lotus paste lacked the expected fragrant pandan flavour.  The outer glutinous layer was a bit thick, and the filing too little.  I would prefer a more generous filling, balanced off with a thinner outer layer.

Main dish (MD)
MD1 – Szechuan aromatic duck 四川香酥鸭(RM18.90)
- This dish came with a hoisin dipping sauce and egg wraps. The texture of the sliced duck meat was too dry and lacked flavour. The egg wrap didn’t have the “egg” taste. This dish was similar to one that was popular at Chinese restaurants in London where the duck meat was shredded thinly (which I prefer) instead of being sliced thinly.

MD2 – Jingdo pork ribs 京都骨 (RM14.90)
- The ribs were chunky and had an over-powering taste of black pepper.  It can certainly be better with some downsizing and lesser black pepper to bring forth the juiciness taste of the meat.

MD3 – Deep fried five spices calamari 五香盐炸墨门(RM13.90)
- If you like Chinese 5-spice powder, I would recommend this deep-frying dish. The texture is not oily and quite chewy.

MD4 – Deep fried homemade bean curb香炸 黄金豆腐(RM12.90)
-I find the homemade bean curb oily and tasteless. Not to mention, the odd tasting house chilly sauce. Thai chilli sauce or mayonnaise may be a better choice.

MD5 – All-in-1 roasted meat with vegetables 盆菜(RM19.90)
– This mini “poon choi” set came with rice, blanched kailan and pickle. There are prawns, abalones, roasted pork, roasted duck, mushrooms and broccoli in the claypot. But, the starchy gravy took up more than half of the pot. My verdict: It will be good if we had FRESH prawns.

MD6 – Fried seafood emperor noodle 香炒海鲜皇帝面 (RM12.90)
- To the Cantonese, how much ”wok hei” one can taste in a fried noodle determines the standard of cooking. In this aspect, the noodles did not meet the grade. I also find it tasteless, and lacks presentation.

Dessert (DS)
DS1 – Water chestnut and sago dessert 马蹄西米露 (RM3.50)
- This dessert was served warm. The coconut milk was too diluted and frosty which could be due to overcooking. The freshness of the water chestnut was also suspect.

Overall comments:
The dishes were being rushed out from the kitchen one after another without any break. As a result, we were kept busy photo-shooting and little time for tasting while the foods were still hot. Quality of taste diminished fair quickly when food that was supposed to be eaten hot turned cold. For “dim sums” in particular, that can make a mark difference. As a result, it can affect my comments. For a newly opened restaurant, there is still room for improvement from taste to presentation.

Once again, I wish to express my special thank to the management of Ko-Fu-Loft for organising this group food tasting session.

Contact details:
Location:
170-04-59 Plaza Gurney,
Persiaran Gurney,
10250 Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: 604-2295011

Business Hours:
9am – 10pm

* UPDATE: This restaurant had ceased its operation on 2nd March 2010

During my recent Penang vacation, I attended my first invited food review at Ko-Fu-Loft (口福楼), Gurney Plaza. I was very delighted to be included in what is by far the largest gathering of Penang food bloggers attending a food review. I find the occasion an enjoyable one. We had a great time sharing our personal opinion on food, blogging experiences and photography tips. I would like to thank Criz Lai of Criz Bon Appetite and Jian of Cokeworld Citizen for graciously extending me the invitation to join the group. And also, I like to express my special thanks to Ms Alicia Ng and the management of Ko-Fu-Loft for arranging such a wonderful food tasting session for all of us.

Ko-Fu-Loft is a newly opened Chinese restaurant located at level 4 Plaza Gurney in place of Food Loft, the previous tenant. It specializes in a wide selection of Chinese cuisine ranging from appetizer, dim sum, main course to dessert. The interior decoration is well designed, with a touch of Oriental style that gives it a cozy and relaxing dining atmosphere.

The open kitchen concept allows diners to witness the food preparation done by the kitchen crew.

Photo (Left side): Ko-Fu-Loft’s main chefs – Chef Hong from Hong Kong (dim sum kitchen), an E&O chef (chinese kitchen) and Mr. Johnno (Executive Chef).
Photo (Right side): I was admiring at the chef on his swift and accurate cutting skill.

Apart from the main dining area, you can also choose to dine at the narrow passage locating at the right hand side of the main entrance. I enjoyed seeing those beautifully decorated bird cages hanging along this passage, which made me forgot to take a shot at the nice scenic Gurney Drive beneath. This strategic location was reserved for our review and photo-shooting.

Photo (Left side): Everyone swamped around the table like bees attracted to honey when the food was laid on the table for photoshooting.
Photo (Right side): Besides photoshooting and food tasting, we filled up a survey form to note down our personal opinion on the taste and presentation of each serving.

Look at how busy we were during the session: tasting, writing, discussing, photoshooting……I must say food reviewing can be a challenging task. The scenario reminded me of my campus days when we were assigned to complete our group project on a tight deadline.

Below is a list of food bloggers who had attended this food review (excluding myself) :
Allie of Allie Food Talk
Allen Ooi of Yummy Station
Bee of Buzzing with Food
Carrie Soon of Casiso Delicacies Corner
CW Chan of Now Eating
Criz Lai of Criz Bon Appetite
CK Lam of What2See: The Best of Penang Food!
Christy K of Food Diary of Picker Eater
Cheryl Wee of Nuttyeve9
Eunice, Siew Ying & Iris of Food Promotions
Gill & Jason of Gourmet Garden
Huat Koay of Penang Tuapui
Jian of Cokeworld Citizen
Mary Teo of Food Paradise
Steven Goh of Steven Goh’s Penang Food, Budget Travel and Unique Lifestyle
Chef Khoon of KDU F&B Lecturer (site pending)

For this review, we were served 2 appetizers, 6 dim sums, 6 main courses and 1 dessert. Want to know what is my verdict? Read more on my Part 2!

*  UPDATE: This restaurant had ceased its operation on 2nd March 2010.

What is nyonya kuih?

Kuih is an Asian concept of cakes and pastries, different from that of the Western one in term of texture, flavour and appearance.

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Ever since I left my hometown of Georgetown Penang for university studies, I developed a craving for authentic Nyonya cuisine and delicacies (especially nyonya kuih). Hence, whenever I return home for my holidays, the first time I do is to search out all the eating joints that serve Nyonya food. It was no exception during my recent holidays in Penang. My hubby happily tagged along as he too likes Nyonya food.

As both my hubby and son are big fans for ang koo kuih*, I took them to buy some from a shop at Batu Lanchang called Eaton. This shop is not only well known for its ang koo kuih but also its yellow glutinous rice with curry chicken and its special satay (without peanut sauce). They also provide full moon** celebration catering. My hubby gave 2 thumb-ups after savoring them. The kuih sold by this particular shop is different from others. If they are left open at room temperature, its skin remains soft and chewy even after 24 hours. The thickness of its skin was also perfectly done. The ingredients used were tasty, and not too sweet. The photo above shows a box of mini ang koo kuihs we packed before departing home.

*Ang koo kuih is a Hokkien pronunciation. Ang means red and koo means tortoise. It resembles the shape of a tortoise. For Chinese, tortoise symbolizes longevity. Hence, it is a popular item used for praying and full moon celebration. Its skin is made of glutinous rice flour. Usually those kuih with red-coloured skin is filled with mung beans and the green-coloured ones with “gula Melaka” coconut flakes.

** Full moon refers to a celebration held for a newborn when he/she turns one month old.

Below is the address of the shop. If you are coming from the opposite direction across the road, instead of crossing the road, you can also buy Eaton’s “kuihs” (savories) sold by a hawker in a coffee shop that faces exactly opposite Eaton’s shop. It is a good business strategy as they cater to customers’ convenience from both directions.

Eaton Kuih Centre Sdn Bhd
Address: 110 & 139-M Jalan Tan Sri Teh Ewe Lim (Jalan Batu Lanchang), 11600 Penang.
Opening hours: 7.00am – 5.00pm
Tel: +604 2828355
Website:http://www.eaton.com.my/index.html

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(Nyonya kuihs from Kheng Batu Lanchang Kaya & Nyonya Kuih)

A – Loh mai chi (glutinous rice ball with toasted peanut filling)
B – Kuih talam (it consists of two layers. The top white layer is made from rice flour and coconut milk, while the bottom green layer is made from green pea flour and extract of pandan leaf.)
C – Kuih ko sui (steamed rice pudding topped with grated coconuts)
D – Kuih bengkang bunga
E – Kuih bingka ubi (baked kuih of tapioca mixed in sweet pandan-flavoured custard)
F – Pulut tai tai (blue glutinous rice cake served with kaya)
G – Kuih kochi (pyramid of glutinuous rice flour filled with a sweet peanut paste and wrapped with banana leaf)
H – Pulut inti (glutinous rice topped with caramelised grated coconut flesh)
I – Chai tao kuih (made with grated radish(chai tao) and grounded spices (ketumbar), and topped with crushed peanut)
(Source: Wikipedia)

Besides Eaton, there is a hawker stall called Kheng Batu Lanchang Kaya & Nyonya Kuih located at the nearby Batu Lanchang market, which is famous for their assorted homemade nyonya “kuihs” and “kaya” (a sweetened bread spread made from coconut milk and egg). They sell as many as 30 types of “kuihs”. Some are even considered as “near extinct”, not easily found anywhere else. Prices are reasonable too. Being halal-certified, these delicacies are highly popular among muslim Malays. Indians are also frequent patrons of this stall.

On one afternoon, around 3.30pm, my hubby and I decided to buy some of the assorted “kuihs” from this hawker stall. It turned out that we were a bit early. At 3.45pm, there was still no sign of the stall owner. My first thought was it is closed for business on that day. However, I did a quick check with the stall owner in the adjacent stall to confirm if my hunch was wrong, I was told the “kuih” stall will indeed open that day. It made my feeling of disappointment turn hope. Shortly thereafter, 2 young girls strolled in to make preparation to open the stall. Then, came strolling in was a middle-aged man who pushed a cart loaded with 6 large trays of “kuihs” into the stall. Literally, in split seconds and to our surprise, out of the blue, a group of customers (about 10 people) rushed forward to the front of the stall to give their orders. Suddenly, the place came alive with hustle and bustle. The vendor was busy taking and packing orders. One customer even came holding his own container. My hubby was taken aback by the surging crowd (that looks more like a mob) clamoring to buy the “kuihs”, albeit was amused with the quick turn of the situation. As he is not fluent in the “Hokkien” chinese dialect, he asked me to proceed with our order. I managed to squeeze myself into the crowd which was getting more packed every minute. I didn’t expect to see such a huge crowd on normal weekday. Excuse me if I sound dramatic, but it was how both of us felt then. Guess how much I paid for all those “kuihs” shown in the photo? They only represent 80% of what I bought. The grand sum is RM8.00 (or USD2.20 equivalent).

Kheng Batu Lanchang Kaya & Nyonya Kuih
Address: Store No 29 Batu Lanchang Market
Opening hours: 3.30pm – 6.30pm (closed on Sundays)
Tel: +604 6589405

I am not a pure vegetarian but I truly love vegetarian food (regardless of Chinese, Indian, Western….) more for health rather than for religious reason. This is why you can find a variety of simple homecooked vegetarian dishes I tried and shared with you in my blog (under the categories of “vegetarian”) with some of my top picks listed here.

Hi Everyone! I am back after a long holiday break. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing holiday for both my son and myself. I didn’t cook at all during this period. I am so glad that my son loves all my mum’s cooking especially her “char siew” (barbeque) chicken.

My hubby joined us towards end of December. He had not been to Penang for 2 years. Therefore, both of us launched a crazy food hunt to solve his “cravings”. At the end, we felt so quilty for overstuffing our stomaches with all the “sinful” food. As expected, our weights had gone upwards. . Needless to say, my new year resolution is ……….. (Hehehe! I bet you know, right?)

After the holiday, there are millions of outstanding matters that I need to attend – unpacking, washing, cleaning, ironing, cooking etc etc. As Chinese New Year is approaching, I also have to do my spring cleaning. A super duper busy schedule to kick start my 2009 year. I will share with you some food photos I took in my next posting.

Below are some photos I snapped for fun:

(a) Potted plant at my sister’s condo balcony

(b) Penang view from my sister’s condo balcony. The tall building is Penang Komtar.