Yummy Yummy @ Tun Sambathan Banana Fritters

Food Type :
Snacks (Malaysian Style)

About the Food :
The Banana Fritters and Fried Nian Gao. Of course, there are curry puffs, sesame balls as well. But I only tried banana fritters and fried nian gao before. For the fried nian gao, it has three layers, there is a yam slice on top, a sweet potato slice below and the niao gao slice is in the middle.

Nian gao or Niangao, (Chinese:粘糕 or 年糕 lit. "sticky cake" or "year cake"; pinyin: nián'gāo), sometimes known in the West as "rice cake" or Chinese New Year's cake, is a food prepared from glutinous rice and used as an ingredient in Chinese cuisine. It is available in Asian supermarkets and from health food stores. While it is eaten all year round, traditionally it is eaten at Chinese New Year. Despite numerous varieties, they all have similar recipes: cooked glutinous rice is pounded or ground into a paste, and, depending on the variety, may simply be molded into shape or cooked again to settle the ingredient.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niangao)


Price :
Banana Fritter @ RM 0.70 each
Nian Gao Fritter @ RM 0.70 each
Sesame Ball @ RM 0.70 each
Curry Puff @ RM 0.80 each

Location :
It's a stall in front of Yit Sang Restaurant. There's another stall selling bananas beside. It's opposite YMCA, and is near to a 7-11 franchise store.

Directions :
From Tun Sambathan Monorail Station, it's around 5 minutes walk. From the Monorail Station, walk along Jalan Tun Sambathan 4, walk pass The Association for the Blind People (on your right), The Methodist School (on your left), 7-11 (on your right) and YMCA (on your right), you will see the stall. When you see YMCA, it's just indirectly opposite YMCA. It's open from around 12:30pm to 6pm everyday.

Address :
In front of Yit Sang Restaurant,
Jalan Tun Sambathan 4.

Specialty :
Both the banana fritter and fried nian gao are extremely crispy, and the crispness can last for at least more than one hour. Another interesting fact is that, the whole banana is used to make banana fritter, unlike some other banana fritters available from most of the stalls in which have been cut into halves.

Personal Comments :
They are crispy, very crispy. I had tried to eat the banana fritter after 2 hours and it's still crispy. As for the fried nian gao, after some 3 hours, it's still crispy either. However, they are best eaten when freshly served.

As for the fried nian gao, it makes a special combination with yam and sweet potato. When it's eaten hot, the gooey nian gao together with the sweetness of yam and sweet potato and not forgetting the crispness of the crust, the taste is just fantastic.

Regarding the price, it's a little expensive. But they're just too good to be resisted! At least, I think that the level of satisfaction the food offers still deserves the price it demand.

My Personal Rating (of its kind) :
8.5 / 10

Yummy Yummy @ Pantai Bersih

Food Type :
Chinese Cuisine

About the Food :
The list of food - "Drunken Prawn", Curry Fish Head, Signature Tofu, Fried Squid, Stir-Fried Vegetables.

"Drunken Prawn" - It's actually prawn cooked in herbal soup. The fact that dang gui is used in this dish makes the soup tasted lightly bitter at the first sip but then you will experience the sweetness when the soup flows down your throat. Thre is a very light alcoholic taste as well, I believe to be the effect of some chinese wine being added as ingredient. Errm... I hope I can explain this in a nicer way. :P Oh ya, the prawns were fresh too.

Angelica sinensis or "female ginseng" is a herb from the family Apiaceae, indigenous to China. Its root is commonly known in Chinese as dong quai or danggui (Traditional Chinese: 當歸; Simplified Chinese: 当归; pinyin: dāngguī) and is widely used in Chinese traditional medicine to treat gynecological ailments, fatigue, mild anemia and high blood pressure. Danggui possesses the distinction of being the only non-animal source of Vitamin B12, along with some varieties of yeast.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dang_gui)

Curry Fish Head - It's not too spicy or sour. Honestly, I don't quite know how to enjoy a fish head dish, but the fish meat tasted fresh.

Signature Tofu - I like this. It tasted soft with the mixtures of vegetables in it.

Fried Squid - The fried squid is not very crunchy.

Stir-Fried Vegetables - Tasted average.

Price :
It's considered cheap, especially after years in Penang. A meal consisting of prawn, fish, squid, tofu and vegetables for 5 costs normally around RM 60 over.

Location :
Along the Pantai Bersih seaside. There are sufficient parking spaces.

Address :
323 Seafood Restaurant,
Pantai Bersih,
Butterworth,
Penang.

Specialty :
The food is not oily, not salty, not very ajinomoto-flavoured. The seafood is pretty fresh. For the taste, it's not heavy (as in too spicy, too salty, too ...).

Environment :
It's open air restaurant. So, the warms breezes might be able to cool you down.

Personal Comments :
It's cheap! It's quite delicious! For family and friends gathering and if you opt for Chinese cuisine like this, this place is certainly recommended.

My Personal Rating (of its kind) :
7 / 10

Previous Post on this Restaurant :
323 Restaurant

Home Sweet Home Series - Squid in Curry & Japanese Tofu with Mixed Vegetables

Food Name :
Squid in Curry and Japanese Tofu with Mixed Vegetables

Food Type :
Chinese Cuisine (Home-styled)

About the Food :
The curry tasted just nice, it's not too spicy, nor too sour. The mixed vegetables is of a pretty unusual combination - Squid, Japanese Tofu, Broccoli, Button Mushrooms, Prawn, Tomatoes, Onions and Baby Corn. It's weird, I know, but tasted not bad ooh! :P

Price :
FOC (Only for invited guests).

Location :
Home Sweet Home, Penang.

Address :
Not available.

Specialty :
The food is available in abundance and they are fresh, free of ajinomoto, not oily, what else??!!

Environment :
Perfectly comfortable.

Personal Comments :
I missed my mom's cooking very much... :(( It's going to be CNY break anyway. :D

My Personal Rating (of its kind) :
10/ 10 and Priceless.

Yummy Yummy @ Cheang Kee, Nibong Tebal

This is a restaurant which happens to be quite famous in Nibong Tebal area. I accidentally saw this in wikipedia :

Nibong Tebal is famous for Cheang Kee, a Chinese restaurant specializing in old school Hakka cuisine.
(Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibong_Tebal)

There are some signature dish such as boiled baby octopus and fried pandan chicken. However, we went there for supper instead of dinner that time. Being recommended by my friend that its crab porridge is nice, we decided to try it out.

The Restaurant.


The inner view of the restaurant.


The crab porridge for one serving.


Food Name :
Crab Porridge

Food Type :
Rice Congee - Chinese Cuisine

About the Food :
It's just a nice porridge with one whole crab, with some chopped coriander leaves (chinese parsley) and some chopped scallions (spring onions).

Price :
It's RM 10.00 per serving.

Location :
It's a typical restaurant with a typical size in that area. I was told that the parking space availability is ok in which you can park along the street where the restaurant is located.

Address :
璋记饭店
Cheang Kee Restaurant
113, Jalan Atas, Nibong Tebal.
04-593-1728

Specialty :
The crab was very fresh, making the soup tasted sweet also. It's not so common to have crab porridge with a whole crab rather than the shredded crab meat (I think), but Cheang Kee does serve porridge in that way.

Environment :
During the time we went there, there was no crowd, so we opted to sit outside where it was cooler. I supposed that sitting inside would be a little stuffy as it would be nearer to the kitchen. However, there are plenty of fans inside the restaurant to cool you down.

The shop is usually crowded during dinner time around 6:30pm till 8:30 pm. However, it's opened until around 2 to 3 am.

Personal Comments :
The soup tasted sweet, the crab tasted very fresh and nice. In addition, it did not tasted like highly anijomoto-flavoured. The crab is not too big, but I believe it's enough for a single serving and for an average-eater like me. However, I found it uneasy to have to shred the meat myself. Anyway, this might be a way to preserve the freshness of the crab meat.

My Personal Rating (of its kind) :
8 / 10

(P/S: Special thanks to a friend of mine who offered me some information about this restaurant.)