Gurney Drive @ Jubilee Entertainment Complex (AMK)

Located at Jubilee Entertainment Complex, Level 1. Gurney Drive, the name of the famous foodie stretch in Penang, Malaysia. It's been ages since I've last visited Penang, so decided to give this a try.

menu

inside the shop

The shop has an 'old town' vibe to it. Ample seats, bright and airy. Ordered the Penang prawn noodles (@$5.90++) and a cup of kopi (@$1.40++). 

Penang prawn noodles

kopi

The coffee was at best, lukewarm. It has a very strong milk taste that I don't quite like. The prawn noodles came with 2 medium sized prawns, a piece of pork ribs, few slices of pork and some slices of fish cake. Good amount of taugeh, kangkong and noodles. 

The soup, although tasty, was not wow. It did not excite the taste bud as much as I thought it would. Perhaps, if the soup was a little bit higher in temperature, then it would have been more enjoyable. Quite a hassle to eat the prawns with shells intact. Kudos though to the service staff to give an extra plate to place the prawn shells. The pork slices were quite tough.

If I ever visited this place again, I will not be ordering the above 2 items.

Baguette The Viet Inspired Deli @ Square 2

Located at Square 2, Level 2, we kinda stumbled upon this place. Was thinking of having something light for dinner, so decided to give it a try.

One can top-up $3.80 to get a drink and a side dish to go along with the bread. However, to get the Vietnamese drip coffee, one will need to add another dollar. The side dish, can choose either cakes, sushi bread or summer roll. We wanted to get 4 inch bread but apparently, they ran out of it. So we chose a 6 inch grilled pork baguette, top up to make it a set, and add another drink. This feeds 2 not so hungry ladies. We chose summer roll as the side dish, and for drinks, we had soda chanh with plum and a lemongrass soda.

soda chanh with plum

summer rolls

The soda chanh with plum was very likeable. Slightly sweet, sour and salty and a little fizzy. A real nice cooler. The lemongrass drink reminds me of spa.. mild and tranquil.

The summer rolls has lots of of greens in it. It has lettuce and mint leaves. Must eat it with the sauce. Sweet, tangy and garlicky!

refreshing rolls

sauce for summer rolls, loaded with garlic

baguette

6 inch grilled pork baguette (@$6.20), unwrapped

The bread was tasty, but the meat seemed too little. Liked the pickled carrots, and chili. All the ingredients complemented each other well. Not sure how it's done in Vietnam, but perhaps can have more butter on the bread? Or some sauce? It was kinda dry.

They have loyalty card and you get a stamp for every $6 purchase. 

loyalty card

This shared meal costs us $11.90 in total.

Yong Kee Famous Fish Ball Noodles @ABC Brickworks Market

First time trying out this stall. Was not feeling hungry so went for fishball kway teow soup @$3 per bowl. There was no queue at about 1+pm, so I got my order exceptionally fast. Like, under 3 minutes? Hahaa.

fishball kway teow soup

condiments

closer view

The soup tasted simple, and the ingredients were adequate. Good to eat, if the weather is abit cooler, or if you're feeling under the weather. The fishballs were bouncy, but I liked the thinly sliced fish cakes best. More flavour as compared to the fishballs.

Comfort food, for some.

Wah Kee Big Prawn Noodles @Pek Kio Hawker Centre

Located at Pek Kio Hawker Centre (or Blk 41A Cambridge Road), this stall seemed quite popular. Can see lots of awards displayed (awarded in Year 2003 and 2007) and a poster from "Our Makan Places, Lost and Found."

Today there was a short queue and we waited for about 10-15 minutes to reach the front (there were about 4-5 customers infront). Once we're at the front, we waited for about 5 more minutes before the aunty spoke to us.

To order, you need to wait for the aunty to speak first. Otherwise, she can't/won't remember what you are saying also.

stall front

I've seen the $3 noodles and frankly speaking, you can skip that one. Today we had the $5 noodles. I liked mine soupy.

$5 prawn noodles soup with coarse bee hoon

The ingredients were pretty simple. Big prawns, kangkong, big heap of fried lard, oil, minced garlic and noodles. The broth tasted somewhat like a mix of Penang style and local prawn noodles soup. Tasty. The chili powder seemed like a pricey commodity because the aunty would keep it inside her stall and my friend had to ask from her three times before the aunty entertained her request....

The 3 prawns were big! And in my opinion, befits the $5 price tag. The prawns' flesh falls off easily, succulent and firm. And most importantly, not overcooked.

Hai Nan Xing Zhou Beef Noodle @ Toa Payoh

Located at Block 22, Lorong 7 Toa Payoh. The stall is closed on Mondays though. Was there on a weekday lunch. There was a long queue and we probably stood in line for at least 20 minutes.

stall signboard

When we got nearer to the stall front, the uncle told us that the dry version had all sold out (probably no more sauces to make dry noodles), and only soup version was available. I took a quick glance at the noodles tray, and it looked dangerously low on supply. Was thinking that worse case scenario, we'll only get to drink the beef noodles soup without any rice nor noodles. We can't give up after queueing for this long!

The customer in front of me, has indeed taken the last of the beehoon when one of the stall uncle returned with one more packet of noodles freshly bought from the market. Phew!

A small bowl of beef noodles slices costs $3 while the mixed part costs $4 per bowl.

mixed part beef noodles soup

Liked the mixed bowl because it has generous servings of mixed parts, beef slices and beef balls. 4 beef balls to be exact! Wow! There's preserved salted vege bits heaped onto the noodles, together with chopped spring onions, as condiments. The soup was tasty, and not overly salty. It has a robust beefy flavour. The beef slices were tender without it being overly thinly sliced. Nice. The dipping chili sauce was good too. Its spiciness tingles but not overpowering. Good companion to the meat.

The stall uncle who prepares our order, although busy, was quite genial. And the uncle who cooks all those bowls after bowls after bowls of noodles, remained cool despite the heat from the stove.