When the Lone Ranger travels...: FO..O..O....O...OD Orgasm! May 2007

the only thing still linger in my memory from the trips in the month of may is the FOOD. it resulted in almost 4kg extra spread on my lower abs, inner thigh, n causing my biceps & triceps lose their shapes n finally messed together forming into a lump of flappy meat... except these unwanted (but expected) outcome, it's a happy holiday after all.

• Penang •

i wasn't very keen to go penang, i jus wanna get out of town n since the other one mention the place, i said: ok. the journey that full of food started way before we even reached penang.

we had breakfast at the rest & relax (r&r) stopover, plenty of fruits picked up at another r&r stopover, then the famous chicken chop for lunch in taiping at yut-sun, a hainanese restaurant. our stomachs was already fully loaded but it seems to be a must-try so we stuffed it in. it worths all the risk to be obese. the chicken chop, which looks humble, indeed a dish to crave for.

before, after. the yut sun restaurant at taiping.

the weather in penang was cloudy n at times there was heavy downpour. we stayed at batu ferringhi for it's nearby the beach. we looked out for a seafood dinner on our first night, we ended up with a restaurant that the food quality didn't impress us much.

so much drama goin on in penang sky.

the next morning we headed to town for penang nasi kandar. everyone knows kayu restaurant which claims to be the original nasi kandar in penang, but i wonder how many people know the one that really rock is line clear (name of the stall).

i wonder y they name the stall 'line clear'? with so much good food offered, the line will never be cleared.

humbly set its business in a narrow alley, with tables and chairs arranged in a practical format that seats around 100 people, line clear offers dishes with original taste of nasi kandar. u gotta trust the old man who handle your plate of food, when u see him scoping different kind of gravy (curry sauce) on the rice, don be skeptical, that makes the whole plate of nasi kandar tastes extra good with rich taste of herbs, meat, seafood and with slightly sour from the tamarine juice normally used in fish curry, it arouse you appetite instantly (i actually hav to pause n swallow back my sliva when i wrote this...)

business is good.

another thing that makes line clear so happening is all the dishes are steaming hot. the moment u step into the stall, the heat jus wrap all over you. i got excited when facing so many choices of smelling good food, i jus picked n picked till my plate was formed into a small hill. believe me, it was food orgasm.

the verdict.

we travelled up to teluk bahang on our second night in penang. it was jus a drive around and sight seeing kind of stuff so it wasnt intentionally to hav our dinner at the tai tong chinese restaurant nearby, but it turned out to be another food orgasm.

the boss mr. niam is a simple minded and honest man, his restaurant serves only the freshest ingredients and the must try is the asam curry prawn. this dish is full of the flavor of penang, the curry mixed with tamarine juice and also the ingredients of penang asam laksa like ginger torch, daun kessom, lemon grass and garnished with mint leaves when served. for 6 pieces of king prawn, each curled up like the size of my fist, this claypot asam curry prawn only cost rm23.00. we "drank" all the gravy till the last drop, till now, it's still my unforgettable dish so far...

we headed back to hotel with stomachs look like 5 months pregnant.

dinnet at tai tong seafood restaurant. dried chilli crabs. the bloody big prawn. the amount of paper napkins
i used for the crabs.

the next morning we went searching for another nasi kandar again. we tried another restaurant, though the stomachs are filled but seriously, nothing can compare to line clear. we left penang around 2pm, had the chicken chop at taiping (again) around 4pm, packed some deep fried snacks to munch on the road and guess what? we had nasi kandar for dinner when we reach kuala lumpur (it's actually quite sickening the way we are so addictive to it).

kuala lumpur was like a huge oven the few days we came back from penang. one morning we woke up and decided to run away from the heat, we went genting.

• Genting •

there's nothing better than having a steamboat under the cold weather. it has almost becoming a ritual whenever i go to hill vacation, steamboat is a must. the ingredients are fresh and soup was fine... if i would pick a flaw to our steamboat in genting, it would be the price. expensive!

besides that we had a steamed talapia with asam paste at rm2.30. it was the restaurant promotion and only limited to one order per table. tht's probably the cheapest fish i hav had in a restaurant for my entire life.

jus another before and after scene.

we came back home after just one night stay there. we looked at our stomach and signed...

• Melaka •

before we digested the food stored in our stomachs from the last 2 trips, we headed to the historical town, melaka.

for foreigners it's about the a famosa, hang lipo's well or the st. francis xavier's church...etc, but for us, it's the hainanese chicken rice balls, chendols , baba nyonya kuih n seafood... it's the melaka FOOD!

the hainanese chicken rice balls is the food u cant miss when u visit melaka. the rice is cook with margarine (some restaurants use chicken fat for more authentic taste), ginger, pandan leave, shallots...etc, it's cooked with more water than the usual chicken rice so it's sticky n then rolled into small bite size rice balls. it's convenient to eat. i guess maybe of its shape the fragrance of the rice is much concentrated, it's solid but tender in texture n the rich taste spread inside the mouth when u chew. of cos the chicken oso plays an important role here, the good one has to be steamed chicken, not boiled, so the original taste of chicken is not lost to the soup but reserved back to the chicken itself. we tasted the chicken rice in 2 famous restaurants during our 2 days stay here, both located at jonker's street, hoe kee n chung hwa r packed with customers, waiting to be seated really challenge my weakness - patience. (i used the links from other bloggers tht i don know, i hope they don mind, many thanks for their wonderful write-up n pics)

again another before and after scene, n this is not the last one....

we strolled along jonker's street n stopped at a small but busy restaurant for dessert. the durian chendol n the mango ice kacang is so good especially under the extremely hot weather in melaka. am sure other options of dessert taste very good too n we wil definately come back for more whenever we r here again. besides desserts there r many local delights like asam laksa, curry noodle, rojak...etc to choose from the menu.

we escaped the hot sun n rested at hotel before we went to portuguese square for the famous seafood. the moment we got down from car, few stall owners greeted us and tried to take us to their restaurants. we looked around n decided to trust the crowd, so we went for the most crowded restaurant. our decision was correct cos even a simple dish like belacan kangkung taste specially good here, the price? unbelievably reasonable! it's highly recommended for anyone who fancies seafood, n it's the first restaurant by the sea on the left hand side (i forgot to take the pic, sorry).