Motormouth From Ipoh – A Malaysian Food Blog

Penang food has never ceased to amaze me. Or any self-respecting foodie for that matter. The abundance of hawker stalls selling famous street food at dirt-cheap prices (ok, maybe not ALL but still, a lavish meal of everything will never cost you an arm or a leg), the flourishing number of restaurants and cafes on the island, and not to mention the wide array of cuisines, a perfect epitome of REAL 1Malaysia concept, whereby you’ll see people of all races hanging out at Mamak stalls more often than not.

But pardon me for the shorter than usual post today, for I was stuck in a most horrendous jam on the highway yesterday evening. For a good 6 hours on the expressway, traveling southbound from Penang back to Ipoh. Needless to say, the temptation to skip work could not get any greater.

Anyway, I wrote about Azuma Japanese Restaurant @ Queensbay Mall before, the much-relished, celebration feast after the much dreaded 5 days of imprisonment on an island known as Langkawi. So let me just share some photos of the food we had this time around, for a quick lunch in Queensbay Mall.

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They serve roasted ducks/meats & fried noodles aside from dim sum

A view of the morning crowd on a weekDAY from my table

The place was usually crowded on weekends, though ample seating area was provided. However we suspected the crowd on that morning was due to the school holidays. Everybody loves dim sum right?

Mum being a light eater, stopped me from going overboard with the orders. Ended up with 5 plates to share among both of us, though my itchy hands were so tempted to rob the ladies with trolleys. But her decision was a wise one, as the portion served here are categorized as ‘to-be-shared’ and the morsels did not look dainty at all.

Slightly disappointing Siew Mai

Kuchai (Chives) Dumplings

Fried Prawn Rolls with a huge dollop of mayonaisse

Only the pork dumplings (Siew Mai) let us down, probably cz they were cold. The fried stuff were all goodness in their own rights, the yam puff (Wu Kok) in particular, got Mum’s seal of approval, completely trumping Foh San’s version.

Perennial fav of mine, Egg Tart

Still craving for more, I chose an egg tart. Not as yummy as Choy Kee‘s, but still not bad in my books. But nowadays the egg custard in most shops has an extraordinarily deep yellow hue, wonder if they use the Omega eggs variety, or colourings. Hmmm ….

We packed 4 buns home, with fillings of peanut and char siew. Total for two including chinese tea was only RM17.80. Yup, cheaper than most of Ipoh’s dim sum restaurants. Service is fast, no matter how big the crowd gets, as they disperse trolleys and trays reloaded with various dim sum, mixing the steamed ones and the fried ones, unlike the usual shop where they separate the trolleys for both items, and the number of waiters are commendable.

Location : Restoran Zim Sum @ 33, Jalan Anson, 10400 Penang. A short walk from Bangunan Persekutuan Pulau Pinang (a grand brown-orange colored building). Coming from Komtar area, follow Jalan Burma until you reach a traffic lights with Giant Hypermarket on your right. Turn left into Jalan Anson and you’ll notice this food court-like settlement on your left.

My session ended only at around lunch hour, forcing poor Mum to scan through the whole of Giant, having coffee near New World Park, shopping for healthy breads from Continental Bakery at Jalan Nagor (good choices for multigrain breads, and a variety of healthy carbo), and eventually taking a taxi to Prangin Mall.

By the time I reached Prangin Mall it was already lunch time, but the mall offers pathetic choices for dining, therefore we decided to drop by Queensbay Mall while on the way home.

Taiwan Bull is newly opened, for a good few months I presumed. Read about this place from another blog (sorry, forgot which one) and decided to give this interesting eatery a try.

They’re running a promotion, for an additional RM1, you can get a full set of meal with drinks and dessert of the day. Sound fine, at a time like this, where it’s wise to be frugal.

Dry Beef Noodles with Beef Ball Soup (RM12.50)

My choice of dry beef noodles did not disappoint, nor impress for that matter. The servings of beef chunks was generous, and braised with white radish till very soft, but not chewy. However the noodles did not fare that well, wishing they were more springy (QQ). The pickles did not deliver either, as was the chilli oil sauce (no pics,sorry).

Guess how many beef balls were served? (hint @ background)

For an additional RM2, you can upgrade to the noodles with beef ball soup. However, 2 pitiful mash masquerading as beef balls were all that was served. At least the soup was flavourful, and complemented the noodles well.

Minced Chicken Rice (RM9.50)

Mum’s Minced Chicken Rice was a tragedy. Tasteless, and the gravy too thick, it was slightly spicy but that was all to it. Horrid. Avoid at all cost.

The accompanying drink and dessert

For drinks, you can opt for the green tea, soya milk, or honey lemon. The honey lemon was tasteless though, probably too diluted. The dessert I suspect was the ‘ai yu bing’ jelly, but too watery to offer any bite.

Total : RM24.00. Cheap, fast-food like setting. Service was rapid, as the place was quite empty on that day. It was a weekday after all.

Location : Taiwan Bull Restaurant @ LG45-46, Queensbay Mall, Persiaran Bayan Indah, Bayan Lepas.

After the stroll along the streets of Penang, under the extremely warm weather, we moved on to Queensbay Mall, the latest and largest shopping complex in Penang. Initially we thought of watching a movie, as GSC currently has a buy one free one promotion with voucher printed online. But sad to say, no good movies on show. Sigh …..

What are the Terra Cotta warriors doing in a dining hall???!!

CIMB bank credit card holders are entitled to 10% discount of F&B at Dragon-i, so we made our way there. As we were still full from the double-whammy of breakfasts, we decided to take it easy and order and side dishes only.

Appetizer of braised peanuts

Every table is given a complimentary plate of braised peanuts for appetizers, but the serving was slightly stingy for 3 of us. But, it’s OK. Let’s browse through their menu. But wait, their waiters kept pacing up and down, expecting us to order in record time, while I was still reading the few front pages of history of Xiu Long Bao etc. Hmm ….

Souffles with Red Bean and Banana (RM10)

We ordered a dessert for fun, and asked for the captain’s recommendation. He praised the souffles highly, and we were game for it. They were warm when served, a nice touch, and dusted with icing sugar (I presumed). The filling of red bean and banana went quite well, though sound funny on paper, but the souffle skin was pretty much tasteless. Not highly recommended, but average only. Hmm, rule #1 – Never trust the captain wholeheartedly? (muahaha)

La Mian, served with Shanghai Pork Ribs (below), RM16

Deep-Fried Shanghai Pork Ribs

We just had to order their famous La Mian (hand-pulled noodles) to try, as they have a HUGE variety, ranging from spicy Szechuan style, to those served with beef brisket and other garnishing. Tough to make a decision, we simply chose the one with the larger pic, probably their signature item. The noodle was long, smooth, springy, and cooked in piping hot soup that was sweet, light, and flavourful. The waiter who served this asked whether we want the noodles to be cut with scissors, but I thought I heard wrongly and politely declined. C’mon, ever heard of people cutting noodles with scissors? Hehe … Then we regretted, as we were sharing the bowl of goodness, and the ultra long noodles made it hard for us to share. Hmm … me and my ego ….

Steamed Meat Dumplings (Xiu Long Bao) RM9

Then we had their signature Xiu Long Bao, 4 pretty decently-sized morsels served in dim sum tray. Dipped in vinegar with ginger strips, these babies were yummy, as I enjoyed sucking the soup out from the dumplings, then savoring the densed, flavoured pork meat filling. The skin was a bit thick though, and bland. I had to dip them in the sambal-chilli flakes concoction to enhance the flavour.

Location : Queensbay Mall, Penang. Coming from USM, use the Jalan Sg Dua road, and go straight. You will pass USM Sg Dua gate on your right, then Tesco Extra further down the road also on the right. Go straight til you reach Sg Nibong Bus Station on your left, and a big crossroad junction with traffic lights. Go straight again, til you reach a round about labeled Queensbay. Take a 3 o’clock turn, and soon you will reach Queensbay Mall. Dragon-i is located on 2nd Floor, Central court area.