Thursday, March 31, 2016

Let's Go Back Penang for Tomb Sweeping 清明节 2016

I haven't been back for Cheng Beng for the last couple of years, now that I am retired I have all the time to go back this time and I did it without driving any car. Here was I at the junction of Jalan Ampang / Jalan Sultan Ismail with my Bekay to catch a train to Butterworth. I am begining to like travelling with ETS (Electric Train Service) these days.
Penang is definitely hotter than KL I could feel the intense heat the minute I got out from the train. I was the only bicycle on the ferry to the island and enjoying the sea view and hot breeze. By the way the fare for a bicycle & passenger is RM1.40.
I left my stomach empty just for a bowl of my favourite beef soup at Kafe ST Loo Beef Noodle Soup, Carnarvon Street. And in deed it was a satisfying meal.
Air Itam here I come as the heat continued to blaze. I just couldn't help myself but to stop halfway here for a refreshing coconut.
My buddy, Larry invited me for an evening ride and to meet at "Si Ki Tiaw" (the 4 Pillars) at Kapal Singh Drive. After a good rest at home I was ready to cycle again.
We rode at the dedicated bicycle lane of Georgetown, behind us is the Penang Bridge.
A stop at Hammer Bay for a pit stop. Thank you Larry for inviting me to join the ride.
A video clip of the evening ride.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Kafe ST Loo Beef Noodle Soup, Penang

My favourite beef soup has shifted from "Bomba" Chulia Street (Lam Ah Coffee Shop) to Carnarvon Street, now she has a shop of her own and congratulation for the successful progression. The Or Chen (fried oyster omelette) stall from the old place has also shifted together with her to this new joint. It looks like there is competition between the Or Chen stalls, there is another popular one just a door away. 
A big bowl of mix beef soup for RM10.00 was absolutely yummy, I simply love the taste and I had the whole bowl clean and dry.
As a small boy my late dad introduced this marvelous food to me where we would eat it with plain rice instead of noodles. And until today I still love to eat this way.
I reckon ST Loo is now a Towkay Soh with a decent shop clean and and conducive to eat except maybe car parking as usual would be a slight problem, I got no problem as I am using a bicycle.
Kafe ST Loo Beef Noodle Soup
156, Carnarvon Street
Penang
Tel: 012-409-0696 (Miss Loo)
Closed on Wednesday
GPS : 5.415379, 100.334817

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Steamed Fish Head at 126 Mewah Food Court, 驰名新镇清蒸鱼头 Ampang

Probably it was a late breakfast or rather an easy lunch, I decided to go to Mewah Food Court for a nice steamed fish meal and here we were at the stall 126 for a good food venture.
Though it was only both of us I ordered a big one as I was a bit hungry and in the mood for a good meal for the day. It was a freshwater grass crap fish head "Song Yee Tau" totally covered with finely sliced ginger and garnished with parsley and red cabai burung.
The fish head was perfectly steamed, fresh meat and it was so tasty and I love it so much.
Poached spinach with a bit of light soy sauce & fried shallot on it, it was a superb veggie choice, in fact it tasted so good we ordered another veggie.
So another lovely poached veggie on the table, this time a serving of Romaine Lettuce again it was delicious. I like the way they prepare it.
There is this Indon lady doing nothing but slicing only ginger for the popular steamed dishes, I wonder how much ginger they have to order each day.
It was alreay crowded with people at noon time, though it was a hot day but nothing could stop the people from having a good meal in the foodcourt. Go check this place out, have fun and enjoy the food.
The foodcourt viewed from Jalan Mewah 5 and it is the place for a superb steamed fish head in town.
126 驰名新镇清蒸鱼头
126, Jalan Mewah 5
Mewah Foodcourt
Ampang
Tel: 016-356 1187
GPS : 3.143496, 101.761606

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Ride of Honour - A Tribute to Shamsul Aizat

He was a brother, a husband, a father, a relative and a friend. A case of a young man who got killed while cycling on the public road.  We came to support and cycled in honour of the late Shamsul Aizat. 
Thank you to Dave Ern & his mates for organising this event, it was covered by the TV media and we hope it will continue to create the awareness for a safe usage of public road. 
The need to promote safety road usage is essential especially when cycling is getting fast popular in the country. More campaigns, participation and words from all sectors are required in cultivating a good understanding of road sharing and safety on the road.
Friends of all races, religion old and young gathered on a beautiful Sunday for a good cause.
Shamsul Aizat was killed in an accident in December 24, 2015 at KESAS, may you rest in peace.
The video clip I took during the ride. We shall remember you, Shamsul Aizat

Friday, March 18, 2016

Restoran Subang 2 Bak Kut Teh 梳邦2好味肉骨茶

The food hunt continues with our weekly bicycle ride and one of the nights we found ourselves in Subang 2 for a home cooked food and Bak Kut Teh encounter (recommended by Johnny). The food at Subang 2 Bak Kut Teh was awesome. Fatty, the boss was waiting and getting ready to prepare the food for us. It was a pre-ordered meal by Randy and the meal was treated by him. Thank you Randy for the wonderful dinner.
The minute we entered the shop Fatty instructed his staff to start the cooking, this was our Chinese wine free range chicken soup and we surely waited patiently.
A simple stir fried white cabbage with dried shrimps, a truly home cooked style dish.
The black Bak Kut Teh with bitter gourd hidden in it, it was obviously very sinful but the taste was magnificent, the gravy went super well with our rice.... more rice please.
Another simple dish, a fried egg omelette with chopped long beans just like what we used to eat at home. I just love egg dishes.... give me more.
Nam Yue deep fried pork belly would be lovely if we were to eat it with a glass of beer.
The highlight of the dinner was the super delicious Chinese wine chicken soup, would be great if we could have more of it .... now that I am drooling as I write this blog.
For the first time I see a dish of poached cut brinjal coated with gravy un-stirred. Fatty told us to stir ourselves before we eat it and it turned out be super delicious. Thumb up Madam Liew for such a great creation.
Gino had the honour to stir the brinjal's special. 
Steamed Tilapia fish with finely blended black beans sauce was yummy.
You can reach for Fatty (Liew) for further more info. Have a good fun venturing in this corner of Subang 2.
Subang 2 Bak Kut Teh
No. 6 Jalan Zuhrah U5/BE
Shah Alam
Tel: 016-203-9922 (Mr. Liew)
GPS : 3.161996, 101.547654

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Siew Yuk at Huang Kee Chicken Rice, Hong Seng Coffee Shop, Sec 17 PJ

The queue was long at the chicken rice stall when we arrived at Hong Seng Coffee Shop at Section 17, Petaling Jaya. The time was about 1.00pm on a Sunday afternoon and there was no sign of Siew Yuk anymore at the stall. We told ourselves we will do with only fried chicken and will be fine if the roast pork have already been sold out though we were disappointed.
Brian and Jason who were at the queue persistently negotiated with the main man for Siew Yuk. Both of them managed to get him to pull out a slab of the magical meat from the underneath the counter. Well done boys I had the chance to taste the famous roast pork. The skin really crackled and the meat was tender and delicious.
The fried chicken was equally gorgeous with crispy sheet of skin that just seems like loosely covering on the juicy meat. 
The business was so good that we have to serve ourselves with the food, at the time while we were enjoying the food, the lady boss hung out a "Close" sign at the stall. That is one chicken rice stall that is so popular and it is worth the while to wait for the food. Check it out and have fun eating the Siew Yuk.
Hong Seng Kopitiam
Jalan 17/29
Petaling Jaya
GPS : 3.128474, 101.635249

Sunday, March 13, 2016

A Weekend to Ipoh by Bicycles & Trains

It was a Friday a plan for the weekend was laid out for a trip to Ipoh, we will be attending a Brompton cycling event in the historical city together with friends from Thailand, Singapore and other states. We started the journey from home to the nearest LRT station.
Setiawangsa station isn't too far from home and it's surely a convenient way to commute to KL Sentral.
KTM is showing good progress in improving their services and was told that more in the pipeline to promote its commuter trains especially the ETS (electric train service) for the intercity rail service.
The journey from Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh took approximately 2 hours, it was a pleasant ride. Here we were at Ipoh train station.
Kinta river has a path that is good for cycling with big trees well shaded and lovely to cycle.
Our first stop was at Yong Suan Coffee shop for its famous nasi kandar ayam merah, click here for more on this coffee shop.
We then checked into Ibis Style Hotel for the weekend, it was such a refreshing break after entering the air conditioned atmosphere. 
 Later in the evening, my cousin whom I have not seen for a while invited us for a sumptuous dinner at Restoran Pusing Public, the dinner was fabulous and Jo wanted to go back to eat again. Thank you bro!
 Meanwhile Jason has been busy bringing friends from Thailand to savour the delicous of Ipoh, I joined them for a round of snow beer at the old town and the snow beer was awesome.

Friends from Thailand and were ready for Bromptom Ipoh Mali Ride 2016.
Friends from Singapore they arrived at the wee morning and were equally excited about the gathering. It was such a lovely scene to see so many Bromptons gathered together and invaded Ipoh in style.
Cendol was also awesome at the old town and absolutely refreshing especially on a hot day cycling. We did a simple heritage trail with lots of photographs taken and most importantly everyone enjoy the moment..
Concubine Lane 二奶巷 is now getting popular and crowded with tourists during the weekends and public holidays. A small alley used to be a place for opium smoking and keeping mistresses. 
The Brompton Ipoh Mali Ride 2016 - Invasion of Old Ipoh Town.
We came back to Restoran Maysin for dinner and of course the snow beer while the bicycles were neatly parked at the verandah nearby.
On the second day of the ride Jason took us to Kg. Simee for a taste of its egg tarts before trying the so much talk of Bercham Char Siew Pao.
A must try egg tarts highly recommended by Jason, you could see a part of the video clips on these egg tart eating adventure here. Choy Kee Bakery
No 218, Lebuh 3, Kg Simee, 31400 Ipoh, Perak
Tel No : 05-545 4351, 012-532 2761, 017-511 1596
GPS : 4.618741, 101.108675
A new found place for a good and delicious Char Siew Pao at Restoran New Paradise, Bercham.
We took a loop around the north eastern part of Ipoh and enjoyed the ride with lovely scenery of the limestone hills.
One for the album at Lost World ,Tambun.
Have bike will travel and there will be more places to see. Let's get a bicycle and go.
This is the clip of our second group ride where we went to Bercham for Char Siew Pao and Kg. Simee for egg tarts.
It was an enjoyable weekend indeed in Ipoh for food, meeting new friends and we will be looking forward going for more bike packing adventures. Happy Cycling.