Penang Culture Part II

Earlier this year, my darling wife and I visited Penang Culture for the first time.
We enjoyed it so much that we went back again and this time we brought the whole family!

Armed with a hearty appetite and a whole menu of goodies to choose from, we were in the mood for a feast! We ordered some familiar favourites from our first visit like the Penang Hokkien Prawn Noodles, Char Koay Teow and Penang Assam Laksa.

These are the new dishes we tried for this visit;

Assam Curry Fish Head ($25.95)

The biggest dish we ordered for the night's meal was the Assam Curry Fish Head.
Quite a few Fish Head expert eaters in my family (not me by the way) so this was an obvious choice for the Penang Tze Char section of their menu.

The fish head was really fresh and a good size. The menu says it's enough for 2 pax but I think you can easily share between a few more (unless you think you can whack the whole head alone!).
The Assam Curry was also very tasty and even though I am not a fan, I found myself scooping up the gravy more than a few times myself.

Penang Special Fried Rice ($7.65)

You'll find pineapple, raisins, chicken and prawns in this special fried rice.
I guess it's something to order if you're not in the mood for just plain rice.

Penang Thai Apple Chicken with Rice ($6.95)

Mein Brudder decided to order this dish because it actually sounded quite nice when we chanced upon it in the menu.

You have a nice chicken fillet that has been coated and fried to a nice crispy outside but still tender on the inside. Then it's topped off with some special 'homemade' sauce made up of apples and onions.
I guess this kind of reminds me of Thai Style Chicken when we have Tze Char but instead of the sweet Thai chilli sauce, we have this special apple sauce instead. Not too bad actually.

Gong Bao Mantis Prawns ($10.65)

This was a dish we didn't get to try on our first visit because it was sold out.
That's right - this dish is so popular that it sells out!!

And I have to say - I can see why it's so popular.... It's delicious!
It's actually prawns that have been coated in this special batter and then fried to perfection. And it's still crispy eben though it's completely covered with sauce! For this one, it's Gong Bao sauce but they also have Black Pepper and Lemon versions too!

Mein Brudder made a good observation when he compared this to the Coffee Chicken from Royal Kublai Khan restaurant.

Penang Cuttlefish Kangkong ($7.95)

Here's a favourite with a lot of people but it's becoming quite difficult to find a Halal place which has it. Well at least now you know you can come to Penang Culture!

Generous serving of greens but as usual there's never enough cuttlefish to go around.
Cos we're all so greedy :P

Pink Guava Ice Blended, Lychee Ice Blended, Bandung Chin Chow Ice Blended ($5.95 each)

Some cool refreshing drinks to wash down all the yummy food!
The Pink Guava was tangy and the Lychee was great because it was tasty and you actually get bits of the fruit so you know they use the real fruit in the ice blended.

The Bandung Chin Chow was a bit disappointing because it ended up being a little bland.
Maybe we've all got a sweet tooth.

Adam's Verdict:
Gong Bao Mantis Prawns 5/5 -- Penang Cuttlefish Kangkong 3.5/5 --
Penang Special Fried Rice 2/5 -- Assam Curry Fish Head 3/5 -- Lychee Ice Blended 4/5

Maryah's Verdict:
Gong Bao Mantis Prawns 4.5/5 -- Penang Cuttlefish Kangkong 2/5 --
Penang Special Fried Rice 3/5 -- Assam Curry Fish Head 2.5/5 -- Pink Guava Ice Blended 3.5/5

Azlan's Verdict:
Gong Bao Mantis Prawns 5/5 -- Penang Cuttlefish Kangkong 0.5/5 --
Penang Special Fried Rice 2/5 -- Assam Curry Fish Head 1/5 -- Assam Laksa 1/5
Penang Fried Koay Teow 1/5 -- Penang Thai Apple Chicken with Rice 2/5

Yana's Verdict:
Gong Bao Mantis Prawns 4/5 -- Penang Cuttlefish Kangkong 1/5 --
Penang Special Fried Rice 3/5 -- Assam Curry Fish Head 4.5/5 -- Assam Laksa 4/5
Penang Fried Koay Teow 3/5 -- Penang Thai Apple Chicken with Rice 3/5 --
Penang Hokkien Prawn Noodles 3/5 -- Bandung Chin Chow Ice Blended 0.5/5

Dad's Verdict:
Gong Bao Mantis Prawns 3/5 -- Penang Cuttlefish Kangkong 1/5 --
Assam Curry Fish Head 3.5/5 -- Assam Laksa 3/5 -- Penang Fried Koay Teow 3/5

Mum's Verdict:
Gong Bao Mantis Prawns 4/5 -- Penang Cuttlefish Kangkong 1/5 --
Assam Curry Fish Head 3.5/5 -- Assam Laksa 2/5 -- Penang Fried Koay Teow 3/5 --
Penang Hokkien Prawn Noodles 2/5

Both my Dad and Mum agree that the dishes here due have some authentic flavours of Penang but because they do mix it up (e.g. Thai cuisines etc) perhaps some of it is lost in translation. Short of making a trip to Penang, I guess this is a pretty good place to go to for Penang cuisine.

 Penang Culture

Changi Airport Terminal 2 Departure
Viewing Mall Level 3
#036-087-01

Tel: 6546 7793
www.penangculture.com.sg

Operating Hours: 10.30am til 10.00pm Daily
Last order at 9.30pm

KL Sedap Part 4: Nasi Kandar Pelita

My parents started driving up to KL for short trips since we were kids.
And the routine was almost always the same - leave the house at 6am, drive up to KL, makan Nasi Kandar and then finally check-in at the hotel.

We would literally drive straight to the Nasi Kandar and have lunch first. Kind of like a tradition.
Our Nasi Kandar place is actually Mohd Yaseen Nasi Kandar (along Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman) which my darling wife and I have had in a recent trip there.

But since her trip up to KL with a friend, she's been raving about the Nasi Kandar from Pelita.

I remember having it once but I can't really remember much.
And since our hotel this time was nearby a rather famous Pelita branch, Razali, Azim, my darling wife and myself decided to have a hearty lunch before heading out for shopping.

So what exactly is Nasi Kandar?

Apparently, Nasi Kandar actually originated from Penang and is basically mixed rice with an Indian influence. That means you'll get a wide spread of dishes including seafood (fish head, squid, crabs, prawns), meat (chicken, beef, mutton), vegetables and other assorted side dishes.

You'll normally also get a serving of veggie mix (normally cucumber, pineapple and carrot) as an accompaniment.

So far like normal right? But what makes Nasi Kandar unique?

Well just give the guy dishing out your food the 'word' and you'll find out.
Say 'kuah campur' and he'll put a little bit of each type of curry/gravy on display for you including the special 'kandar' gravy which is dark and tasty.

Don't worry he's not going to drown your rice in gravy until it becomes a soup.
But just how many types of gravy are we talking about here?

Well it's normally at least 5 types and mostly curry.
Crab curry, prawn curry, chicken curry, meat curry and Kandar gravy. If there's more then he'll put more.

So common things to have with your rice?
Chicken is a popular choice like fried chicken for example. They also have a special dish of chicken which is basically the chicken with the Kandar gravy. (RM6.00 per piece of chicken)

You can also have seafood. Prawns will cost between RM5.00-RM15.00 depending on size.
Squid will be about the same. And trust me - they have some pretty big prawns and squids.
You can even get a Fish Head (Curry) for about RM30.00.

Nasi Kandar with Ayam Kandar, Ladyfingers and Salted Egg

Nasi Kandar with Fried Chicken, Cabbage, Ladyfingers and Salted Egg

 The average price per plate for the servings above is about RM9.00.
And it may not look like much in the photos but believe you me that's a full meal right there.

For my Ayam Kandar though, it was a little different from what I usually have at the other Nasi Kandar place. It seems that here, they fry the chicken here first which mean they just put it in the gravy later.
This kinda makes the outer skin have that Kandar taste but the meat is completely clean.
Definitely a minus for me.

And apparently, Azim had the fish and he wasn't really impressed either.
Only the Fried Chicken seemed to be okay. Maybe because it was just simple.

And another thing. He may have put all the different curries and gravies for us but somehow it still turned out to be only a little bit of gravy on our plates. A case of stingy-with-the-gravy?
Normally at other (Pelita) outlets they apparently are a lot more generous and dish out the kuah the way it should be in Nasi Kandar.

Sotong Goreng Tepung (RM15.00)

We also decided to have the Sotong Goreng Tempura.
As this is only made to order, this would mean it was supposed to be fresh and hot and crispy but unfortunately this was not the case. I'm guessing it was sitting on the counter for awhile before the server finally picked it up and sent it to our table.

Anyways, don't expect much in the flavour department. The batter was completely tasteless.
But at least the squid itself was not overcooked.

Adam's Verdict:
Nasi Kandar 2.5/5 -- Sotong Goreng Tepung 2/5

Maryah's Verdict:
Nasi Kandar 2.5/5 -- Sotong Goreng Tepung 3/5

Razali's Verdict:
Nasi Kandar 2/5 -- Sotong Goreng Tepung 3/5

Azim's Verdict:
Nasi Kandar 2.5/5 -- Sotong Goreng Tepung 3/5

Pelita is actually a very famous Nasi Kandar chain in KL so I have no doubt that it's actually a nice place to have Nasi Kandar. Maybe we just went to the wrong outlet on the wrong day. Maybe next time other outlets might be better.

Oh. Any by the way. Avoid going during lunch hour unless you're okay with a large crowd.

Nasi Kandar Pelita

No 149 Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tel: +60 3 21625532
www.pelita.com.my

Operating Hours:
24 Hours Daily (Closed between 1pm til 2pm on Fridays)