Best Kolo Mee In Town (So Said The Kuching Girl) **Stall is now closed unfortunately - Updated Aug 2018**

Every now and then, I crave for a good bowl of authentic Kolo Mee. What is Kolo Mee? Well, it's similar to Wanton Mee, has almost the same "liao" / ingredients, but the taste? It's something so special, you can't quite replicate it out of Kuching (a small town in Sarawak, where the dish originates from). Well, I believe that I have found THE best Kolo Mee stall in our Little Red Dot. So good that it's worth an amazing race of a bus ride from CBD during a very short lunch hour. To sum it all up - it was well worth it.

Nothing too extravagant, just simple plain unadulterated good bowl of noodle.

"Less is more" they say :)

Pastries, The Local Way @ Ming Xiang Tai

One cannot talk about Penang and not have food come up as a red hot topic. There is something for everyone here, be it Chinese, Malay, Indian, Peranakan, anything ranging from the humble hawker fare to restaurants, cafes, coffee shops. The options are just mind boggling if you are a keen foodie (and have the stomach space for a sampling of this and that). Unfortunately I do not have a bottomless pit for a stomach and I can only consume so much (so many more I've yet to sink my teeth into), and also, unfortunately, with age hurriedly catching up with me, the waistline is also rapidly expanding with every mouthful of food I consume, and every gaspful of air I breathe.
I discovered this yummylious little shop just next to the where the famous Chendol stalls are, and a quick visit there yielded me some extra kilos in weight after succumbing to the wonderfully aromatic local Chinese pastries freshly baked in-store.

Rara And Reddy Goes To Penang - Muntri Grove

Penang! It was a short 1.5 hour of drive from Alor Setar, after dozing off for a snooze in the taxi we hired, the next thing we know, Penang Bridge has come in sight. It was somewhat a surreal experience, as the only time I have seen the bridge was on the telly, or from school textbooks from (obviously) many years ago. Penang is located almost way up north (northwest to be exact) of the Malayan Peninsula. It shares its borders with (the other small) state of Kedah and Perak. Despite being the second smallest state (by land mass) in Malaysia, it is the second largest city by population. Yup , that is how dense this little state is. Penang also holds the esteemed recognition from UNESCO as a World Heritage Site (the other 4 in the country being Lenggong Valley in Perak, Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak, Kinabalu Park in Sabah and the historical town of Melaka). Can you believe that this is my first visit here! So close to home and yet it took me many years to find myself landing in this fascinating place steeped in years and years of rich history. I am such an ardent fan of anything old, and judging by the sheer amount of "oldness" within the vicinity of where I chose to bunk in for a 2 nights, I am thrilled beyond words and cannot wait to share what Rara and Reddy been up to in the city also known as the Pearl Of The Orient.

 
What more appropriate a choice than a charming boutique hotel housed in a compound of refurbished old shophouses. Simply lovely :)

Best Dim Sum @ Land Of Rice Fields

Looking back at the past few posts about this nondescript corner of Malaysia, it would be safe to assume that food was the biggest, if not the greatest highlight of the trip to Land Of The Rice Fields. Well, that's one perfect way to be in touch with the local culture so to speak - through food. For me, traveling is about experiencing new things, new sensations, new food, new sights. Shopping is usually last on the agenda on my list of "must-dos", sometimes, it doesn't make it on the list. But food, that is one thing that I cannot overlook. So here I am, on another foodie adventure, this time a hearty breakfast of fabulous dim sum, in one of the most unlikely of places - a Chinese temple (well kind of, they share the same building).

The dim sum restaurant is located at the front of the building complex

Well this is a improvised version of the traditional pushcart.

Display windows definitely made life easier for a Mandarin illiterate hehe.

On The Prowl For Street Food @ Alor Setar

The mere mention of Malaysian street food puts me in a culinary sensory overdrive. There's just something different about how they make it, perhaps it's the air there, or the water they use, perhaps the chickens are happier there, the cows too. I don't know. Whatever it is, Malaysian street food will always be the go-to for comfort food whenever I pay a visit across the border. Like street food the world over, hygiene standards can be questionable (most times), think cooking right next to a gutter or smoggy road side, or having ingredients exposed wide open to the stirrings of dust, flies, bugs. Well, ya, you get the picture. If you can look past the often questionable standard of hygiene, the food is, in all it's glory, glorious. Go with an open mind, and you may just find yourself pleasantly pleased. Our adventure in the Land Of The Rice Fields continues...