Archive for Indian

Naan bread and Chicken tandoori @ Pak Putra, Kota Laksamana

October 13, 2007 · Filed under Indian, Mamak

Finally i took my courage to try this, cheese naan and tandoori chicken at Pak Putra Restaurant after JAM and LWN kept on recommending this to me. They told me the cheese naan and chicken tandoori are the best in Melaka. I just could not wait coming to try after they said this…but on the other side of me, i very reluctant to come over. People who know me knows that i do not really know or appreciate those naan bread or indian food. However, last night hubby asked me again if we go Pak Putra to have our dinner. Very reluctantly, i said yes.

The green and big words of Pak Putra which you can’t go wrong. Located at the main road of Kota Laksamana, you can find so easily. This is an outdoor authentic Pakistani restaurant is owned by a Pakistani owner.

Both of us ordered teh tarik ice and mind you, never ever order this again when you visit Pak Putra, because this was the worst teh tarik i tasted so far!!! The taste was so mild, just like a plain water to me. (>.<”)

Initially both of us ordered cheese naan (after been recommended by LWN that their cheese naan is the best) but it took quite long time to serve us. I was very hungry at the moment and i worried that i’m not able to finish one whole cheese naan alone, so i changed my order to nasi lemak. The nasi lemak comes with quite big portion of pandan fragrant rice, but very small portion of the sambal, hard boiled egg and fried anchovies. However, i quite like the rice because it was really nicely smell with the pandan and the rice was quite soft and freshly served.

The cheese naan. The naan, slapped against the clay inner sides of the tandoor to cook above the coals in the bottom, was evenly browned, light and elastic, full of bready, over-warm aroma and flavours, and retained its bounce even after its cooled. The best naan i had!!! Besides cheese naan, they also serve garlic naan, butter naan, planta naan, double cheese naan and plain naan.

Here comes the main one, chicken tandoori. The chicken tandoori i had before were mostly overcooked and hard to bite. But this was not! Pak Putra’s chicken tandoori marinated with rempah and infuses spices was grilled to perfection. It was not overcooked or dry at all. The chicken was so juicy and the meat was so tender. The chicken tandoori also comes with their home made sauce, which took me quite some time to taste what flavour was that. I tasted mint and lime flavour. Hubby said chili padi. I did not taste the spicyness of the sauce because i think i already immune to the spicy taste already! hahaha.. I would definitely come again for the naan, tandoori chicken and other Indian authentic food!!!

I noticed most of the people here not indian, but a lot chinese and foreigners!!! I bet this Pak Putra restaurant is included in the Lonely Planet or those popular traveller’s forum. Please do check Jason Mumbles for his review on Pak Putra Restaurant. This is another Malacca good food that should included in your list!!

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Penang – Part Three (060907)

September 13, 2007 · Filed under Chinese, Hawker food, Indian, Mamak, Travel

We departed from YMCA to Kheng Pin coffee shop at junction of Jalan Sri Bahari and Jalan Penang. Recommended food here is lor bak.

The crowd in Kheng Pin coffeeshop in the morning.
The lor bak. No doubt, the lor bak is really nice. Not oily and the skin is thin and crispy. I love the fried soting the most. But small plate like this costs us RM7!! We had no choice because only RM7 per plate only can get the fried sotong, as per the boss, a cocky boss.
The cocky boss, saying that “ no RM7, no fried sotong, my fried sotong is the best”. OMG…I really feel like …eeeerr….what?? However, we got no choice lor…wanted to try his fried sotong ma…

Char koay tiaw , lam mee and penang prawn mee. My preference are, char koay tiaw, penang prawn mee and lastly lam mee.
The boss asked me whether want in mee or meehoon when I was ordering penang prawn mee n lam mee. I asked my friends, TSE said mix.
After all only we realised that actually all of us do not like mee, but meehoon. What –lar…
After that, we departed to Penang Hill. But we saw the Kayu Restaurant open. We were so excited, because I had tried to come here twice yesterday! We quickly stopped by. Erm…what is so special about this Kayu Restaurant? I have longed for their tall roti tisu.


The crispy roti canai.

The tallest roti tisu I ever seen!! How long is the roti tisu? It is equivalent to three banana leaf plates! Creamer and honey covered the roti tisu. It’s sweet and crispy. The staff here so friendly, even willingly to take photo for us. This roti tisu costs us RM4.

After had our roti tisu, we departed to Penang Hill. The way to Penang Hill is quite easy. Just follow Ait Itam sign board. We reached Penang Hill at about 1010am. TSE quickly went to buy the ticket. RM4 per person. She managed to buy 1020am ticket.

Originally Penang Hill is called Flagstaff Hill by the British Administrator. However, the locals have always affectionately referred it as Penang Hill or Bukit Bendera. According to history Bukit Bendera got its name from the flag fluttering from a flagpole on Bel Retiro, the home of Penang’s governor during the British rule. The flag was used as a beacon to Fort Cornwallis. Bel Retiro and some other colonial houses can still be seen standing majestically on Penang Hill.

Visitors can take the cable train up to Penang Hill with a charge of RM 4 per ticket. It will take about 30 minutes to reach the top of Penang Hill. The cable train is one-of-a-kind in Southeast Asia. The construction of the railway was completed in the year 1906.The train was going through the tunnel.
The operating board in the train.
Finally we reaching …top of the hill…..

Few sceneries photos taken from the Penang Hill. But the it was cloudy on that day. We able to see the long Penang bridge, but it was quite blur. In fact, for me, there is nothing in Penang Hill.

The only thing is we took the train going up the hill. Up the hill, there is nothing except admiring the Penang view, but it was hot snny day, the air was not cool, but hot, also the sceneries were not promising also. We spent about one hour there.

Group photo taken at Penang hill.

After Penang hill, we continue to Kek Lok Si Temple. Of course, we looking for the recommended asam laksa near Kek Lok Si.
We found the asam laksa, so as usual we look for parking. There was a man trying to guide us park at a small lane nearby. We did not know whether we could park there. He demanded RM2 then. No choice, got to give him.

Here it is….the “bestest” asam laksa I tasted so far!! The uncle was so kind and generous to let me take photograpy. He even asked me if I need to go in to take photography. I just told him that the asam laksa is very nice, we come over after recommended by other people. Cut the crap…here we go….
The asam laksa soup base. The minced fish meat already included inside the soup base. Two big pot to cater the good demand.

The asam laksa is so yummy! At least, this is the best asam laksa I tasted so far and till now, I still miss this!. Only RM2.30 per bowl. The soup are spicy and sour. I felt in love at the first scoop. OMG…I really miss this…
Everyone of us were so happy and satisfied with the asam laksa and the boss also not arrogant even though he is asam laksa been recommended in Penang Rasa Rasa book and local newspaper.
When we on our way to our car, we saw few men standing near our car and there was a big lorry at the roadside. Once we reached our car, a lady from the coffeeshop scolding us for simply parked the car and resulted the lorry could not go in the lane. We explained that we did not know as there was a man collected RM2 from us and directed us to park here. The lady even scolded us that the man who collected the money from us was a drug addict and scolded us why we gave him money. Hey…hello…how we know that he is a drug addict? His face did not write “I’m a drug addict”. Then why not you stop or tell us when you saw us giving him the money? We were all very angry with this lady!! Luckily the men were reasonable and understand the situation.
After that, we continue our way to Kek Lok Si temple which is just about 5mins drive up to the hill.

The Temple of Supreme Bliss, or better known as Kek Lok Si temple, stands majestically on the hillside overlooking the town of Ayer Itam. It is the largest and best known temple in Penang and also one of the finest Buddhist temples in South-east Asia.

The chief monk of the Goddess of Mercy Temple in Pitt Street is the one that conceive the Kek Lok Si project with the support of the consular representative of China in Penang. The project received the sanction of the Manchu Emperor Kuang Hsi, who bestowed a tablet and gift of 70,000 volumes of the Imperial Edition of the Buddhist Sutras.

The construction of the temple started in 1893. In 1930, the Pagoda of Rama VI, named after the Thai king who laid the foundation stone was completed. The Pagoda is also known as the Pagoda of 10,000 Buddhas. This pagoda features gardens, a turtle pond, shrines and beautiful sculptures. There are many souvenir shops leading up to the temple which offers good bargains. The Pagoda is built in tiers and it combines a Chinese octagonal base with a middle tier of Thai design, as well as a Burmese crown, reflecting the temple’s embrace of both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism.

I was so busy admiring the beauty of the carvings, craftsmanship, the statues, sceneries until I took only so little photos from Kek Lok Si Temple. After Kek Lok Si, we visited the Pagoda of Rama VI. The entrance to Pagoda is RM2 per person.

Me, PL and TSE successfully climbed to the highest level of the Pagoda. The photo was taken from the highest level of the Pagoda. I forgot to count how many level as I was a bit dizzy and tired climbing the spiral staircase!! Haha…

Next, we visited the 30-m (100-ft) bronze statue of Greatly Compassionate and Sagely Kuan Yin Bodhisattva. We followed the signs and get into the lift. The lift costs us RM4 for two way for each person.

The lift take us to a spacious deck with great views of Georgetown.
The beauty of Kuan Yin with a bottle of holy water. The bronze statue Kuan Yin already completed. But they are building a shade for Kuan Yin and it is in construction.
There is a average size temple and serene garden on top the hill. Along the way to the temple, there are 12 animals statues. I took photo with dog (my year) and dragon (hubby’s year). The environment here is so peaceful.
The time was around 5.30pm. We quickly got down the hill as we planned to go Bukit Tambun to have our seafood dinner. We worried to lost our way as we never been there before.
The only Penang bridge photo that I managed to shot. ._.”’

The sky getting darker, it was started to rain. Luckily it was not heavy rain and just few minutes. We crossed the bridge and we entered to Seberang Perai and Bukit Mertajam. But this is not the right way. I remembered I saw Bukit Tambun signboard when we were on the way going to Georgetown from Ipoh. I was pretty sure that we must go in to North-South highway in order to reach Bukit Tambun. We turned and turned inside the town for about 30mins before we able to find our way to the N-S highway. Once we reached Bukit Tambun tol, we asked the operator how to go seafood village. We showed him the address. Turn right and go straight, his instruction. We followed. But seems not right after we entering a village, whereby there are two rows of houses on your both side. We stopped by and asked the local people there. Yes, we were right. He directed us to go straight to the end. Within 3mins, we found the restaurant.

This is the seafood restaurant we are looking for. I found out this restaurant from Rasa Malaysia (http://www.rasamalaysia.com/2007/02/seafood-fest-bukit-tambun-penang.html (blog, recommended the food here good and cheap. Word just could not judge how delicious the seafood is. Let the photos judge….


Fresh scallops on the half shell; steamed with only soy sauce, garlic, bird’s eye chilies and shredded garlic @ RM11.
Tom Yam Stingray. It is so sourish and spicy.
Mantis Prawn @ RM30. The flesh is so sweet. It is unexpected big! When it was served infront of us, our eyes like O_O. I never see such big mantis prawn! My fav among all.
Oyster egg @ RM8 only. It is darn cheap because there is quite a lot big oysters inside.
Mix vegetables with “luo” @ RM20. This is so sweet and heavenly good!

Total for the meal was only RM90.20 included rice and Chinese tea. This was really under our expectation.

We were so happy with tonight’s dinner. Happy and full…we departed back to Georgetown at 7.30pm.
As the time was still early, we decided to hunt for shop that selling local products. We went to a shop at Lebuh Leith, just right opposite of The Chocolate Boutique. I spent more than RM50 there. OMG…I really overspent.

After that, while we was driving, we saw the New Lane hawker centre. It was so many people and stalls there. No wonder so many people recommended New Lane hawker centre.
One side of the hawker centre. Another side just opposite the lane.
The “Chu Cheong Chuk” stall. (Pig’s intestine porridge). The intestine just hang up in front of the stall. I just can’t help myself from take this photo!

Honestly, I did not eat that full in Bukit Tambun because I only take half of my rice. But my friends all were full already. So we just have a walk there. By the way, at some times, I really could not resist the nice food especially when I see the stall been recommended one.

TSE and LML said they are very full. Unable to eat anymore. But I was so wanted to try this chee cheong fun. Finally, PL agreed to share with me. I was so happy. We ordered small plate at only RM1.70.

What makes Penang chee cheong fun so special? Okay…Melaka one is plain chee cheong fun with white sesame seeds and chilli and tomato sauce. KL one with yong tau foo, but Penang one is also plain chee chong fun (also with whilte sesame seeds on top), but they got extra paste, which is Shrimp paste (hae-kor)! I think it would taste better if we mixed all the sauce and paste together with the chee cheong fun, which we didn’t.

After had our chee cheong fun, we back to YMCA. This ends our day.

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