Makan Trip to Penang (Part 2 of 3)

Continued from Part 1...

Breakfast in the hotel was served from 6:30 AM to 10:30 AM, so we woke up early and reached the restaurant at around 7:30 AM. The restaurant is located nearby the swimming pool and the beach, so it was quite cozy. Except us, the rest of the diners were foreigners from the West and Middle East. The breakfast choices were not that extensive, mostly on Western food and some local delights like nasi lemak and Teow Chew porridge, but I personally enjoyed it very much. Like usual, I got some salad and fruits as my starter, and the rest of the foods followed through (see some pictures below). Omelets were made on the spot by the chefs, and diners were just crazy about it! Waffles and pancakes were made fresh on the spot too. Once they were out for sometime and were left cold, the chefs would brought them away and made fresh ones to make sure we had hot waffles and pancakes. Fruit juices available included apple, orange, pineapple, guava and mango. Espresso, cappuccino, latte and local coffee were also available. I was contented with the breakfast.

Breakfast: Yogurts, water melon, papaya, greens, olives, smoked fish

Breakfast: Grilled tomato, beef sausage, chicken sausage, cheese, smoked fish, beef ham, chicken ham, pastry

Omelet

As Park Royal Hotel is situated next door, I was wondering what kind of breakfast they offered to their guests. Holiday Inn is a 4-star hotel and Park Royal is of 5-star, so I guess they must have better breakfast selection than us. So we walked over and checked out their restaurant for breakfast. I knew we were being knocked down when we entered the restaurant. At the entrance, I saw a counter serving fruit juice. Our fruit juice came out from bottle, and theirs, oh my, made fresh on the spot! The counter was full of fruits, water melons, carrots, celeries, oranges, apples, guavas, and so on. Walked around the restaurant, and found that they had more choices of foods. Anyway, I guess we get what we pay for.

Went to New World Park for lunch. Ordered char koay teow again (after all, this is one of Penang popular foods). This time, it was char koay teow special, RM6.50 per plate. Look at it (see the picture below), the prawns were huge! Compared to the char koay teow that we ate on yesterday, this was far better and tastier. Also ordered other foods like fried oysters, Chinese dumpling, ice kacang and other foods. The fried oysters was good to me. At only RM5, I say it was a good deal. Unlike those that I ate in KL, in which they are more flour than oysters, this one had generous amount of oysters and egg (see picture below). The Chinese dumpling, bah chang, was bad. The glutinous rice was not cooked and thus hard. I was rather excited at first with the ice kacang when I first saw its offers: you can add fresh fruit to your ice kacang. So I ordered my ice kacang with mixed fruits: banana, mango, papaya, water melon, and topped it up with a scoop of ice cream (see picture below). To my disappointment, it didn’t taste as good as it sounded. Well, its appearance was already so-so, and its taste was just… plain! This ice kacang with mixed fruits cost RM3.80, while the ice kacang with water melon (also found in the picture below) cost RM3.00.

Char koay teow: Look at the prawns! (RM6.50)


Fried Oysters: Look good, taste good too! (RM5.00)


Ice Kacang with Fruits

After lunch, we went to look for afternoon tea. Went to look for asam laksa and “fried ice” dessert located nearby the Kek Lok Temple. Too bad the “fried ice” (still wondering what is it!) stall was closed, and I didn’t have chance to taste it. We didn’t try the asam laksa, as I don’t fancy it at all, ha ha!! Went up to the dam above the temple and took a nice scenery view of Penang here. Next, drove to Penang Hill but the hill was closed for some sort of maintenance of the tram. I didn’t feel a waste for not visiting it as my sole purpose was not to visit it but to EAT! So we went to a nearby shop for some little snack and cendol again!

As there was still some time to kill before dinner, we went to the Botanical Garden. Besides seeing many people exercising and jogging under the hot sun, we also saw many monkeys on the green. Ones of the most popular monkeys that caught the visitors’ attention were the baby monkey and its mother. So adorable!

Baby monkey and its mother

Continue to Part 3...

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