This stall boasts a variety of vegetables and meat, mostly cooked with sambal (shrimp chili relish), prepared as a curry, or a rendang (spiced coconut milk stew). Pick any or every side dish to go with the rice and pay up before you take it to your table. A highly customizable dish, you'd be spoilt for choice at Annie's Nasi Lemak.
I opted for the regular nasi lemak ikan bilis (anchovy) with egg because in my mind that's what the original nasi lemak is. This simple 'original' also happens to be my favourite version cause I'm not great at spicy food.
I was certainly pleased with the coconut rice. It was fragrant and not too oily. The sambal, with its sweet and spicy, went well with the rice and egg. The fried peanuts and anchovies added saltiness and crunch, and the cucumber slices calmed that spiciness down.
Singapore probably has the best chicken rice, but who's to say Penang can't have great ones too?
This one that I got was decent. It did take a while to get to the table though. My hunger turned this good plate of chicken rice great, and I have absolutely nothing to complain about. Rice was fragrant and not too oily; chicken was tender and cooked just right - no rubbery or tough, chewy nonsense.
Infamous or not, the queue was absolutely worth it for that fragrant coconut milk and quality gula Melaka, which is the signature chendul flavour.
This famous Teochew chendul is a bowl of shaved ice mixed with coconut milk, gula Melaka (palm sugar), kidney beans and jelly noodles (made from rice flour and some coloring to form a green worm-like jelly).
Join the people who stand and eat by the roadside like a champ, or be a wimp like me and head inside for a shade and a seat. I was told that we'd be charged extra to bring our chendul inside, but I was too excited, already having the bowls in my hands that I honestly didn't bother.
Penang's version of wantan mee is a dish of springy egg noodles tossed in a sweet-salty dark sauce, topped with yu choy, char siew slices and of course, boiled pork dumplings (wantan).
I was served the wantan mee without the wantans, which later came in a bowl of soup. So I gladly put the wantans into my half-eaten noodles and carried on eating.
The noodles had the ideal texture. It was firm and springy like it should be. The wantan was meaty, fragrant and a little soupy. It was great. I found myself however, struggling to finish the last bit of noodles that happened to be soaking in the leftover dark sauce. I would say that the sauce is a little too salty than what I'd prefer, so it definitely has to be mixed in well with the rest of the ingredients.
Whether it's the yellow noodles or bee hoon, they're cooked just the right texture. The prawn broth is rich, fragrant and not too spicy. Topped with shrimp, pork, egg, beansprouts, fried shallots and water spinach (kangkong), this is one flavoursome bowl. I highly recommend it.
There were too many to choose from: battered fish, prawn fritters, tofu, squid, five-spice pork rolls (Loh Bak or in some places Ngo Hiang), and so I told the nice lady that I wanted a little bit of everything for two people.
When it came to the table, I thought it was way too much for two, but since I ordered it and paid RM11 for it, we finished it. We are big eaters after all.
It was enjoyable to discover and taste a plate of random 'snacks'. My favorite had to be the deep fried pork. It was lean, tender and went really well with some chili or dark soy sauce.
This was truly a fun dish to have on the side, to fill that space on the table, and to share.
You can get Char Kueh Tiao in any state in Malaysia, but none of them will measure up to a classic Penang version.
That being said, I don't think I've ever had a Char Kueh Tiao in Malaysia as pricey as this one, but then again I've never had one that's this generous with their varying ingredients.
Served on a piece of banana leaf on a paper plate, this version has the essential flat rice noodles (kueh tiao), fried with shrimps, Chinese sausages, cockles, eggs, beansprouts and chives. Simply satisfying, Penang has definitely set the benchmark for Char Kueh Tiaos.
Grilled skewered chicken and pork tenders, served with a side of lovely peanut satay sauce. Simply delicious. Ordered five of each at a total of RM11.
It made sense that this be the first cocktail my buddy and I get for his first visit to Singapore. He's a bartender and he'd been raving about getting an authentic Singapore Sling from its origins. We didn't get it at the Raffles Hotel, even though that's supposedly the birthplace, but where better to get it than at one of the most iconic landmarks in Singapore - MBS.
This drink is a refreshing summer cooler, which is suitable all year round in Singapore. Their interpretation of the classic cocktail uses Fords gin, Bénédictine, cherry brandy, Dry Curaçao, fresh pineapple and lime juice, soda water and Peychaud's bitters.
This cocktail leads with the pineapple juice, with subtle cherry and Bénédictine undertones. It's an easy-drinking sweet concoction that the Rise Lounge serves in a snifter.
The Cufflink Club's known for their top-notch cocktails, and you're likely to stick around for a few; but what to do when you've got the munchies?
Don't leave. This place serves the perfect cure for your grub problems - freshly made oven-bake pizza. It doesn't look like much but it's all you need - stringy cheese, delicious sauce and a crispy, thin crust. Get the Salami Pizza if you want it spicy; it's peppered all around.
Dig into that pizza and you're probably ready for a couple more of whatever you're drinking.
Grilllo serves such tender prime beef to go with their truffle-drizzled short grain rice.
For this bowl, go ahead and break that perfect Onsen egg and mix it all up in that rice; I bet that's what it's there for. In fact, mix everything in the bowl to get that balance of flavor with every mouthful, and that added surprise of crispy garlic bits with each bite.
Not shown: A simple cabbage and carrot slaw that comes on the side, for some extra dietary fibre.
This one's a bowl of fresh (perhaps frozen) blueberries and cranberries over snowy milk-ice, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Hidden underneath the shaved ice is a chunk of red bean paste. It seemed like a strange combo to me at first but the sweetness from the ice cream complemented the slightly sourish berries and the shaved ice helped disguise the red bean paste texture. All in all, it works - edible and enjoyable.
