Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Drive For Food - Fantastic Journey of Fantastic 4

Note : Long post with lots of pics ahead....

As some of you are aware, Fantastic 4/ACT (Apple Crumble Team) were picked for the final round of The Star's Drive For Food. The two teams comprising of the four of us; Jackson, Precious Pea, Teckiee and myself had earlier won RM100 each for our video submission in the first round. We have not spent time longer than a few meals together (that's the truth!) and decided to throw caution to the wind at the possibility of spending so much time together and losing our sanity when we travel together. Hahaha.....Well came 3rd Nov, we started our fantastic journey from Kuala Lumpur to Penang with an overnight stay. As it turned out, we not only enjoyed the journey but became closer friends than before. The four of us worked well together and I'm indeed proud to be part of such a wonderful team.

The Star will be posting up the 10 teams video for voting and this contributes 20% of the total points to be awarded. Teams were required to come up with a 3 minute travelogue video - The task was to recommend places to eat (and some places to visit) to a friend who would like to take a leisurely 8 hour drive from KL to Penang. So, with that in mind and a Canon DVD camcorder in hand, we took off at 8:20 am on Saturday from Menara Star with great excitement.

I only have random snapshots of the places we went to and food we ate as we were simply too busy to be taking pictures for our blog and were racing against time. Some we took as backup material whereas after clocking in into our hotel, we had some time to take more photos of our dinner in New Lane, Penang (hence more pics from there). We barely ate enough as it was really a touch and go situation and were hungry most of the time though we made quite a number of food/snacks stops. So, here's a very summarised post on our journey to Penang and my longest post yet (lots of pics!).
Pan Heong
Our first stop was at Pan Heong Restaurant in Batu Caves. Read Precious Pea's earlier visit to this place HERE. Pan Heong Restaurant is located at No. 2, Jalan Medan Batu Caves 2, Medan Batu Caves. Contact No : 03-6187 7430. Opening Hours 8.00 am - 3.30 pm.
Mee Goreng
And what did we have here??? Mee Goreng, delicious Malay style fried noodles. We only had this dish. It was sad to leave here, having just that alone as Pan Heong serves lots of other tasty goodies. Sob! Sob!
Yik Mun
At this point, my settings on the camera were wrong and some pics became overexposed. Anyway, one of the stops we made was for Yik Mun's Tanjung Malim pau (steam buns with a variety of fillings). Check out Rasa Rasa's article on this place HERE, located at 6043, Jalan Slim River, 35900 Tanjung Malim, Perak. Contact No : 05-459 6006, Opening Hours : 9.00 am - 9.00pm.
Roast Duck Noodles
For lunch, we made a stopover at Pun Chun for lunch. I had the Roasted Duck noodles which tasted average. We also tried the Woo Kok (taro puff) and it was excellent. As usual, the four of us gulped down our food here and wish we had more time to savour them. Too bad we didn't have time to make a stop here on the way back or else I would have surely bought some more Woo Kok to take home. Pun Chun is located at 40, Main Road, Bidor. Contact No : 05- 434 1554. Read and see lovely pics from EatingAsia on this place HERE.

We had also made a stop at Aun Kheng Lim on the way but I didn't take photos then. The salt baked chicken from Aun Kheng Lim was simply delicious, the four of us actually devoured the one we ordered on Saturday on the spot! Actually, we were hungry (yet again) at that time too...we were like piranhas and we cleaned the meat off in minutes! The following pics were taken the next day on Sunday when we collected our orders (of course, we just had to get more of these delicious birdies!) on the way back to Kuala Lumpur.
Aun Kheng Lim 1
Arriving in Ipoh on the way back on Sunday almost near to closing time, the folks there were still busy packing away orders.
Aun Kheng Lim  2
The large modified ovens for baking the chicken, wrapped in layered of what seems to be like tracing paper to me and buried under grains of coarse salt. I'm getting hungry as I'm writing this! hahaha....
Aun Kheng Lim 3
You want these birdies? You know the number to call. Aun Kheng Lim is located
at No. 24, Jalan Theater off Jalan Raja Musa Aziz (Anderson Road), Ipoh. Check out a pic of the birdie and other Ipoh goodies from Masak-Masak's post HERE.

Finally, the rush was over when we managed to check into Cititel Penang in time and we headed off to New Lane (Lorong Baru) next to Sunway Hotel, for our dinner. Having more time on our hands, we were glad to be able to sit down and really enjoy our meal here whereas previously, we were rushing through almost everything. Feeling famished, we ordered quite a number of items from the hawker stalls there.
Duck Meat Kway Teow Theng
My fave Duck Meat Kway Teow Th'ng (flat noodles with soup). The soup was nice and sweet (I'm not sure whether it's natural or MSG aided as after all these years of eating out, I've become MSG tolerant. Hee Hee...) and with the added bonus of the bits of crispy lard, I finished this bowl almost entirely on my own!
Porridge
Precious Pea's order of Chee Cheong (intestines!) Porridge. I took a spoonful of it and decided I didn't really like it as it had a smell which I'm not accustomed to :o)
Chee Cheong Fun
Another one of my fave dish, Har Ko (Prawn Paste) Chee Cheong Fun - Rice Noodle Rolls. I enjoyed the sauce as it was not too strong and the chee cheong fun itself was smooth and the generous amout of sesame seeds sprinkled made it even tastier.
Or Chien Oyster Omelette
Or chien "Oyster Omelette". Hmmm...I think Oprah would love this double O dish, haha...Well, the oysters here were huge and fresh and the eggs were tasty, a true delight!
Char Kway Teow
Now, this plate of Char Kway Teow (fried flat noodles) may look good with the big prawns and that bit of crabmeat but my tastebuds didn't agree. It lacked the wok hei and tasted rather ordinary, almost unworthy of being tagged as "Penang" Char Kway Teow.
Penang Lobak
We all enjoyed this mixed plate of Penang Lobak. A mixture of deep fried prawn fritters and meat rolls and century egg; rather tasty eaten with a chilli sauce dip. I recall seeing contestants on Fear Factor USA recoiling in horror as they had their first taste of century egg...LOL! That challenge would have been so easy peasy on us!
Grilled Chicken Wings
Grilled Chicken Wings - if you like it sweet, you'll love this. I quite like this :o)
Popiah - Spring Roll
Popiah - Fresh Spring Rolls with a difference. These beauties were served in a plate soaked with the some clear gravy which I think it's from the cooked turnips; the main ingredient used as a filling. Moist and juicy, we enjoyed each bite of this.

Being full but anticipating hunger later (hahaha...), we decided that we should get something to munch in the hotel as we'll be staying up late, editing our final videos for submission the next afternoon. We settled on one of Penang's well known Apom Manis (sweet pancakes) and bought different varieties back (banana, corn and , sweetened coconut). It was here that I found out that there's also pandan flavoured Apom Manis too!
Apom Manis 1


Apom Manis 2
These banana filled pancakes looked like a "stoned" smiley face without a smile. Hahaha....(Note the greenish colour apom-those are the pandan flavoured ones).
Apom Manis 3
All in all, we love most of the food in Penang and in Ipoh and ...well, practically all the other places we went to along the way (sorry, no pics on those other places). But most of all, we just enjoyed ourselves tremendously (apart from editing the video!) and told ourselves that we should make another trip like this, MINUS the pressure of racing against time so that we can enjoy our food! Here's to our team!!!
The Fantastic Four Minus One
Fantastic 4/ACT minus me, someone has to take the photo, right???


Tomorrow is a holiday, looking forward to more rest :o). To my readers who are celebrating Deepavali, may you all have a joyous celebration!


You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job. ~ Laurence J. Peter



25 comments:

Precious Pea said...

My Hubby said the camera effect makes the oysters look big. I told him it was indeed big but he was not convince. He requested to take a drive to Penang so that I could prove it to him. LOL!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful spread of food! Glad that you guys made your way to Ipoh without much problem :)

Meng Keat said...

I recognized you...the standard pose of TK. What a fantastic trip for food...I miss the Har Ko Chee Cheong Fu, know any place in KL served this?

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

I've been eating only buns the whole day due to the flu, and opening your blog is like attempting suicide. Aaarrrgghhhh.

Anonymous said...

Wah, everything also nice. I want to go here too. I think I have been to this place in Ipoh where so many stalls in this corner coffee shop?
Most of your food here seems to be at Ipoh.
Wah, the roast duck mee and the kueh teow soup and chee cheong fun and aiyoh.....everything lah...hungry liow.

ilene said...

You and your gang must be very exhausted by now! Aiyah that New Lane in Penang not so interesting wan. I should have thrown in my suggestions prior to your trip.

Anyway, now I know where to bring you - Pan Heong Rest for their tasty porridge and spring rolls. Too bad you just managed to eat the mee goreng. When you're there next, give me a tinkle and I'll come running. I live very nearby you know.

Anonymous said...

Yer killing me.. WMW..!! can we have one of this trips.. when i come home..?? please.. please..please..?? pretty please..??

mh said...

ha ha... last pic at Pun Chun Bidor :-). I don't think their wantan noodle is nice, few "kon lou" mee at pasar (opposite Pun Chun) a lot better than this.

Anonymous said...

Wat an adventure!
Makes me feel like hitting the road now!

In btw, the pics still looks gorgeous eventhough u said theres overexp.!
@_@.... (drool)

New Kid on the Blog said...

Glad you guys enjoyed it and managed to find food.
I never know the oysters omlette there looks so big... like PP's hubby said, could it be camera effect? :D

wmw said...

Precious P : You can see the oyster next to the chopsticks and use that as a scale...of course better to get him to drive you to Penang to eat again! LOL!

jason : Sigh...wished you were there !

kusahi keat : Sorry??? What standard pose of TK??? Recognized me? You can find Har Ko Chee Cheong Fun in Paramount, PJ and at Kafe Delectables in Tesco Mutiara as for KL, mmm...can't think of any right now.

Lyrical L : Hahaha...so funny lah. Get well soon!

judy : Judy, you stay in Malaysia for 2 months lah...can go there also! LOL...

ilene : Ilene...New Lane I guess it still one of the better ones? Where else? Will go there next time...Okay ah, will call you! :o)

mama bok : Wah...so effective one ah the post??? Hahaha....If time permits, why not? :o)

tekko : Yahlor, like that only lo. No time to explore the rest of the area there.

char siew bao : Take time off! You need it...go! :o) Thanks for the compliment.

jackson : Wahhh!!! You ah! Thought that was our secret? Now out in the open already! Hahaha....

nkotb : You try going to New Lane and see??? :o)

Anonymous said...

hello from prague, missing all the local food after vvisiting zour blog. at airort now waiting to check in for flight back to london. aizo just realised spelling all wrong as thee kezboaard is slightlz different. nvm not going to corrrect. weather here cold wet and windy and lots off photo opp if onlz weather in mz favour. c u in a week

Cynthia said...

I just finished reading this and I'm hungry and frustrated. Frustrated because I cannot get this kind of food to eat here :(

Precious Pea said...

Eh...Jackson didn't mention, in the room, with three girls?? LOL!!!!

Anonymous said...

it's "hae kor" and "o chien" respectively. a mispronuciation might cause ur order to be wrong,so do be careful ;)

Anonymous said...

There's always next time. :)
We can do another trip minus the rushing part.

UnkaLeong said...

wah...make me hungry di!

teckiee said...

P.Pea... can i tumpang your car if your husband is going.. hehehehe I want the CCF!

wonda said...

Wah, lao nuah liao!!

wmw said...

glorious jade : Hahaha...typing must have been so weird for you! Thanks for visiting though you are away. See you soon :)

cynthia : Well, I have my own frustrations too when I visit blogs like yours! :o) Isn't it great that no matter how far we are, we are linked by food, the truly universal "language"?

Precious P : Shhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

anonymous : Is that who I think it is??? Haha...best is to point!

jason : Yeah, now to find the right time! :)

unkaleong : Yup, Penang is really a food paradise!

teckiee : I want to tumpang their car too lah....Hahaha....

Xiu Long Bao said...

okay, that is certainly one good Apple crumble team! Drive all readers crazee with the food :I

Anonymous said...

sorry i dont think i know you.
i so happen to drop by ur page, from precious pea's.
sometimes it works,sometimes it doesnt :)

Unknown said...

ur post is driving me crazee le, must bug kgboy to have an up north food crawl

daphne said...

what a good drive u guys went. The video was great, the pictures...even more fantastic!

wmw said...

wonda : Yalah, the food here is really droolworthy!

xiu long bao : Thanks for the compliment, hahaha...hope you are indeed having a speedy recovery :o)

anonymous : The pointing? Hahaha...I can say it works mostly all the time in Malaysia but doesn't when i tried it in China! Hahaha...

kampungboycitygal : Yes, do convoy!!! Not just you two...hahaha

daphne : Thanks for the compliment!