The basic ingredients are koay teow (flat rice flour noodles), taugeh (bean sprouts), heh (prawns), hum (cockles), koo chai (chives), lap cheong (Chinese waxed sausage), hiam cheo cheoh (chili paste) and eggs. What makes one char koay teow unique from another is the sauce and the add-ons such as crab meat, extra large prawns and mantis prawns. I must say that I am not a fan of extra large prawns in my char koay teow, preferring medium sized prawns with a generous portion of koay teow.

The hawkers have their own secret recipes for the sauce which they jealously guard from their peers. It will take more than a generous amount of money and persuasions, gentle or otherwise, to convince them to part with that secret. Apparently, from what I gathered from years of eating char koay teow, the sauce contains a blend of light soya sauce and fish sauce, among others.

Having said that, the clincher for an irresistible plate of char koay teow is, undoubtedly, how well the hawker is able to control the heat in the wok, which the Chinese calls “tiah khee” or “wok hei”, meaning “Qi of the wok”. Too much and everything in the wok becomes charred; too little will leave the dish with a “half-cooked” essence. Getting the wok to that right temperature is a skill that takes years of practice to perfect.

When I was growing up at Jalan Terengganu in Penang, I used to patronise the char koay teow hawker near the small roundabout at Caunter Hall. It was just down the road from where I lived. We all called him Ah Beng although we never knew for sure if that was his real name.

Ah Beng operated from a tricycle cart parked on the pavement. He used charcoal fire which is believed to make the koay teow more fragrant. Whenever he wanted a bigger flame he would tug on a cord to manually spin a small fan that fed more air into the mouth of the stove, and as a result stirred up sparks and embers that added more drama to his frying antics.

Those days, one could bring an egg or two from home to be added to the koay teow without extra charge even though the hawkers had eggs by the trayful at their stalls. That was exactly what I used to do then to get 20 sen off for a plate of Ah Beng’s char koay teow. Try that now and the hawkers would give you dirty looks and may even refuse to serve you.

I have never had a liking for cockles and chives. My usual order would be “mai hum mai koo chai”. And Ah Beng was always generous with bak eu pok (crispy pork lard) which made it even more palatable. There was little space to sit and enjoy his char koay teow where he plied his trade. I usually ordered take away. He would wrap them in used newspaper lined with a piece of banana leaf.

It has been more than two decades since I last had a taste of Ah Beng’s char koay teow. One day, he just did not open for business. Rumour swirled around on the reasons of his sudden disappearance. I was more concerned with not being able to get char koay teow that I grew up eating anymore. I have since moved on to appreciate char koay teow from other stalls. Like they say, the first is the best. No other char koay teow in Penang can quite compare to Ah Beng’s charcoal fired char koay teow stirred in with an egg brought from home. That was simply delicious beyond words.

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5. Serving More Than Soups of Kindness

The road is narrow and car parking bays are limited. The times that I wanted to eat there, we could not find a place to park. It must have been our lucky day that morning. We got a space just across the road from the coffee shop. I had to negotiate around stalls and puddles of dirty water to get in. While we were looking for an empty table, one of the hawkers offered us the table he was occupying.

Wan than mee (wantan noodles) at Genting Cafe in Penang.

It has been a while since I last had some nice tasting wantan noodles and decided on a plate of kon lou. Incidentally, the hawker who gave up the table for us was the stall owner. The small serving I ordered cost RM2.50. It came with deep fried wantan, chai sim, char siu slices, shredded chicken and pickled green chillies. The noodles were springy like how I liked them to be. I would have preferred the wet wantans but the deep fried ones were nice, too.

Chee cheong fun at Genting Cafe in Penang.

Wuan had a bowl of something that did nothing to impress her taste buds. So we ordered the chee cheong fun which was very popular as evident by the queue at the stall. (My previous entry on this is here). The small serving of two rice rolls was RM1.70. The strong aroma of the prawn paste was subdued and there were hints of peanut butter. I could make do without the peanut buttery taste. A more distinct prawn paste aroma would have tantalised my palate more, although I always hated how my breath smelt of prawns afterwards. Having filled our tummies with some “authentic” Penang hawker fare, we took a leisurely drive to town to run some errands and experienced, yet again, the crazy traffic this island has become famous for.

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Penang Banana Leaf Char Koay Teow.
Restoran New Hollywood, Canning Garden, Ipoh.
GPS: N04 36.131 E101 06.564

Wuan paid RM3.30 when our order arrived. It came with vinegared chilli sauce by the side and had the usual ingredients of bean sprouts, cockles and prawns but no chives or sliced lap cheong (Chinese waxed sausage). I am a “mai hum mai koo chai” (no cockles no chives) char koay teow lover. It did not matter to me whether it had chives or not but I would have preferred a few slices of lap cheong to vary the taste. Wuan on the other hand loves si hum in her char koay teow which she happily picked off from the plate. Contrary to the stall’s sign, there was no banana leaf lining the plate. I felt cheated.

My disappointment immediately disappeared when I chewed into my first mouthful. It tasted good although a little on the salty side. The aroma was what I would expect from a good plate of char koay teow. There was no raw smell from the bean sprouts, evidence that it was stir-fried in a well-heated wok. The lumps of egg that stuck to the koay teow made it taste even better.

I did not find any bak eu pok (crispy pork lard) as I picked through the dish. I asked Wuan. It was only then that she told me the food in the kopitiam is pork free. No wonder there were no lap cheong slices as well. This shows that one can cook a good plate of char koay teow without pork lard. It is more important that the sauces are correctly blended and the koay teow stir-fried in a well-heated wok.

I could not get used to having vinegared chilli sauce with my char koay teow. Good thing that it was poured onto the side and not the top. I did not stir it in. That aside, I will definitely drop by again to savour another plate of this halal char koay teow and the other hawker fare in the kopitiam that I have yet to try.

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4. Serving More Than Soups of Kindness
5. Expensive Char Siu Pau At The Gardens Mall

Penang char koay teow.

Wuan and I would patronize restaurants serving Penang hawker food whenever we come across any in the Klang Valley. We were at 1 Utama last weekend and were undecided on what we wanted to eat after we finished watching ASIMO in action. We wandered around and came across a restaurant tucked in a corner and remembered that we had eaten there once a few months before. I also recalled that I had a rice set dish which I thought was too bland in taste.

To play safe, I decided to order something else. The last time I had char koay teow was many many months ago. I have yet to taste a plate of nice Penang char koay teow in the Klang Valley. I ordered that anyway hoping that it would appease my appetite at the very least. I also ordered cincau. Cincau or leong fun is a black grass jelly. It is served thinly sliced in a glass of simple syrup and ice cubes. It is one of my favourite drinks. Cincau is especially refreshing on hot days.

It took a while before the dish was served. The moment it was laid on on the table, I already knew I would not like it. First, it did not have that unique aroma common in a good plate of char koay teow. First and foremost, the koay teow must be stir-friend on a kuali that is well heated which I believed was not the case. The heat is to remove the raw smell of the taugeh (bean sprouts) and bring out the aroma of the other ingredients, especially the egg.

The dish had the usual ingredients like ku chai (chives), si hum (cockles), shelled prawns, taugeh, crab meat and egg. What it did not have were bak eu pok (crispy pork lard) and sliced lap cheong (Chinese waxed sausage). The omission of the last two ingredients kind of contributed to the lack of aroma. Penang char koay teow without the bak eu pok is just not Penang char koay teow.

Sauces also play an important role in making a good plate of char koay teow. I guess it was not well blended. The dish was rather bland and not as spicy as it should be. Char koay teow should be a little on the salty side which is somewhat complimented by the sweetness of the lap cheong slices. This dish was none of those. All said, I would rather forget that I had char koay teow that day. It was a total disappointment and I promised myself that I will never return to eat at that restaurant again.

Related posts:

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2. Ah Beng Best Penang Char Koay Teow
3. Jalan Sayur Char Koay Kak
4. Expensive Char Siu Pau At The Gardens Mall
5. Otak-Otak Place At 1 Utama

Hawker stall at New Lane Penang selling chee cheong chook.
Photo by Wuan.

The taste of the porridge differs from hawker to hawker depending on how the intestines are prepared. I was told that the better tasting intestines are those that are not thoroughly washed so as to retain its natural pungence that reeks slightly of urine. I am not fond of that smell. That is why I am selective of the hawkers I get my chee cheong chook from.

When Wuan and I were in Penang recently, Suanie and her friend Pinky incidentally were there too. So we arranged with Bryan and Reallybites to meet for dinner. We went to New Lane which is famous for its hawker food. This area has been a hawker food heaven in Penang for as long as I can remember due to its strategic location that is smack right in the middle of town.

Penang New Lane chee cheong chook.
Photo by Wuan.

At the mention of New Lane, the only thing that struck my mind is chee cheong chook. There are other nice food there but I have always related New Lane to chee cheong chook. It is actually taboo food now but I have not had it for at least a decade already. I have forgotten how it really tasted like before but it was something that I wanted to try again. Inside the mouth, the crispy intestines were a stark contrast against the smooth texture of the porridge. After years of eating bland food due to my kidney problems, I found the taste too strong for my liking. I did not finish eating it. Nevertheless, I was contented that I had finally gotten the opportunity to taste the porridge that my taste buds have been pining for a long time now.

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