I had a slightly longer-than-usual weekend in Penang last week due to a road show that we had in Gurney Plaza. We left for Penang last Thursday before the break of dawn and got back to KL earlier this week on Monday afternoon. I was alright stepping into the office on Tuesday but the bugs had to prove that they owned me. And owned me they did. I'm only well enough to be back at my desk today after a two-day sick leave. I still feel sick if another bastard/bitch turns on the air-conditioner (I've just switched one of them off right after I got back from lunch). Why do Malaysians love to freeze themselves in the office? Is this another one of life's mysteries that we'll never be able to solve?
I've always had a soft spot for Penang, since 2007. My love story with Bun kinda started from there but I'll leave that for another time. Maybe during my wedding? Since this was a work trip and we had to stay in a shopping mall the whole time, we barely had a chance to go around to sample Penang's famed local delicacies. Thank goodness we had a one-hour window while we had to wait for our hotel room to be ready and off we went to the streets of Georgetown, in search of some yummy grub.
The view while we passed the Penang Bridge. I think this was sometime before 10.00am.
We had char kuey teow with big, fresh, juicy prawns. But they don't come cheap at RM8 per plate.
It's already hard enough to find a stalls that sells orh chien here in KL, and they make me regret ordering every single time. Why can't they be even half as good as those in Penang??!
Here's the signboard if you're ever curious enough to find the stall. I may be mistaken but this should be Jalan Anson.
I bunked in a room with my colleague. This is our city view. Check out the rainstorm on the far end of the left. Pretty cool stuff.
What I would like is a sea view like this but who cares since we're not on a holiday. This was taken from the lift lobby on our level.
Check out this mansion that is sandwiched between two hotels. I'm not sure if it's a private residence but the pool is surely one to envy!
We tried walking from the hotel to Gurney Plaza on the second day. The distance wasn't too bad, just a little over 1km. But the hot sun in the morning and our sore feet at the end of the day resulted in us driving for the rest of the days.
You'll find lone fishermen like this uncle in the photograph, or a group of uncles hanging out on the sidewalk of Gurney Drive in the daytime. Tourists are mostly visible after the weather is less punishing.
I managed to meet up with a few friends over dinner and post-dinner as well. Tze Chin and his wife is the lovely couple behind
www.tasteiest.com and they took me to Mizi Bistro for dinner. I have no photographs from the place, so feel free to read up on their reviews of the place. I will ask to be taken back there the next time I'm in town to try out the steak selection. Their food portions are humongous!! The set meal is only RM25 and you can take a pick out of a selection of mains, comes with a soup and free flow of ice cream. The soups were thick (yummy!) and I would've had more yam ice cream if I hadn't been hearing my Chinese physician's voice nagging in my head. They recommended me to go to a quaint little cafe in Gurney Plaza, it's called Winter Warmers. I was told to try their rose cheese cake, waffles and flower tea.
This was my colleague's tuna waffle.
My chicken waffle. The waffles here are soft and moist, absolutely putting the waffles I've been having at the hotel's buffet breakfast to shame. I would've loved to try the green tea ice cream waffle but I suspect my Chinese physician was spying on me because I started hearing her voice again *shivers*
We shared a pot of tea. I couldn't remember what it was but it was nice. Check out the heart-shaped thingymajingy below the pot. So cute!!!
Check out the matchy matchy chinaware and tablecloth. They even have a display cabinet at the side with the rosiest chinaware collection - for sale, if you're wondering.
It's not everyday you stumble upon a rose cheese cake on a menu. This is certainly a piece of cheese cake that I wouldn't mind having more than a slice.
We had originally planned for a dimsum stop in Ipoh before heading back, but we figured that we'd run really late if we tried to venture into unknown territory. So we settled for Restoran Zim Sum instead. Again, you may head over to Tasteiest for their review.
We shared all of these, including a fish head meehon that didn't come to our table before the photo was taken. I had to take it fast before my colleague finishes half of everything. See, one of the fishballs behind the fried yam ball was already gone? Too bad I only got Tze Chin's message about their char siew pao being a 'must-try' after I left. It's okay, there's always next time!
I'll leave you with an amusing shot of this one booth that was opposite ours. I'm not quite sure of what services they provide, but I do hope they serve those lambs on a plate if I sign up.
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