PENANG FAMOUS CHAR KWAY TEOW

with CK Lam, Taukwa and Uncle Smart

Kafe Heng Huat
108 Lorong Selamat
Opening Hours: 11.30am ~ 6.30pm
Close on Tuesday

The first of the must eat stops after touching down in Penang is to try a popular Penang speciality, the famous Penang Char Kway Teow and we headed towards Lorong Selamat where one such stall serves very delectable one and it is very much near the vicinity of our hotel.

Along this stretch, you will find rows of others foodstalls but by far this is the reason most diners heads to Kafe Heng Huat to have their dig on a plate of the char kway teow to satisfy their cravings, which we too enthusiastically did.

The most prominent sight in front of Kafe Heng Huat is a matronly lady. She dons her perennial red beret (looks more like a red tower swung over her head) and wearing a big GOGGLE, she towers over the smoky wok, vigorously frying and dishing up plates of Penang Char Kway Teow with much gusto to the long awaiting diners at the coffee shop or waiting to packet it home.



Common to the hawker food scene in Singapore and Malaysia, Char Kway Teow is fried flat noodles, stirred in a wok. The ingredients are fresh prawns, cockles, beansprouts, chives, chinese sausage, soya sauce and/or chilli sauce. Simple as it sounds, it is important to control the flame and much skill is needed to come up with a plate that most would travel distance to have it. And you must be prepared to wait for hours for the popular ones.




Soon Suan Choo, the lady in red beret, certainly has attained the skills having wokked her way through since mid 1970s and if you are interested enough to try her Char Kway Teow, you must learn a few things here.

Just place your order and patiently wait for your plate to be served without posing much question or requests, otherwise, she will bereft you like a lion and you will be as tame as a mouse.

For the local Penangites, wanting a taste of this super duper plate of Char Kway Teow does not come cheap. First you have to wait and the smallest plate starts at RM6.00, then RM6.50 and money-willing, you must be prepared to fork out RM8.50 a plate for the most expensive one on the list.

But of course, you get your plate of goodness and enjoy it until you dream of coming back again to wait patiently in queue once more when your craving starts.

Enjoy it here as the prawns are big and fresh and Char Kway Teow is very tasty and well wokked up. It certainly titillate our tastebuds that we get to enjoy such a dish upon our arrival.
Good stuff cannot miss.

PENANG CHAR KWAY TEOW
- A TASTE THAT LINGERS ON.....