The tastiest “chee cheong chok” (豬腸粥) or pig’s intestines congee I’d had in George Town is from this popular stall on Kuala Kangsar Road (behind Chowrasta Market) in the morning. It’s even tastier than the one served by the famous 60-year-old stall at New Lane which opens in the afternoon.
This stall is run by Mr Wan Fook Chan, 67, who hailed from Heshan, Guangdong. He’s been hawking his delicious Cantonese congee here behind Chowrasta Market for the past 42 years, after taking over the trade from his father who’d also been doing it for over 4 decades since the 1930s.
The stall opens early morning for business and closes once they sell out, usually by late-morning - try coming before 10am. The stall also closes on Mondays and Fridays.
Best-tasting pig’s intestines congee in Penang, IMO.
You can choose from two types of rice congee here - one with chopped pig’s blood cubes incorporated into the rice congee, and one without. But both are smooth and fine due to Mr Wan’s slow, patient 2-hour cooking.
Pig’s intestines, guts and tongue. Mr Wan was slicing “char-siew” on the wooden chopping board. All destined for inclusion into the tastiest bowl of pig’s intestines congee one would have ever tasted!
Mr Wan’s “Chee Cheong Chok” (豬腸粥) stall is located in front of the defunct New Cathay Permanent Wave Saloon at No. 1 Kuala Kangsar Road.
Mr Wan has moved to his “chee cheong chok” stall to a location in front of Kedai Kopi Baru on Chowrasta Road (near the intersection with Kuala Kangsar Rd) after the Penang City Council banned market stalls on Kuala Kangsar Road last April 2017.
Back to Mr Wan’s stall which serves, in the words of travel writer, Robyn Eckhardt to MasterChef UK judge, John Torrode, when they ate here, “the best rice congee in South-east Asia”.
You can either order the congee to be served at the coffeeshop right behind it, or else sit by the little stall itself, with busy market-shoppers passing by right behind you, and looking at Mr Wan prepare your food for you right before your very eyes a la Sukiyabashi Jiro (for 0.7% of the cost).
The stall opens early morning for business and closes once they sell out, usually by late-morning - try coming before 10am.The stall closes on Mondays and Fridays. If anything, Mr Wan’s congee tasted better than I remembered it from the last time.
Mr Wan has two steel buckets of rice congee set into his stall: one has chopped pig’s blood cubes mixed into the congee, whilst one is pristine white. Both have a delicious, subtle flavour and the perfect smooth consistency of Cantonese-style rice congee.
To a bowl of congee, he’ll add chopped bits of pig’s large and small intestines, pig’s tongue, crisp-roasted intestines, thin slices of char-siew (Cantonese-style BBQ pork), chopped scallions and a dash of white pepper. The taste - heavenly.
