Ho Heng Kee is located on the busy Ayer Itam Road, on the outer fringes of George Town. This 16-year-old “choo char” (cooked food) eatery is run by Voon Kim Khoon, one of the best “choo char” chefs around. Even the Choo family who owns famed downtown eatery, 𝗧𝗲𝗸 𝗦𝗲𝗻, eats here on their day off.
Chef Voon prefers to let his cooking skills speak for itself - he never talk to, or even acknowledge anyone - according to the coffeeshop owner, Chef Voon worked for the famous Dragon Inn restaurant on Gottlieb Road in the 80s. He’s been running his stall here for 16 years now, but had never acknowledged anyone there, not even a greeting during the Chinese New Year celebrations. 
A shout out to Voon’s efficient assistant, Madam Rinda Loo, who never fails to give good food recommendations.
What we had this evening:
La la clams in sweet-sour-spicy sauce - these fresh local clams were very tasty in their own right, but the spicy sauce elevated the dish to a whole new level altogether. Perfect with steamed white rice.
3-taste chicken - this dish is a winner: crisp-fried chicken smothered in a ginger-sour plum sauce - loved the gentle warm heat from the ginger slices which gave the dish a comforting depth of flavour. I’ll come back here just for this dish.
Stir-fried sweet potato leaves with shrimps
Gulai tumis with black pomfret - one of the better renditions of this every popular Penang-Chinese/Nyonya dish, which was appropriated from Northern Malay cooking.
Malay-style curries like the gulai tumis are more akin to Thai curries in their usage of wholly fresh ingredients for the spice paste: shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal, fresh turmeric root, and lemongrass, and eschewed dry whole spices characteristic of Indian curries: cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick, etc.
The whole pomfret were cut into pieces, and cooked with okra/ladyfingers, tomatoes and onions, then topped off with fresh mint leaves before serving.
Stir-fried bitter-gourd with scrambled eggs - one of the best renditions of this very common “choo-char” dish here in Penang. To find any better, one needs to go to Tek Sen!
“San Bei Ji” (三杯鸡) or Three-Cups Chicken - the recipe does not refer to the actual cup in terms of proportion, but to the equal ratio of each of the 3 main condiments used: sesame oil, Chinese wine and soy sauce. Big, big flavours from this dish.
Don’t miss the sweet, thick, rich 𝗖𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗲 𝗩𝗼𝗹𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗼 - chilled coffee capped with a milky foam.
Never had a bad meal at Ho Heng Kee - simple, straightforward cooking using the day’s freshest ingredients.
Address
Ho Heng Kee Seafood, Bee Hing Coffeeshop
1, Jalan Padang Tembak (Rifle Range Road), 11400 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +6016-441 1405
Operating hours: 6pm to 10pm, Mon-Tue, Thu-Sun. Closed on Wednesdays.
