[Penang, Malaysia] Noodle dinner at L Kitchen, Campbell Street

Itโ€™s the eve of a two-week lockdown announced by the Malaysian government to stem the spread of the COVID-19 virus here. All non-essential places of work, schools and anywhere that people congregate will be closed. All restaurants and food centres will only be allowed to do take-outs for the next two weeks.

So, we decided to have one last dinner out at L Kitchen on 141 Campbell Street, before the lockdown kicks in on 18 Mar. This family-run eatery stood on the exact site of a now-defunct 1950s eatery, Tong Hong, right next to the Sun Theatre on Drury Lane.

  1. Braised seafood on crispy yee-fu noodles - itโ€™s so easy to get this dish wrong, and most places where Iโ€™d had this dish, whether in London or Sydney or Singapore, made a โ€œtoo blandโ€ version. But this little place in Penang actually got it down pat - delicate flavours from its braised seafood mix (fish fillets, shrimps and squid), just the right amount of seasoning, and served on a bed of perfectly-crisped, aromatic โ€œyee fuโ€ noodles.

  1. Steamed garoupa fillet on hor fun with soy dressing - the fresh garoupa fillets were sweet and firm in texture. The Cantonese-style seasoning was intense - soysauce, ginger and golden-brown minced garlic, with a sprinkling of chopped scallions. The bed of neutral-flavoured wide rice noodles (Cantonese sar hor fun) provided a perfect foil to complement the strong flavours of the sauce.

  1. South Indian fish curry with hor fun noodles - my fave dish for the evening: intoxicatingly fragrant curried fish, paired with sar hor fun: Tamilian curry meets Cantonese noodles. Exquisite flavour and texture. Definitely a dish worth coming back for.

This place served much better food than we expected! Definitely want to come back after the lockdown period to try other items on their menu.

Address
L Kitchen (ๆŽๆœˆ้ฆ™ ็ฒฅ้บต้ฅญ)
141, Lebuh Campbell, 10200 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +6016-471 6833
Opening hours: 11.30am-3.30pm, 6pm-9pm daily, except Thursday (closed)

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Thanks for the great inspiration!!

Weโ€™re in day two of our Shelter at Home, and Iโ€™m already craving good real food. Its gonna be a long 6+ months before this crisis blows over.

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Good that you enjoyed your โ€œlast mealโ€. Stay safe, mate.

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Yes, stay in!

The experience in China, Italy and France showed that self-isolation is the best way to deal with this crisis. At the moment, weโ€™re waiting to see if the warmer months may bring about a dissipation of the virus like what happened to SARS, granted this is a more malevolent, virulent โ€œmutationโ€, compared to the SARS virus.

Stay safe in the meantime!

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Thanks, mate. And you, too, John!

Day 546 since Malaysia started its Movement Control Order (MCO) back in 18 March 2020.

Lunch today were some amazing-tasting Cantonese-style fried rice and noodle dishes - take-outs from ๐‹ ๐Š๐ข๐ญ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ง on Campbell Street:

  1. ๐…๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐ก๐จ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ง - the hor fun flat rice noodles were first seared in lard, garlic and soy sauce till fragrant, then topped with a subtly-flavored seafood gravy, and garnished with fried fish fillets.
    DSC03106

  1. ๐’๐ž๐š๐Ÿ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐œ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ฒ ๐ง๐จ๐จ๐๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ - this was one of my earliest taste memory of eating Chinese noodles in a restaurant, and my first encounter with this dish were in Chinese restaurants in Perth, Western Australia, during my boyhood days. I never liked this dish in those years - regarding the cake of crisp noodles as somewhat โ€œuncookedโ€.
    That was, until I had the versions in HK, Singapore and, now, Penang. The difference between the ones here and the ones I remembered from Australia was vast. The crispy noodles here at L Kitchen, for instance, was so tasty and fragrant, one can consume it sans the braised seafood gravy.

That said, the understated seafood gravy was cooked with the lightest touch, and yielded the most delicate flavors ever: wispy slivers of sweet grouper fish fillets, a couple of bouncy-fresh shrimps, and some baby squid rings.

  1. ๐Ž๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ž - a deceptively simple dish which is so hard to get perfectly right. L Kitchenโ€™s version was perhaps the best Iโ€™d ever had in Penang.

L Kitchen is always meticulous in the preparation of their dishes, with great attention to detail. To me, they consistently produce some of the tastiest stir-fries in town.

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Dinner at one of our favorite โ€œchoo charโ€ spots in town, ๐—Ÿ ๐—ž๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป on Campbell Street, run by the irrepressible Hakka matriarch, Mdm Rebecca Lee Guat Hiang. The chefs are her son and god-son respectively, both ethnic Hakka like her, but who churned out a selection of various regional Chinese, as well as Nyonya-inspired dishes which appeal to the Penangitesโ€™ palate:
:small_orange_diamond: Their house signature Indian-style fish curry, aromatic and spicy-delicious - tiger garoupa fish fillets were cooked with okra, aubergine and tomatoes.

:small_orange_diamond: Hakka braised pork with black wood-ear fungus

:small_orange_diamond: Pan-fried tofu with oyster sauce, scallions and meat-floss

:small_orange_diamond: Steamed pork patty with salted fish & ginger shreds

:small_orange_diamond: Stir-fried ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ greens

The highly-experienced Mdm Rebecca Lee runs a tight ship here. Pprior to setting-up ๐—Ÿ ๐—ž๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป, she set up and managed ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜… ๐—š๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜ at Gurney Plaza, and the very popular ๐—•๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ ๐—•๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ before that.

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This is now on my new Penang list. See you soonโ€ฆ

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Looking forward to catching up again. :slightly_smiling_face: :ok_hand:

Lunch today at ๐—Ÿ ๐—ž๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป, now at their new, larger premises at 170-172, Campbell Street, a short distance from their previous place.

Our lunch spread:

:small_orange_diamond: House signature Indian-style fish curry: tiger garoupa fish fillets cooked with eggplant, okra and tomatoes, served atop Cantonese โ€œhor funโ€ (thick, broad rice noodles)

:small_orange_diamond: Hakka braised pork with black wood-ear fungus

:small_orange_diamond: Pan-fried tofu with Thai-style salad topping

:small_orange_diamond: Eggplant with sambal belachan

:small_orange_diamond: Lettuce with oyster sauce and chicken floss.

Simple, rustic homestyle-cooking, very much a Hakka trait of proprietress, Mdm Rebecca Lee.

Address
L Kitchen (ๆŽๆœˆ้ฆ™ ็ฒฅ้บต้ฅญ)
170-172, Lebuh Campbell, 10200 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +6016-471 6833
Opening hours: 11.30am-3.30pm, 6pm-9pm daily, except Thursday (closed)

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Peter - youโ€™re going to have to explain to me whatโ€™s โ€œchicken flossโ€.

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Itโ€™s finely shredded chicken meat - twice-cooked: the first time to cook till the meat is tender, then pulled apart/shredded. Seasoning is added and the meat shreds are then slowly dry-fried in a wok or saucepan till dry and floss-like.

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Thanks, Peter. Iโ€™ll look out for it next time I visit our local Chinatown.

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You should be able to find Chinese bakeries offering chicken floss buns - loads in London Chinatown. I think Manchester Chinatown should have them, too.

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