We braved the crowds to visit one of Penangโs current social media darlings: ๐ก๐ผ. ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ฎ๐ ๐ง๐ฒ๐ผ๐ on MacAlister Road this afternoon. Located in an innocuous-looking tin-roofed shack, this char koay teow spot dishes up hundreds of plates of the fried rice noodles each day!
It was pretty daunting as each new group of customers are handed a buzzer before we got ourselves a table to sit at. Then. itโs a one-hour wait, on average, until one gets buzzed to get up and go order at the service counter. But once oneโs order goes through, it was lightning fast as the skilled ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ธ-๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, Leong Yew Wei, churns out plate-after-plate of perfectly wok-seared noodles with amazing efficiency.
Char koay teow is a classic street food dish of Teochew origins. To delve deeper into the origins of char koay teow, one can refer to this Michelin Guide article:
As for the rendition here - it was very good, living up to all the hype in the social media: one is reminded how good the legendary Tan Chooi Hong, the old Siam Road ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ธ-๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ, was at his prime a couple of decades ago. But Tan Chooi Hong had since retired, leaving his son, Tan Kean Huat, to take over. But his son has not been able to scale the heights his father set for him.
Over here, ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ธ-๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ Leong Yew Wei will stir-fry his gargantuan plates of ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ธ one portion at a time. He is very generous with his ingredients, whether itโs the prawns, the blood cockles, the eggs, or even the chives. Searing his ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ข๐บ noodles over high heat - gas cooker, not charcoal - his condiments were perfectly balanced. Very, very good ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ธ.
Many customers also order a curious side-dish: ๐๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐จ๐จ๐ด. Named after Penangโs premier Chinese school: Chung Ling, the eggs remind many alumni from the school of the scrambled eggs served at the canteen of their illustrious school: basically just three eggs, scrambled in pork lard, with a bit of chili paste added. Itโs very rich - better to be shared between 3 or 4 people - and a good accompaniment for oneโs plate of ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ธ.
For drinks, there is a range of sodas and iced juices. We ordered the classic โMichael Jacksonโ, a mix of soybean milk (white) and grass jelly (black), doubtlessly named after Michaelโs โBlack or Whiteโ. Yes, you can go to any drink kiosk in a food court in Malaysia or Singapore and order a โMichael Jacksonโ and get this:
Address
No. 5 Char Koay Teow
94, Macalister Road, Sunshine City, 10450 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +6018-948 5680
Opening hours: 12 noon to 10pm Mon to Sat. Closed on Sundays.
