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| Merlin Hotel signboard. |
Continued from Day One, this article is about Day Two of my Penang Trip. On that day, we visited a number of heritage sites including the Esplanade (known locally as Padang Kota Lama) and also, a review of one of my favourite local Indian Cuisine: Nasi Kandar.
This will be the longest of the five Penang Trip blog posts, as I took the most photos on that day.
BREAKFAST: LIYAQAT ALI'S NASI KANDAR
Early in the morning, I went to a nearby Nasi Kandar restaurant called Liyaqat Ali Nasi Beratur to buy some Nasi Kandar for me and my mother for breakfast. The name 'Nasi Beratur' originates from the long queue of patrons who started queueing up between 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. to buy Nasi Kandar at the restaurant.
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| At Liyaqat Ali Nasi Beratur food establishment in the early morning with absolutely no long queue. |
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| This is what I ordered: Nasi Kandar drenched in 'kuah campur', with fried chicken and cabbage (hidden beneath the rice). |
As pictured above, a typical Nasi Kandar usually consists of white rice drenched in a mix of various curry sauces (hence the Malay term 'kuah banjir'), a meat dish (fried chicken) and some vegetables (cabbage, hidden beneath the rice). Optional dishes include hard-boiled eggs or chutneys (here in Penang, they call it 'Sambal Nyoq' due to the use of dessicated coconut in chutneys).
If you love Nasi Kandar, then Penang is the only place to eat it. Although Mamak restaurants outside Penang serve a similar dish, it is actually best to call it 'Nasi Mamak' instead of Nasi Kandar. Why am I saying this? It is because, in my honest opinion, 'real' Penang Nasi Kandar tasted somewhat different than the one served outside Penang, and it tasted better.
One of the differences is, for example, the fried chicken. It was fried without red-coloured batter and skin, and the outer part of the flesh is dry and crispy while the inside is well done and freshly cooked. Next, the turmeric-covered cabbage is cooked just like its counterparts outside Penang, but much softer. Finally, the sauces (kuah) also have a slightly different, but better taste, too.
So how's the taste of Liyaqat Ali's Nasi Kandar? It was good, just like what I have written earlier. I loved how the rice tasted like when drenched in generous amount of kuah campur, combined with the fried chicken's well done meat, which surprised me since I bought it at the time when it's cold; and finally, the soft cabbage, which I find more suitable with Nasi Kandar than the crunchy ones.
BRUNCH AT UNION STREET: NASI KANDAR MERLIN
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| Panoramic photo from the second floor of Ar-Raudhah hotel. |
We left Ar-Raudhah hotel at about 9 a.m. My sister brought us to Union Street and stopped beside Standard Chartered bank to find a parking spot. I followed my mother to a snack food seller's motorcycle and we bought some peanuts. Later on, all five of us circled the area in my sister's car, until we found a parking spot right beside Standard Chartered bank and parked there.
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| The snack food seller (obscured) and his motorcycle. |
We walked along Union Street until we reached Merlin Hotel, where below it is the restaurant that sold Nasi Kandar. Merlin Nasi Kandar was also called Ali's Nasi Kandar, named after the owner. Sadly, I haven't seen him (the owner) anymore since 2012, probably because he had gone back to India or something.
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| Inside Merlin Nasi Kandar restaurant. |
To begin with, Merlin Nasi Kandar was originally a stall located beside what used to be a kopitiam (Malaysian Chinese coffee shop) before they bought the kopitiam shop lot. I still remember back in my childhood days, whenever my parents brought me to the kopitiam, they would often order for me 'Roti Kahwin', a bread toast served with butter and kaya (coconut jam).
I wonder whether they are still serving Roti Kahwin again...
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| Merlin's chutney (small bowl in the middle), my favourite. Best served cold. |
MERLIN'S NASI KANDAR REVIEW
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| Once again, I ordered the same thing at Merlin's, but with an additional large dollop of chutney. |
Just like Liyaqat Ali's Nasi Beratur, I loved Merlin's Nasi Kandar. In fact, both apparently shared the same good taste. Not only that, I noticed that almost all Nasi Kandar establishments' menu and food in Penang remains the same. As pictured above, I ordered a Nasi Kandar drenched with kuah campur, fried chicken and cabbage. However, this time, I asked for a large dollop of chutney for my Nasi Kandar.
As mentioned in a caption earlier, Merlin's chutney is my favourite chutney. It tasted good, and it was served cold. The staff at Merlin's always kept their newly made chutney in a refrigerator, and took the chutney out when needed.
In my opinion,
chutneys taste best when served cold.
TO THE ESPLANADE
After we had our meals at Merlin, we walked back to Standard Chartered bank, making our way to Padang Kota Lama, or Esplanade. Along the way, I took some photos of the available buildings and heritage sites.
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| This tall door leads to Standard Chartered bank Penang, Malaysia's first bank. |
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| The Chartered Bank's Night safe. |
Below are photos of the Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower, also known as the Jubilee clock tower.
All five of us reached Fort Cornwallis after that. It was the first time in my life to visit Fort Cornwallis, as I have been to Penang many times, but never had the chance to visit Fort Cornwallis at all.
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| One of the cannons at Fort Cornwallis, taken in full zoom. |
Entering Fort Cornwallis required visitors to buy tickets, where we decided not to, and moved on to the Esplanade.
After a long walk, we finally reached a park located between the War Memorial and food court and stopped there for a rest. There, I even took some photos of Peninsular Malaysia viewed from our location and whatever available at the location, including a monitor lizard! We rested for a while, until an ice-cream man came to our location. We bought ourselves a three-scoop ice-cream cone and enjoyed it while resting there.
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| A monitor lizard??? |
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| The ice-cream man. |
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| Vanilla, corn and durian ice-cream. |
Unfortunately, being there also posed one problem: bird droppings!
Well, to begin with, we were enjoying our ice-cream there; but minutes later, my nephew got hit by a pigeon dropping, staining his clothes, hair and part of the camera bag he's carrying. One bad day for my nephew, unfortunately.
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| Pigeons perched up a tree. Be careful or you'll get hit by bird droppings... |
We moved on to Penang City Hall to go back to the car, until we were approached by a number of school students who were also a member of St John's Ambulance Malaysia, where they were demonstrating how to do a CPR on an inflatable dummy. I volunteered to do the CPR and do as instructed. After that, my sister and her son also followed suit, doing as instructed. Best thing about this was my sister's friend found out about it from her WhatsApp messaging application!
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| This is what I'm talking about earlier. |
We moved on and I took some more photos of the City Hall and the Town Hall beside it, until my camera's battery ran out, neccessicating me to use my Sony Xperia ZR smartphone instead.
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| One of the last photos I took with my Sony Cyber-Shot RX100 before the battery went totally flat. |
We went back to the hotel, but stopped at Little India for a while to buy Indian sweets at Vickram's stall located at King Street. It is also the place where they sell one of my favourite Indian sweets: palkova.
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| At Vickram Sweets & Snacks stall. |
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| Laddu, at Vickram's. |
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| What we bought at Vickram's: Halwa Muscat, Laddu, Coconut Candy and four Palkovas. |
IN THE EVENING
I left the hotel in the evening along with my mother, my niece and nephew for a walk, since my sister was out to meet one of her friends. Unfortunately, it was drizzling at that time, so I had to be extra careful with my camera. Although I can use my Sony Xperia ZR smartphone to take photos as it is waterproof, I personally prefer using my Sony RX100 camera as it delivers better image quality.
Along the way at Cannon Street, we entered Lebuh Acheh Mosque and I took photos of the mosque and some of the old houses nearby.
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| Cannon Street. |
After leaving Lebuh Acheh Mosque, we walked down Acheh Street while I took some photos there. Next, we turned left to Beach Street and later, turning left again to Armenian Street. I stopped at the famous mural 'Kids On Bicycle' by Ernest Zacharevic and took some photos there, while my mother, my niece and nephew moved on. I rejoined with them later on, making our way for a chapati at Queen Street.
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| One of the local tourists at the mural. |
CHAPATI, SHORT REVIEW
We walked to Queen Street and reached a chapati stall, where we had our chapatis with some curries and dalcha. The stall is located opposite of Persatuan Shirdi Sai Baba.
The chapatis we had was okay, and the lamb and chicken curries served at the stall was good.
Unfortunately, it was here that it started raining again, and we rushed back to the hotel after we had our meal.
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| At the chapati stall. |
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| What we ordered: Chapatis, lamb and chicken curry and dalcha. |
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| Raining again, at Queen Street. |
DINNER AND CHUTNEY REVIEW: LIYAQAT ALI'S NASI KANDAR
At 10:00 p.m., I went to Liyaqat Ali's Nasi Kandar establishment to buy some dinner for everyone at the hotel room. Once again, it's the third time I've had Nasi Kandar on that day. After all,
it is one of my favourite foods in Penang!
As the name says (Nasi Beratur), patrons are already queuing up there; although it was much shorter than usual, probably because of the rainy conditions.
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| What I ordered is exactly the same like the one at Merlin's at brunch. |
Once again,
I ordered the same thing. However, this time, they served chutney, and I asked for it before paying up.
Remember what I wrote earlier about chutneys being best served cold? And, yes,
what I wrote earlier was true. This is because, unlike the one at Merlin, Liyaqat Ali's chutney was
not served cold, and this affects its taste a bit. However, I have absolutely no problems with the Nasi Kandar I ordered, since it always tasted good.
And that's all there is to write for my Day Two of my Penang Trip.
More photos here:
https://goo.gl/photos/4WqGPK6k4BSonEw86
To be continued...
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