Hotel Equatorial Penang is somewhere we often perform at. It's quite an old hotel situated on top of the hill with beautiful view. Usually, during our freetime we will park ourselves at Coffee Garden to have our meal and just plan the night out. They have a small menu with both Western variety and Local delights. Unfortunately usually we don't have time to venture out of the hotel for Penang's famous street food so we just make do with the food here. Luckily, their food is pretty decent. This time I opted for the Char Kuay Teow (surely should be good considering it's still Penang?). Not long after, this plate of aromatic noodles arrived. Looks pretty good! Plenty of prawns, beansprouts, and some cockles buried underneath. But of course it's pork free. No matter though as the noodles actually tasted quite good with fair amount of wok breath. It was a little bit underseasoned but there was soy sauce provided on the side so problem solved. I managed to finish the whole plate. I would prefer to have the cockles slightly undercooked but maybe I should have specify that. Otherwise it's pretty decent CKT. Of course, it comes with a hefty price tag of RM20++. But at least I got to enjoy some local fare during my trip.

The service was attentive and polite and the ambiance was relaxed and cheerful. Nothing to complain about.

I think it's quite important to have a local bringing you along when it comes to hunting for Penang food. If it wasn't for my friend, I would never had try this amazing plate of Mee Sotong. Situated at a tired looking food court, Hameed Mee Sotong (squid noodles) is the only stall with super long line. (I gather by now if there's a queue anywhere in Penang, that stuff must be good!)

We send 2 person to order for us while we sat down to relax, and it took maybe around half an hour for our dishes to arrive. Well, you order on the spot and they will fry on the spot for you. Which actually is pretty quick. It's just the lining up. Anyway to the food.Wah... just by judging the look you know it's going to be tasty, in a very messy-gravy-dripping-down-your-chin way. And they weren't stingy with the pieces of sotong either (the redder strips). It was hands down the best 'mamak' type dish I have ever had in my life. There was so much flavours in it. The sotong was definitely the umami factor and also infused in the sauce coating the noodles, along with the aroma of fried shallots and spring onions. Every mouthful was simply heavenly. It also packs quite a bit of heat. I was deeply satisfied.

So next time if I ever have freetime in Penang and has a friend who drives, I will be going there!

People have always told me if I go to Penang, I must go to Penang road and try the famous Teochew Chendul. Well, I have been quite a few times but never got the chance to because my itinerary has always been quite busy.

Well couple of months ago when I was on a semi-work trip, I happened to be with a local and he brought a group of us to Penang road to give this a try. It was a long weekend, so the queue was absolutely crazy! Although the stall owner was pretty efficient (you would think so, having operated since the 1950s) and we didn't need to queue for too long until we got ourselves a bowl each. Judging by the colour of the "green jelly noodles", I'd say they only use real pandan juice instead of food colouring. And indeed, every strand has a hint of pandan. The coconut milk concoction contains just the right amount of gula melaka, which makes the broth so aromatic and addictive. The icy mix of red beans, grass jelly and other sweet things makes this such a refreshing treat for the super hot weather. To complete the experience, you slurp the whole thing down standing in the middle of the road. Priceless.