One of the main attractions of the Cameron Highlands are the lush, green tea plantations. Walking along the quiet roads was a nice break from the motorised chaos of the cities below and even nicer was our tea stop at the end of the road. We sat down in a very busy tea shop that had panoramic views of the tea fields and we ordered some Cameron Highlands tea with homemade chicken and vegetable pie and homemade scones and strawberry jam. It still amazes me that you can find a tea shop in the middle of Malaysia that sells scones and jam!! The pie was good but small and didn’t last long due to our hunger after our long walk, therefore no photo.
The scones were warm, delicious buns of joy and the tea was strong and tasty, the only disappointment was that the strawberry jam was Heinz!! It was still nice but seeming as the area is famous for growing strawberries we were expecting a homemade jam. Feeling well and truly satisfied after our long walk and tea break, we had a little look around the tea factory, the tea museum, more tea bushes, and then decided that we’d seen enough tea for the day and set off on our long walk home. We managed to find a little place that sold fresh strawberry juice as well so that made up for the Heinz!!
After a nice few days in the hills we were off on our way again to another city, this time Penang. We arrived at night to the “New Banana Guesthouse” and first impressions weren’t great. Around ten minutes after we’d put our bags in the room I was chasing a giant cockroach with my size 12 hiking boots… I’ve got no qualms about killing cockroaches and mosquitoes! After watching a rat run from the open drain outside into the kitchen area, we decided against eating at our guesthouse and went out in search of some real food. We’d heard a lot of raving about Penang food. Everyone in Malaysia seems to think Penang is the gastronomic centre of the country, the best noodle soups, the best laksas, the best in pretty much everything when it comes to food so we were quite excited about eating here. Our first meal was just around the corner from our guesthouse in a pretty basic looking restaurant that looked like an open garage with tables, chairs and a kitchen in it. The menu was in Chinese and English and we ordered a tofu soup, rice, garlic chicken, stir fried vegetables and bean sprouts. The food was great, but no better than anywhere else in Malaysia. The soup was particularly nice with huge balls of soft tofu and lots of pork. I find it amusing when you see tofu soup on a menu, an obvious choice for a vegetarian, and the soup arrives with pork in. I’m not complaining, I love meat and meat makes soups tastes good, but it must be tough for vegetarians! The garlic chicken was also delicious and I was biting toasted pieces of garlic out of my back teeth for at least an hour later.
The next day we opted for a more authentic Penang eating experience and visited a local hawker centre to try the famous Penang laksa. The Penang (Asam) laksa differs from the Melaka (Baba) laksa in that it has larger rice noodles as opposed to egg noodles and doesn’t have any coconut milk in it. Instead, the soup is flavoured by mackerel, lime, chilli, mint, tomatoes and tamarind. All of these flavours are evident in the thick soup and combine together wonderfully. The flaky mackerel pieces almost look like they could have come from a tin of tuna, floating around in the rich, red broth. The lime and mint worked well to cut through the tangy heat of the chilli and tomatoes. I don’t know if I could choose between the Penang laksa and the Melaka laksa, they’re both totally different, totally delicious and easily Malaysia’s most popular national dishes.
We had disappointing weather in Penang and wondering around a drizzly city was beginning to lose its appeal so the next day we decided to head out to the beach in the hope of better weather. The rain was just about holding off and we hiked through a jungle, had a boat trip back around the island and sat down for some calamari and beer on the beach. Whilst sitting at the little beach bar we watched a boat pulling people attached to parachutes. The men didn’t seem to have a clue what they were doing and one after another, the parasailers were crashing into the sand with bone crunching force. How somebody didn’t break their legs I don’t know but everyone seemed to get up ok. The squid arrived and unlike the rubber tyre calamari I’m used to being served in England, these were whole little baby squid, probably plucked fresh out of a fish tank, covered in a breadcrumb batter and deep-fried. Fresh squid is absolutely delicious and this calamari was out of this world, the crunchy batter giving way to the tender squid underneath. Washed down with an ice cold beer, I can’t think of many better snacks to have in the sun.
Our last meal in Penang may surprise you, in a city that arguably boasts the best Malaysian food in the country, we chose to eat a Mexican meal. We did look for a few of the ‘famous’ eateries but they were either all closed or just not where they were supposed to be so we sat down at an outdoor restaurant, ordered a few beers and looked up and down the special Mexican menu.
Our Mexican chef was a very laid back Malaysian man wearing a Santa hat. We ordered a burrito, some fajitas and a quesadilla. Upon taking our order the chef proceeded to spark up a cigarette and get his outdoor kitchen ready. It was like a little food stand and before we knew it he was off, chopping, frying, sizzling, mmmmmmmm, there were some fine smells coming from his little shack kitchen. To be honest, we were in desperate need of a bit of comfort food and I was in glee when my giant burrito arrived at the table covered in fried eggs and surrounded by French fries. Wow!! That’s what you call a Jules meal! I couldn’t even see the burrito underneath the mass of egg but I knew it was going to satisfying. The fajita mix looked fresh, as did the quesadilla with its chunky, crunchy vegetables.. We felt no guilt as we washed down the last few delicious mouthfuls of our Mexican meal with ice cold beer in Penang, food capital of Malaysia.
To be honest, the food was great everywhere in Malaysia and Penang was no exception, I heard stories that baffled me though. I mean, who in their right mind would travel 300 miles up the road to try a bowl of noodle soup because supposedly it’s the best noodle soup in Malaysia! Noodle soups are usually always great but we’re talking some little stand on the side of the road with huge queues because at some point in time, someone’s said “this is the best noodle soup in Malaysia”. That’s passion for you. I won’t even begin to doubt that Penang does have the best food in Malaysia, it’s just that we found the food to be of such high quality throughout the whole of the country and found it difficult to distinguish Penang’s food from anywhere else, maybe our taste buds just aren’t as finely tuned as the Malaysians.
Links, information and addresses
Blue Diamond Mexican Restaurant in Penang!! In the courtyard in front of Blue Diamond Inn on Chulia Street. A few shophouses down on your left once turn in from Penang Street.Lebuh Chulia
Georgetown, 10200 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
If you're feeling brave and want cheap accommodation check out New Banana Guesthouse!! Click HERE for website. They do offer useful VISA and travel services.
For a cup of English tea overlooking beautiful tea plantations, we tried the Sungai Palas tea plantation. Their website can be found HERE.
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