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Chai koay is something well known for up north here in the Penang-Kedah region, but if you ever had a chance, try the chai koay at Sg. Bakap on Penang’s mainland. If you are heading to Penang from the south, just before existing at Juru toll, you will notice the signboard of a toll exit to Jawi & Sg Bakap.

In Sg. Bakap, the most popular and origin place for chai koay is Restoran Soon Lee Hou located along Jalan Besar Sg Bakap. I visited this place during breakfast time and it seems to be very popular with the local as the place is very busy and packed.

Here, the chai koay are served as part of the their dim sum choices. So you order your usual dim sum you fancy, then the different type of chai koay. They have the usual chai koay with mangkuang inside or kuchai but also another type with pumpkin in it. The difference of the chai koay here is that the skin are soft, and I mean so soft that it sticks to the plate. You technically have to scoop it up to eat, doesn’t looks very appetizing but taste wise is ok. The way to enjoy it (by observing the way the locals take it) is to have a plate of chai koay to yourself, squeeze chili sauce all over it and dig in .

One of the highlight of their dim sum here are their stuffed crab dim sum and steamed yam. In plate you get 2 small crab shells stuffed with crab and pork meat steamed together, this is my favourite here, very nice! The steamed yam is ok, not too sweet and not too oily. The other one is their fried prawns cake, very nice and crispy too!

You can also order soup, as we see many tables doing it and some even take the soup with noodles or rice in the morning. So we tried their fish with salted vege soup, its quite good. We also ordered a plate of fried glass noodles which is nice as well. The cooking here are teochew style which chai koay is part of and many of these can be found in this region as well.

Overall, we spent about RM50 for 5 of us for breakfast here. Its quite a unique experience, but I still prefer the normal chai koay I am used to .

Restoran Soon Lee Hou
No.34 Mukim 12, Jalan Besar, Sg Bakap
Sg Jawi, 14200 Seberang Perai Selantan, Penang
GPS: N5 13.473 E100 29.714

As promised by Yen Nam, we have to eat till we dropped, so before its too soon for dinner, our convoy is out again heading to Kelang Lama in Kulim this time for the all famous laksa. It take us to a housing area in a kampung and suddenly you will notice a lot of parked vehicle and that is the sign that you have arrived.

Its a kampung with the front porch converted to be a serving area and its quite packed as well. The laksa here are lighter in the soup compare to those in Penang to me but that makes it very nice and you will almost want to drink all the laksa soup!

The other difference is their laksa crackers where you dip it into the laksa soup and take together, it turn soft quite fast so you gotta eat it quick. Its quite a new thing but I am begining to like this laksa place, plus its RM2.40 per bowl, good value! The favourite drink to take here with the laksa seems to be ice kacang and we followed the crowd and got some.

Overall, I like the laksa here (we even got a second bowl, paiseh… ) and the cracker combination is great, a must try!

Next door, I saw a signboard of chai koay for sale in the corner house, Yen Nam told me its not bad too but I was just too full to eat anymore… hence explaining the extra weight I got from this trip! But it was fun and nice experience eating my way through in Kulim .

Laksa Kelang Lama, Kulim, Kedah (11am to 6.30pm, Monday off)
Tel: 04-4904935
GPS: N05 23.402 E100 34.065

I had read in this blog that rojak is one of the good stuff to try in Kulim, just at the town centre, you can find this aunty and uncle selling rojak. Its sold behind the motorbike and there is always a few people waiting to da bao the rojak here. It goes for RM2.00 for small and RM2.70 for big, in KL… pay RM4!!!

The rojak is quite good, its not those super thick one but the sauce is nice and its very tasty, a for sure must have tea time or after meal thing.

Kulim Rojak
Junction of Jalan Aman & Jalan Teoh Moh Soo, Kulim, Kedah
GPS: N05 22.259 E100 33.294