Baba Phang @ 6, Jalan Perak, Penang 26th September 2025

Baba Phang, the restaurant has been parked at Sri Bahari Road since a couple of years before the covid pandemic. The restaurant is so popular that they have limited dining time to 1.5 hours. Parking at Sri Bahari Road is also very limited.

Recently, founder and chef Vincent has decided on a much bigger space at a bungalow house at Jalan Perak. It comes with ample free parking. Private rooms will be added upstairs soon. Since its opening at the new site, the restaurant has been drawing good crowds.

We decided to give the restaurant a visit (again!) after a long break. We last visited Baba Phang in 2018. We decided to order an assortment of notable “baba” delights such as tau ewe bak, too kah chor (pork leg vinegar), otak-otak (grilled fish cake), choon peah (spring roll), lobak, acar rampai, asam tumis ikan pari (sting ray), perut ikan, kerabu kacang botol and home-made toufu. For dessert, we tried their pulut hitam and pengat. We also ordered their nasi ulam and blue pea rice. All kinds of everything! Generally, the dishes did not disappoint but neither were the dishes exceptional.

More importantly, it was a golden opportunity for us to meet up as Raymond and wife, Paley, daughter, Janice and grandson, Ivan were back in Penang. Ivan has grown up to be a delightful boy at three years! It was also nice to catch up after quite a long break. Let’s cherish the moments at the round table!

Waylan Kin @ OFA 41, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah 11th April 2025

Our regular kaki, Willy, had recommended Waylan Kin, a restaurant located at the Old Frees Association. There’s ample parking at OFA. A quick glance at the menu would suggest that their Thai flavoured dishes should be sampled. 

So we went ahead and ordered some of the Thai cuisines - Fried Seabass Nam Pla (Fish Sauce), Cha Om Omelette, Stir Fried Basil Roast Duck, Kerabu Mango Salad and Stir Fried Petai with Minced Meat. The five dishes  were all flavourful and appetizing. The total price was just under RM200 with drinks for 7 pax, very reasonable indeed!

The restaurant can get very crowded at noon. So we were fortunate that we went there during opening time at 11.30am. And we got to catch up as retirees often do when they meet.  That said, Waylan Kin is a very reasonably priced restaurant that serves delicious fare.

19/2/2025 - Wu Jia Chinese Restaurant, Tmn Perkaka, Gelugor, Penang.

Wu Jia has always been a favourite haunt for the Eating Kakis. We have been there a couple of times and we left with fond memories of delicious Chinese cuisine at reasonable prices. Wu Jia’s more expensive cousins are the Five-Ten Chinese Cuisine @ Precinct 10 and the W World @ Drury Lane. I believe our last visit to Wu Jia was before the Covid Pandemic.

For this lunch, we decided to go with their famous curry prawns with bread and Japanese pan-fried lamb shoulder. The curry prawns were well prepared with lots of fragrant spices and the curry was rather thick. Thus, it went very well with the soft bread. And the lamb dish was just as  flavourful! 

The third dish, the Wujia Spare Ribs was quite tasty too.

We also settled for signature Homemade Bean-curd with Minced Pork and Salted Fish and the Deep-fried Chicken with Mango Sauce. The Fried Mixed Vegetables with Sambal was the only vegetable dish. All three dishes did not disappoint. Nicely done. Finally, we opted for  their Steamed Red Snapper Fish with Pickle Radish. It was a good choice. We finished off with Ai Yu Jelly for dessert. Seven dishes plus a dessert for 8 persons at RM500 is certainly reasonable.

It was also a joyous occasion for all of us as we surprised Cewie with a Birthday Cake. On that note, many thanks to Cewie and hubby Vincent for cooking and introducing many wonderful dishes over the years - the special Medan cuisines, crispy and crackling siok bak, delicious bak chang, mouth-watering hokkien mee … just to name a few. We all concur with Allan’s birthday wishes to Cewie, “We missed the big birthday party to the most amazing person we know. Many Happy Returns of the Day, Cewie!”

 

19/12/2024 Maple Palace @ Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah

Just a week before Christmas, we had a welcomed invitation from Raymond Wong who had returned from Guangzhou. What’s the occasion? Well, our Qigong friends from Toronto, Sifu Fred and his lovely wife, Doris are back in Malaysia!! Welcome back!

We started with a Grouper Steamboat - just the right tonic to whet our appetite. The yam based soup was simply delectable. 

Maple Palace were also on song with their Spanish Iberico Pork Loin Rib, Pork Belly with Preserved Cabbage, Chicken Feet with Black Mushrooms and Signature Curry Prawn with Crispy Buns. 

We had the Chilled Osmanthus Jelly, Chilled Mango Sago and Chinese Pancake with Lotus Seed  Paste for desserts. And added to that, the service was impeccable and the ambience was top notch. Double thumbs up for Maple Palace!

As usual, we value our camaraderie more than anything else. It was nice catching up with David, Lai Teng and his wife, Lily.

 A wonderful fellowship indeed! Many thanks Raymond for your treat. We look forward to more “Food Adventures” in the Year 2025!

 

 

Kitchen of Countryman Revisit @ Jalan Bawasah 3/12/2024

 Kitchen of Countryman Revisit @ Jalan Bawasah 3 December 2024

As the busy Christmas-New Year Holiday approaches, we decided to have a year-end lunch to close the year. We chose to revisit the Kitchen of Countryman! 

This time around, we resolved to try their dim-sum as we had three RM59.90 food vouchers. One of the vouchers includes 6 different kinds of dim-sum, suitable for 3 persons. The servings were large and we could sample the Har Kau (Shrimp dumplings), Steamed Siu Mai with Roe, Golden BBQ Pork Char Siew Pau, Crispy Salad Prawn Dumplings , Crispy Seafood Rolls with Bean Skin and Fried Radish Cake. The dim-sum, in particular, the Crispy Seafood Rolls and Fried Radish Cake, were actually delicious enough to whet up our appetite for the main dishes. 

The Deep Fried Whole Mango Sauce fish at RM88.00 is actually value for money. Tasty and quite a big fish! The fish was nicely plated. We repeated the order for the Canton Style Braised Pork as it was well-received at our last lunch. The Fried Kampung Chicken with Ginger Slice and Stir-Fried Eggplant with Minced Pork and Salted Fish completed our order. A satisfying lunch!

Many thanks to Vincent for providing us with the special Da Hong Pao tea! 

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!