The Malaysian Insider :: Food

Posted: 02 Jan 2012 04:45 PM PST

An Le Kopitiam in Little India is a real gem.

GEORGE TOWN, Jan 3 — You'll be surprised what little gems one can unearth in the most unlikely places.

Take Little India in George Town, for example. Perched on the edge of the ethnic and lau juak (merry) little enclave is the Peace and Joy (An Le) Coffee Shop, one of those old kopitiams that are, sadly, slowly but inexorably disappearing from our cities.

This double-fronted little oasis of relative quiet is situated at the junction of China Street and Lebuh Queen. Instead of curries, tandooris and nasi kandar, you'll find stalls selling some good old Penang favourites inside.

An Le's special Chee Cheong Fun with 'sambal hey bee'. — Pictures by Helen Ong

Proprietor Ah Cheong, aided by her son Alex, moved there about 10 years ago after nearly four decades at the old kopitiam across the road. It's popular with locals and tourists who come in to escape the dust of the busy roads and the debilitating heat of the day.

Apart from drinks — they are proud of their fresh and fragrant local coffee — they also run the chee cheong fun stall, the smooth, steamed rice noodles served with the typically sweet, dark and gooey "hey ko" (prawn paste) sauce but with a difference: spicy home-made "sambal hey bee".

They've just introduced dim sum, and Ah Cheong also cooks the all-important soup for their popular chicken kuey teow t'ng.

Unfortunately Ah Kheong is no longer there to serve his wanton mee; however, he did train up his replacement Ah Bee who has now taken over and continues to serve up this old favourite.

The wanton mee stall is now run by Ah Bee.

Ah Cheong's brother Chee Wah serves his award-winning curry mee, as vouched for by the certificate which is displayed on the front of his stall: it proudly proclaims he was voted the "Best Hawker People's Choice" by Fonterra Food Services in 2009. It's tasty and spicy, although I wish I'd gone there on a weekend, as it is then that he adds something special: his own home-made curry chicken.

Former hotel chef de partie Ah Boon runs the Western food stall, serving a variety of breakfast dishes, fish 'n chips, and chicken chops.

He's also concocted a unique and apparently popular "English murtabak", basically a cheese and chicken ham sandwich which is coated with beaten egg then fried till crispy. There's also the newly-arrived Ah Guan's char kuey teow.

The stalls start operating at about 7am every day and run on till about 5pm except on weekends when they shut at 3pm, when there's mamak mee goreng available as well. They used to open right through to night time but according to Alex, there are fewer hawkers available now.

An Le Kedai Kopi is at 81/89 China Street, Penang.

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Selasa, 3 Januari 2012

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

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