Chew Chuen Dim Sum at Butterwoth

Chew Chuen Dim Sum (N5 24.364 E100 22.318) is the Biggest Chain Dim Sum outlet at Butterworth, and this outlet we visited was the first shop where the business started. The shop is located at Tingkat Bagan Baru 1 at Bagan, Butterworth and it has outdoor and indoor session. It always crowded with peoples in the morning until almost noon...

We chose the outdoor session to avoid heat that circular within...

The indoor area of Chew Chuen Dim Sum

The outdoor area of Chew Chuen Dim Sum

The reason I can understand why so many customers like to visit Chew Chuen is because they have many varieties! As you can see from the photos below...

Customers like to choose what they love to have...

Inside the cabinet

Beside the Dim Sum, you also can have some standard dishes or Congee (粥) from the shop.

Standard dishes from Chew Chuen Dim Sum

The Mobile Congee (粥) supply from Chew Chuen Dim Sum

When we walked over to order the Dim Sum, me & my brother just took the main plates like : 'Siu-mai' (燒賣), 'Ha-gau' (蝦餃), 'Char-Siu-bau' (叉燒包) and others...

Siu-mai (燒賣)

Har-gau (蝦餃)

Char-Siu-bau (叉燒包)

Turnip (Carrot) Cake (萝卜糕) My favorite and it's a must for me...

Beside the main Dim Sum, we also order some site dishes, like...(below)

Sweet Tofu Skin Roll (腐皮捲)

Taro dumpling (芋頭糕) (My dad used to buy this dumplings for my breakfast...)

Fried Turnip (Carrot) Cake

We also had some of the Fish-ball, Phoenix Talons (鳳爪), Egg Tart (蛋撻) and....
The Dim Sums somehow were good and tasty! But some of my friends told me about their Heavenly Perfect Dim Sum, I felt it's just over-rated...

The Damage was MYR37.00 for 4 adults and 1 child. It was a Reasonable price!
Of course you cannot compare the quality with the Ipoh Dim Sum, but if happen to be at Butterworth and you think like have a bite if the 'Siu-mai', don't mind visit The Chew Chuen Dim Sum.

Rated : 4/5

Location map of Chow Chuen Dim Sum at Butterworth

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G. Welesley Food Court (Kopitiam) at Chai Leng Park, Butterworth

G. Welesley Food Court (N5 23.102 E100 23.567) is located at the junction of Lebuh Kurau 3 and Jalan Kurau, Chai Leng Park, Butterworth. (Always crowded during night time)
We love to come here (night time) because you can get all the Penang local delicacies in this food court. Only some of them have different taste from Penang, anyway...the foods at Penang Island also have different taste among each other...

G. Welesley Food Court at Chai Leng Park, Butterworth

Everytime we visit here, we love to order many different foods on our table...there was no exception this time. Look what we got...Penang Assam Laksa (again!), Penang Char Kuey Teow (again!), Penang Curry Mee (again!), Baked Stingray (Ikan Bakar) and Pork Satay.
The photos below :-

Penang Assam Laksa

Penang Char Kuey Teow

Penang Curry Mee

Baked Fish (Ikan Bakar) 

Pork Satay

Overall we were satisfied with the foods, except...the Pork Satay is very poor, very difficult to chew! The Assam Laksa was marvellous! I felt it's even Better than the stall near by Penang Hill. Curry mee and Char Kuey Teow were above average. Price also reasonable! And it's definitely cheaper than Penang Island!

Foods of this food court, rated : 4/5

Location map of G. Welesley Food Court (Kopitiam) at Chai Leng Park, Butterworth

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Penang Bazaar at Penang Road, Penang

Penang Bazaar (N5 25.120 E100 19.899) is located along Penang Road opposite the Mydin Supermarket (it was Cathay Cinema 35 years ago).

Penang Bazaar

When I was a kid, I always follow my parent having their shopping this Penang Bazaar in the late 70s. I can only remember my Mom keep on remind me :"Don't touch this, don't touch that...". Haha! Those day...
Correct me if I'm wrong, this was One of the popular shopping area during the time. Maybe similar to a hypermart today...My Mom love to come here and my Dad will do his shopping in the next building - The Chowrasta Wet Market...
Today, the shops (or stalls) in this building mostly (90%) are selling fabric. It is different from those day, there were many type of stalls around...

Shops in Penang Bazaar

I walk around this area, and slowly recall my childhood memories...the building was not equip with Air-Con, so you can imagine the temperature in there...But...I didn't feel the heat at all, because I was concentrate on the surrounding...trying hard to remember where did I lost my toy car, and finally...I saw the dirty drain! My car was drop into that drain! And it still dirty today...haha!

Chowrasta Wet Market, Penang

The wet market was closed in the evening, beside the fish and other stalls, there were also some stalls selling daily necessity and food...

I found this food stall really colourful!

Hanging around for about an hour, we finally step out of these two building. Surprised, this chestnut stall still around!

The chestnut seller

Look at the Penang Road, it totally changed! One of the famous cinema - Cathay Cinema, became Mydin Supermarket today...

Penang Road

This area was really given me a comfort feeling, that I wanna sit beside the road (or at the Bus Stand), relax and look around for couple of hour...I can't tell the reason why...too bad I didn't have the chance to do it that day...

The location map of Penang Bazaar

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Budapest -- My latest Centropa column, a guide to the Seventh District

In my latest travel column for Centropa.org, I provide a guide to some of the restaurants and cafes I like to patronize in Budapest's new "bar vortex" -- the former Jewish quarter. Venues I profile include the cafes and restaurants Siraly, Szoda, Szimpla, Dupla, Szimpla kert, Carmel (kosher), Hanna (kosher), Spinoza, Kadar, Barladino -- and more.

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

BUDAPEST -- The last time I wrote about Budapest on Centropa I provided an itinerary of Jewish sights and resources, most of them in and around the city's Seventh District, the old downtown Jewish quarter anchored by three grand synagogues forming a so-called "Jewish triangle."

That was eight years ago, and the former Jewish quarter still had the reputation of being one of the city's poorest inner districts. There were some signs of incipient gentrification, but World War II bullet holes pocked many crumbling facades, vacant lots yawned, and the grimy streets were dark and uninviting.

A lot has changed since then. Much of the District is still neglected. But already at the end of 2007 the New York Times ran a travel story called "Out of Darkness, New Life" that described how the district's "history and recent rise to trendiness" evoke "comparisons to the Lower East Side of New York." A recent issue of Time Out Budapest magazine went even further, terming the Jewish quarter a major city "bar vortex."

In fact, the district burgeons with new cafes, clubs, bistros and wine bars that attract a young, hip -- and often Jewish -- crowd. At the same time, though, this type of growth has been paralleled by controversial urban renewal projects that have seen many old buildings torn down and replaced by rather soulless modern structures.

A citizens group, OVAS, has been formed to lobby for the protection of what remains -- particularly in light of real estate corruption involved in some of the development schemes. The Mayor of the Seventh District himself, in fact, was jailed last year on suspicion of bribery and abuse of office related to property transactions.

I've maintained a small apartment in the Seventh District for more than a decade. Though I only spend part of my time here, I've been observing the changes in the quarter up close; after all, it's my neighborhood.

In particular, I enjoy the new venues and Jewish haunts that have nothing to do with a nostalgic sense of a vanished past but everything to do with how Jews in Budapest -- and particularly young Jews in Budapest -- are experimenting with ways to build a lively present and, one hopes, a sustainable future.

With this article, I would like to introduce readers to some of the haunts in and around the Jewish quarter that I tend to frequent: whether for breakfast cappuccino or afternoon espresso, for an inexpensive lunch, or for dinner or late night drinks and conversation. Or simply as somewhere to sit and use the free WiFi internet that most venues in the district seem to offer.

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Ho Ping Coffee Shop (Kopitiam) at Penang Road, Penang

Ho Ping Kopitiam (Traditional Chinese Coffee Shop) (N5 25.161 E100 19.928) it's located in the junction of Penang Road and Jalan Kampung Malabar. (Ho Ping means Peaceful in Chinese) We got attracted by the hawkers in the shop along our walk at Penang Road.

Ho Ping Kopitiam (Traditional Chinese Coffee Shop)

I like the setting of these traditional type of coffee shop...
The two stalls which selling Pork Noodle and Char Kuey Teow (Fried rice noodle) looks really attractive! We went into the shop and ordered the foods without discuss among ourself! Haha!

The Pork Noodle :-
It serve with all the pork intestine, vegetables and mee-hoon (vermicelli). Taste good! We like the soup very much! It cost MYR5.00 each. (Can't see it in JB)

The Pork Noodle of Ho Ping Kopitiam

The other hawker which got my attraction was this Char Kuey Teow stall. The charcoal stove was really unique and I hardly see it elsewhere...

The Charcoal Stove of the Char Kuey Teow hawker

He (the Char Kuey Teow hawker) was preparing about 30 packs for take away when I order mine...so, I have to wait for about 30 minutes...and that situation made me more hungry while waiting...:)

Authentic Penang Char Kuey Teow

Look at the 4 prawns well presented on it! Wah! I like very much! There is NO way to taste this at Johor Bahru at all! It was Delicious! Cost MYR3.50.
Beside the ingredient, the charcoal stove also make the different, it provided the heat for the wok equally compare with the modern gas stove. (Learned it from the local)

By comparing the Famous Char Kuey Teow at Lorong Selamat, Penang (from local recommendation) and this hawker, both of them are equally good! But I prefer this because of the Attitude!

We Rated :-
The pork noodle - 3/5

The Char Kuey Teow - 4.5/5

I will come back again on my next trip to Penang! 

Location map of Ho Ping Kopitiam (Coffee Shop)

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The Toy Museum Of Penang (World Biggest Toy Musuem)

The Toy Museum (N5 27.962 E100 17.511) of Penang is located in front of Copthorne Orchid Hotel along the Tanjung Bunga Road, Penang.
Before we came. I just wondering why it called the World Biggest Toy Museum?! The only way to find out is to visit it.

The Toy Museum of Penang

The entrance fee was MYR10.00 for adult and MYR6.00 for children. The Museum actually is displaying all the 'Figurine' from Hollywood movies, Hong Kong movies and other childhood Cartoon. You won't appreciate it if you are NOT a movie fan! Haha!

Once you enter the Museum, you will see many rows of cabinets displaying all the Figurine of Movies, Cartoon & Comics.

Cabinets that displaying the figurine

I going to share the photos (more than 30) that I had taken in the Museum. Please be patient on the page loading...

Hong Kong Movie - Chow Yun Fatt

Cute typewriter

Miniature Sewing Machine

The Storm Rider (Hong Kong Movie)

The Wind (up) & The Cloud (down)

 

Garfield

Doreamon

The Star Wars. It's one of my favorite, you? :)

Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker)

Darth Vader without his mask

Revenge of the Sith

I forgot his name, only remember he was the trader in Star Wars Esp. 1

Be The Force Be With You - Master Yoda (my idol)

I want my Precious! - The Lord Of The Ring

Harry Porter

Alien Vs Predator

The Star Trek

I thought all of the figurine are small size that kept in the cabinets, until I see this.....WOW! The ACTUAL size of Lara Croft and Jack Sparrow (The Pirates of Caribbean)

Unfortunately I cannot find the Lara Croft movie - Angelina Jolie...

Jack Sparrow - The Pirates of Caribbean

The Pirates of Caribbean

R2D2 and 3CPO (Actual Size)

Lara Croft, Batman, Superman and The Lord Of The Ring (Actual Size)

Brandon Lee - The Crow

Chucky

I forgot who is this...

The Matrix

I Robot

Last, One of my Favorite - The Iron Man
But I cannot understand what he gonna do with 'Mickey Mouse?'

We spent about an hour in this Museum, but my daughter seems doesn't like it! Because she only recognize Barney and Friends, Tom & Jerry and Mickey Mouse. Kind of boring place for her! Haha!

I felt the entrance fee (MYR10.00) was worth it because of the Huge Collection from the owner. But you might not appreciate it if you haven't watch all those Famous movie...

After visiting The Toy Museum, we continue our hunt for Penang Delicacies...

The location map of The Toy Museum, Penang.

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