Voyager Of The Seas - Royal Caribbean International [Shore Excursions At Malaysia]

First of all, this is a very over due post which I have no time to finish after my last two posts(here) on our 6 days Voyager Of The Seas Cruise Trip during June school holiday. Along the journey there were 3 ports of call whereby we stopover at Port Klang, Penang (Malaysia) And Phuket(Thailand). Since on board I am very excited to visit Penang as I have heard and read a lot of good reviews on their food especially Penang Laska, Cha Kway Teow and Bak Kut Teh.

In this post, I would like to share with you some of the places and food that we tried during our Penang stopover.

PORT KLANG, MALAYSIA

{Day 2} On the second day of our Cruise trip (read more here), we had a half day stop over at Port Klang which is a town and the main gateway by sea into Malaysia. Passengers on board could choose to stay on board during the embarkation or pick-up a short tour around Kuala Lumpur or etc.

Port Klang Cruise Centre, Malaysia

Since we did not join any day tour for Port Klang stopover, we just went around the Port area, have some bites and take some shots on the cruise ship from the port.

PENANG, MALAYSIA

{Day 3} It was our first trip to Penang by Cruise after so almost 15 years since my last visit with tour group during my secondary school days. And indeed the view of Penang from cruise is amazing and beautiful too.

Our Shore Excursion ticket for "Taste of Penang".

Tourist Discount Card @ Wah Thai Native Products for getting their local products.

Freshly baked and packed Tau Sar Piah and Ma Ti Su which makes you crave for more. They have quiet a few different flavour but I still prefer the normal traditional type.

Coffee Time! What about a cup of Penang White Coffee!

Bak Kut Teh and other spices packet which are great for making yummy herbal soup at home.

After grabbing some yummy Penang local products, we stop over at their shopping mall to do some quick shopping before lunch.

Parkson Shopping Mall which similar to our shopping mall concept which cafes, shops and eateries.

Our lunch was at New World Park Food Court which surprising look clean, spacious and with cooler environment. There are also many different food stalls selling their well-known local delights such as Penang Char Kway Teow, Penang Laksa, Claypot Bak Kut Teh and etc.

These are some of the dishes that we tried at their New World Park Food Court.

Chee Cheong Fun (RM 3.00) with the “heh kor (prawn paste)", chilli and sweet plum sauce is a special Penang specialty which is worth trying.

The super long queue Char Kway Teow (RM 4.50) which is very fragrant with nice wok taste and nicely fried noodles.

First time trying Penang style Bak Kut Teh with so many ingredients in it. The soft and juicy pork belly, fried beancurd sheet and yummy pig intestines sure goes well with the herbal soup.

The Shore Excursions ends after lunch and we are back to the port area around 2pm. Since there were still time before the cruise leaving for the port, we decided to go around the town on our own to explore.

Fort Cornwallis is an old star fort located on the northeastern coast of Penang, Malaysia. Even though the fort was originally built for the British military, its function and historically was more administrative than defensive.

The Chapel at Fort Cornwallis which was built in 1799.

View of the coastline from Fort Cornwallis.

I still remember clearly it was a lovely sunny Monday with good view of Penang and it was indeed a memorable trip there too. We really enjoy those delicious Penang food as well as it's historical scenic view, look forward to go back again and explore more on Penang soon. 

Do stay tune for the next post on our Phuket shore excursions soon. More photos of this Penang Excursion could be found at Cuisine Paradise Facebook Page HERE.

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Tastes Of Penang At Sentosa

Tastes of Penang is the first of Sentosa's 40th anniversary food events to be held by the sea. And for the ongoing 11 days event, patrons can enjoy buffet spread and live cooking stations of Penang hawker favourites and scrumptious home-style dishes such as Char Mui(fried porridge), Char Hum(fried cockles), Nasi Kander and etc by a team of expert Penang chefs, who cook these authentic dishes that are not commonly found in Singapore.

TASTES OF PENANG AT SENTOSA

For appetizer, we start off with "Fruit Rojak" which consists chunks of fresh fruits such as pineapple and rose apple together with cucumber, stuffed beancurd puff and etc mixed with their special spicy sauce and generous amount of crashed peanuts. Just a note, this Penang style fruit rojak does not contain the usually "shrimp paste" like we we had in Singapore.

At the buffet spread you can find two different flavour of Char Hum(fried cockles) such as the Penang sweet version vs the Singapore spicy choice.

First we have Char Hum (fried cockles) with sweet sauce from Penang which is something new to me as I have never eaten cockles prepared in such manner before. The sauce is quiet tasty and it blends well with the fresh cockles to brings out it's flavour. Moreover these cockles are all opened so as to make it more convenience for everyone to consume.

Although the "sweet" version taste good with the extra nutty flavour from the crashed peanuts but we still preferred the "spicy" version where deep-fried pork lard and curry leaves are added to enhance the flavour.

Lok Bak or also known as "Ngo Hiang" (which we are more familiar) is made with mixture of minced and chunk of meat together with five-spice powder instead of minced meat, prawn, water chestnut, yam or etc that we used to eat in Singapore.

Char Mui (fried porridge) is one of the "unique" dish which is hard to find in Penang nowadays. This dish is made with some prawns, meats, dried cuttlefish, black soy sauce together with porridge and etc. The mixture is then "stir-fry" until thicken and fully absorbed the flavour from the cuttlefish and the rest of the ingredients before loading it with lots of chives (ku chai) and serve hot. Emmm perhaps I can try to replicate this at home.

Penang Bak Kut Teh  has a fragrant Chinese herbal broth that goes together with some Pork ribs, Pork Belly and black mushrooms . Each mouthful of the soup leaves your mouth lingering with the aroma from the nourishing herbs like dang gui and yuzhu. Personally I enjoyed the taste of this soup which is not very peppery as compared to some that I have tried.

Penang Hokkien Mee (Prawn Noodle Soup) has a flavorsome broth which simmer with pork ribs, prawn shells, prawn heads and etc. The bowl of noodle soup usually consists of prawn, sliced pork, kang kong(Chinese spinach), hard-boiled egg and yellow noodle served with generous amount of broth and topped with some crispy deep-fried pork lard.

Penang Char Kway Teow is a "must try" because it is individually fried upon order to maintain the taste and quality of each serving. We simply love this especially it's fragrant "wok hei" plus the thin rice smooth noodles which infused the flavour of the cockles, prawn and egg, definitely this has won our votes for second helping.

Nasi Kandar is a popular northern Malaysian dish which originates from Penang. It consists of steamed rice which served with a variety of curries and side dishes. Although I prefer to have individual dishes separated from the rice but the idea of eating this in a new way indeed surprised me with his unique combination of flavours when everything is mixed up before consuming. Somehow or rather it gives me a thought like eating "bibimbap" using different ingredients.

Above are some of the side dishes for the Nasi Kandar where you can see:- Sambal Fish, Udang Sambal, Spicy Cabbage, Curry Brinjal and etc.

Penang Assam Laksa has a bit different taste which is a little more spicy and sourish than those sold in Singapore. No wonder the Chef suggest that I should only eat this as the last dish so that it would not affect the taste apart from the rest of the dishes.

DESSERT AND BEVERAGE

Chendol is a very delicate and fragrant dessert which served with shaved ice and drizzled of Gula Melaka(coconut sweet) syrup and coconut milk. According to the chef, the Chendol strips used are imported from Penang instead of the usual darker colour chendol strips used in Singapore. Over the taste is quite but I would prefer less coconut milk so that I could enjoy the unique taste of the gula melaka syrup.

So excited to spot "Durian Pengat" at their dessert counter and I find this year's pengat is much better and stronger in taste compared to what I had last year during "The Ultimate Crab & Durian Buffet @ Sentosa Boardwalk".

Nothing fancy about these Assorted Nonya Kueh so you can left this out if you are too full for any dessert.

This is my favourite cooling drinks which I often grab from my market fruits' stall. To me, nothing beats some cold fresh coconut juice to quench your thirst during warm weather. And also this works well for the body while we gets to enjoy the spicy and strong flavour from the Penang food. Other than the refreshing juice, there are also some wobble jelly in it which makes you go "crazy" to scoop more and more, perhaps you might even go for a second order as this is definitely a refreshing drink.

For more photos related to the "Tastes of Penang At Sentosa" you can click on the facebook link HERE. Lastly I would like to thank Lisa from Sentosa Leisure Group for the tasting invites.

TASTES OF PENANG

Date: 10 - 20 May 2012
Time: 6pm - 11pm (Mon- Thu), 4pm to 11pm (Fri - Sun)
Venue: Tastes of Asia, Level 2 (near Beach Station)

Price: S$42.90++ per adult; S$19.90++ per child (5 to 11 years old)
(Includes admission to Images of Singapore and complimentary parking at Beach Station. Sentosa Island Admission charges apply.)

For reservations, call 6279 1767 or email carla_cardona@sentosa.com.sg.

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