Ben trying his hand involuntarily to be a photographer after me pestering him for about 10 mins to take my picture NICELY! What do you think?
Moving on to the food.
The location we'll be dining in today is the ever so rustic family run restaurant in Penang called Hainanese Delights located in 1926 Heritage Hotel Penang.
1st started by their father who was trained as a cook and served the British colony back in the hey days, 3 brothers in their golden years are in charge now.
Each with no official culinary training except growing up with good food, fond memories and secret family recipes passed down from their father.
A unique blend of Hainanese and western culture to suit the delicate palettes of the folks from across the pond, one can find a peaceful blend of east meets west.
Fret not, the Hainanse identity still runs strong in this little jem.
Let's begin with our entree,
This is not just a chicken pot pie.
Covered with a delicate layered puff pastry lies hidden...
generous portions of egg and chicken in a sweet and savoury gravy.
This picture looks pale in comparison with the flavors.
Next up,
This is no ordinary spring roll
or as we Malaysian like to call it, poh piah.
Using a special homemade pastry as the shell, this piece of crispy heaven is amazing.
Guided by the ever friendly Mr George Wong,
we were told of the right way to eat this.
Trust me these steps are no hindrance and well worth it.
See the special sauce? No ordinary sauce here.
If you dip it just like that, then the structural integrity of the crispy goodness will give way.
We wouldn't want that now would we.
So instead.
Pop the piece of bad boy in it's side and and pepper the fella from the inside, ensuring the outer crispiness is intact. Genius right?
At 1st crunch, the filling explodes in your mouth
along with the tangy sauce igniting your tongue, in a good way.
This piece of Hainanese Spring Roll is certainly the bomb!
Okay enough with the ammunition puns.
One of the dishes that Hainanese is most famous for is of course, the Hainanese chicken rice.
Smooth tender chicken, succulent to the bite.
Adorned with a side of chicken innards and cool cucumber and to top it off
fresh coriander and ginger.
This is how we do it in the old days, inards babeh!
Ben of course being the more refined palete refused to eat any of this chicken entrails.
Fine more for me then. Waste not want not right?
Oh and the rice. Not your ordinary chicken rice either.
This is one secret that Mr George is kind enough to share with us.
The rice, prior to being coked in a bath of chicken stock and secret blend of spices,
has to go trough a baptism of fire.
No these aren't christian rice,
they are 1st stir fried in a wok to heat things up a little before the bath and when they are done, set aside for a good 10-15 minutes in the sauna of stock steam to the grains to recollect themselves.
The extra measure to ensure that when you eat these little morsels,
the taste and texture is at it's best.
All in all it was an enjoyable time for Ben and I chatting with Mr George.
A nice friendly chap ever willing to share a piece of delicious history with you.
Thank you so much for a great time. And next time I'll be sure to bring back more mouths so that I can order a wider variety of dishes for my tummy.
Yes, I am selfish that way.
Quick, call in to make reservations especially for some of their not so ordinary dishes:
Lunch: 11am
Dinner: 6pm
Telephone: 604 226 1926
1926 Heritage Hotel
227, Jalan Burma, 10050 Penang, Malaysia
Closed on Mondays
Facebookhttp://www.hainanesedelights.com
P/S: Any restaurants or dishes you like recently? Do share in the comments below.
18 Comment:
glow..is it halal?
that's a very lovely pic of you and the flowers there.
what a creative and smart way to eat the popiah with the sauce. If dip it in the sauce, it definitely spoil the crispiness of the popiah.
btw, hello. i'm a new blogger in town. found your blog and decided to follow it :) have a great Monday :)
@Teratai Ibunda Catering Sorry I'm not sure if it's halal, perhaps you can give them a quick call to confirm?
@Ying Ying Dai Tao Har Thank you^^ took me a long time to get Ben to take it for me. Welcome to the blogging world ^^
interesting! have seen and passed the place so many times, but never tried it out. how much was that meal?
All that food looks really yummy. And I was surprised to find eggs under the cover of the pie. First time I have ever seen that filling. Hehe. :-)
when I was small, my parents would always order that spring roll whenever we eat out in chinese restaurants. I cant remember whats it called, but i think its called "chun piah" in hokkien. Delicious though!
We also have Hainanese restaurants here. But from your photos, I think it tastes better there compared to here :)
@jamie writes Don't quite remember the price but that means it wasn't too expensive. Affordable I would say. then again not your usual side street chicken rice price either. You should go try it out. very friendly staff <3
@ropcorn It tastes better then it looks =)It was a pleasant surprise with the eggs ^__^
@Isaac Tan aw..and now you're all big. Make sure to continue the tradition and bring YOUR kids there nxt time.
@carlo Lols...Penang is a state of food. People travel from all over to this little island for the food~
The chicken rice is my best pick,esp with the innards, yummy for sure.
That popiah seems really cripsy from the photo :P
Thanks for sharing hahaha, the CHicken it seems to be very glossy LOL =D
@Nava.K perfect side dish <3
@Hilda Milda™ oh it is! Must follow the steps so that it'll stay crunchy in ur mouth <3
@Kian Fai very smooth, even the breast meat is soft~ <333
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