Coconut Jelly

Coconut Jelly - If you think you've tasted something similar elsewhere, you're probably in for a shock.

I've have heard and read about this place often enough. And have pass by it many times, but somehow I've always missed it. Then once I came across a blog, don't remember who's specifically indicating where this place is.

Anyway the review first, then where to find it. The place, is nicely termed 'Penang Coconut Jelly'. The coconut Jelly which costs less then RM5, is something really refreshing. Typically when served, people assume it's the normal 'Kelapa Muda' (Young Coconut) water (endosperm) , however once you open it, a transparent jelly greats you.

It is one of the most refreshing things I've had. As you can see in the above picture. It is one of those things that is hard to Soft nice jelly. They have managed to 'jellize' the coconut water. Once you are done with the nice jelly, you still get to have the 'isi' or the flesh of the inner coconut which is it's usual nice.

The shop is located on Dato Kramat Road, coming from Komtar, it will be on your left side, after Times Square and before Patani Road Polis Station (Balai Patani Rd).

Mr Joel @ Joe (MD)

201, Jln Dato Kramat,

10150 Pulau Pinang.

HP : 016-4409049

Tel : 04-2296063

Click here for a google map

No more Google Ads in Posts

Initially I was quite up-beat of having ads show in my posts. But my dearest hinted to me that it is a little 'disturbing' to the readers. So last month, I had a poll on my website to ask my readers about their preference. Yes earning AdSense is good, but earning readers loyalty and comments is as motivating. And I am mainly blogging not advertising.

So the results are out for the poll, out of 7 people who voted, 4 said remove it, 2 said leave it as it is, and 1 said doesn't really matter. That's a 'landslide' victory for 'remove the ads' . And so I have done so. 

Come to think about it, one good thing about removing the Google ads in post is that now I can display more posts on my makan2food.blogspot.com, since my posts per page were actually limited coz I was down to 2 ad units. 

Also if some of you noticed, I've started using InfoLinks, where infolinks' ads are double-underlined. Somehow earnings have been nil after the first day. Not sure what's up with that. Some people place the InfoLinks ads as a single underline, but to be fair to readers, that's confusing as it'll be difficult to differentiate a real link with an adv link. 

Ok. Thanks to all that voted. 

Sri Ananda Bahwan Vegetarian

Pure Authentic Vegetarian Restaurant - Sri Ananda Bahwan.

That's how the sign board says it. So here we are at Penang Street, Little India.

This area is definitely one of the best areas to find fine Indian cuisine. I had previously blogged about New Woodlands Vegetarian Restaurant, which had also featured in the Star some time back, below is the pdf copy of the online article on TheStar.

The_Star_Water in a Crispy Fried Dough

Sri Ananda Bahwan (SAB) is located opposite New Woodlands Vegetarian Restaurant. Note, there is another Ananda Bahwan down the road at the junction, however that is not a full-fledged vegetarian place.

The set-up of the place itself looks inviting. The sitting and tables are new and nice. Environment is a definite plus.

Sri Ananda Bahwan - The Pure Vegetarian One

However we noticed the top floor dining area has a strong 'echo' due to the walls and lack of curtains. Definitely needs some sound absorbers here.

We ordered one of the Thali. Thali is basically an Indian Meal Set. Instead of serving it in the usual round large stainless steel plate and small bowls, SAB opts for pre-sub-divisioned stainless steel plates where different dishes can be placed. Note there's still a couple of dishes served in the small bowls.

The Thali Set - Most Economical Filling & Variety Lunch Set There

This thali came with Capati (also called Rotli or Roti in some languages), plain white rice, briyani rice and a number of dishes. The dishes with is were chick peas (kacang putih, chena masala in Hindi), brinjal & potato curry, ladies finger (bhendi) curry and mixed veges. All the side dishes were real good except for the mixed veges. It also came with curd (dadih, tairu) i.e. the creamy white filling in the bowl. Also in the thali set is dessert, which was Suji Kesar (Kesar is Saffron, Suji is Semolina)

And a normal favourite, we also order the Tosai. We got the Masala (Spices + Potato) Thosai. The Gravy and Chutney with it was nice. The tose itself was just average. For my favourite Tosai place, click here.

The Masala Tosai

Talking about Masala Tosai, the filling is placed inside the tosai. Below is how it looks after a few bites. :)

For drinks, we had the Sour Lassi. It was really nice.

Lassi

Here's a look at the kitchen. Nice concept where the kitchen is open to diners and they can get a feel of how the food is cooked. As well as check out the cleanliness!

Their Kitchen - Clean and Tidy

Sri Ananda Bahwan Pure Vegetarian also has a variety of sweets or Mithai. There are a number to choose from.

Sweets and more Sweets - Mithai

Here's a close up of one of them, the Halwa.

Halwa

We had the Gulab Jamun. I think they called it the Dry Jamun as the syrup is served separately, so it's up to us how much we want to pour.

The Dry Jamun

Good idea as some people don't like it too sweet so can opt to sue the syrup sparingly. Nicely served as below.

Need Directions - Try Google Maps. It is roughly located here, on Penang Street.

Secret Recipe - Lasagna & Pie

Secret Recipe - Lasagna & Pies. - definitely a house hold name. Well known for it's lasagna, lamb stew, and western as well as oriental and Malaysian cuisines.

I had previously blogged about their cakes and drinks, which you can read by clicking here; Secret Recipe - Cakes & Drinks. Undeniably the cakes are good. But there are a lot of other good food as well, including some dishes that are not known by many.

So here we are, at Secret Recipe Bayan Baru, nearby Sunshine, same row as Young Ones and KFC.

Pasta Menu

Looking at the pasta menu, we decide to get the Beef Lasagna. This is one of my favourites. It is served with a bun / bread.

Beef Lasagna

Somehow this time it wasn't up to par. Usually the Beef Lasagna is REAL GOOD. This time though it seems not well cooked, e.g. the lasagna layer itself was either too thick or not cooked that well. Another option for Lasagna would be Domino's Lasagna. Somehow even Domino's Lasagna's quality is inconsistent. For valid reason I'd say. Cooking Lasagna and getting the lasagna, cheese and beef to be in a consistent manner is a challenge. Not that I've cooked one before!

The next item we ordered is what I'd say is worth a try and something 'different'. Pies. There are a number of options available, from the Shepherd's Pie, Gourmet Pie and Black Pepper Lamb Pie. The Shepherd Pie seems tempting and is usually good! Here's how Wikipedia defines the Shepherd's Pie; "Cottage pie, also known as shepherd's pie, refers to an English meat pie with a crust made from mashed potato and beef."

Pies and more pies

We decide to try the Black Pepper Lamb Pie. Usually you will have to wait as they will make it fresh. Try enquiring when you're there which pies are made fresh and which are re-heated.

Black Pepper Lam Pie - how it was served

Above is the Black Pepper Lamb Pie. Looks inviting doesn't it. Pepper is sprinkled on the pie. And the filling? Look below...

Black Pepper Lam Pie - how it looks after a few bytes!

The filling is soft moist lamb and its 'gravy'. Really nice and tasty. Best served and eaten hot. To put the picture in perspective, imagine a lamb sizzling gravy curry puff.

Here's the Irish Lamb Stew. Or at least here's the Irish Lamb Stew after I've dug in...

Lamb Stew

The meat is real tender and soft. Probably would have been better if the side dish is not flooded by the stew / gravy. A real nice dish for Lamb Lovers.

And for drinks. Well take your pick below.

Drinks

You know, if you want something warm and nice, ask them to make you the Hot Lemon Tea. Its served in a nice soup-like-bowl. Nice.

Anyway, we had the Oreo shake. Again some difference in quality. The best one I've tasted was once in Gurney, Belissa Row. Overall the Oreo shake was nice.

Oreo Shake

Enjoy.

p.s.-If you're looking for something spicy, the Tomyam Kung is a definite try!

Real Good Doughnuts - Nash Donuts Bakery

Nash Donuts & Bakery - Real Good Doughnuts

You know, people usually say Penang is one of the more 'happening', modern, lifestyle cities in Malaysia. Especially that's what Penangites say. Don't go comparing with KL though. But it has been a weird notion for many, that Penang being Penang, doesn't have an Imax theatre, only Gurney's GSC 3D Cinema. No Dunkin Donuts, no Burger King and the list goes on.

And yes, everytime when we're traveling around Malaysia, and pass by Dunkin Donut, we'd stop and buy them. I remember the last time in Johor, while the taxi driver was re-fuelling, I noticed the Petronas had a Dunkin Donut and we rushed to buy some.

But well, Penangites, don't despair anymore. Seems Nash Donuts & Bakery is here. The branch I went was in Bandar Perda, Sebarang Prai City. My good friend Din recommended the place some time back.

Nash Donuts & Bakery is located in the De'Rendezvous building in Bandar Perda, which is opposite the Bazar Perdana and before Jusco Aeon. Same building as Kapitan Bandar Perda.

Nash Donuts & Bakery Box

Entering the place, the ambiance is really inviting. It seems like one of those bistros where you could hang out, have a nice coffe drink and doughnuts. There is an array of donuts and flavors for your taste buds. The prices decrease by quantity, i.e. the more you buy per box the cheaper. The packing box is pretty nice and tempting. But wait till you see the real pictures. As usual, you can click on the pictures for a larger size.

We 'tapau'ed (bungkus) a number of flavors.

Below is the Tiramisu Donut. Ever since we had the Tiramisu cake at the Fisherman's Place in Gurney, we've longed for more. But Tiramisu Doughnuts? Hmmm. Most of us have heard and had Tiramisu, but I've always wondered what it really meant. From Wikipedia, "Tiramisu (Italian: Tiramisù; Veneto: Tiramesù [tirameˈsu]) is one of the most popular Italian cakes. It is made of savoiardi (otherwise known as lady finger biscuits) dipped in espresso or strong coffee and layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks, mascarpone, and sugar, and topped with cocoa."

Tiramisu Donut

Well the results was, the Tiramisu doughnut was pretty nice. Something really different and unique. There was a creamy fill both on the surface and on the inner fillings. Personally I would have preferred it even more if the inner filling were slightly less. Nevertheless, you get a very rich feel, which was just so nice.

And not to forget the plain donuts. My Golu's favourite. I guess the plain donut could be likened to the Dairy Milk for Chocolates, i.e. in it's purest form!

Plain Donut

The plain donut was nice. No too sweet and not too much sugar. Pretty soft but yet not soggy.

And now my personal favourite. Donut smothered with peanuts. This was really good. When driving home, during traffic lights, I munched on them. By the time I arrived home, there was hardly half of it left for my Golu. Upps, but it was really good.

The Peanut Donut

Since I liked it so much, I even cropped it so you can see a more zoomed-in picture. Tasty.

Peanut Doughnut zommed-in

Here's the Oreo and Chocolate Donut. They were pretty good. Somehow personally I'm not a huge fan of Chocolate Doughnuts. Not sure why. Maybe same reason I prefer Cheese Cakes, Chocolate Brownie Cakes, but not Chocolate Cheese Cakes. I think the Oreo Donut would be real good if the oreo's were not that fine. I prefer them in crunches and not too powdery. Imagine the oreo in Baskin Robbins Oreo and Creme.

Choc & Oreo Donuts

Here's the Mango Donut.

Mango Donut

More Donut flavors. Tempting isn't it.

Donuts - chocolaty...

Almond Donut. One of my favourites. Real good. Adds some crunchiness to donuts, getting the best of both worlds, soft, creamy and crunchy in one bite!

The Almond Donut - GOOD!

Ok, probably I should have started this entry with the below pictue. But just to tease your curiosity, here's a look of the 12-in-a-box I bought. Well you can probably guess which flavours are my favourites now.

Donuts in a box

They have 3 branches I believe. One in Bandar Perda Seberang Prai City, Autocity and Sg Petani. Addresses as in below picture.

Nash Donuts & Bakery Store Locations (snap shot of inside of the box)

Besides the donuts and coffee they also serve and sell other local dishes for a full meal. I haven't tried those, but definitely the donuts will continue to be on my list.

Summary - The motto says it all "Coffee, Friends & Family Place...".

Tea Time Snacks

Tea Rusks, Toasts, and some other Indian Snacks for Tea.

For me, Tea Drinking is a passion, and having certain snacks along with it is an added pleasure. Here when I refer to my tea drinking passion, I refer mostly to what some refer to as Chai.

See Chai is actually Hindi for Tea. But as what I witnessed in the States and now have come to notice in Starbucks and Coffee Bean, many non-Asians construe Chai as either Tea with Milk or Spicy Milk Tea, i.e. Masala Chai. So Chai Tea is actually a tautological term, i.e. a repetitive word. Similar to terms we use here like Pintu Gate, Tolong Cuba Try (where Cuba is Try in Malay)

One of the best Masala Tea in Malaysia (according to me and my dearest) can be found at the Bharat Tea Plantation in Cameron Highlands. You can read more about it here. The best Masala Tea? Well for me it's at home. My dearest makes the best Masala Tea. :) Too bad the Masalah is not for sale.... yet.

So back here in Malaysia, Tea is commonly know as Teh. If you want the famous acrobatic hot milk Tea which the person 'pulls / tarik', and comes with the bubbly foam, it is Teh Tarik. It you want just normal hot milk Tea, it would be Teh Panas. (Panas for Hot). Now usually English Tea, is Black Tea, i.e Tea Bags dipped in hot water., so English tea would be Black Tea, and Milk and Sugar served separately. I always wondered why Tea Bags never tasted as rich as Chai (more later). Here, if you want just black Tea (with Sugar), you'd say Teh O. If you want Strong (Dark?) Tea, you add the Kau / Gau in the end. 

Ok so why doesn't Tea Bag taste that good? Especially if you're planning to have Milk Tea i.e. Chai. Here's what Wikipedia says;

"The traditional chai-brewing process actively boils the tea leaves over sustained heat. Chai prepared in this manner has a caffeine level comparable to coffee, as the prolonged boiling produces a more robust beverage than quiescently steeping the tea leaves in hot (but not boiling) water. "

So why do people prefer Tea Bags? I guess convenience of preparation and cleaning. Hmmm, no wasn't my blog entry supposed to be about Tea Time Snacks and not Tea. Well, just proves how passionate I am about tea.

Ok back to the snacks. Toast and Tea Rusks are common snacks, with different varieties and fusions around places and cultures.

Most of the products we found were from the Zyka Brand which we bought from Mustafa in Singapore. Sorry no Mustafa in Penang yet. Let's start with Tea Rusks. This were really good. Now I'm not sure what's the difference between toast and rusk. Eventhough Wikipedia describes it as "A rusk is a rectangular, hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread (zwieback)." This we're more semi-sphere (semifera) than rectangular. Baked twice? Not sure.

Zyka Tea Rusks

And yes, it tastes fabulous with tea. We're those that like to dip the toasts into our tea. And it being rusks, don't soften up too much but suck up the tea, making a succulent toast.

The Tea Rusk

And above is how the Tea Rusk looks like. Yes somehow the graphics for the above picture is intriguing to say the least. It's an aerial view of the toast which has been placed in one of those plastic containers. If you remember, some time back I blogged about another good Toast found locally; Azan Toast. Somehow I don't see it in the stores anymore though. How sad.

Next is the Suji Toast. This toast are 'slimmer'. Why does that matter? It's easier to dip into your tea of course. Especially if your tea cup is not wide. Suji is Semolina per Wikipedia, i.e the purified middlings of Durum wheat used in making pasta; also, the coarse middlings used for breakfast cereals and puddings.

Suji / Semolina Toast

The taste was really good. I'm not sure how distinctively I recognized the Semolina taste, as I'm not sure how it should taste and since it's dipped into tea, you get a whole new and nice concoction.

Ok, now to more exotic Indian Snacks. This is Gathiya. Personally I don't agree with the English desciption they have as you can see. Savoury Gram Flour Noodles. When you say Noodles, something like mee, Maggi or those kinds of 'noodles' comes to mind. 

Ghatiya - I'll pass

FYI, the Gram in Gram Flour is actually pronounced using the Malay pronounciation style, and not pronounced how you'd pronounce Kilogram in English. Here's some info on the Gram Flour I'm referring to from Wikipedia. 

Agriculture and horticulture

• Gram, from Latin granum (seed) via Portuguese and then languages of the Indian subcontinent, is sometimes used to refer to chickpeas and other pulses
  • Green gram = Mung bean
  • Bengal gram = Chickpea
  • Red gram = Pigeon pea
  • Black gram = urad
  • Horse gram
• It may also refer to a lentil

Gathiya - How the Look

Above is how the Ghatiya looked like. Frankly, it wasn't what I expected. Usually the home made ones, are really crunchy, alot thinner and rich in taste. This one tasted more like just Gram Flour! That was a dissappointment as Haldiram's other products have been really satisfactory as you can read on my Indian Sweet's Blog Entry by clicking here. 

Khakhra is next. Basically Khakhra is a pretty good tea time snack. It is very light, and crispy and not that oily. We bought two different brands. As you can see, the below one is Jeera Khakhra. Jeera is cumin, so the Khakra is peppered with Cumin Seed. 

Jeera Khakhra

Here's the Masala Khakhra. Different supplier, so different packing. 

Masala Khahkra

And here's the last of the snack time food. Methi Khari. Methi is Fenugreek. Well you would have noticed that the additions / spices used together with these snacks have really good health properties. Indian culture is very rich with spices and appreciate its health properties as well. And this has been recognized by time. I'll try to share a story about Turmeric (Kunyit) in the future. Anyway back to the Methi Khari. It is very brittle and crunchy. Wouldn't be my favourite, but was a decent snack. Zyka has a good assortment of snacks and the quality is above average. 

Methi Khari

Did you notice the Green Circle in a white square in the above packing. Yes, like indicated in my previous post, this would suggest it is vegetarian friendly. 

Ok, that's all for Tea Time Snacks. My apologies as most of this is not avaiable in Penang, but it'll make a good shopping list when you travel abroad. Also hopefully some entreprenueering chap tries to import this. 

A&W

A&W at Gurney Plaza, Penang

Rootbeer, waffles, Coney Dog, Onion Rings. Yes, that's what comes to mind when we say A&W right. And good news. Most of the menu items are still super delicious.

Some time back Gurney Plaza went thru some major renovations and extension. I guess with the crowd moving to Queensbay Mall, Gurney had lost some of its glitter. Yes, just like what happened to Island Plaza when Gurney came around.

And our last 2 visits to Gurney for movies, has included a great dining experience. First was surprisingly delicious Tiramisu at Fisherman's Place and now A&W. Actually the first time we went to Fisherman's Place in Gurney, we didn't bring our camera along as we didn't expect a superb experience. And it was the dessert, the Tiramisu that surprised us. So this time, we came back, armed with our camera and appetite, sat down, starting deciding what to have for the main course, as dessert was decided earlier. And then, I decide to ask the Waitress, do you still have Tiramisu? And she replied, sorry we're finished for the day. And that really felt dissappointing.

Well, guess what, that just led us to A&W instead. The last time we went to A&W some years back was in Prangin Mall, on the outside. Is it still there??

Anyway, we start ordering. One thing that comes to mind though is KFC & McDonald's are aggressively offering lower priced combos, and so A&W felt 'little' expensive. Anyway, we order our favourites and try something new. We order the Coney Dog set, which comes with a set of root-beer and fries. We get the upgrade, making it a Float Root Beer and Curly fries. Nope you can't upgrade to Onion fries, those you need to get ala-carte. And yes, we get the Onion Fries ala-carte. We also try the Chicken Waffle.

Once we get our meals (some longer lead time items, like the onion rings will be sent to our table). We have a sit. It is averaged-ly crowded.

The Coney Dog was ok. Honestly I don't remember how it used to taste like, so can't really compare. Somehow the packaging was not convenient. It came in a wrapper, but the wrapper was glued to the box, so we had to 'tear' it off. You'll know what I mean once you're there.

Coney Dog

The Coney Dog looked real good. The hot-dog meat taste was really strong. This is one of those dishes that really look tempting when zoomed it. You judge.

Coney Dog : Close-up

The Curly Fries was nice. Something different then the usual Fun / French Fries. Not too salty either.

Curly Fries

The Chicken Waffle was average. I guess during the old times, waffles were hard to come by, and A&W were the ones that had waffles. Now with Leomag, etc around, they do offer some good waffle and competition. (there is a bakery renting in Giant Bayan Baru, has some good waffle as well).

Chicken Waffle

But to be fair, I didn't order their famous ice-cream waffle so can't comment on that.

Finally the Onion Rings arrive. And yes, they were really good. Just like good old times. Once you bite in, it's a 'struggle' to break of the onion inside. So best tip is to bite really deep and little hard on the first time. Otherwise you'll just pull the whole onion ring out of the fried flour.

Onion Rings - yes, they serve more then 2, but we've eaten them!

And finally the drinks. (should it be 'drink' as I ordered only 1? The Drink without the 's' sounds weird)

Root-Beer Ice-Cream Float

And yes, as we all die-hard fans remember, Look ma, the ice-cream doesn't sink (at least for a while). Yes the famous A&W rootbeer, fabulous taste, and the ice-cream floats along. Same ol' same good.

You can visit A&W Malaysia's website here http://www.rootbeer.com.my/

For a map to Gurney Plaza click here.

Summary - The A&W in Gurney is a fresh addition and an old school fast food back on the block. And still serves good food. I'd hope they also introduce and market new menu items.

Malaysian Food in the Papers!

Way to go. Is this the same compay as the Kayu that's behind Vistana and in Penang road or trademark copy? I think the one on Penang Road (or has it closed, and re-opened) and the one in Bukit Jambul are slightly different names.
You can read more about The Kayu in Melbourne's branches here
http://www.impressive.com.my/kayu/chains_restaurant.html

How's the food like, dunno, never been to Melbourne.

From the Star

Kayu Nasi Kandar owner fined in Melbourne
"MELBOURNE: A restaurant owner who brought a Malaysian to work as a chef here and paid him less than A$10,000 over 18 months has been fined A$180,000.
Businessman Hong Poh Meng and his company, Penang Kayu Nasi Kandar Ltd, which traded as Kayu@Boxhill, admitted breaching 11 work place laws, including underpaying a full-time cook A$76,000, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reports.
Two 19-year-old casual waitresses were underpaid A$4,876 and A$899 respectively."

Kapitan Bandar Perda

Restoran Kapitan Bandar Perda

Great news Penang Mainlanders! Delicious Tandoori is now just a drive away. No need to cross the Bridge towards Penang Island to enjoy Kapitan's famous Tandoori and other dishes.

Kapitan Bandar Perda - Recently Opened.

We were driving by Jusco Bandar Perda, and we passed by Kapitan. We were delighted to say the least. We are a real big fan of good Tandoori and North Indian Dishes, and Kapitan's the King when it comes to Nasi Kandar style Tandoori.

And yes, this is my 3rd blog on 3 out of the 4 Kapitans now. I initially blogged about Kapitan Chulia Street, then Kapitan Queensbay and now Kapitan Bandar Perda. There is one more Kapitan, which is my favourite, i.e Kapitan Gurney. Actually one of my friends and my brother introduced me to Kapitan's delicious tandoori. And both my friend and brother share the same name. And from then onwards, I have introduced so many of my friends both local Penangites, Malaysians and foreigners to this place. And everyone's loved them.

This branch of Kapitan is located in Bandar Perda, Bukit Mertajam. Not sure why, but the Jusco here refers itself as being in Seberang Prai City. Well I'm not the expert in Penang Mainland. Din, Li any comments?

Anyway, here's a picture of Kapitan relative to Jusco Sbrg Prai City.

Aeon Jusco from Kapitan

As you can see, it would not really be visible from Jusco, but quite close. With the one way traffic system in that area, and the building Kapitan is in,it stands out on itself. Now that I've mentioned it, looking at the above picture, the one way seems like a illegal racing track in the making. But then the Police HQ isn't that far away as well. :)

Seems like the developer's dreams of making this building a 'happening' place might be coming true. There is also a nice Donut Shop on the other end of the building.

Kapitan has got the usual expected Nasi Kandar i.e. Rice with ala-carte dishes ranging from meat, chicken, fish and veges in a number of styles and curries.

Ala-carte / Lauk Nasi Kandar Dishes

The setup and ambiance is really good for a Open Air Restaurant. It looks fresh, inviting and clean.

Nice Fresh Look

We get the Garlic Naan. Personally the Garlic Naan if done properly is really good, and in a naan, the garlic actually adds a lovely flavor.

Garlic Naan - King of All Naans?

It is served with the Mint Chutney (Green one) and the Red Chutney. Not sure what they call the red Chutney. Yes, some of you might go, where's the Tandoori Chicken? Actually we didn't order the Tandoori Set but decided to have the Naan with other side dishes.

We ordered the butter chicken. It was really good. Rich and creamy. Guilty pleasure. It wasn't too buttery either. Just nice.

Butter Chicken

And how do I describe how good was the butter chicken? Take a look for your self below. Really looks nice right?

Butter Chicken - Close-Up

For veg, we ordered the Navratma Kurma. Nav is 9 in Hindi. Basically it would consists of 9 fruits/nuts/herbs. The paste itself is made from Cashewnut & Cream, giving it a rich creamy little sweet taste. If done properly, the Cashewnut taste will be faint, i.e. just nice.

Navratma Kurma

The one they served fared pretty well. It was nice. The serving presentation was done skillfully, making it quite tempting. Judge for yourself with the above picture.

A close-up of the Navratma Koorma. You can see the Cashew-nut, Banana, Apple, Leaves, Raisins (Kismis). One of the best ways (and tasty ways) to enjoy vegetables and fruits!

Navratma Koorma - Zoomed-in

For drinks, we had the Banana Lassi. It was really good. Mango Lassi is more common, but you could try the Banana Lassi for a change. If you like milk, and milkshake, I'd suggest trying the Lassi as it is a healthy alternative, but might still have lots of sugar. You could request 'kurang manis'. It is made from Yogurt.

Banana Lassi - Healthy

We had a delicious lunch. Fulfilling and tasty.

As we walked out, I decided to snap another picture, a beautiful picture of the MPSP building and it's surroundings.

MPSP

Summary
Kapitan Bandar Perda is fine addition to eating places and a good option for Mainlanders.

Indian Sweets Mithai

Mithai aka Indian Sweets

Seems like it's a month of sweet tooth for me. First Cadbury Dark Chocolate, and now Indian Sweets. I've recently slowed down on my makan2food blogging, as been busy, and spending more time on my fyi-penang.blogspot.com blog, as it seems I get more visitors there. So I have been kind of 'neglecting' makan2food. Furthermore, as many of you realize, there are quite a number of makan, eating, food, tham chiak, sapde etc blogs around, and many of them cover Penang and are well updated and managed. So I guess I went more towards 'Blue Ocean', doing more sharings relating to Penang and Malaysia at fyi-penang, and also sharing all my best experience and tips there which I think is useful.

But then, interestingly, I've been meeting up with quite a number of friends, and a question I've been getting is, "Hey, you haven't updated your makan2food blog for some time now."

Hearing that was really heart warming. It's always nice to hear f/back or comments from friends and surfers on what we blog on, and if they're aware of my blogs and drop by once a while I'm really happy.

Also when I started blogging on food, one of my objectives was to try my best to cover good makan places (or products) that are Halal, as I've realized that there is a need for this, and I go for Halal food anyway. Sometimes I myself have come upon very interesting blogs and places, but confused whether it is Halal or not, no offence to anyone. Some do take the effort to mention based on their knowledge or understanding or info provided the status of this restaurants, which is appreciated.

Anyway, anyhow, back to Mithai.

Mithai actually refers to Indian (or Pakistani) sweets. It is commonly used in Hindi but might be common in other languages as India has hundreds of languages. Most Mithai are based on Milk, where the milk is boiled until it 'jams' up, I guess something like Condensed Milk. This product is known as Khoya or Mawa. For more on Khoya, you can refer to Wikipedia by clicking here. Some people liken Khoya to Cottage Cheese, but Wikipedia likens it to Ricotta Cheese.

Mithai itself is a very general term, therefore there are many varieties and types of Mithai or sweets available. And interestingly, the signature sweets differ from state to state. Again, Wikipedia has quite a good list of the sweets available, many of which sound new to me, List of Indian sweets and desserts.

Another thing to note is, most of this sweets are REALLY SWEET. But if you like them, I'd personally turn down chocolate for good Mithai!. Why ? Because they are richers, and creamier and harder to come along.

Here's some of the Mithai we recently bought, and all from the same maker, Haldiram. Overall their Mithai products are tasty, good, and fresh. Per the sticker on the boxes, they are Air-Flown to keep them fresh. See I guess one of the reasons Indian Sweets aren't that commercialized as Chocolates is they're don't stay fresh for long perionds of time. But I guess that means no preservatives right?

I would say our favourite here would be the Mix Kaju Sweets. Kaju here refers to Cashew-nut (janggus / gajus). The packaging itself looks good.
So the mix actually consists of 4 type of Cashew Nut (Kaju) Mithai. Believe the Kaju Burfee (Hindi: बर्फ़ी,) would be the diamond shaped ones, the Kaju Gunjia square ones, Kaju Ladoo the ball shaped once. Remember there are many types of Ladoo, as I think Ladoo itself symbolizes the round shape. And finally is the Kaju Kesar. Kesar is Saffron.

Looking at the back of the box, you get to see the ingredients, and the nutritional values. Also notice the green circle in a square box on your upper right. (The one that looks something like a PAS logo, at least that's what I thought when I first went to India and saw that logo) :) The symbol actually represents that it is 'vegetarian' friendly. Somehow there's also the green V near the middle which indicates the same. I guess maybe because the Green Circle might only be common in India.


Our next favourite is the Dodha Burfee. On the box it indicates 'Sweet Blend of Milk Solids, Wheat Flour and Dry Nuts'. The Dodha Burfee is really good. Very rich in taste, examplified by the dried nuts, mostly Almond and Pistachios. Somehow the Wheat Flour (felt like granules instead of flour though) added a distinct flavor to it. Not too milky tasting. A must try.
Now for the remaining 2 sweets. Actually they were good as well, but kind of just got over-shadowed by the above 2. When eating durian, people say start with the bitter ones, then progress your way to sweeter ones. But for our case in Mithai, the better ones were tempting so we enjoy them first. Once they were finished, our expectations dropped since no more stock, then we settle for the others.

Milk Peda. This is a very common sweet, which you can also get at Woodlands and some other shops in Little India to try. The original flavour is white, i.e milky coloured. Semi soft and rich. If you are in KL, there are a number of places that sell good Peda last I remember. One is shops in Little India KL, e.g. Jai Hind. All also I discoverd this booth which is located at the walkway from KL Sentral to the Monorail. There's like a shadded path. They have a booth there. And I still remember the shops name, cause they gave me a nice bookmark. Jesal Sweets I believe.

Peda gives you a very milky taste. Rather sweet. So if you like milk and sweet stuff, it is a must try.



And finally, Pinni. I'm not sure what Pinni means. As the label indicates, a sweet blend of black gram flour, dry nuts and ginge powder. Hmmm. No milk? Yes this sweet wasn't that sweet, and didn't feel milky. So for those who want to try Indian Mithai, but want something lighter, not milky and not too sweet, Pinni might be a good choice.

Ok, moment of truth again. Where do I buy all the above in Penang and of great quality? I don't know. Anyone any ideas? I actually got this from Mustafa in Singapore. Yes, I did some shopping there. This could be due to a couple of reasons, probably not that many north Indians or not that many people who enjoy or appreciate Mithai in Penang. Yes definitely there are, but does the volume exists? And also maybe no-one's though about importing them.

In Penang, there's a few places where you can get sweets, but alas, they do not compare that well to the original Indian sweets. One acceptable restaurant to get Indian Mithai is at Woodlands, however some of the sweets there taste more like milk powder then a product of Khoya. They have a real good sweet which they call Ajmeer Cake or something (not sure how it's spelled as they usually just pronounce it). which is brown in color, creamy and has good some nuts and figs.

Ok time to sleep. Good nite.