Saturday dinner in Penang

April 8, 2017
The Old CRC Restaurant in Penang

We met at the old CRC (Chinese Recreations Club) restaurant for dinner around 7:30 PM. Two tables were ordered for the 19 of us.  In the 'adults' table, we have my mother, flanked by Sui Fun and Peter, and myself.  Siew Loon and wife Lilian to my right, and Ann and Siew Seng, Siew Kai.  Nine of us at this table. At the "children's" table, Kien Meng and his girl friend Yee Yuan, Hui Theng, Kien Loong, William and his fiance Regina, Ronnie and his girl friend Mandy, May Ling and her husband Jay, ten people on this table.

The first course was the appetizer plate called the Five Seasons: Fried Shrimps, stir-fried scallops with walnuts, sweet pork rolls, pork balls with thousand year old eggs, and fried pork wraps.  Savory and sweet, these bite sized morsels of delightful tastes are good to get the stomach going. 

Appetizer plate - the Five Seasons

Here is me and mother and Molly.  Behind me is a chair we used to put mother and Molly's handbag.  Mother has her sweat shirt and purse in the red paper bag. She frequently use this bag to put her purse and extra jacket, in case it is cold in the restaurant.  All through the dinner, she worries about the bag and had to check it to be sure her purse is still in there.

Siew Loon's favorite saying is: "I don't have much longer to live", is not particularly happy with his situation with his teeth.  He just visited the dentist during the week, and they extracted a molar at the left side.  He said it was a painful experience, as the dentist had to shake it from side to side to loosen the roots. It is a good thing he can still drink beer.

I tried to pick up food that is soft for mother. She cannot chew anything with bones and hard.  

Underneath the fried 'shrimp' chips, the plate of fried chicken is tasty.  Two small plates of 'wah yim' (pan fried salt) adds to the saltiness.  The fried chicken is not the western style of fried chicken dipped in batter and fried.  It is marinated, then fried whole, and served cut up.  The skins were crispy and the meat juicy and tender. 

This is steamed cod fish. Extremely fresh cod fish, steamed without the customary ginger and scallions. It is garnished with parsley, and oil and soy sauce. The fish was fresh and sweet tasting. The soy sauce went very well with boiled rice.  This is Siew Loon's favorite.  He likes to eat the rice with the soy sauce.

Sweet BBQ'ed pork ribs. The ribs were deep fried, and stir fried with the sweet BBQ sauce.  It was tangy, and chewy.

What looks like a dish of tofu in meat sauce is actually egg custard in meat sauce. The sauce has shrimps, pork, and maybe salted fish cooked with soy sauce. The salty, meaty sauce blended well with the plain taste of the egg custard. An excellent dish.

Shrimps quick deep fried with Nestum.  Nestum is a local favorite.  It is, I think, like an oat meal. Deep fried, it opened up like tiny chips. They are crunchy, salty, and the shrimps are juicy and salty.

Becky and I had this when we went to the Chinese Swimming Club in one of our visits to Penang.

The vegetable is julienne cut thin strips of different vegetables, including red peppers, green peppers, bean sprouts.  Stir fried in oil and soy sauce, and probably a dash of sugar.  Tangy, savory, salty goodness.

The pork in this dish is extremely tender.  Stir fried with green and red peppers, green beans, and a lot of ginger, it is at once salty and spicy.  Another good dish.

Missing picture: sweet red bean soup and lotus seed pancakes. There were many glutenous rice balls in it.  The rice balls has black sesame paste filling. It is sweet on top of the sweet red bean soup, making it a satisfying sweet ending. The pancakes has sweetened lotus seeds inside, to add more sweetness to the already sweet experience.  It was a good way to round up a satisfying meal.