Friday, March 14, 2008

Hongkie Kopitiam, Auto City Penang

Belated rant in writing:-

To my utter disgust, the climbing crime rate in our country has robbed me of a languid CNY (Chinese New Year) holiday ritual. For the past years, we would happily do the rounds at the temples on CNY’s eve from midnight until the small hours in the morning. This is rewarded by getting to laze into late mornings at home on the 1st day of CNY, avoiding traffic and most importantly no "baking". Sadly, now my mother is afraid to be out after dark and even before daybreak. Very upsetting for one who was used to exercising outdoors at the break of dawn.

First day of Chinese New Year (CNY). Very sunny, egg sizzling on pavement hot. While most would be soaking in a cool homey surroundings savouring home cooked sumptuous vegetarian breakfast or nibbling on specially made delicacies, I was out "baking".

5 in an economical car whizzing around housing areas, town, new villages you get the picture. 10 temples in 4 hours spanning Berapit (a town in Penang state territory) to Kulim (town in Kedah state). With ash in hair and sticky sweaty new clothes (luckily the dye did not run), we were adamant to lunch in an air-conditioned eatery. Choice was limited as most shops were closed on first day of CNY holiday. We tried our luck at Auto City and ended up here.

Bad news for us, the restaurant boasted of high ceiling glass windows. The air-conditioners had a hard time competing with the heat emanating from them. *sigh* But still it was better than further "baking" outside.

Drinks and fancy named food were average. We shared:-

1 Jade Garden (Menu claimed: Fizzing lemon with Soda), 2 Iced Milk Teas and 1 Iced Yin Yang (Coffee + Tea)
Red Riding Hood (Don't ask, I did not see the relevance either)
The Future of Banking (Menu claimed: Roasted Honey Baby Back Ribs and Vegetables with Rice).Father had this. Can't recall its name. It was rice topped with spicy minced beef and creamy corn sauce. We concurred we'll avoid this if we eat here again.
Oink Oink There (Menu claimed: Black Pepper Pork Fried with Udon in Black Pepper)
Pork Fillet in Cheese Baked Rice (Corn sauce)
Our bill (Names differs from the dishes but the itemised price is the same so I did not make a fuss) :-A view of the restaurant's al-fresco area. Should be quite cosy when the day's "baking" is done.
Mom, hope against hope that we’ll be able to revert back to your ritual of visiting temples after midnight on the eve coming year.
New government, get to work!!

23 comments:

sc said...

most of the HK char chan tengs in Malaysia are of average standard only... guess this is average too?

Tummythoz said...

sc, personally I prefer Kim Gary.

HairyBerry said...

aiyoh, the names are so one-kind lar..haha! The Future of Banking?? so funny...

hope the crime rate will go down soon lar...*sigh*

Tummythoz said...

nic (khkl), going towards 'your home is your prison (previously known as castle).'

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

hahaha somehow or rather it is always baking season during chinese new year..

even you see..u can order baked rice!

Tummythoz said...

Njoe, such an angry weather and my family's traditional home meals for CNY is s-t-e-a-m-b-o-a-t!

Kok said...

tummythoz,
Oink Oink There? What a name for a dish! haha! I'll invent one Mek Mek Here! next time. haha!

wmw said...

Now I see why, it's Red Ridding Hood, not Riding lah...(see the receipt!), so that's why the food so so???

JOjo said...

"Names differs from the dishes but the itemised price is the same"

Haha, so funny! Should at least let them know =p

Here in NTU, ppl run in the middle of the night like 3-4am after studying @@" for Traditional Chinese Med point of view, it's not good for the body though...

teckiee said...

damn long never see u adi leh...

Jason said...

Been to the other outlet in Penang last time, same bad food too. And weird names, yes!

Big Boys Oven said...

the portion of the food looks very small! hmmmmm . . .

Tummythoz said...

kok, there's actually a Moo Moo something beef dish. No Mek Mek tho.

wmw, what sharp eyes you have! Lol.

jojo, obviously NTU geniuses live in a different plane of perception.

teckiee, miss me-ar? Will try to catch up asap.

jason, you posted? If yes, pity I missed it else we can just do an air-cond mamak.

big boys oven, the serving sizes were normal. Maybe it's the angle of my pictures.

Anonymous said...

The names of the dishes is rather off-putting.

What caused your mum to avoid going out at that time. I know there have been cases and my friends were victims. I hope your mum was not one of the victims of snatched thieves!

Anonymous said...

For us, it was steamboat dinner for new year's eve at 6 pm and we finished makan at 8 pm. :) Dishes cleared and washed and everyone can rest early that evening and wake up the next day at 9 am. ;) Visiting relatives starts at noon and ends at 7 pm at my parent's place where everyone had steamboat for dinner there.

backStreetGluttons said...

nex CNY we shud be in the same temple with you good people of Penang , after the jog down Pg Hill and the hare mee down below...see ya soon and our best wishes to LGE and KTK .

Jason said...

Tummy, nope, I didn't post. That was long before I started blogging :)

Ethan W. said...

I understand what you mean about the crime rate. The last lantern festival was pretty dead. My neighbourhood was lacking of noise made by kids running around.

God Bless Malaysia; seriously.

Anonymous said...

'The Future of Banking'? Oh you know it's gotta be a Chinese-ish dish, given our obsession with money and moolah, no? :P

P.S. I'm with you on Kim Gary but even then, they're only average, ya?

Tummythoz said...

judy, no she is safe .. for now. A number of her friends were not so lucky. Bags were snatched, gold chains were pulled of necks. Most of these happened in broad daylight even!

the cooking ninja, sounds like you are a steamboat fan. Me not especially in the CNY baking weather.

team bsg, jog down Pg Hill? Yeah bump into you soon. Lemme practise the rolling technique as these legs aint's gonna hold the weight.

ethan, yes a very serious matter indeed.

kennymah, it's a fact not all Chinese are into lub-lub until flesh tearing like you .. =P

Simon Seow said...

I also like Kim Gary but too bad they only open in shopping mall. For late night, I'll go to Wong Kok in SS2.

Hope the new Internal Security Minister will buck up the police force and implement some new idea to improve the security. Nowadays all taman is guarded. The new development now all provide gated community. It's not like the good ol days anymore.

Tummythoz said...

simon seow, prisoners in own homes.

Hong 阿豐 said...

I have thesame experience also. Their food is really not delicious at all. Their service is so so as well.

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