HARD ROCK BIRTHDAY HAMBURGERS

IT WAS QUITE FUN LAST NIGHT. I'd been invited, along with several other press members, to witness Hard Rock birthday - in this case the day it was founded in London 39 years ago rather than when it was opened in Penang which if you can cast your mind that far back was in December last year.

Anyway the whole day had been put aside to do funny things in house, like the employees had to swap places with Management - apparently GM John Primmer was pretty sporting, and was last seen in the role of kitchen stewart mopping the floor ... and they had lots of other events like a birthday cake shaped like a hamburger etc. They were also offering patrons a special set menu at RM19.71 nett for one day only - that's what an original HRC Hamburger served with Seasoned Fries, Apple Pie and Milk Shake would have cost in 1971!

Everything culminated in the Hamburger Eating Competition at the Hard Rock Cafe last night, and 20 people were down to take part in it. Not sure if all arrived cos I didn't stay till the end, but the first two rounds were hilarious: they had to finish off a Double Decker Cheeseburger ... as each was 7 0z it meant 14 0z of meat plus bun and salad to imbibe .. and as fast as you can. That's nearly a pound of meat, ie 1/2 a kg. As one of the other reporters put it, "Kua liao pun pa" ie just one look and I'm full.

They were at it hammer and tongs, but the 3 eventual winners who emerged were Jason Tiong, Clay Quinn and Howard Ooi: First prize went to Jason who did it in an amazing 3 mins and 18 secs: he must have really wolfed it down without chewing, which really is the secret as it's the only way to do it. Once you start chewing you’re done for. The hungry (or was it greedy?) guy won a 3 Day/2 Night Hillview Deluxe Room with breakfast for 2 and a dinner voucher worth RM150 at Hard Rock Café. If he can face going there again!

Interesting to note that two of the three winners were locals - most of the Matt Sallehs who took part were knocked out! Anyway well done to all of them. All in the spirit of things.

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARD ROCK!

SIN KHENG AUN - Can do better

I DON'T THINK I'VE EVER BEEN SO BUSY IN ALL MY LIFE ... well certainly not in the past few years anyway. Apart from judging at cooking competitions and various dinners and birthday parties, I'd put aside a week to finish off my second restaurant guide to Penang, but in fact it's over run by another week, and even as I write (or, as is more accurate type), there are still a few more things to finish off.

HOWEVER, it is nearly done, and tomorrow, "Great Dining in Penang 2" will be going to the printer's - HALLELUJAH! - and it will be launched in time for my target date of 30 June.

So in between catching up with all the other things I've ignored including replying to emails and writing my other articles, there's a little bit of time for me to update this poor old blog, because last night I was asked to take 4 US food writers to Sin Kheng Aun in Chulia Lane. They had been flown in by MATRADE to promote Malaysian cooking in America.

Actually, it was my first time there since I was a little girl (and DON'T ask how long ago that was ... !) and it was a revelation. Obviously as everyone in Penang knows they're one of those old, old restaurants that serve colonial Hainanese food which the Brits used to like: Chicken Chops spring to mind, and as in Malaysia that includes a degree of nyonya dishes because many of them used to work for the more affluent households, it was the good old stuff like Assam Tumis. It was packed. In the evenings they only open from 5-8.30pm so people tend to squeeze in which is rather clever of the proprietors - he gets a life at night!

On 2nd generation proprietor the slightly eccentric Ong Chin Hong's suggestions (his father started the place in the 1940s with another man who was the chef), we ordered the must-have curry with pomfret (tow tay but of course), some assam prawns, fried bean sprouts with kiam hoo (salted fish), pork and liver with soya sauce, and trotter with salted veg soup.

The Fish Curry was OK, with the right amount of bungah kantan in it - an absolute must have, as far as I am concerned - but I'm not fond of their trademark coarse ground rempah.

The bean sprouts were rather oily, and the pork and liver was actually left relatively untouched cos not many of us really liked it: I prefer it without the ngor hiong hoon. We also had some Chicken Chop which was quite gooey, and the Fried Noodles were OK although the sambal belacan was a bit too wet and tasteless.

Presentation-wise, I think they could have done a bit better too; although I know we Malaysians don't care as long as the food is good, these dishes seemed to have almost been deliberately slapped on to the plates as haphazardly as possible. No effort was made to tidy up the plates before they were brought out at all.

However, before we ordered I made very clear to Ong that one of the journalists Joanna is allergic to MSG so NONE of the food had to contain any of it - he seemed to understand what I was saying, repeating that he would make sure none of the food would be prepared with it. Unfortunately Joanna seemed to think there was some, and I rather wondered how he could make the soup without MSG. I do hope she's OK.

One of the diners was Penang photographer extraordinaire Albert Foo who was busy snapping away for Matrade - that's him above next to Joanna - and as you can see from the two pixes below, one taken by me and one by him, why he's a photographer extraordinaire and not me!!

In my defense, I prefer not to use a flash!!

You can see how popular the place is though - their reputation precedes them - and like locusts hitting a wheat field, families just sweep in and clear them out. By 8 last night it had emptied out, leaving behind just blank plates for the staff to clear up behind them.

That lot plus 3 large bottles of Tiger Beer cost RM202. As I wasn't paying for it I didn't query it but I thought it was rather pricey for what we had had.

The journalists were suitably impressed with the food, with the exception of Joanna's reaction, which I was thankful for. However, next time round, I think I might recommend somewhere else.

BADMINTON STAR TURNS 80

THIS IS IN DANGER OF BECOMING A "Society" rather than food blog, but hey, at least it's free! That's cos only two nights ago we were one of the chosen few ... actually there must have been nigh on 500 people there that night ... to attend Dato' Eddie Choong's 80th birthday party at Jade Palace in Abu Siti Lane.

It was indeed a grand celebration indeed, with no less than the Chief Minister himself attending with his wife Betty Chew. Dato' Eddy (I call him DDE for short - Dear Dato Eddie) was in fine form, and for an 80 year old, incredibly fit and VERY with it - he can joke, eat and talk better than most younger people I meet, and definitely drink them under the table! Yes, our very own Badminton Grand Master is the bee's knees.

Anyone who was anyone was there - all the datos and datins, dato seris and datin seris, dato and datin wannabes, other former badminton champs from yesteryear, bankers and restaurateurs, society folk; even a humble old food writer like me had been invited ... and a lot of press. Poor old CM; he can't even go anywhere private although this occasion really wasn't supposed to be one because even Astro had been invited!

He also took the opportunity to launch his autobiography "Dato Eddy Choong Talk About History", which was being sold to raise money for charity. It's in Chinese translated into English which rather meant the wording was a bit strange, but it's in aid of a good cause and good of him to donate all the proceeds, and a wonderful way to capture history.

He is, after all, one of Penang's greats. There're some good black and white pics of him in action from before.

The food, considering how many people there were, was acceptable. One can only appreciate the mayhem that was going on behind the scenes in the kitchen; it must have been controlled chaos. Unfortunately the band was a little bit too loud; as the ceiling is very low there was a lot of resonance and it was sometimes ear-splitting. Old friend Marlene Fox rendered her usual "Yue Liang Tai Piao Wo Di Xin" which I must say she does very well for a Mat Salleh.

Dato Eddy gave his speech quite early on in the dinner, followed by the CM who was his usual energetic self - he spotted me in the crowd and told me that he has already written the preface to Great Dining in Penang 2 which is great news - and after a couple of courses they left, to great fanfare.

It was a great do, and they put a lot of effort into it; the but when the evening descends into karaoke you know it's time to leave so with that we sloped off quietly as Dato Eddy was still doing his rounds YUM SENGing with everyone else.

Happy Birthday DDE, and many more to come!

OLE ... Or is it OH ME POOR LEG ...

APOLOGIES FOR THE LONG SILENCE ... it's not that I've had nothing to report - on the contrary there's been TOO much to write about: I've been to many places to eat, and more places to eat, including dinner at a "t'ng tok" (long table) with Gordon Ramsay when he was filming in Penang, to trying out the new dishes at Kopicine (Bonton Pg), and last night, the fantastic Ole - a Spanish Extravaganza, organised by the Pg Soroptimists, at the E&O.

The Spanish Embassy flew in Chef Fernando Martinez from Valencia specially for the occasion, and together with Chef Bob, he cooked up a seafoody storm in his enormous paella pan, which we had with our aperitifs at the pre-dinner cocktails in the garden, with freeflow Spanish wines, sherry and champagne. Very civilised indeed.

After that everyone made their way to the ballroom, very elegantly done up in the red and beige colours of the Spanish flag.

Speeches were by Organising Chairman Anita Pater, Soroptimist President Dato' Dr Shuba and the Spanish Ambassador.

Once all that necessary "official stuff" was out of the way, the food was served - the E&O as always did a good job; the creamy seafood soup was served piping hot which was incredible considering how many people there were, and the steak was quite acceptable too.

Highlight of the evening was the entertainment: "Tirititran", a Spanish group from Granada, with Raquel La Monica whose incredible voice warbled out some plaintive rustic notes, and Cristina Candela who did some amazing flamenco dance routines, all backed by classical guitarist Raul Corredor.

it was after all that "culture" that we were able to let our hair down - dancing the evening away. I'm paying for it now though ... the old bones can't take much of this revelling any more!! And of course the freeflow meant one didn't quite stint on the drinks too ... I think it's a quiet night in tonight, for a change.

However, it was a great evening, and even better to know that it was all in aid of charity: Penang Home of the Infirm and Aged, Asia Community Service and Penang Shan Children's Home.

Well done to the Soroptimists who care enough to take the trouble to raise funds for these organisations. Even more amazing was the fact that they did it all within a month or two.

SMC - Special Makan Centre!!!

IT'S BACK!!

YES, the Spice Market Cafe's very popular and very special 1-for-1 offer is back once again. As I think it's probably one of the best buffets we have in town if you're looking at quality food and ingredients then it's a fantastic offer.

I like the spaciousness of the place, and the choice, the salads, hot courses and the Theatre Kitchen (talk about amateur dramatics!).

The seafood is excellent, the salmon sashimi is creamy as milk, and their satay is not bad either; the desserts, of course, are after all why one eats the rest first - so we don't eat too much pudding! (In fact, the only problem I have with it is I eat too much. And of course with all this eating for the new book, I'm going to have to let out some of my skirts and trousers I think. Thank goodness I'm nearly at the end - the book closes this Friday. )

BUT I digress.

As the special offer starts this Sunday, and runs only from Sundays through to Thursdays, and only valid until 30 June so don't delay - see you there!

CHEF WAN TO THREE

I'M DELIGHTED TO SAY THAT the second edition of my restaurant guide "Great Dining in Penang 2" will be coming out soon - and launch date is now confirmed for end of June. HOWEVER that has meant additional pressure on me to get everything ready. It's mostly there, but still a lot of chasing left.

One lamentable result is lack of time to do things like update blogs, although today I was moved to do so because I attended an unusual event at 2pm this afternoon: Chef Wan (aka Redzuawan Ismail) officially "opened" the Golden Sands Resort's herb and spice garden just outside Sigi's. Cheffie, who is of course now a "Datuk", being one of Malaysia's most important ambassadors, was on top form as usual. He's here to film his new series "Glorious European Food" with Executive Sous Chef John Brock which will be aired on AFC and TV2.

(What do you think they're whispering to each other?)

1000 sq ft plot now has about 28 types growing on it including some rare varieties like Sawtooth Coriander, Daun Salam and Stevia, black pepper, galangal, Daun Kaduk etc. According to Bruno, the home-grown herbs, set up under the guidance and expertise of the Tropical Spice Garden in Teluk Bahang, will be used in Sigi's dishes, so diners can expect "enthralling twists" to well-known offering soon, he promises us. I look forward to some tropical cum exotic flavours ... Turmeric and Cardamom-flavoured pizza, maybe?

Chef Wan gave a short (for him) sweet speech about how important it is to use herbs in cooking: the flavours, colours and aromas being so varied, then together with GM Bruno Cristol he officially "cut" the ribbon and Bob, as they say, was your uncle. He also signed the plaque and even took the trouble to doodle a little figure of himself presumably on it. After that there was a (very) short walk around the garden whilst he "labelled" a few of the plants.

Everyone scuttled into the cool of the air conditioning where refreshing cold drinks were served and Cheffie gave a press conference.

ANOTHER FOODIE HITS PENANG ...

IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I UPDATED THIS. Partly because of sloth although having said that I've actually been very busy, but partly because I've not been to many hawker centres recently. However, last night I finally managed to visit a place I've been meaning to for a while: the famous 888 Hokkien Mee Stall in Presgrave Street (Sar Tiao Lor).

I was taking another fellow foodie on a Penang Street Food Tour: this time Joaquin Persson, a Swede who writes for Travel & Lifestyle Magazine. Of course one had to introduce him to our favourites and seeing as he was staying at Traders in town, where better to start off than this place which was just a short walk away (although truth be told the traffic was a bit hair-raising, so close did it come to us sometimes!).

So we trotted off down Magazine Road and came across the place; as it was still fairly early (6ish) it wasn't that busy and we were able to get a table after ordering the HKM and a plate of Ong's konlow meen (wantan noodles) with a separate bowl of wantons in soup. I have to say the latter two were excellent; just like the old Tok Tok Mee I used to know, down to the pieces of yummy chee yao (pork crackling) in the minimal gravy that goes with it. And cheap too: the two cost just RM5.60.

HOWEVER the HKM left much to be desired: it was quite bland, and if it hadn't been for the chilli boh it would probably have been completely tasteless. Disappointing, considering they are supposed to be one of our better known ones - they were certainly busy, and not quite prepared to talk.

So on we went, this time to the famous hawker stalls at Macalister Road's New Lane, just outside the Sunway Hotel. It was packed as usual, the stalls lining both sides of the "lane". I took him for a quick tour up and down, introducing him to some of our more famous dishes, then we sat down and ordered a few for him to try: must haves like our inimitable Chee Cheong Fun, full of heyko like nowhere else in the world, let alone Penang; Char Kuey Teow but of course, our heritage item, and Laksa, which was again a bit of a let down.

England they have a saying, "You know you're getting old when all the constables look young" ... well here it must be, "You know you're getting old when all the hawker food doesn't taste like what it did"! Having said that the CCF was very good, the sauce dark, thick and gooey.

Even though Joaquin is currently based in Thailand, where this sort of street food is so prevalent, he found it fascinating enough to take lots of photos - to the extent of almost squatting on the road in the face of oncoming cars! However, I think (and hope) that he agrees that he got a fairly good grounding of many of our favourites, but like I said to him, this is just the tip of the iceberg! There are SO many more for him to sample! Welcome to Penang!