Been itching to get these for quite some time... and finally I managed to find some good use for those dang Border's vouchers which we were kinda 'forced' to purchase if you wanna max our company benefits. Elated as I managed to score 2 tasty finds at QBM. Sad and pissed when I found out the Trade Paperback for Volume 4 was torn in 2 pages when I opened up the shrink wrap. But that doesn't really matter. The main reason I bought these two, are to drool over Stjepan Šejić's amazing art (which unfortunately weren't many in these 2 issues). Also, they make excellent 'artistic references' as well... LOL...

Teluk Tempoyak is always a nice place to unwind. We were planning on visiting our usual haunt, but totally forgot that it was a Monday... hence 'tutup'. So we decided to hop over to the other side which was the 'Chalet' Ikan Bakar place. It's a smidgen more up scale but still has a nice backdrop and a wonderful evening breeze.

 The ever cheery Ketupat was the organizer this time round.

 Diva Baharom graced us with his presense, we are not worthy...

 Ikan and wifey were the first to arrive.

 'Hassan'... the man with a thousand gadgets was there as well.

Nice back drop as the sun started to set.

I totally salivated over the macro lens Ikan brought along... too bad I suck at manual focus... which explains the wonky shot of my kit lens above.

Saja main main shot.

 Do not mess with the ketupat when he's mixing the bandung...

There were plenty of feline company... very bold they were...

The fried calamari was fantastically light.

Grilled prawns were a tad dry... but ok.

I didn't have the crabs... but they look delectable with bucketloads of roe.

The fish was tender. But the chilli paste could do with some extra kick. Nothing a little chilli padi won't fix.

The aftermath.

Bill came up to a tad more than RM180.

Good company for the evening... priceless.

I've been craving for some good BBQ pork (Char Siew) for some time. But most of the time, I'm let down by meat which is too lean or way too chewy and dry. However, I may have struck gold here. Hidden in a small corner along Lorong Susu, there's this shop called Restaurant First Famous Federal which specializes in chicken and duck rice. Lorong Susu is the road just after the steamboat/grill buffet place along Macalister if you're coming from town.

I didn't really bother ordering any of the chicken or duck (I don't eat duck btw). I went straight for a sizable portion of Char Siew and Roasted Pork. A bowl of 'chai buey' soup comes complimentary which is super sour but power. The rice was rather paltry in terms of portion though...

The first thing which hits you when you bite into a piece of the char siew, is WHOA. Nicely balanced between lean and fatty, the meat is roasted to perfection with the marinade fantastically caramelizing into a sweet, crunchy outer coating which just melds amazingly with the tender meat. It's as close to porky perfection as it can get.

The place is a typical kopi-tiam type setting, humid but not too warm. So don't expect too much in terms of ambience. Just come here for the pork and you will leave with a huge piggy grin. I can't remember when was the last time I ate so much pork in one sitting (wait... I think I remember... it's at Applebees some 3 years ago...). Anyways, all I can say is go for it  ;)

Why is Cookie Monster part of the Sesame Street team when his grammar is as koyak as Milo?

Why do men sometimes 'shiver' when they take a leak?

i) MG RX-0 progress - touched and clipped 2 runners... that's it.

ii) D5K kit - untouched since pcnut wedding... collecting dust.

iii) Vow 2 start working out - hopelessly unfulfilled

iv) Changes/issues at workplace - been overwhelming lately... just go away... leave me alone...

v) Doing the things I like - what things? Haven't been doing anything I like for ages...

vi) Self confidence - zero

vii) Mental motivation - zero

viii) Strength left - zero

I feel horrible.

I can't really recall when, but I started to develop an addiction to pan mee (especially the dry type) a while back. Maybe it's the crunchy texture of the black fungus, mixed with a healthy dollop of dark soya sauce and a generous helping of crunchy pork bits which sealed the deal. Whatever it may be, this ranks as one of my favorite noodle dishes.

It's kinda hard to find good pan mee in Penang, and most would agree that the de-facto place to be would be near the flats close to Bukit Jambul. However, I am not exactly a fan of the portions there (even if you specify 大大 in your order, the portion is barely filling) and the al-fresco type setting beneath the trees are just begging the pigeons to unload their bombs while you're busy slurping away.

So, when CL read about this other pan mee place along the Jelutong expressway which received pretty good comments online, we decided to track it down and give it a try.

The aforementioned place is a small shop called I Mum Mum, which is hidden rather deep within the PDC flats at Pengkalan Weld. They specialize only in serving pan mee, but in a variety of styles as well as noodle types (fine, broad as well as 'hand-torn' variety of noodles).

There was only one person manning the actual kitchen, so service may be a little slower than usual. But it's ok since there weren't many tables around, and the late afternoon crowd wasn't that much either. The good thing about this place is although it's very stripped down like most hawker places in Penang, this spot is relatively clean, which is very welcomed.

The first dish which came was the Spicy Pan Mee. This is the dry variety which came with minimal dark soya sauce, additional meatballs and a huge serving of chilli flakes.  There was a heavy hint of Chinese cooking wine, which lent a very appetizing aroma to the dish. It isn't exactly very spicy as expected, so you might want to add more chilli paste to give it more kick.

Next came the Minced Pork Pan Mee with Special Sauce.  This is supposed to be the dry variety as well, but I find it rather generously lathered with the mentioned sauce. It tastes exactly like the usual Pan Mee you get elsewhere, but the sauce have slightly more depth. I dunno wot the chef put into this one, but I really liked it. Plenty of minced pork as well.

Eating pan mee won't be complete unless you have the soup variety as well. So we ordered a bowl of Pan Mee Soup which came complete with the 'hand-torn' variety of the noodles. The anchovy based broth was fantastic, clear yet rich in taste. Unlike other places which taste like water-ed down pork stock. The chewy noodle pieces added a nice texture to the meal which perfectly complemented the crunchy bits of the black fungus.

The final dish which came was an order of Sui Kow (pork dumplings) and some fish dumplings swimming in a bowl of broth. I enjoyed the Sui Kow, which was really fresh and springy. I wasn't exactly too fond of the fish dumplings though... which I felt was a little 'squishy' and bland. But overall, this gave a perfect ending to a totally satisfying meal.

The meal came to a total of less than RM15, which I felt was well justified considering the number of dishes we ordered. With stomachs closed to rupturing, I would say this place provided good food with good value. I will definitely come back again to try the rest of the items on the menu...  ;)