Lunch at Yeng Keng Hotel & Cafe , Penang

Yesterday, my nephew , B came  back from KL and invited my family including sister, C for a lunch at Yeng Keng Hotel, Penang.  He asked me for a direction and  he told me somewhere in Chulia Street, I told him the name sounded faimliar.  Yes,  I could have passed through it  a few hundred times in the past. I told him that  it was one of the old brothels  among the many in Chulia Street including the famous Sock Ann Hotel , the Nam Thean Hotel, etc  and they came brothels during its long history.  It is similar to the Susie Wong of Hong Kong red light district.

When I reach Chulia Street, I immediately located the hotel  It was right in the middle of Chulia Street. I entered the hotel by a side entrance and parked my car at the back portion of the hotel. Near the car park, there was a small swimming pool , the size of a large pond.  Good for just dipping ourself wet and go for the sun bathing. One look at it , it was set up for back packers and outstation guest from the mainland Malaysia. 

After entering a small door, it open up to a long corridor with rooms on both sides and it was every well designed and clean. After the long corridor, it was the main office and lobby. Everything tastefully done. The restaurant was located in the front garden on the left side of the hotel.

It was a small restarantd esigned in a fusion style mixing English and Oriental taste.  It look pretty awesome and relaxing.  Yes, it was done in good taste.  There was a few tables of guest there already  and we sat down to order our lunch.  The menu is mix of western and oriental cruisine and their specialty in local food is the Hakka dishes.  But, for the Hakka selections, we have to place an order 24 hours before. So, we can only select the common dishes.  B, selected a big pie to share among all of us and each ordered the food of their choice.  Some of us ordered a chicken chop, Bee Hoon , lamb chop and I ordered a Hakka noodle. Although, it is Hakka but a common dish in Penang.

The food at this outlet was quite reasonable and I believe their English coffee should be good as well. I like the setting in the restaurant  and after lunch, we took a tour of the small hotel.  I could notice the remenant of the past like the Chinese curvings and small wood designs of chinese deities on the wall. But, most of it is refurbished and looks new. Quite a relaxing place to be if  you want to find a break in a small town community.

After this experience, I start to wonder whether I am a Penangnite or not as I have not taken the time to know Penang where I have been staying for more than 50 over years., It takes a young fellow to lead me to some thing awesome in the Island where I stay.

It looks like a wise message to me. Our eyes are make to see fa r and wide but actually, we are foreigners in the place we live.  So, I have to start searching and wondering to know the mistery of Penang.

Namaste.