Penang, a thriving destination for the heritage seekers, a short escape for fellow Malaysians, and affordable quality medical retreat for Indonesians. Penang shares lots of different meaning towards different people. This beautiful island, still unpopular by most Indonesians, is actually an amazing travel destinations. The foods, the nature, the city, and the heritage area, are the main reasons this affordable destination should be on your list if you haven't done so.

Penang biggest city, Georgetown, covers 122.79 square kilometres of the island. Back then, George Town, for us, Indonesians, would be synonymous as a medical haven, or maybe an underrated beach retreat. But until recently, the hype of UNESCO World Heritage Site, combined with amazing street arts, dominate the whole tourism of George Town. In 2012, Ernest Zacharevic for the first time created some of the best, most celebrated street arts over the walls of the old buildings in George Town.

From that year on, more artworks are made. Now, the city is best known for its murals all over the heritage sites. It was a fun walk, could be an adventure for those who try to find every single one of them. Sadly, since the murals are outdoors, they will deteriorate over time. There are some of the artworks that has been vandalised - some say - so it would be a good idea to visit this city for the murals soon before they fade away. I was so lucky to be able to spot some of the best works, especially the one titled "Children on Bicycle". Not only it was fun to gaze at, but somehow, the artwork gives strong feel of joy - as if it were alive!

Without being granted the status of UNESCO World Heritage Site, without all the beautifully-preserved rows of shophouses, there would be no street arts and installation works that made what Penang is today. Strolling through the exact heritage site - I was in awe - not foremostly because of the amazing characteristic and architecture style of the house, but because of how the government and the whole Penangnites work together to preserve the heritage houses. It is a very profound aspect of their way of thinking that they know, they need to preserve their history. In the present time, while cruising around the city, we could see more preservation and restoration works are being carried out.

The heritage sites do not end there, there are settlements in the vicinity of the waterfront area called clan jetties. As the name speaks, there are several jetties, each of which is named after the clan/family who settled in the part of the separated jetties. The jetties were developed around late 19th century and said to be pretty similar to what it was nowadays. Recently, the jetties looked commercialised, especially the Chew Jetty, which is open to public with numbers of souvenir shops and a couple of eateries. Along the jetty, we could really witness the daily activity surrounding the area.

Who doesn't acknowledge Penang as one of the best culinary destinations? It was relentlessly mentioned in publications that Penang offers the best street foods in Southeast Asia. For me, the foods were good enough to be mentioned as one of the best - and the price - I truly believe the island offers one of the most affordable quality foods in Southeast Asia. Heads up to the more touristy hawker centre - Gurney Hawker Centre as a good start and grasp of what the food in Penang would be like - and after that, seeks what the locals really loves, you could easily dig  endless tips of good place to eat from local cab drivers.

Gurney Hawker Centre (courtesy of sillyandordinarygirl)

Hawker centres would be all about local and traditional foods - but do you know that fusion and modern takes of culinary are emerging in Penang? I found that there are great numbers of contemporary cafes serving modern food with amazing culinary experiences worth trying. Moreover, those cafes take place in the beautifully restored and renovated heritage shophouses. So instead of just indulging good foods, you could marvel at different preservation/renovation designs in each cafe you stumble upon. 

Nope, Penang is not just about George Town and good foods. Penang is a whole island to be amazed. Even in our five-day travel of Penang, we could not cover the whole island destinations. Heads out from George Town to the northern area of the island and you will be greeted by the amazing landscapes of tropical rainforests and rocky beaches. Lush rainforests with wonderful diversity of animals and plants is one thing I really enjoy while visiting Penang. I daresay, I enjoy the natural persona of Penang more than its city. It was a very calming, rejuvenating experience while I was in the middle of the tropical rainforest. While in the wild, you could easily spot macaques hanging and playing around hundreds or even thousands of year old trees. To be able to see the animal roams freely means that their habitat were not interrupted by human activities much.

What's more to ask if an island has a great historical city with the edge of modernised developments, lush tropical rainforests, and sandy beaches. Just a couple of minutes walk from the entrance of the beautiful Tropical Spice Garden (will be on my next posts) we could find somewhat a more quiet beach - unlike Batu Ferringhi. Even though the water is not crystal clear (still very clean though!), the beach is so enjoyable in a clear and sunny day! If the weather is good enough, speedboat trips are recommended for a short trip to the other part of the island's beaches.

Penang has a lot more to offer, I admit this does not covers all of it, but only the highlights of my travel. It always intrigues me that when I revisited a place of destination, there will be new things, new places to be discovered. The walk, the moments of indulging in the new experiences is what I truly deemed as a flavorful escape! The short escape of my daily life, that brings me to a new height of understanding the earth, the planet we are living in. Penang could be just a tiny speck of our whole planet earth, and surely there is a lot more to learn. It is always a humbling privilege for me to explore and discover!

Stay tune for my next updates of my trip to Penang!

The room was heavily painted with the colour of Greek Blue. After sitting there for a while, Santorini and its sea vista came into my mind! The longer I was inside the room, the more I am in love with the room (disclaimer: I adore blue colour). I was lucky to have our meal in the afternoon since the sun cast amazing light against the wall. This specific room and maybe the whole building interior gives uses a hint of colonial design that is present from the half wall panels. With the spread of hanging photo layouts it surely gives a striking vintage feels too. If you carefully look at the floor, you could see a beautiful blue-coloured decor floor tile that complements the whole room ambience.

Looking up, I am more than impressed to know that this room has a grand height. With the small vintage lamp, it gives an amazing opportunity to capture a unique photo composition. I have no idea how the room will be lit in the evening, but I think it will look the best while the sun is up. Such an enjoyable room!

That surely is a long talk of a single room - but lets get into the foods. After I recalled how this is the reincarnation of the Warung Ijo I have ever been back then, I learned that the dish pricing is totally on a different level - it is not college-student-friendly at all. With that pricing, all of us really hope that they push the flavor to the next level too.

First thing first, the appetiser - lets take a look at it. We ordered Bakwan Sayur - that would be vegetable fritters in English, a mix of sliced vegetables and batter. The taste was OK. Compared to the one we could buy from the street vendors, this is quite underwhelming actually. I expected something more savoury and tasty - but the fritters tend to taste bland even after we dipped it into the given sambal (chilli sauce).

Steamed rice with specially prepared chicken, the next dish was more redeeming. Even though it was still pricey and we didn't find the "suwiran ayam mesere", the betutu spice mix was good enough for us. The selections of side dishes also went pretty well with the rice. But again, nothing exceptional.

Their next dish that we ordered was Kwetiau Raja, a well known dish for Warung Ijo frequent diners. This could actually be the winning dish if there was no bizarre after-taste. They cooked the noodle, mixed with the seasoning to almost a perfection. But it could be the seafood or something that was not fresh or things I didn't know that cause the bizarre after-taste - all of us felt the after-taste and couldn't figure out what foul taste was that!

A bold move I'd say when I saw a dish called "Romeo" in the menu. It is an unlikely mix of curry, seems like Indonesian curry, and spaghetti. I had high hopes on this dish, but when it came out, I lost some part of my appetite. Funny enough, they really, literally, mix the curry dish and spaghetti into one plate - without any proper concept. There it was, in front of us, a very traditional curry dish, with chunks of, NOT boneless, chicken (what underwhelmed me the most) and the spaghetti with chilli flakes and Parmesan cheese on top. The chicken really gave a bad eating experience overall. I was expecting boneless sliced chicken fillets with Indonesian curry broth/soup as the base. I know it was a very detailed different, but it gives a very different eating experience - remember excellence? Anyhow, taste-wise, I love this dish the most, but talking about the way the dish was presented, it was disappointing.

There were limited choices of dessert in this restaurant. We found this Frozen Seulincah as the most interesting dessert menu they provide. It was simply Acehnese salad or we called it rujak Aceh in Indonesia. This is the best eating experience I have had back then. The rujak was so fresh, and yes, it had a hint of spiciness that makes it special.

I had high expectations that this restaurant would serve unique, flavorful dishes that afternoon. But I am really not sure whether the dishes we ordered could do this restaurant justice. In my opinion, the dining experience was far from excellent. Thankfully, the blue-room and some of the dishes truly was a memorable experience that give this restaurant worth a try.

WARUNG IJO EXCELLENCE
Jl. Babura Lama No. 5, Medan, Indonesia
Everyday, 11 am - 11 pm
+6261 456 9389
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | E-mail

We also ordered a plate of gyozas that come with soya for the dipping sauce. Personally, I love Chinese wonton over Japanese gyoza, maybe because I haven't tasted a truly delicious gyoza to this date (any recommendations? please do in the comments). Dipping the gyoza into the soya sauce, I could not made the gyoza taste better. Then, I dipped it in the ramen soup, and at least it tasted better for me.

Another new menu is a croquette filled with cheese and chicken. It tasted OK, and somehow could taste better. I didn't really know what cheese they used, but it didn't went quite well with the whole thing. Eating this dish was quite troublesome too, the croquette easily fall apart when I used chopsticks or fork to pick it up. I think it needs some dressings or sauce to accompany this dish to make it taste better, maybe some curry sauce?

Yep, we also ordered one of the most well-known Japanese comfort food - Katsu Chicken Curry Rice. The rice and the chicken proportion is good. But for me, the curry was not enough to cover every mouthful of this dish. I wonder if I could ask extra curry sauce? The taste of the curry is somewhat typical - nothing extraordinary. But in the end, the typical Japanese curry is already a good food to eat, don't you think? 

After three main dishes and two side dishes were devoured until nothing was left, we were craving for some desserts. It turns out that Marutama Ra-men also provides fusion desserts. It is not my first time to witness matcha madness (a move that include matcha in every kind of food, especially desserts), but that was my first time to see and taste crème brûlée with matcha as the main ingredients. As a disclaimer, I am not a matcha fans, and when I ate this desserts, I felt the matcha was too overwhelming that I could not finish it myself. Thanks goodness I did not have to.

Another dessert we ordered (don't judge our craving, please) is a delightful sundae to end our meals that evening. The ice cream was very pleasant to be eaten. The sundae was topped with red bean paste and red beans, also filled with numbers of fruits to freshen up our stomach. Hey, the dish also came up with a very nicely done origami artwork that resembled a sumo wrestler, hence the name of the dish. A good end to a nice dining experience!

MARUTAMA RA-MEN & NABE
Mall Centre Point L3 - 08
Jl. Jawa/Timur No. 8, Medan, Indonesia
Everyday, 10am - 10pm
+6261 805 107 08; +62811 617 7680
Website | Instagram | Facebook

The wooden panel as the wall decoration, along with the wooden dining table set is also easily my favourite. It screams "modern Thai" design very much as if we were taken to some Bangkok restaurant that evening. What a pleasure to enjoy this restaurant's interior design. Moreover, it made me even more anticipating for our food orders to be served - hoping that they were as authentic as they get.

Since my sister was craving for some Thai desserts, she ordered three different tapioca (starch extracted from cassava roots) based desserts right away. They tasted pretty nice and delicate, sweet and salty.

As more of a family oriented restaurant, which is pretty much what are usually found in Thailand restaurants, shared dishes eaten with steamed rice are the highlights of the menu. Most of the menu is written in romanized Thai with Indonesian translation. The first dish came out that evening was Phad Pak Ruamiit or we could say mixed sauteed vegetable cooked with some savoury sauce. Tasted OK.

The next dish was amazing. Named as Yam Sam Khop - which is crispy fish maw. Maw is an internal organ of a fish which is quite usual to be made as delicacy in some Asia country. It certainly smells fishy, but with the perfect seasoning they prepared, the dish tasted pretty good for me, salty, savoury, acidic and fresh. This dish is unique and flavorful! Spoiler: I finished most of this dish portion.

We also ordered a dish named Pak Bung Kroop. It was a very delicious crispy deep-fried water spinach. Even without the sauce/dressing given, this dish was proven to be quite addictive. The frying batter is well seasoned that it enhance the water spinach into some amazing finger food that you should try. The portion was also very generous if you ask me. It was more than enough for five of us.

Please don't get me started with the dressing! It was a wonderful mix of authentic Thai tasting ingredients like fish sauce, fresh shallots, sliced chilli, etc with slices of chicken meat! Yes, you read it right, a dressing that contains chicken meat - which explain the price. The dressing is heaven on earth, flavorful, addictive, and went pretty well with the crispy water spinach and went pretty well with anything else.

As a country with abundant marine produce, Thailand is very well-known for their seafood, hence the name of the restaurant. The next dish is an exceptional proof that makes this restaurant a must-try. Yes, the price is quite high for a dish consisting only several pieces of shrimp/prawn, but judging by how they prepared and cooked it into such a beautiful dish, it is all worth it. The shrimps were cleaned and cut into gorgeous pieces, and was sauteed with onion into perfection. It was juicy, tender, savoury, and flavorful! I fell in love with this perfectly-cooked dish.

An authentic Thai dinner would never leave Thai green curry out. They served this special dish amazingly. The chicken was not overcooked - it was tender, and the whole seasoning of the curry was present on every slice of the chicken. The curry itself was awesome, it gives my mouth a never-ending recollection of our dining experience back in Thailand.

Finally a dish everyone will associate with Thailand, which is no other than Tom Yum. To me the soup was too acidic to be eaten just like that. Nevertheless, I could taste the richness of the soup and how every single elements in the soup complements each other. The amount of the seafood given was generous and the freshness of the seafood - which is one of the most important aspects of the dish - is perfect.

As a confession, this was my first time dining in this amazing restaurant. I have never had any expectations that the food they serve would be as amazing and as authentic as this. Sawasdee Seafood Thai Restaurant would easily be my favourite Thai restaurant in Medan whenever I need a punch of acidic and fresh Thai food. Bravo!

SAWASDEE SEAFOOD THAI RESTAURANT

Jl. Multatuli Raya Blok FF No. 36-37, Medan, Indonesia

Everyday, 11am - 3pm, 6pm - 10pm

(061) 4570268

Enough backstory and designs, lets talks about the delicacies they provided. I really love how prompt the dishes were served in this restaurant - even though it had its drawbacks too, which was how messy all the dishes were. Despite their looks, the dishes was very enjoyable and some of them were top notch and easily memorable. For an authentic feel of Chinese-styled eating, we ordered a couple of steamed rice to go along with all the other dishes. Uniquely, the steamed rice was named "Japanese" Onion Rice. Yes, a Japanese (not really) menu in Chinese restaurant. Quite funny. The taste of the steamed rice was good, and had a hint of Hainan steamed rice flavor, fragrant, yet not overpowering the dishes that were eaten with the rice.

We ordered their most recommended menu that is responsible for the restaurant name and specialy, bak kut teh. I had the out-of-bone experience, it was fine, but still hasn't reached the perfect feeling of what I long when I eat ribs. The soup itself was very flavorful, an amazing spices combination with a subtle spiciness of pepper. The ribs were quite tender and I could really feel how all the rich flavor of the soup immersed in every bite of the ribs. You should order the Youtiao/Cakwe (deep-fried dough) as side dish eaten with the soup!

This was when I was quite disappointed with how they present their dish. If you look at how the Xiao Bai Cai was presented in their menu and how they serve this to you, you will understand how I feel. It was quite a torture for me to photograph this messy, unrecognisable array of vegetable that looks like it was served at our own home. Even though, taste-wise, it was good, the messy presentation of the dish in a "restaurant" really is a let-down for me.

Beside pork ribs soup, they also serve sliced fish soup, which tasted mild if compared to the pork ribs soup. The fish slices served was quite generous. Overall, I prefer the taste of this dish better than their specialty.

Recently, Soon Hwa restaurant do serve some new dishes, and they were likely a various fusion dishes from several Asian countries. One of the fusion dish was a mix of Chinese and Japanese dish - Buta Don (translated as bowl of pork) with runny egg. As it was served pretty hot (and still very messy for a restaurant - you should compare it to the menu picture), we stirred the runny egg and the pork slices altogether with the rice to create a very delicate, juicy, mixed rice - yes, MIX IT! so you could taste the whole bowl of goodness! The very dish surely is very recommended!

Finally, the winning dish of the night, I didn't care if this was served messy too, but the crispness, juiciness of the roasted pork belly was heavenly. This time, the dish is served/made with Indonesian approach, which I think is a HUGE success. I would have a dish of my own if I don't have to think about how unhealthy I could be. The green chilli (cabe hijau) went amazingly well with the roasted pork belly. You could also dip the "heavenly" meat into the provided andaliman sambal for an extra punch of spiciness.

Our visit was truly a good one this time, what I was disappointed the most was how the dishes were so messy. But the minuscule disappointment was really forgettable of when we enjoyed the delicious and flavorful dishes served. Moreover, the price in my opinion is somehow quite affordable compared to other Chinese restaurant in the same property. Will surely come back for more!