Pulau Aman Mee Udang & Mantis Prawns

Mee Udang and the Mantis Prawns are like the whole point of going Pulau Aman to many people.

To me, it is an unforgettable brand new experience, yet I hope it won’t be happened again... What happened? Curious right? :p

After we get off from the boat, we head straight to the Restaurant Terapung (Floating Restaurant), no chance to get lost by following the crowd. When approaching the restaurant, you will see a dock where people queuing for fresh fishes and prawns. If you are not going alone, get some of you queue at the dock, and others can walk further in to queue for the restaurant’s table. Of course you only need to do that if there are a lot of people (avoid public & school holiday).  They are 2 different merchant, so you have to buy your own freshie, bring it to the restaurant and ask them to cook for you.

I was the one queuing at the dock, and I just wanted to get some mantis prawns. Like most of the famous food in Penang, the person-in-charge is kind of arrogant. The person kept saying, "No more mantis prawns for today." I was really curious and I see the people still queuing, and no movement. After 15 minutes standing there, I finally understand. There are fishing boat sending in supply like every 5 minutes, many of them bring in normal prawns, tiger prawns, fishes and crabs. Mantis prawns? Not much. Maybe because of the timing which is 1pm that time, or demand > supply.

However, people still show low interest on other fishes and prawns, even the big mantis prawns, as it is more expensive. So we just so willing to wait despite the uncertainty.

The Big Mantis Prawns costs RM120 for 4, I bet can just buy one though. Small Mantis Prawns costs RM50 per kg.

Finally, it is my turns, they got me 800g (7 mantis prawns) for RM40, without even asking me how much I want. Boat came, mantis prawns came, throw all in the plastic bag, weight it, hand it to you, take it or leave it. If you don’t want, the next person surely more than happy to take it. So I paid, bring my still jumping mantis prawns, walk towards the restaurant, where my friend still queuing. While waiting, V took a picture with it bravely.

On the other hand, I busy marketing off half of my mantis prawns as we not going to finish all 7 mantis prawns. It just took me open my mouth and in less than 5 mins, they are sold to a person behind the queue.

Finally, V grabs us a table. Despite the restaurant is really really dirty, we had the freshest mantis prawns I ever had. Without any sauce or spice, only cooked by steaming the mantis prawns, you taste its sweetness and freshness (while V actually felt it 'jilak').

We also ordered the Mee Kuah Udang and fried rice, which are really nothing worth mentioning. Wonder how it became so famous. One of the blogger who mentioned the fried rice is better than the mee udang, I really couldn't agree at all. The prawns in mee udang and fried rice are very fresh though. You don’t need to get prawns from the dock unless you need extras. Mee udang and fried rice cost RM5-RM6 respectively.

The meal was completed by a lime juice (malay: limau ais). Totally refreshing on a too much seafood meal in hot afternoon (better ask them to lesser the sugar though).

We have a short walk on the trail and village after mail, check out my another post.

Just a short afternoon, but a long day for me. Looking at too much killing with my bare eyes. 

Check out my other posts:

How To Go Pulau Aman?
Boat Fees & Schedule
Pulau Aman Village

Pulau Aman Fishing Village

Signboard after exit the Jetty on Pulau Aman. Separate as left and right side of the island.

 We have a short walk on the trail on left after exit from the Restaurant Terapung (Floating Restaurant). The trail don’t have any sign but we hope the trail would be round island, however, after walking 15 mins, it still shows no sign at all, so we finally decided to turn back.

Scenery on the trail

Walking back and V explores to the right of the island which houses numbers of village families. It looks like the Mabul Island village that we went last year, original and close to the nature.

At very end of the right side of the island, there is a very beautiful bay that have not been discovered by many (before I wrote it here of course).

There are few people fishing there. We watched them caught a stingray (malay: ikan pari), and cut its tail. Then they put it in a very small container.

After 5 mins, it gives birth to a baby stingray. The fishing guy said, whenever they caught a stingray, it will gives birth a baby, which they don’t know why. What else... that is survival behavior, knowing that they will be killed soon.

They put the baby stingray back to the sea.  

I don’t like fishing. Don’t like the feeling that we kill the animal with our own hands, or watching it to die. If we have to catch our own food some days, I think I have to be vegetarian...

The trip is a fresh experience for me, watching how people live at the other side of Penang.

Check out my other posts:
How To Go Pulau Aman?
Boat Fees & Schedule
Pulau Aman Famous Seafood: Floating Restaurant (Restaurant Terapung)


Something to Learn:
"Rays have been known to store sperm and not give birth until they decide the timing is right".^[1]
"Stingrays give birth to fully developed, live young, not egg cases like skates do. When they are near term, even the slightest stress - like dangling from a hook or bird’s mouth - can cause them to release their young.  ^[2]

Pulau Aman Boat Schedule & Price

How to Go Pulau Aman Jetty? Check-out HERE.

Ferry Price:
Adult: RM6 (Return)
Children: RM4  (Return)
One-way: RM 4

Schedule:
(Weekdays)
From Pulau Aman:
8am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm
From Batu Musang:
9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm

(Weekend & Public Holiday)
Non-stop boat supply

Duration: The journey takes only 10 mins in speed boat while around 15-20 mins in slow boat.

Speed Boat

Slow Boat

Check out my other posts:
How To Go Pulau Aman?
Pulau Aman Fishing Village
Pulau Aman Famous Seafood: Floating Restaurant (Restaurant Terapung)

Pulau Aman - How to Get There

Pulau Aman is one of the nearest tourist island in Penang other than Pulau Jerejak.

I finally get the chance to visit Pulau Aman after almost 4 years in North when my old friend from Batu Pahat visit me during the school holiday.

We started off from Bukit Mertajam, using the north-south highway from Juru Toll, drive for about 15 minutes and exit at Bukit Tambun toll. After exit the toll, turn right following the brown colour signboard pointing Pulau Aman Jetty. Drive for another  500 metres, you will need to make a left turn, stay with the signboard. The left turn will lead you to the Batu Kawan stadium, the biggest stadium in Penang state, in the middle of nowhere, resides on the left-hand-side of the road. Keep driving straight and you will notice the signboard started showing Jetty Cassia.

Before I came, I did some homework and people mentioned there are 2 jetties, Jetty Bukit Tambun and Jetty Batu Musang, where the Jetty Batu Musang is the correct jetty to Pulau Aman now. It make me worry if I was on the right track. But end up, hell the Jetty Batu Musang, none of the signboard mentioned its name. Just follow the Jetty Cassia guys (well at least for these few months until they change again), the Jetty Batu Musang name will only be seen right at the jetty.

It’s nothing complicated because you don’t have much choices on the route, just stay on the road, despite you will see deserted place with bushes and swam, you will reach the jetty eventually. It took us about 40 minutes or less from Bukit Mertajam to the jetty, smooth traffic.

Sorry that I don’t have information on the public transport to jetty.

The ferry/boat fees and schedule can be found HERE. 

GPS Coordinate:
N 5 15.914 E 100 24.44


Check out my other posts:
Boat Fees & Schedule
Pulau Aman Fishing Village
Pulau Aman Famous Seafood: Floating Restaurant (Restaurant Terapung)

Popular Book Fair 2013 - BookFest Malaysia, KLCC

Guess what.....? It's another year since the last Annual Popular Book Fair! This year 2013, same month, same venue, let's crush the books valley!~

When?
BookFest @ Malaysia 2013 will officially launch on 2 August 2013. The exhibition will open from 10 am to 10 pm daily starting from 3 till 11 August 2013.

How much is the entrance fee?
Admission is RM 2.50 per ticket. FREE admission is given to students 18 years & below and senior citizens 60 years & above.

Where is the venue?
Hall 1 - 5 (Ground Floor) and Grand Ballroom & Banquet Hall, Level 3.
Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, KLCC, Malaysia.

The Chinese and English Pavilion will fully occupy the 5 adjoining halls at Ground Floor, while the Lifestyle Pavilion will occupy the Grand Ballroom and the Banquet Hall at Level 3 of Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Source from: http://www.bookfestmalaysia.com/

The Mugshot Cafe, Georgetown Chulia

It's been awhile since my last post, busy looking for my second property but after a 3 months struggling, I still got nothing. On the other hand, my daily full-time job didn't give me a break either. What a hard time...

I have been spending much of my time in island after work for dinner to avoid the jam at penang bridge. On a nothing-special-day, after searching nothing on mudah.my,  I was thinking what should we eat tonight. I have a secret loving feel towards Chulia Street area, most probably because it gives me a feeling that as I am traveling myself.

I came across The Mugshot Cafe in one of the blog I surfed. It is located right besides Rainforest Bakery on Lebuh Chulia. The interior design of the cafe have a same feel as Rainforest Bakery, and they have a open entrance in the shop which link two shops together, obviously belong to a same owner.

What's so special about this cafe? They sell bagel! Something I never had and never seen in Penang.
What's bagel? Check it out yourselves. :p

I was afraid they will run out of bagel at night as out of the blogs I read, they all came here in day time. However, we reached there around 7pm and were lucky enough that day.

The bagel is crunchy at the outside, chewy in the inside. It's really satisfying. I will consider that as a very good experience having my first bagel.

Beef & Rocket Bagel

Bacon & Egg Bagel

We had a kiwi & honey yogurt and wild berries tea as dessert & beverage. The yogurt portion is generous and the tea giving a refreshing fragrant, totally complete our meal that night.

One thing that need emphasize is they are partially self-service. You need to place order and collect your beverage from the counter. Bagel will be delivered. It doesn't bother me much as the attitude of the staff is pretty good, but perhaps some sign showing "self-service" will be much better.

The price is reasonable ranging between RM5-12 for beverage and RM10 for both bagel and muffin.
p/s: photo taken by phone, poor resolution.... :s

The Mugshot Cafe
Address: 302, Chulia Street, Georgetown, Penang

Contact Number: 012-405 6276

GPS Coordinate: N 5 25.099    E 100 20.193

The Mugshot Cafe Facebook


In case you like to know what is bagel~
"A bagel (also spelled beigel) is a bread product, traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior. Bagels are often topped with seeds baked on the outer crust, with the traditional ones being poppy or sesame seeds. Some also may have salt sprinkled on their surface, and there are also a number of different dough types such as whole-grain or rye." - Wikipedia

Loft 67 Cafe Kulim 居林

居林, 2009年, 我來到北方第一個居住的, 山邊小鎮.
人家說, 它甚麼都沒有.

然而我卻從它身上, 看到我所嚮往的點點滴滴.

住在居林, 到Hi-Tech Park上班, 用時七分鐘.
一路鳥語花香, 偶爾可見薄霧籠罩著山頭. 早上常看到摩多騎士在餵食路邊的猴子.

不遠處, 是綠油油的稻田. 開著車從居林來回大山腳, 一年里看著稻田耕種的變換,灌溉,插秧,青綠到橙黃...

食物便宜好吃. 餐室沒有華麗的衣裳, 但該有的都有.
購物中心, 是15年前峇株的The Store. 日常用品, 一樣不缺.

我愛上了居林.

在居林住了三年, 我離開了, 來到了槟城工作. 時時仍然想起居林的這些那些.

這幾年里, 居林發展了許多. 從原本新開的Giant, 到有了Tesco和McDonald.
雖然我並沒有喜歡, 卻深深地知道那是必然的變遷.

還住在居林的舊同事告知, 市區開了一間咖啡廳 - Loft 67. 於是, 我以咖啡廳之名, 回到了居林.

Loft 67, 開在舊市區, 老舊的房子.
整修了的老屋, 風格與槟城喬治市的許多Cafe相似. 在居林, 卻是十分突兀, 和難能可貴的. 欽佩店主的勇氣和熱血.

Loft 67 的食物主打是自制漢堡. 由麵包到肉餅, 都由他們自己製做 (當然蔬菜不是自己種). 味道是獨特, 並且好吃的, 份量也不吝嗇.

Various burger in chicken, lamb & beef to choose from. Generous portion and delicious to my liking.

 
我們也試了它的白醬義大利麵, 沒有一般義大利麵的沉悶和奶膩, 有著一種我很喜歡卻吃不出是甚麼食材的味道 (好想跟他要recipe!).
在居林有這樣素質的食物, 它得到的絕對是滿分.

White sauce spaghetti with its unique taste. Despite the presentation, it tasted really good!

Bruschetta on a Masimo bread? Nice but not much surprise. 

餐厅里的特调 Mocktail 以各种 Monin Syrup 配制， 味道清爽。

Hot chocolate, one of my favourite.

壓軸來到了咖啡廳裡的, 咖啡.

Americano

咖啡師是老闆的弟弟, 他是否也是老闆之一, 不太清楚. 但言談間, 可知他比定是愛咖啡之人.
在咖啡師的誘惑下, 不能喝咖啡的我, 點了Latte, 據說有著最mild的咖啡元素, 適合不善於喝咖啡的我.

咖啡, 我不懂. 但卻喜歡這Latte, 奶多咖啡少的搭配. 我這才了解, 原來這就是人家所說的, 層次感.

My First Latte

 喝了咖啡會頭暈想吐的我和V, 非常雀躍我們喝了的確沒事. 這杯Latte, 更是又多加了幾分.

能在居林, 找到一間好的Cafe, 喝到一杯好的咖啡. 真是幸福之事.

Loft 67 Contact
Loft 67 located after the right bend of road after kulim old town police station/Nasi Kandar Pelita. Go straight and search for the blue house on left.
Address: 67-F Jalan Raya, 09000 Kulim
Opening Hours:
Mon - Tue: 12:00 pm - 10:30 pm
Thu - Sun: 12:00 pm - 10:30 pm
Phone: 04-490 5541
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/loft67
GPS Coordinate: N 5 22.050    E 100 33.283