This old style restaurant has been around for almost half a century in the middle of George Town and just only a few years back, the original owner’s son took over the business. Luckily, the food is still just as good and I am glad that the taste remained as good as when we went there to eat years ago.
I wouldn’t know whether the food tastes the same as 10 or 20 years ago since I am, ahem, too young to know…heheh. My husband first introduced me to this place years ago when we first started going out and ever since, we are a really great fan of this old-style restaurant.
De Tai Tong Cafe
Yes, I am talking about the famous Tai Tong restaurant, mostly well-known for their Dim Sum. But what I will be recommending here is their regular food. We went there recently and tried out these dishes…
Noodles, pork and vegetables
Here’s a closer look at the crunchy deep-fried noodles with gravy:
Crunchy noodles
This is one of my favourite dishes because the noodles are just crunchy enough and add that with their tasty gravy and plenty of ingredients (mostly pork, prawns and chye sim). Very satisfying. I like biting into the part-crunchy and partly softened noodles. Not many restaurants could pull off this dish so well.
Ko low yok
This is my husband’s favourite dish. Pork cooked in a sweet and sour sauce. The pork is really tender and juicy. The sauce is also not too sour, just the way I like it. No need to chew like mad on stringy pork here!
Prawn fritters
These ‘her cho’ is one of their ‘trademark’ dishes that you must really try. It is crispy on the outside and the fillings is so soft and tasty, you don’t even need to dip it into the chilli sauce that goes with it.
Sweet and sour fish
As I’ve said before, I am not really a big fan of fish unless it is really fresh without any fishy smell or cooked in a way that any fishiness is gone. Well, this dish is just that. The fish is fresh and on top of that, it is deep fried and then served on sweet and sour sauce. Although the fish could have been a bit bland but it goes very well with the sauce. We polished off the whole fish. Not even the tail was spared.
Ginger chicken
I hate ginger. I’d avoid eating ginger at all times although I know it is a very versatile root to use for certain recipes. So, imagine my surprise when this dish came and I actually loved it! Apparently, they use young ginger to cook this dish and the chicken was pre-seasoned with their own concoction of sauces, fried and then covered in a sweetish sauce. It was not covered in ginger-smell as I had thought it would be when this dish was recommended as another ‘trademark’ dish of the restaurant.
Longetivity Bun
This peach-shaped bun has the most delectable filling I’ve ever tasted in a long, long time. Its fillings is made of rich, smooth lotus paste with a single egg yolk inside. Amazingly, eating this does not cause any of the fillings or dough to stick to your teeth as buns like this often do. A great dessert or snack.
Rating: 8/10
Price: $$ (from RM6 per dish onwards so this place is really value-for-money)
To get there, follow the directions on this map.
Here are the shop details:
Tai Tong Restaurant
45, Cintra Street
10100 Penang
Breakfast: 6am – 12pm
Lunch: 12pm – 3pm
Dinner: 6.30pm – 12pm
Tel: 04-2636625 (best to call for reservations during weekends because it is usually crowded then)
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Wow…your post showing all my favourite food from Tai Tong. You should also try their “hoong siew yue tau” – just as good.
In fact there are lots of yummy food on Cintra street and I have done a post on most of the food outlets there recently.
ck lam: looks like we have same taste here!