The Food Site

There’s a reason why the Penang Tourism Action Council head Madam Kee is larger than life, literally. She sure do love her food and when it comes to food events, it simply must be crammed with loads of food. So, I can say that this year’s Penang Food Festival with three main food events in it is pretty interesting.

There’s the iFoodex, which is the food expo by companies hawking their wares. Surprisingly, there’s some new things to be seen like Canned Ikan Keli (catfish) which is a first. There’s also a stall selling fresh and frozen abalone for those crazy over abalones (it’s RM55 for four, I think). Then, shockingly, there’s even a local cheese stall selling local-made mozzarella and ricotta. Amazing.

The rest are the usual canned food, packaged food, processed food and frozen food. My favourite stall will have to be the Haagen Daz stall. I mean, who doesn’t like ice cream eh?

The iFoodex, at Pisa, is open between 11am and 7pm. There’s also the Battle of the Chef (a cooking competition between chefs) inside the arena but it costs RM3 per entry per person so we didn’t bother to go in. In the evenings,between 6pm and midnight, there’s hawker foods galore outside on the grounds around Pisa:

Of course, I made a beeline to Satay Kajang which we can’t find in Penang on normal days…

And it’s only 60 sen per stick of skewered meat that is seasoned and barbequed to perfection. MMmmmmm…please remind me to go to Kajang for satay Kajang the next time I’m in KL. Really. Now, I only need to know which stall (in Kajang) has the best satay.  Move over Penang skinny itty-bitty bite-size meat satay! Just look at how thick and juicy the satay Kajang is. So, Kay EL people, please tell me, where can I find really good Satay Kajang there? I will need the stall name, an address and specific directions please. Thank you very much. No hurries, not like I am going there in a minute or so.

Next, I head for more carcinogen-filled stuff of barbequed chicken that’s almost blackened by the charcoal and grill used. Damn, who cares about carcinogen-whatever when the ayam percik tastes SO DARN GOOD?!

More artery clogging stuff…

Sadly, I didn’t take too many pictures of the whole event as I should have because I was…errr…too busy stuffing my face otherwise occupied. Anyway, there were supposedly about 60 hawker stalls outside ranging from local Malay fare to the usual Chinese hawker food to the spicy Indian fare. There are also some international food, mainly Japanese food and some western food. And they have also arranged some live bands and concerts in the evenings so it should be..err…fun. I think. The music starts around 8pm.

The whole Penang Food Festival event is till this Sunday so if you want to try out the Satay Kajang, get some fresh abalones or just to cram and jostle with the crowd this weekend, head on over to Pisa. Me? Been there, done that. I’m definitely staying away. It is still not worth braving the jams, parking problems and the crowds to go there again.

I know I am supposed to post the results of my Pay it forward contest I held in December last month but….one thing led into another and it clearly slipped my mind until now. Heheheh…sorry.

Anyway, there were only five people who commented (sigh, why so few people only want to join in the contest? Doesn’t anybody else want to Pay it forward in the blogosphere? ) so, I run the random number generator and came up with the winners:

1. Colin Boyd of Get The Big Picture

2. Cory of Zestycook.com

5. Gera of Sweetsfoods.com

So, congratulations to the three lucky Pay it Forward-ers. Now, all you need to do is to send your name and mailing address to penangviews AT gmail DOT com. Of course, you don’t have to give me your full name, just the name that will ensure the handmade gift land in your hands and not someone else’s.

Also, remember the rule of the Pay it Forward contest. You will need to do the same by paying it forward and sending three handmade gifts to three other bloggers.