This post has been in the works for a while... I first started taking photos for it in October last year, coincidentally the same date I posted my first Photo Friday post. I guess that was the time I brought my camera back into action.
Then I think I stopped going to eat at that place... I somehow forgot all about it! (how???) Then today I went again... and snapped the remaining photo needed for this post.
So, you might be wondering, what's this all about? It's about yummy food... at a place called Astaka Taman Tun Sardon. It seems that food courts are called astaka in Malay (not sure whether it's an official usage). Anyway, the place is a Malay food court, next to a market. It is open for breakfast.
It all started when I mentioned that I couldn't find good nasi lemak in Penang. A friend recommended a stall in Astaka Taman Tun Sardon (I'm going to shorten it to TTS from now on; that's what they do for the names of the stalls there too, and the first time I saw "TTS" I thought of my friend who has those initials and uses them regularly :P ). I tried out that stall but didn't like it so much...but instead I discovered the roti jala at this stall (it is hard to find roti jala too!)
We can choose to have either beef (cut into small slices) or chicken (in chunks together with the bone) with the roti jala. I have tried both, and I prefer the beef. The beef set (one set is four pieces of roti jala) cost RM5 last year, but today I saw that the price had increased to RM6. The chicken set was already at RM6 last year, and it hasn't changed.
The first time I bought the roti jala, the nasi lemak wasn't selling. They are actually using the same stall (you will see later), and I think it is a family business, because I saw two guys who looked like they were brothers, one working on the roti jala side and the other manning the nasi lemak side. Then one day, I was lining up for the roti jala and saw people taking their plates of nasi lemak, which looked very appetizing! The queues for roti jala and nasi lemak are separate, so I couldn't change my mind, but as it turned out, they had no roti jala that day. They also sell other dishes like lontong (also pretty good, but too filling for me) and soto ayam. They actually have a whole list of dishes, but some are never seen... So when they didn't have roti jala, I took the chance to try the nasi lemak (I think I was going to try lontong that day, together with roti jala for my mother, so in the end we tried the lontong and nasi lemak). They were nice enough not to ask me to queue in the nasi lemak line again...
The nasi lemak costs RM1.30 plain (with sambal). There are a few choices of dishes to add: egg (boiled or fried) for RM1, fried anchovies for RM1, sotong kering for RM2 (the price has just gone up to RM2.30), beef, and kelempong/paru (lung). (I can't remember the prices for these).
Anyway, I've tried all three of the side dishes (the "special" ones, not counting the egg and anchovies which we can find anywhere), and the best is the sotong. The beef is slightly hard, though it tastes good too. And the lung is too soft for my liking. I like the lung more chewy.
So today I queued up for half an hour for this!
There were actually not that many people in the queue when I arrived... maybe around seven? But some people must have ordered a lot, because their turn took ages... The person right before me was taking away at least seven packets of nasi lemak!
Well, after all that, here's a look at the stall:
The two queues are labeled at the top of the stall (quite easy to miss, actually); nasi lemak on the left, and the rest on the right. On the red board, they have some "goreng" stuff, mee udang and tokua (that is "tau kua" aka beancurd by the way) rendang, but I have never seen those at the stall. Nor wantan mee which is on the yellow signboard that indicates the queues. What I have seen, are the dishes I have mentioned above.
(Only the photo of nasi lemak was taken today; the others were taken back in October, the last time I went there.)
Then I think I stopped going to eat at that place... I somehow forgot all about it! (how???) Then today I went again... and snapped the remaining photo needed for this post.
So, you might be wondering, what's this all about? It's about yummy food... at a place called Astaka Taman Tun Sardon. It seems that food courts are called astaka in Malay (not sure whether it's an official usage). Anyway, the place is a Malay food court, next to a market. It is open for breakfast.
It all started when I mentioned that I couldn't find good nasi lemak in Penang. A friend recommended a stall in Astaka Taman Tun Sardon (I'm going to shorten it to TTS from now on; that's what they do for the names of the stalls there too, and the first time I saw "TTS" I thought of my friend who has those initials and uses them regularly :P ). I tried out that stall but didn't like it so much...but instead I discovered the roti jala at this stall (it is hard to find roti jala too!)
We can choose to have either beef (cut into small slices) or chicken (in chunks together with the bone) with the roti jala. I have tried both, and I prefer the beef. The beef set (one set is four pieces of roti jala) cost RM5 last year, but today I saw that the price had increased to RM6. The chicken set was already at RM6 last year, and it hasn't changed.
The first time I bought the roti jala, the nasi lemak wasn't selling. They are actually using the same stall (you will see later), and I think it is a family business, because I saw two guys who looked like they were brothers, one working on the roti jala side and the other manning the nasi lemak side. Then one day, I was lining up for the roti jala and saw people taking their plates of nasi lemak, which looked very appetizing! The queues for roti jala and nasi lemak are separate, so I couldn't change my mind, but as it turned out, they had no roti jala that day. They also sell other dishes like lontong (also pretty good, but too filling for me) and soto ayam. They actually have a whole list of dishes, but some are never seen... So when they didn't have roti jala, I took the chance to try the nasi lemak (I think I was going to try lontong that day, together with roti jala for my mother, so in the end we tried the lontong and nasi lemak). They were nice enough not to ask me to queue in the nasi lemak line again...
The nasi lemak costs RM1.30 plain (with sambal). There are a few choices of dishes to add: egg (boiled or fried) for RM1, fried anchovies for RM1, sotong kering for RM2 (the price has just gone up to RM2.30), beef, and kelempong/paru (lung). (I can't remember the prices for these).
Anyway, I've tried all three of the side dishes (the "special" ones, not counting the egg and anchovies which we can find anywhere), and the best is the sotong. The beef is slightly hard, though it tastes good too. And the lung is too soft for my liking. I like the lung more chewy.
So today I queued up for half an hour for this!
There were actually not that many people in the queue when I arrived... maybe around seven? But some people must have ordered a lot, because their turn took ages... The person right before me was taking away at least seven packets of nasi lemak!
Well, after all that, here's a look at the stall:
The two queues are labeled at the top of the stall (quite easy to miss, actually); nasi lemak on the left, and the rest on the right. On the red board, they have some "goreng" stuff, mee udang and tokua (that is "tau kua" aka beancurd by the way) rendang, but I have never seen those at the stall. Nor wantan mee which is on the yellow signboard that indicates the queues. What I have seen, are the dishes I have mentioned above.
(Only the photo of nasi lemak was taken today; the others were taken back in October, the last time I went there.)
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