Seafood at Hock Lye Restaurant (Weld Quay)

Have you been to a seafood restaurant in Penang and not have real seafood? Well, that's precisely what we have done last weekend. In order to celebrate one of our relatives birthday, we opted to try some new eating places. We did some research on the Internet and discovered a seafood restaurant which we haven't tried, situated along the Jelutong Express highway. It took us a while to find the place since it's well hidden behind the flats along Gat Macallum street. I bet most Penangnites don't even know that it existed. To get there, you would need to drive into the Harbour Trade area by taking the right turning as you come from the Jelutong Express highway. Take another right turning into the first lane and keep following the road. You should already see a signboard of the restaurant.

The restaurant comes with ample parking space but nonetheless, it's good to come early. The restaurant itself is spacious. This was great because this means the kids would be able to run around without banging into things. All this translate to peace for the parents and absolute full concentration when it comes to eating.

As part of our austerity drive, we didn't order the "big guns". This means no prawns, steamed fish, crabs etc. Instead, we ordered stir fried mantis prawns with dried chillies as a substitute of prawns. If you ask your parents, they will tell you that during their time, nobody eats mantis prawns. It's considered a food for those less well off. However, time has changed. Today, a plate of mantis prawns could set you back by RM20-30.

Fish curry - minus the fish head :).

Braised pork in Thai sauce topped with dried shrimps. One would imagine this is a weird combination but it tasted good. The contrasting texture of the softness of the pork and crunchiness of the shrimps made it a real pleasurable eating experience. The sweet and sour Thai sauce also adds some tang to the dish.

Bean curd. No comments. The bean curd tasted ...well...like bean curd. I'll be surprise if it tasted otherwise.

Chicken fried with marmite. They had to be good since they were obliterated in just moments.

Stir fried kai lan.

Now...here's the star of the day. You don't get to see this guy everyday. Apparently, my brother in-law discretely ordered it since he cannot tahan not having proper seafood. We weren't sure what's it's called. I have been told that it is some kind of crab. The opening of that thing is stuffed with rho, chili padi, onions, pineapple and augmented with Thai sauce.

The finally comes in the form of the birthday cake. We got this from Tesco Extra.

Ah...as Jamie Oliver would put it; happy days, mate. Happy days.