Chu Char At Batu Lanchang Market (Greenlane)

For those living in Greenlane, Batu Lanchang is certainly a food paradise. While it is a housing estate, it's also home to a wet market, food court and a small shopping complex to serve the needs of the local residence. Since the wet market only starts in the afternoon, the food court only comes to live after 2pm. The food court offers a wide range of hawker food ,economy rice and tit bits so there are plenty of variety to choose from. The pasembur, nasi kandar and mee goreng are notably some of the hawker food that are recommended here. As evening sets and the activities of the hawker stalls wind down, one portion of the food court is transformed to a chu char place. While the food is good by most standards, most people aren't aware of this place.

We normally come here every Thursdays for dinner and usually in a big group. That's when all the relatives meet to catch up with the latest news. While I like the food here, I don't find this place comfortable at all mainly the fact that there's almost always 16 of us. Imagine cramping into 2 small tables like that because they like to 'lau juak'. It's not even shoulder to shoulder as I normally have to tilt my body to the side when I'm eating. I always joke to my wife that if there is record for the most people cramped in a specific sized table, we are probably the record holders. Does that mean we are entitled to a RM 1 million prize money and a pension of RM 5 k per month like Lee Chong Wei? Sadly, no.

Since there are always so many of us, we normally try to appease everyone by ordering their favourite dishes. The chicken fried in coffee is a must! All my wife's nieces and nephews love this and besides, chicken is the only thing they eat.

My FIL (father-in-law) loves anything with bean curd so we are oblige to order something with tofu. Ergo the stir fried bean curd with pork and prawns is now a regular item in the order.

The steamed egg in soy sauce is delicate, soft and tasteful and has won the votes from everyone. The same goes for the sweet and sour pork which unfortunately tends to come in smaller portions.

The stir fried long beans with shrimps and pork in thick black sauce made it to the standard ordering list too. So did the kachang botol in sambal with prawns. Both dishes are rather nice with the vegetables fresh and crunchy.

While prices here are quite standard for chu char, the portion of each dish has reduced to some extent due to higher cost of goods. Nontheless, for those with a curious mind (and stomach), the chu char is certainly worth trying.

Losing Manhood Over Soya Bean Drink At Soya King

We all know that soy bean drink has been touted as a miracle food for obvious reasons. It contains numerous amino acids required as the building blocks for growth, isoflavones, a source of vitamin E and lecithin and even help to reduce bad cholesterol.

However, recent unsettling studies have shown that too much soy base food consumed by male can lead to lower sperm count. To quote the article EmaxHeath "men who ate the most soy food had 41 million sperm per millilitre less than men who did not consume soy products". Ouch! It sounds as if it's just a tiny weeny drop, but as far as manhood is concern for us male, every drop counts. This is also a blow to any soya bean drink lover like myself. In life, I believe you need to make room for exceptions and I am willing to exercise that right in this case. Hehehe. Similar to the "Get Out Of Jail" card you get in Monopoly.

Every time I window shop at Queens Bay Mall, I need to have my dose of soya bean drink at Soya King. Soya King is located at the ground flour just directly opposite the JayaJusco hypermarket and next to the food court. Unlike most traditional soya bean stalls in Penang, Soya King takes it's product offerings to the next level by providing more variation of soya bean drinks. It's menu consists of bean milk with cincao or colombian arabica white coffee, bean curd with either longan, lychee, red bean, sweet corn, natta de coco, mango fruit pudding or tropical fruit cocktail as toppings. Prices ranges from RM 2-RM 6.

Soya bean drink with normal syrup. Just the way I like them.

For those who like bean curd, you have a choice to add plain syrup, gula melaka syrup or ginger cooked in brown sugar syrup to it. The bean curd is really good as it the texture is soft yet firm enough to retain its shape. It doesnt break up that easily.

Finally, will all this spell the end of my manhood? Hahaha. I dont think so. After a soya bean drink and a bowl of bean curd, I think I'm far from infertile. Those soya beans need to do a better job to rob me of my manhood.