The Legendary Sisters Char Kway Teow @ Jalan Macalister Penang

Talking about Penang Char Kway Teow which is one of the signature hawker food in Penang, there are too many stalls or coffee shops around Penang you can actually get the food. I believe its status quo is almost equivalent to Kampua Mee in Sibu (Sarawak) where it's just too hard not to find it at nearly every coffee shop existed in the region!

I had Google around the net on the most authentic and famous Char Kway Teow in Penang before I went there months ago, but most of the write up I found is about a stall near Lorong Selamat. I'll leave the Lorong Selamat one for my coming post. For the time being, I'll reveal about another Char Kway Teow which had existed in Penang about half a century ago! I never heard or read about this stall before until our "tour guide" introduce it to us. He told us that it is one of the best Char Kway Teow in Penang.

To try it out, we had a 15-20 minutes' walk all the way from Garden Inn to an isolated coffee shop located at Jalan Macalister (somewhere near the junction of Perak Road and Macalister Road). Lam Heng Cafe is its name and here is where the Penang famous "Sisters Char Kway Teow" stall is located.

It's named so because the Char Kway Teow stall is operated by a pair of sisters. The Lam's sisters had fried the flat rice noodles a.k.a. Kway Teow for around 50 years exactly at this venue! Can you imagine that? Our country Malaysia is just about 52 years in age but they had involved in Char Kway Teow for around 50 years and until now the stall still standing tall! No wonder our tour guide told us both sisters had "produced" few bungalows just by doing this business!!

At the moment I stepped into the cafe and saw an old ladies frying Kway Teow at the entrance, I was a bit shocked. I believed that she must be one of the "legendary" sister who built up the "Sisters Char Kway Teow" branding, but she was far much older than I expected. Perhaps my imagination was affected by a classical photo I saw on a magazine about the sisters.

We took a seat near the rear part of the shop as the front part was filled and ordered 3 plates of fried Kway Teow. The service was really slow, we had waited for more than 30 minutes if not mistaken before the famous Sisters Char Kway Teow was placed on our table. A bit lost patient, but when you think of the 70++ years old lady handle the wok, you just have to forgive and salute her.

The Char Kway Teow was nice from the look, with prawns, eggs, bean sprouts topped with some shredded crab meat and placed on top of a banana leaf. But when I put it in the mouth, it's a way too oily and it just couldn't give me the "Ummmph!" feel. It was far from my expectation. I believed such a well-known Char Kway Teow deserved to be much tastier than this!

Anyway, I didn't feel the Char Kway Teow was that bad, perhaps it's just because of the inconsistent cooking standard and luck problem (bear in mind the cooking was done by a 70++ years old lady). Maybe just our luck not good on that day that's why we didn't get the best! Some people even commented that the fried Kway Teow is "not as before" but some claimed it is still the best!

No matter how, I will definitely try out this Char Kway Teow again at another time (if have chance) hope for a tastier serving. I believe that it worth a try even just for its legendary!  A plate of Char Kway Teow is RM4.00 (by-default order) and the price may vary if you request for less or more ingredients add-on.

For those who wish to visit the Sisters Char Kway Teow, here are some info about the cafe:

Address: Lam Heng Cafe, 185, Macalister Road.
Open: 8.30am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-4.30pm
Close: Mondays