Comments on: Penang Private Tour and Culinary Tour

By: celeinena

celeinena — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:36:09 +0000

I wanted to check out the Malaysian Cookbook under Betty Saw and came across your website. Oh, this is wonderful.

My family and I were in Kuala Lumpur for 6 weeks but did not have a chance to visit Penang. I was craving mostly is the Penang Nonya Kuih.

Can you send me a list of Nonya Kuih to my Email address. It’s Celeinenal@yahoo.com.au

Celeinena, Sydney Australia

By: Robbie

Robbie — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:15:39 +0000

I just wanted to let you know what a wonderful time we had with CK last month in Penang! Everything worked out perfectly for the 3 days he was with us. We ate some great food, especially at the Nyonya restaurant he took us to. He was so kind and patient. We will always have great memories of Penang because of the experiences he shared with us! Thank you so much for your assistance with making the arrangements! Take care.

Robbie – Valencia, CA

By: Alex Woo

Alex Woo — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:28:18 +0000

Dear Bee, Dear CK,

We had a great time in Penang, thanks so much to you guys! We definitely want to come back to Penang in June for Durians…

After the tour during which we stuffed ourselves while CK was watching, we took a rest and a walk before heading out to New Lane for the hawker food. As you guys suggested, we had our Ark Dui Mee Sua, which was excellent! Lulu was very happy about that. We then had the Beef Kway Teo soup, otak-otak and satays!

Nyonya Breeze was very good and we liked the sambal goreng and the salad with Apple and celery very much.

We’ll still thinking about all the food we had and are hungry for more.

Alex Woo,
Hong Kong

By: Prime

Prime — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:15:09 +0000

Please check out my complete write-up about my Penang private tour with Rasa Malaysia and CK: http://gypsygalstales.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/travel-to-penang/

By: Rasa Malaysia

Rasa Malaysia — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:33:30 +0000

Robert and Cheryl – we are so glad that you enjoyed our tour. Thank you for your kind comment.

By: Robert Law

Robert Law — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 02:31:55 +0000

My wife, Cheryl and I had a great time in Penang last month (December). We were so glad that we took your family’s Penang tour as it helped us see so many places in a short time. We especially loved the historical clan houses there.

By: Rasa Malaysia

Rasa Malaysia — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:20:24 +0000

Hi Per, thanks so much for joining our tour and am happy that your family enjoyed the tour.

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:23:09 +0000

I must say I do miss Penang so much indeed, the people, food and just the whole atmosphere in Penang. I was back last year after more than 10 years of absence. The ‘Hokkein’, feel so at home indeed. Sad to say that I am back home now. I may visit Penang one day again, afterall, I was the peranakan from Penang. It is of much privilege and lucky for those who live in Penang, my old home town. :)

By: Rasa Malaysia

Rasa Malaysia — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:25:50 +0000

Richard & family,

Thanks so much for your glowing review and such a great comment. We are happy that you had fun in Penang. Do tell your friends and family to visit us! :)

Best,
CK

By: Richard S

Richard S — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:22:29 +0000

Our family of four have been on a non-stop eating fest since arriving in Penang 4 days ago. Having heard and read so much about Penang’s gastronomic heritage we decided on this trip to Malaysia that we would make a trip specially to Penang to enjoy its local cuisine. And its not food only, Penang offers great cultural heritage, old world Anglo Chinese architecture and genuinely friendly English speaking locals.

One such local was our tour guide CK. Our gastro-tour took place two days ago. And what a day it turned out to be!

Our day began with a mid morning trip to Pulau Tikus wet market. There we walked through corridors where stall holders were selling all manner of local market produce – fruits, vegetables, meat, cooked food etc etc. If food hygiene is your thing, you’d better close your eyes. CK took us to a couple of vendors selling Nyonya cakes (of course we bought some!) and then to a local “coffee shop” (more like a corner café) where we plunged into our first meal of the day – Char Kway Teow and Curry Mee being served up by stallholders located outside the cafe. Without doubt these were among the best versions of these dishes I’d ever tasted in my life. CK knew his stuff, no doubt.

Aside from tasting local food, our tour also focused on Penang’s cultural heritage. CK took drove us past the various ethnic quarters within old Penang (now UNESCO listed). These ethnic quarters covered various Chinese, Malay, Indian and Anglo socio-economic groups in Penang. If you love Anglo Chinese architecture, old Penang is a must. While many are in bad repair, a city wide restoration program is in progress to bring back many of its streets back to their former glory. We also visited the Khoo Kong Si clanhouse and marvelled at the history and wealth of this clan, spanning the past two hundred years. Another highlight was the Peranakan Mansion tour – another historic insight into the lives of local Peranakans.

The culinary highlight of our day was lunch at an authentic Peranakan restaurant run by a fourth generation Nyonya lady and her family. Between the four of us, we sampled some nine Nyonya dishes! Some were familiar to me while the others were new. In all, the flavours, textures and attention to detail made our lunch quite memorable. You’d think we hadn’t eaten all day! Another must go to place when we visit Penang again!

So, CK thank you for making our Penang experience so special. You are indeed a great guide and very knowledgeable at what you do. RS