Island Park Restaurant - Assam Laksa

Finally a yummilicious assam laksa that is located just 15 minutes from where we currently reside! Funny how it took us so long to chance upon Island Park Restaurant situated just directly opposite the Chung Hwa Confucian High School. We have been back numerous times just for the assam laksa as this is one of the better tasting ones around. Given the location, taste, and price (only RM2.50 per bowl!), it is a sure winner with us and chances of bumping into us there is definitely quite high now. The well balanced sweet and sour soup is rather thick which is a sign that a good amount of fish is added into it. On top of that, every bowl is served with a dash of my favourite bunga kantan (torch ginger)! Mm mmm.... Now, all we have to do is wait for the verdict from Grandpapa Lee when he comes visiting next! Meanwhile, we’ll continue to enjoy it!!

Besides assam laksa, the newly renovated and comfortable Island Park Restaurant also house a vast number of stalls that serves curry mee, Hainanese chicken rice, economy rice, Hokkien mee, lam mee, chee cheong fun, wan ton mee, and lots more though we are only usually there for one dish! Parking is not usually a problem here too. Island Park Restaurant definitely scores three thumbs up with the Lees!

Island Park Restaurant
38 Tingkat Tembaga
Jelutong
Penang

Majestic Rojak

Rojak (a dish where bite size pieces of fruits and vegetables along with a few cuttefish at times is mixed together with a sweet shrimp paste and peanut concoction) is one of Papa Lee's all time favourite! He can gobble up the whole lot all by himself and gladly repeat the procedure day after day if no one stops him!

When it comes to rojak, Majestic Rojak has been hailed as the best in Penang! So we HAD to try it. We bought a packet back and when pouring the shrimp paste mixture over the fruits, we discovered that the paste was very thick and goo-ey, almost hard unlike the slightly more liquid ones that we usually eat. We also find the paste on the sweeter side. I suspect the paste has a whole tonne of sugar in it which explains why it is less liquid and sweeter!

Can't remember exactly what else was in the Majestic Rojak but there was definitely turnip, pineapple, cucumber, mango and cuttlefish. A small portion now costs RM4.00 and a bigger one RM5.00 which may be slightly overpriced but expected where it is located and with the name it carries.

So if you're a fan of thick goo-ey, sweet rojak, head on to:
Majestic Rojak
14, Lorong Swatow, Penang.
Business Hours: 10:30am – 6:30pm
(Closed on alternate Tuesdays or Thursdays)

Enduring Forever Beauty Spa

Enduring Forever (EF) is beauty spa tucked in a secluded section of Penang on Leandro's Lane intersecting Kelawei Road and Burma Road. It is an all female spa with an English themed setting, very different from the other typical Balinese, Thai or Zen themed spas indeed. We accidentally discovered it one of those days out in town and thought the exterior very appealing.

My appointment was for noon but I was a half hour late as I got lost! Still not familiar with the routes here. The pouring rain didn't help either causing traffic to crawl.

After parking in one of the allocated lots, I headed to the building. As I neared the entrance, the door opened and a young girl (whom is also my masseuse) greeted me and swiftly brought me through a series of nicely adorned hallways to a dimly lit room, all decorated with a touch of English charm. She then handed me a disposable bra, panty and shower cap and told me to change into them. She also informed me that we will start with a foot scrub before proceeding onto the body scrub and then left me to undress.  I must say that this is the first time I see a disposable bra (which is basically just a piece of tissue-textured material placed across the chest and tied behind)! Even spa resorts like Tanjung Jara and Four Seasons in Bali do not provide these. Nice to know that there is an option for those who want to keep it more modest.

My masseuse came back into the room and gave me a foot scrub. She told me the salts used helps in removing dead skin cells and has whitening properties. During the scrub, I managed to find out her name (whom we shall call A from now on), that the establishment is only half a year old and owned by a local. After that, I was told to lie on the massage bed for the body scrub. To my surprise, the bed has a thermal blanket which keeps it nice and warm. They really do think of the little details. The scrub lasted about half an hour. I found out then that this is A's first job. So she only has about six month's experience. Hmm...

After the scrub, A brought me to another room with a tub for my 'fitness bath'. She told me to lie in the tub filled with warm (more to the hot side) water on a mat which has some 360 holes. Eh? She then explained that 15 minutes inside the bath is equivalent to having worked out for 3 hours! Hmm... Besides, the bath helps with firming, detox and slimming... Wow... (while trying to suppress a little laughter of disbelieve of such wonder). A then switched the bath on and the mat started 'boiling' bubbles around me. So that's what the 360 holes are for. A dimmed the lights and left me for the next 15 minutes. I tried to close my eyes and relax in the 'pot of soup'. After a while, I started to feel like I was floating in the middle of a vast ocean with thousands of squid surrounding me squirting ink on my face! Hmm.. this bath thing is not really my cup of tea. I never knew 15 minutes can last soooooo loooong... but hey, if it slims, firms and detox and leaves you thinking you have done 3 hours of gym........... At some point, I started to even feel a little dizzy. Sea sickness? The squids has not stopped squirting ink on my face!

When the whole floating in the sea experience ended, I actually did feel tired, as though I had just worked out! A came with a cup of ginger tea and asked if I was feeling light-headed. She told me to continue sitting in the bath for a while and relax before changing into another set of disposables for my massage.

Back on the massage bed, A started my Enduring Forever Treatment massage on my back. I did feel a little more relaxed after the fitness bath but a more experienced masseuse would be able to tell that I was trying hard to relax my shrugged shoulders. A more experienced masseuse would also be able to identify and focus on the tonnes of knotted muscles on my taxed back. However, being a young apprentice, A did everything wholeheartedly, drawing long slow moves, no short cuts unlike some experienced masseuse.

I started to relax more during the second half of the massage but didn't doze off unlike most times. Honestly, I would have preferred to have a longer back massage. Overall, it was still a pleasant experience and I felt pampered.

Note: No photography allowed so the above pictures are taken directly from their brochure. The body treatment costs RM68 as a one time first trial offer and the fitness bath costs RM50. Total treatment was RM118.

Enduring Forever Beauty Spa
332 Leandro's Lane
10250 Penang
Tel/ Fax: 04-229 5796
Business Hour: 10.00am - 8.00pm

Welcome 2011!

What a year it has been discovering Penang! We came to Penang in 2010 only with some knowledge of this place as a holiday destination and have since discovered so much more from finding a paediatrician to finding knick-knacks at the Little Penang Street Market, Roti Bakar off Jalan Hutton to Jalan Stesen Bukit Bendera Assam Laksa, Penang Children Library to Rapid Penang Bus Services and loads more that we have not managed to update! So we welcome this new year with much anticipation of more discoveries!