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

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!

Jalan Stesen Bukit Bendera Assam Laksa

Our quest to search for the best assam laksa in Penang continues. Although Penang is famous for this dish with rich yet delicate flavours, the good ones are not easily available throughout the island. So far, we know of the Air Itam Market Assam Laksa and the famous Balik Pulau Assam Laksa. We quite like the assam laksa on Lorong Selamat and don't mind the one on Penang Street. We were then recommended this one in Air Itam just in front of the Klinik Pergigian Kanak-kanak Air Itam along Jalan Stesen Bukit Bendera opposite the Asia Cafe Penang Hill Food Court.

We went to Air Itam on a Sunday afternoon but didn't find any assam laksa stalls. So we headed opposite to the Asia Cafe Penang Hill Food Court. The assam laksa there is another diluted disaster. After lunch at the Asia Cafe Penang Hill Food Court, we were about to make our way home when we were informed that the famous assam laksa stall has started its business. That was at about 1.45pm. We proceeded to take away a big packet anyway (RM3.50) and couldn't wait to dig into it the whole journey home as the aroma fills our nostrils!

The Jalan Stesen Bukit Bendera Assam Laksa is still slightly below expectation. Papa Lee thinks it lacks the sourness of the pineapples. It actually tastes sweet and is definitely not spicy as Baby Lee had her share too! It is important to us that the assam laksa has a good balance of sweetness, sourness and spiciness to it. Anyway, the overall taste is better than the few that we had before this. So it is still worth a trip back when there's a craving for assam laksa next time!

The Lee's Assam Laksa scale:
Sweetness ****
Sourness *
Spiciness -
Freshness ****
Fish Quantity ***

Note: There are tables and chairs available if you can't wait to wolf down the assam laksa but be warned that it is not the most baby-friendly place and parking is definitely limited around the area! Besides assam laksa, a variety of other hawker foods are also available within the vicinity.