Eté Café @ Penang

Oh, hi there! ヽ(；▽；)ノ

Looking at my never ending list of pending posts, I'm quite happy that I managed to cross out a few already.  At least I'm productive this holidays *smirks* Back to while we were in Penang for our clinical placement few months back, we girls sort of have this weekly bonding time over caffeine every Sunday so today I'm gonna blog about one of the cafe that we've visited. 

As we stumbled upon Eté Café as one of the recommended cafe on Google, we decided to give it a try. The cafe, located at one of the shoplots along Jalan Carnavon is pretty obsecure since it has no apparent signage.  But thanks to Jie Yi's eagle eyes we managed to locate it easily without going rounds after rounds. You just have to drive slowly and be alert. The parking space are quite limited as well.

Eté Cafe is a family-owned coffee hotspot, run by a Taiwanese couple. Both of them learnt baking skills from Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in France. So if you favour freshly baked French pastries, desserts and savory items, you should really drop by :D Customers patronize them to experience their siphon coffee and tea too.

It was packed to the brim when we were there so we were lead to back of the cafe. I actually thought they probably have more tables inside and the next thing I know, I was walking out of the back door. Feeling confused, they took out a table and placed it at the back alley. I was like, WHUTTT are we sitting outside here? Yeap, we did. HAHAHA well I wasn't complaining, I just find it rather cool, in a way. Our so-called private room is actually at the back alley, which is good for us cause whenever we are, we seem to be the loudest group that we might even annoy people with our loudness. So it's good that we are placed at the back alley, we can just talk and laugh as loud as we want. 

The back door :P 

Good thing the weather was not as hot as it is now, and gladly these trees provide us shade too. 

Googled what Eté means in French, it's summer (:

So close to nature as though we are having picnic in the forest lol 

Eté Love @ RM8
I suppose this is one of their signature cakes since almost everyone that visited this cafe ordered this. It's a mango passion fruit cream cake, not a usual dessert you can find anywhere. You can find a nice balance between fruits and cake, with a mixture of sweetness and sourness. However, the taste of mango is more distinguished compared to the passion fruit. 

Alhambra @ RM8
A slice of hazelnut chocolate sponge cake topped with cocoa glaze that is creamy and rich in flavour. You'll get the oooomph everytime you sink your teeth in it. If you're a chocolate lover, I would totally recommend this. It's nothing like brownies or moist chocolate cake, irresistible yet unmemorable. 

Sea-salted Caramel & White Chocolate Mousse @ RM8
This is the least favourable cake among the others but I actually liked it, probably cause I love anything that has salted caramel (:  Perfect match with a cup of Brazil Santos coffee. 

Iced coffee @ RM10 
They have an extensive list of various kinds of coffee beans with description on the menu. However, you can always ask for opinion or recommendations if you have no idea which to order. It all depends on how you like your coffee, sweet or bitter. The famous one would definitely be the Brazil Santos coffee. The coffee beans in Eté Café are freshly grounded and brewed with siphon, which is one of their specialty. 

As usual, a pot of tea for me. I couldn't remember the exact name of this tea but it was the famous Taiwan Oolong Tea and I didn't regret with my choice. It was really good, clear and fragrant. 

Mushroom Quiche @ RM10 
I just had to order this cause I can't resist anything with mushroom. Such a lame excuse I know :P They serve pizza too. 

It took them quite a while to serve us this, probably they prepare this on the spot. The crust was crispy and it's soft in the inside. When we cut it open, there was juice oozing out :OOO

Delectable on every bite, love it!  

Brazil Coffee @ RM10

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Just in case you wonder how does it look like to be having tea and coffee at a black alley HEH

Like we owned that place HAHAHA #likeaboss 

So this is what they gave me when I asked them to pose for the camera lolol 

Girl, you gotta learn how to drink your tea in a graceful manner. 

The different types of coffee beans in jars and those are the siphons on top of the rack. 

You can see an array of mouthwatering desserts when you enter the cafe. They also serve tarts and colourful macaroons. 

Their only signage that we can spot and now you know what I mean by no apparent signage. 

I love the idea of decorating the exterior with those brown coffee sacks. So if you're finding for this cafe, just look for these sacks! And oh, there's a police station opposite it. 

To be frank, this is the most expensive tea session we have as the bill came up to RM70+ in total. Their sweet treats and beverages are slightly pricey but it's definitely worth the price. Small in quantity yet large in satisfaction and taste. I guess it's okay to indulge once in a while? So if you need to find an escape to relieve your sugar cravings and satisfy your sweet tooth, this is the place! :D 

Eté Café 
79 Lebuh Carnarvon
Georgetown 10300
Penang
Business Hours: 11:00 am – 6:30 pm (Closed on Tuesdays)
Tel: 017 4350922
FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/etecafe
GPS Coordinates: 5.416083, 100.335333

xx

Famous Penang Apong Guan @ Jalan Burmah

The Penang Apong, also called apom balik or Chinese apom, is a sweet Nyonya fold-over pancake made from flour and egg and topped with bananas, sweet corn and a sprinkling of sugar. It's slightly different than the Indian's apom which is thinner and chinese pancakes which has crispy crust.

Claimed to be the most well known apong in Penang would be this Apong Guan stall located at Jalan Burmah, just in front of the Union Primary School. I reckon most Penangites would know this (:

We went there twice but to find that the stall isn't opened until one evening, we saw the stall was opened when we passed by the school after work. The green pushcar can be spotted easily with a big sign that has APONG GUAN written on it.

Also awarded as the best street food of 2011 by a local food reality tv series; HoChak. 

Uncle Guan himself is a super friendly person and even most of the 4sq users left quite a number of positive tips. Fyi, he has been selling apong for the past 40 years. He is busy chit-chatting with his customer as you can see :P 

Piping hot apong in the making YUMS

Cuttings of newspaper article that features Uncle Guan, placed in front of his stall. 

Sometimes if you're 'unlucky', you might have to wait for Uncle Guan to finish making hundred of pieces ordered by others. 

For only 40 cents/piece! 

Apong filled with bits of shredded coconut and sliced bananas. 
Best eaten when it's still hot.
I find this fluffy apong not too sweet, just nice to my liking. 

When I asked Uncle Guan about his operating hours, he replied me saying that it's not fixed since he doesn't sell apong for a living anymore. It's more of filling up his leisure time. I would suggest you to check out his place during weekdays afternoon or evening.

So if you feel like having light snack while food hunting in Penang, feel free to try out Uncle Guan's apong :D

xx

Penang Famous Duck Kuey Chap @ Lebuh Kimberley

Kimberley Street was named after John Wodehouse, the Earl of Kimberley, who was the British colonial secretary in the 1870s. At night, Kimberley Street is one of the popular destinations for street food. 

Somehow, we knew about this shop through a Taiwan food reality show. Since the host strongly recommended this shop, we just HAD to give it a try. We are always up for something new! 

Not sure if you all know what kuey chap is. It's basically something like kuey tiao but in a thicker and shorter form like pan mee, served with soup. In Sarawak, we do have kuey chap but it's served with pork. Yet in Penang, the kuey chap is served with duck so it's a braised duck noodle. I think you can only find duck kuey chap in Penang, even in Penang itself there's only a few places that sell this unique dish.

This is the Duck Kuey Chap stall; as you can see there's a lot of ingredients you can choose to  have with your kuey chap. 

They have the internal organs, duck tongue (OMG, IKR), and blood. 

Since I don't eat internal organs, I have my kuey chap with only sliced duck meat and every bowl of kuey chap comes with an egg too :D Must eat their chili paste, syiok! 

You can opt for porridge as well if you don't fancy kuey chap (: 

The soup is really flavourful while the duck meat is tender and perfectly braised.  A bowl of kuey chap costs RM7 which is quite pricey for street food in Penang but the portion is huge as they are quite generous with their ingredients. Now that I'm blogging about it, I feel like having a bowl too! *swallow saliva*

If I'm not mistaken, the third generation is running the business now. 

If you're sick of having the same ol' Penang Char Kuey Tiao, Assam Laksa, Kuey Tiao Tng, well you should totally put this in your to-eat list as well. Highly recommended. We even have it twice in one month!

P/S: Should try the lobak in front of the restaurant too (corner left in the photo), super nice! 

Kimberly Restaurant (汕头街权记粿汁专卖店) 
137 Lebuh Kimberley,
George Town, 10100,
 Pulau Pinang.
Business hours: 6.30pm – 11.30pm (Closed on Thursdays)

Just opposite Restaurant Kimberley, there's this famous braised chicken feet and kuey tiao soup too!

We tried and it was okay, nothing extraordinary like what we expected. 

xx