Day 3 of our voyage and we’ve arrived at Port Pinang. Can’t remember what time I got up and the first thing I did was head out to the balcony for some fresh air.
I immediately regretted my decision. It was a hazy morning in Penang and I went back to our room right after taking a picture. The reason I took a picture was to inform my closest aunt that I’d arrived at the next port of call safely.
After our breakfast at WindJammer, we debark the ship and head off to explore Penang. But first, like many adventurers, we decided to take pictures of the humongous ship with its awesome name! Very tourist behaviour but I don’t care.
Felt very welcome upon arrival with the locals singing and greeting tourists that arrive at the port. Entering Penang was a very different experience for us and we felt like mountain tortoises. There was no immigration check when we arrived and just like that, our exploration started.
Once out of the immigration checkpoint building, a group of private or taxi drivers started asking if you need a ride and offering their services. As we walked past the eager to get your attention drivers, we overheard one offering a 3hours ride around Penang for RM$50.
Address: 13, Gat Lebuh Gereja, George Town, 10300 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Sun-Thur: 8am-6pm
Fri-Sat: 8am-10pm
Note: here’s the address of the one we went to because I realised there are 2 Norm cafes. They’re sister cafes, so they’re related hence the same cafe name.
First stop, Norm. A nice little cafe is hidden in a corner with no signage at all. At first, we thought we were at the wrong location but Google Map (the only GPS we relied on that day) said we’d arrived. Then we overheard the locals whose friend was lost too, said where the entrance was. Like what we always do, follow the humans and enter the cafe.
Limited seatings and it was packed full of humans. Staff immediately came to greet us and asked us to wait while they clear a table (diners just left) for us. They handed us a set of menus to look through while waiting. One menu was drink and dessert, while the other was for the mains.
Here’s what we ordered:
- Cortado (similar to picolo latte)
- Aussie Latte (cold latte with a scoop of vanilla ice cream)
- Chocolate Macadamia Fudge (dessert)
I like my Cortado coffee and Dear enjoyed hers, especially the ice cream that comes with it. She was shocked by the quality of the ice cream and very impressed that they didn’t use lower-end ice cream to go with the coffee. I tried a little of it, and I would say it’s quite a rich creamy vanilla ice cream. The chocolate macadamia fudge was good too. Very chocolatey, not too dry. A nice dessert to go with our coffee.
After our morning coffee break, we head off in search of Tambun Biscuit. It’s Penang’s speciality and one of my favourite snacks. Although I said if we couldn’t find any, it’s OK. But Dear insist we find it because I want.
We walked around George Town and Dear showed me the Instagram-worthy wall art which is quite popular. And yes, I did take a picture with it because there wasn’t any crowd when we arrived. We head off to the next popular wall art, but it was crowded with tourists waiting for their turn to take pictures with it. I didn’t want to wait and join the crowd, so we head off to explore Penang.
Entered a shop where I bought myself the popular Octopus that can change from a frown to a happy face. We also bought Dear’s sister a gift since we’re there and found something she might like. Dear prefers to buy gifts that are useful and that the receiver will definitely like. She’s a good gift gifter, unlike me who just buys anything cute even if it’s useless.
Went shopping for Tambun Biscuit and I bought more than I could finish. Here’s a list of where and what I bought from the shop:
Ming Xiang Tai
They have a few outlets and I couldn’t find the address of the one we went to. This was recommended to us by the shop’s staff where we were gift shopping at. She said it’s one of Penang’s popular Tambun Biscuits. Did a quick google search and I found out it’s called Cantonese pastry on their website. We bought salted egg pastry and pandan salted egg pastry. In our opinion, we both prefer the pandan salted egg pastry as it’s more flavourful and fragrant.
Ban Heng
They have a few outlets as well. This was Google’s recommendation with positive reviews. After trying their sample, the taste brought back childhood memories and I bought a box of pandan-flavoured tambun biscuits. After trying all the ones I bought, this wasn’t as wow as I remembered.
Tean Ean
We booked a Grab to head back to the port and the driver asked why were we at Ban Heng. After knowing we were here to get some tambun biscuits, he said the locals don’t buy Ban Heng! *shocked*
He introduced us to Tean Ean and drove us there. He said this is where the local Penang mostly buy their tambun biscuits and it’s mostly freshly baked. Bought a small box of original after trying it and I would say it’s definitely better than Ban Heng. The crust of it already won! It’s softer, crispier and not as dry as Ben Heng’s. (Personal opinion. Don’t bash me for this) It’s worth the detour to purchase a box of delicious tambun biscuits.
Head back to the ship for lunch after our shopping spree. Lunch at WindJammer, as usual I had the Chinese food cos I saw they had bee hoon and I just have to try it. Dear went for the Indian food cos she saw new dishes too. Then it was back to our stateroom to rest and idle our time away. Had tea and coffee at our balcony as we watch the ship sailing away from Penang at around 6 pm. The staff at the port shouted goodbye and I happily waved back without thinking if they could actually see us from where they were. Besides, probably there’s other adventurers doing the same too.
Dinner at Main Dining Room. Dear ordered risotto which she didn’t really enjoy and she ordered herself a steak (the one that I was having) because she said it’s nice when I gave her a piece to try. Weirdly, I enjoyed the vegetable that comes with the steak but we weren’t sure what vegetable it was. The staff said it’s bok choy, but it doesn’t look like the usual bok choy we saw at the supermarket. After a awesome mains, I had dessert! The apple pie (can’t remember the exact name) is really good! Try it when you’re at Main Dining Room. One of the must try dessert!
Then it’s round two dinner at WindJammer. Although I’m already full but Dear wants another round of dinner, and so we went. It’s Chinese and Indian food again. Saw the same vegetable that I had at Main Dining Room, I decided to get more. The fry noodle wasn’t good but the fried rice is. Saw that they have siew mai, and so I took some as well. Dear enjoyed her Indian food which I have no idea what she took. And yes, we called it a day after our dinner at WindJammer. And she’s already planned where to have breakfast for the next day! 0.0