Penang Char Koey Teow (Part1)

Char kway teow, literally "fried flat noodles", is a popular noodle dish in Malaysia and Singapore. It is made from flat rice noodles (called Shāhé fěn or hé fěn in Chinese) fried over very high heat with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, prawns, cockles, egg, bean sprouts and Chinese chives. Sometimes slices of Chinese sausage and fish cake are added. It is fried in pork fat, with crisp croutons of pork lard, which give it its characteristic taste.
Char kway teow has a reputation of being unhealthy due to its fat content. However, when the dish was first invented, it was mainly served to labourers. The high fat content and low cost of the dish made it attractive to these people as it was a cheap source of energy and nutrients. When the dish was first served, it was often sold by fishermen, farmers and cockle-gatherers who doubled up as char kway teow sellers in the evening to supplement their income.

Etymology
The term "Char kway teow" is a transliteration of the Chinese characters "炒粿條", based on the Min Nan spoken variation of the Chinese language. More precisely, "炒粿條" is pronounced as chha2-koe2-tiau5? in Min Nan, and cháo guǒtiáo? in Mandarin.
However, as Char kway teow was brought from Min Nan-speaking regions to Cantonese-speaking regions, the Chinese name was corrupted as "炒貴刁". This is pronounced as caau2 gwai3 diu1? in Cantonese and cháo guìdiāo ? in Mandarin. "貴刁" has no literal meaning, but its pronunciation in Mandarin is similar to "粿條" in Min Nan.
Moreover, "Char koay teow" is often known as "Singaporean Char koay teow" (星州炒貴刁) or "Malaysian Char koay teow" (馬來炒貴刁) in Hong Kong, in order to emphasize the origin of the dish.

Variation
A variation is the gourmet version of char koay teow. This is commonly found in the island state of Penang, Malaysia. The version of char kuay teow found there is sometimes added with duck's eggs (for richer taste) and crab meat (for sweetness).
Another evolution of this dish is fried without pork fat or lard. This evolution has come about due to char kway teow's growing popularity amongst the Muslim community in Malaysia.
This dish is also popular in take away establishments in Australia and New Zealand.

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Literally "fried flat noodles", it is a popular noodle dish in Malaysia and Singapore. It is made from flat rice noodles fried with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, prawns, cockles, egg, bean sprouts and Chinese chives. Sometimes slices of Chinese sausage and fish cake are added. It is fried in pork fat, with crisp croutons of pork lard, which give it its characteristic taste.

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Where to Find Char Koey Teow

Kimberly Street

This is the "Ah Leng" Char Koay Teow stall in Kimberly Street. This vicinity has a cluster of Hawkers stall serving the Chinatown community.
He is normally assisted by his wife. But on this night the couple you see here were substitute. Oh! He had given up this place for good. The quality of fried churned out by this couple was no where near to the type we expected. His picture appears here for nostalgic reasons.
Ah Leng, who operate a stall in Datuk Kramat Road in the morning, does his evening stints here.
However, it is rumored that he too, takes on contract to appear at parties in the evening. Quite often the stall is closed.

There are 2 fried Koay Teow Stalls here after 7.00 pm. Within 100 meters from one another. Lately, a new comer with Koay Teow Th'ng has started drawing in crowd. This stall formerly started by Ah Leng is slowly driven into oblivion.
Right across the road, at the junction of Kimberley Street & Cintra Street. This Cantonese couple has another way of preparing. I never fail to go back to this place whenever I have the chance. In my next update, I will change the photo.
This competitor across the road also had attained very high marks. This stall prepares the noodles in bulk, keeps it as buffer. Small handful is extracted each time for a single helping.
He makes his preparation special by adding crayfish. For special order, more can be topped up. His noodle is a little bit on the dry side. It tickles different taste buds. However if you are one of those who prefer to specify your likings, then notify him when making the order.
Both opens in the evening and prices are a fair Rgt 2.50 onwards.

Lau Yee -Lorong Selamat
Lorong Selamat Fried Koay Teow is in the lips of every body, including the Tourist Department. This is the stall parked in front of an equally famous "Ice Kachang Coffee Shop". Side tracking the issue of Fried Koay Teow, I cannot see any reasons why this coffee shop has any thing to do with offering niche style Ice Kachang.
You can see from the picture. This famous stall operates from a push cart. This stall anchored by the roadside

Whether the taste from this stall is superb or not, the clearly displayed pricelist is an assurance of the local endorsement of its quality.
The price mentioned has nothing to do with the size served. Each helping remains fairly constant. The incremental cost relates to the additional prawns included.

This style of preparation was made famous by a middle ages lady.
Here you can see her blocked by a young assistant.
On her right a male co-worker is working on a parallel set of kuali to cope up with demands from the queue.

This stall opens and caters for the lunch crowd. I am sure that a lot of her customers are casual visitors. Those like me patronizing the stall to experience what the hype is all about. Seeing the legend and happenings here for themselves. It is along Lorong Selamat. You do a turning in from Macalister Road - about a block into the road - on the left.
We, me and my gang have nick-named this joint the "Lau Yee" to give a quick reference in our conversation.

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