Famous Nyonya and Local Cuisine @ Hot Wok, Burmah Road

The name HOT WOK Restaurant is already well known to Penangites. Hot Wok has been operating in and around Tanjung Tokong district as early as 1994. After more than a decade’s experience in rescuing Nyonya cuisine, Hot Wok decided to relocate to two adjoining double-storey pre-war houses along Jalan Burma, Penang. The concept of Hot Wok is to provide diners with an ambience which is rich with Nyonya Heritage and culture.

It is very easy to locate Hot Wok, just drive along Jalan Burma (one way), watch out for you right just after Nagor Place. You won’t miss that as it is at the middle of a row of shop houses.

The interior design and ambience is very classical and the lighting is quite dimmed and it has the feeling of living in the past.

This place is not just famous for its historic value. It is also a usual visit place by the previous Malaysia Prime Minister, Tun. Dato. Mahathir.

Even most of the utensils used look and feel like the one at our granny’s home. Special thanks to CK Lam for the arrangement of this review.

Starter:

Choon Piah (Deep Fried Spring Roll), This crispy skin used to stuff in veggie filling is a great starter, it actually goes well with the home mixture which used Lea & Perrins sauce.

Loh Bak (Assorted Deep Fried Rolls). This is the most common traditional food around which everyone knows in Malaysia. This meat roll was made from minced meat and was wrapped in yuba (soya bean skin). The loh bak tasted hot and juicy. It is a combination of crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside. This is indeed one of my favourites.

Kiam Chai Ark (Duck Meat with Assorted Veggie Soup). Another traditional Nonya style food. This soup tasted salty and was full of vegetables, assorted vegetables, tomatoes and sour plums. The taste of this soup was up to par.

Oo Kuih (Yam Cake),  the texture of this cake was soft and you could even taste the slices of yam inside. This dish was garnished with slices of chilis and spring onions. It is great to be served with sweet chili sauce that came together with this dish.

Main Course:

After a list of starters, now we are into the main course. The first in the main course list is Hokkien Mee (Prawn noodle). From the name you should know the main ingredients would be prawns, even the soup base will be cooked in prawns as well. For those having allergic to prawns must be cautious as the owner of Hot Wok told me that some customers requested not to include prawns due to prawn allergy, but they didn’t know that the soup was cooked with prawns. Other than prawns this bowl of noodle also included roast pork, hard boiled egg, fried onions and kangkung (water spinach). The taste of this noodle was acceptable and up to standard.

Tau Eu Bak (pork stewed in soy sauce). This dish contained sweet based sauce, however it was delicious as the sauce was thick and tasty while the braised pork tasted like “bak hu” pork floss. The meat was boiled until semi-dried which brought out its flavour. The aroma of the herbs in the gravy was very pleasant. The dish was completed by placing the sliced hard boiled eggs on top of the dish. This dish is one of my favourites too.

Curry Kapitan, the chicken was cut into big chunk and was slow-cooked in curry to become thick and aromatic. The taste of the curry was not too spicy but indeed it was very thick. It is one of the great dish to be completmented with rice.

Curry Tumis Stingray Fish. This tumis curry was served in claypot with a fresh sting ray which was very juicy. The aroma of the curry was very strong and they didn’t use much of salt or sugar on this dish. The taste from the curry was merely generated by the spices and garnish of the dish.

Pork Cincaluk,  the pork cubes was cooked together with cincaluk (Malay sauce based fermented shrimp). Personally, I find this dish too salty.

Assam Prawns, the prawns were marinated with tamarind and assam and cooked with dark soy sauce. The sauce  was sweet and sour and it was a very appetising dish.

Jiu Hoo Char, this is another traditional and popular dish that we are used to its taste. It was cooked using strips of bangkwang (yambean), carrots, mushrooms and dried jiu hoo (squid). This dish was slightly dry compared to others, but the taste was also good when wrap with lettuce.

Dessert:

There are various desserts available at Hot wok too. Desserts are usually great as it ends the banquet with excitement. Most of the desserts were great. The only challenge is on the Mango Cendol which was extremely sour on the taste.

• Sago Honeydew
• Sago Nangka
• Sago Gula Melaka
• Cendol
• Mango Cendol
• Ice Kacang

Mango Cendol

Cendol

Sago Honeydew

Sago Nangka

Sago Gula Melaka

Ice Kacang

Overall, I find the food at Hot Wok was cooked in a very traditional way. It really has the taste which brings back memories to my granny’s days. The ambience here was also very classy and cozy, the only drawback to this place is the parking. As for the pricing the charges is according to per serving.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Quick Facts:

Family Friendly
Parking
Pork Free
Alcohol
Credit Card
Smoking
Reservation
Private Room

Operation hours: 11:00am – 3:00pm; 6:00pm – 10:00pm (7 days a week, close on every month end, Tuesday)
Contact: 04-227 3368 (Kelvyn Yeoh, Restaurant Owner)
Address:124-E & F, Burmah Road, 10050 Penang.