Penang One @ Puchong

Penang food lovers, this might just be your lucky day!

I am truly a fan of Penang food. I visit Penang at least once a year (usually during Chinese New Year) and to my own surprise, I am still not bored of their food. I don't see myself going like this one day, "Penang food? Meh!" because of how nearly everything I consume there never ceases to provide a taste of not only food heaven in my terms, but also indescribably like home. The craving for Padang Brown Lok Lok just kicked in as I'm typing this out. I kid you not. Because I only head there about once a year, many at times I would be craving Penang delicacies. 

I usually end up disappointed at most of the so-called "Penang style dishes" I've tried in Selangor/KL. They do not have proper Penang Hokkien mee, the curry mee resembles the maggi mee seasoning flavour (FYI: They call it curry laksa in KL), chee cheong fun, if truly done Penang style, is done wrongly at so many levels and prawn noodles have prawns so tiny they should be called shrimps. Also, as a big asam laksa lover who has eaten 7 bowls within the span of 5 days, I should add that I don't particularly find the Air Itam Asam Laksa at Asia Cafe all that fascinating. It's like looking up into the sky without fireworks. If you get what I mean.

Dad found this place some time ago and I feel so lucky. Travelling through the Puchong jam, or for now perhaps the divergence and new routes set due to construction, is far more worth it than to be travelling hundreds of kilometers to the origin itself. Penang One's ingredients all come from Penang which I believe is possibly one of the reasons as to why they price their food as such (refer to sections below).

The signboard outside.

Founded on 30th September 2010 and located in Bandar Puteri Puchong, Penang One serves a good spread of Penang food ranging from curry mee to asam laksa, chee cheong fun, duck meat kuey teow t'ng, muar chee and more. I normally head there on Sunday afternoons and their restaurant is packed packed packed! 

The signboard inside and below is a display of all the roads where their food come from.

And if pictures on the wall ain't enough to make your tummy rumble, you can watch the screen to see how they do your food here and also in Penang tiself.

Menu

The menu displays two of the very few famous murals in Penang and hunting for them on foot/bicycles is one of the main tourist attractions.

They also display the origin of each main dish (including the coordinates, wow!).

Oh thank goodness for these! 

Nothing comes cheap in Kuala Lumpur, really.

Some might argue that is is really not worth the price seeing how one bowl of Hokkien mee costs more than twice the price of what you can get in Penang. Face it, you're hundreds of kilometers away and this is the best you can get. Close enough!

What went into our tummies

Tee Nya Kuih [RM3.50] I usually call it ee-nya kuih.

This is PRECISELY what you will get if you were to purchase this in Penang!

Chee Cheong Fun [RM3.90]

Just look at that glorious, beautifully done, thick hae ko (shrimp paste) sauce! 

Hokkien mee [RM8.50]

This is my absolute favourite of the lot! I am so glad that there's a whole half-boiled egg now instead of half. Plenty of liao in that one bowl like pig skins, pork meat and bean sprouts. I try to not dry up my bowl but most of the time, I simply cannot help myself.

Special Curry Mee [RM8.50]

This is how it's done! Not to mention the existence of this in the bowl:

Pig's Blood! Yes, that's an empty bowl.

Char Kuey Teow [RM9.50]

I don't eat char kuey teow as often as I eat Hokkien mee (don't judge me). My brother says that this is the best he has ever had.

Char Pui [RM9.50]

My brother eats a lot so he had this for seconds. It tastes a bit bland though. I think you can get a better plate of fried rice at SS15 restaurant opposite Foh Foh.

Cendol [RM5.00]

No Penang experience is complete without a bowl of either cendol or ais kacang. We opted for cendol but I was not too happy with this one. I guess it was a mistake to have left it alone for too long (because we were busy indulging in other dishes). So if you happen to order this, stir and eat this immediately! I have tried the ice kacang before and it would be a better option than the cendol, in my opinion. 

A couple of tips

If you can resist it, try to not order the lobak. The price is insane.

See? I've tried it before and it's not that it's bad but I wouldn't recommend it. 

Be careful when heading there because the roads have changed slightly due to actions taken to ease the traffic. Plan your route before going if you are unfamiliar with Puchong. A landmark would be Giant Bandar Puteri which is in the opposite area.

They only accept payment in cash.

Information:

Address: 5, Jalan Puteri 2/1, Bandar Puteri, 47100 Puchong, Selangor
Operating Days: Mondays - Sundays
Operating Hours: 9.30 a.m. - 9.30 p.m.
Contact no.: +60380520181
Website: http://www.penang-one.com
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Penang.One
Parking: Public
Wifi: Available but password protected

The verdict says: ★ ★ ★ ¼ (out of 4)