Kimberly Street Old House
To associate this place with food was the last thing that came to our mind, yet this is exactly what this place is all about, another food outlet. Located along Kimberley Street, near the famous char koay teow and koay chap, we were taken aback with the exterior setting that it did not resemble any modern dining outlet in Penang.
Even for those who can read Chinese characters, you will definitely be taken aback with the external decorations. It just reminded us of the old dining in we saw in movies.
The wooden doors outside looked old, (perhaps vintage is better word?) with even the floors at the entrance decorated with wooden surface too
Again, for the non-Chinese readers, it would be hard to guess what this character is, which literally means “pot”
This is another Chinese character proudly displayed outside “Tea”. The combination of these two characters will tell you that you can get food and drinks within this outlet. Of course, for Tam Ciak, when the words combined, they become “tea pot” … hehehe
We do think the owners really spent a great deal of effort to make this place as “ancient” as possible, even with to Qilin statues in front of the entrance
A close up view of the qilin statue
The decorations on top of the entrance, the wooden crafted figurines
Another decorative item we noticed hanging on the door…
Remember these handles? These days, the only places that we do see them are at the temples and some of the old homes at mainland China
The handles that resemble the head of an animal holding the ring, used to knock the door and pull the big door
Well, the colours and the texture of the door did seem quite antique
Well, enough of admiring the exterior of this Old House… It is time to go inside to look what they have
Part of the interior and this is the counter area
The tables are quite antique as well, some with tea leaves and tea set put on the middle
Or you would find tables with glasses on top
The crowd at that moment…
If the whole decorations were towards Chinese antique, this piece of chandelier will be kind of out of place. Chandeliers are much towards Western decorative items that we were a bit perplexed to see them there
This picture will give you an idea when the East meets West with the Chinese antiques matching the Western chandeliers
We must tell you first that the pricing over here is cafe style and not hawker style. This char koay teow costs RM7.00. Depending on how you look at it, it can be either expensive if compared to hawkers or just on par if compared to cafe like Old Town or Apex Coffee. You will be paying the similar price for this whenever dining at any cafe style “hawkers food” which have flourished recently.
It uses thinner version of koay teow with limited ingredients.
Taste wise, we would say it could not match the one road side but dining here with the comfortable environment will definitely attract those tourists who may not get used to our hawker foods
The satay is quite oily with more chicken skin compared to the meat. We prefer satays with more meat (obviously) and less chicken skin and less oily.
The meat texture was also softer but we prefer harder and drier version
The fish head noodle cost RM12.00 with limited ingredients as well
True to its name, we found more fish head portion than fish meat and lots of garlic was included as well
The servings fit more to cafe style rather than hawker style
A deco sign for better business prosperity
The philosophy of this place, if these four characters fit the bill, is to use the passion and the dedication to prepare and churn out even the simplest dishes that melt people’s hearts.
This place offers quite unique design and environment which reminds us of the old style inn that we used to see in the movies. Food wise, it is more towards cafe style and pricing and like any newly opened outlet, there is always room for improvement that we believe will help this place to flourish further. So, have you visited this place before and what do you think?
The GPS coordinate as shown (N 05° 25.207′ E100° 19.811′)
The food look not interesting at all
I still prefer to had my plate of char koay teow by the road side stall or at old kopitiam
RM7 for 1 plate of CKT..hmm….seems like CKT at penang, is getting expensive…
Pricey .. guess we’re paying for d ambience. In Pg, think I rather join allie.
more like a concept dining…….really is paying for the old styled ambiance ya!
Feel like going back to the Kungfu era. Haha. Really nice decor and food!
I like the vegetarian set here.
nice ambiance!!
Was told this belongs to Bee Chin Heang’s daughter-in-law. And apparently she likes to cook. So they bought up these shop houses and open for biz. Before that, in Bee Chin Heang’s upstairs already have such small restaurant….
This place though pricey, but at least it attract tourist… another way of generating income for the states.
I like their design. ^-^
the price is paid for the Interior design but not food …
lol
ohh..? last time its RM10 and eat whatever they cook rite?
Yeah, nice interior decoration. But the food variety is quite limited
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A better place for photography than dining?
place looks nice but food…errrr, not attractive. I can see more taugeh than koay teow in that plate of char koay teow!!!
RM7 is ok la for CKT, I just came back from JB (business trip), the hotel CKT is RM35… but to be fair, tht was the bestest best CKT I have ever ate in my whole life
The ambiance, decor and concept are splendid. It brings us back to the ancient Kung Fu time. What about the waiters and waitresses wearing the ancient clothing which we saw in the Kung Fu movies? The chandeliers should be replaced with Chinese lanterns or Tang Loongs. Though the food quality and varieties may not be satisfactory, it is worth paying a “once in a life time” visit to have a feel of that ancient life style.
should opt to sit upstairs .. where you will be served the dishes which the owner (Bee Chin Heong) cooks himself. the nomad is right … its used to be RM10 per pax and eat whatever the Boss cooks but now with better ambiance it costs RM14/pax ..
Tried the Bah Kut Teh there but it was the worst i had so far… The BKT really come with the Bah Kut only..dun even have any other stuff in that pot of dish..e.g meat ball, mushroom etc. Really dissapointed..
Since im having the only Bah Kut - BKT with my white rice then i proceed to order another side dish for my meal. I’d ordered the mushroom but another disappointment again as it really come with the whole plate of mushroom of 6 to 8 pcs… There was not even a single green vege on that plate of mushroom.. I swear i wont go again to this cafe.. i felt like cheated by the nice deco..
Hello. Thanks for dropping by my blog. This is definitely for the tourists - very quaint and exotic. Like you said, somehow, the food at such places does not measure up to what we can get at coffee shops and hawker centres/stalls. RM7.00 for the char kway teowI thought the RM6.00 one at Lorong Selamat is expensive. Lots of places with generally very good char kway teow in Penang…and I do like the one at the old and murky-looking Kafe Kheng Pin along Penag Road, a short distance from Cititel.
Upstairs is more for booked lunch/dinner tables. We attended a lunch gathering there and food served were really good, except for the Teowchew stewed cabbages( bitterish taste, which can be caused if cabbages are not soaked first). The best dish we had was the Hokkien Mee which had lots of pai kut and enormous prawns. Not a cheap meal, but other than the cabbages, the rest of the dishes were good. I guess, our host did know what are their signature dishes. The owner is the owner of the row of Chinese praying articles along the same street. He loves to cook, so dishes here are cooked by him, with the help of 2 workers.
We will go back to eat the Hokkien mee.