Char hor fun @ Yeng Keng Cafe

Many people who know me don't know that one of my favourite food is char har fun. True, I've always been talking Hokkien mee and char koay teow with them, but char hor fun must rank a third in my list of favourite local hawker fare.

But the problem is, you see, whereas I can find good Hokkien mee and char koay teow in many areas of Penang island and the mainland, finding a place that serves good char hor fun is much more difficult. Let's just say that I have more demanding tastebuds when it comes to this dish. I remember a very long time ago, I could get good - and cheap - seafood char hor fun in a little shed somewhere a bit further than Tanjong Bungah but the shed and the hawker have long since disappeared.

Today, I mentioned to the wife that we should go to the Yeng Keng Cafe in Chulia Street because I heard that the char hor fun there was good. That was actually a little white lie as I only saw a picture of this char hor fun on social media, haven't smelled it before, haven't tasted it before.

Anyway, we made our way there. We ordered a plate of their char hor fun as well as a plate of Hainanese chicken chop. Both dishes arrived at the same time. Now, which one to start off with. I could have attacked the chicken chop while my wife started with the char hor fun. Or we could have reversed the order. But no, lah, our original objective was the char hor fun. Thus, we decided to begin with the char hor fun....together.

And what could we say? It was one of the best plates of char hor fun we ever tasted. No joke. It was exquisite. And flavourful. We really enjoyed sharing this plate. Big prawns, some fishcakes and generous pieces of chicken meat. There were no pork pieces but this wasn't something that I missed. It was good enough for both of us that we can count this Yeng Keng Cafe to serve perfectly delicious char hor fun should we develop a yen for it again.

As a coda, I should also mention that we also enjoyed the chicken chop. A generously big piece of chicken with an equally generous serving of fried potato and green peas with some slices of cucumber and green leafy vegetables. But nothing like their char hor fun.