Childhood flavors - Wantan et. al.

One thing I love about Malaysia is the fact that food is in abundance 24/7. It's a known fact that Malaysians eat all day and their favorite past time is also, eating. All that pot belly has to come from somewhere since Sin tax for alcohol is rather high in that country.

Anyway, I would like introduce you to two of my favorite side walk hawker food from Penang. I know everyone raves about the awesome seafood (me included), the curry noodles, Laksa, Hokkien mee and char kuey teows but I rave about the wantan noodles in Penang.
When I was a little girl running around barefoot in my grandparents' abode, i remember my grandmother carrying her rattan basket as she walks to the wet market early in the mornings. I was asleep most of the time when she heads out but I am almost always awake to catch her walking back with fresh produce and breakfast for everyone. She would either buy Bah Cheang Kueh (a crispy pancake filled with peanuts, creamed corned and sometimes grated coconut) or Wantan noodles back. And as a child, those foods left a deep impression on me ...up till today.

There was nothing sweeter than the bah cheang kueh dripping with rich butter and cream corn hot on my hands. I just loved every bite of it and my grandmother would vicariously live through my eating of the pancakes because poor grandma had diabetes. Since she passed away i haven't really had good Bah Cheang Kuehs, at least not exactly as I remembered it. Maybe tastebuds changed as we grow older, nevertheless I still crave that orgasmic sweetness of my first Bah Cheang Kueh.
However, I did find wantan mee that is sort of a replica of the ones my grandma brought back years ago. The noodle is translucent and bouncy to the bite. The sauce is dark enough with a hint of bitterness that is just proportionate to its sweetness. I said it sort of replicate the one I had years ago from the market because its wantan is not deep fried.
This wantan dish hails from the corner of Heong Giam Si temple, which incidentally is where both my grandparents ancestral tablets are resting.


I am afraid I don't know an exact address except the sidewalk hawker is right next to this temple. There is a primary (or was it secondary school) opposite this temple though. Hm... this is definitely one of those cases where I know how to get there but I don't know the address.