A Sweet Soup Find in Penang

Whenever we're up to Penang, which is more and more often these days, we lodge at a friend's house in George Town. And because part of the pleasure, for us, of being in Penang is ditching the car for a few days we tend to eat, shop, and hang out within a fairly circumscribed radius -- anywhere walkable within, say, 30 minutes.

Given the amount of time we've spent here over the last 2.5 years you'd think that would mean we've pretty much exhausted grazing possibilities. But no. Every stay, it seems, brings a new discovery.

Like this sweet soup, which its Chinese vendor calls simply "sago".

Sweet soups abound in Malaysia. There are Chinese-style sweet soups called tong sui, made with ingredients like peanuts, white fungus, lychees, and glutinous rice balls, and more Malay-ish sweet soups rich with coconut milk and palm sugar, such as bubur pulut hitam and bubur kacang hijau.

This sweet soup is an intriguing marriage of the two: sago pearls and chunks of softened sweet potato in a broth sweetened with brown sugar and strongly flavored with Chinese medicinal herbs, drizzled with coconut milk (squirted from a plastic squeeze bottle) just before serving. Half health tonic and half dessert, this soup bore an unmistakeable salty edge that made it strangely refreshing in the afternoon heat. A bit strange at first taste, but the sort of flavor combination that grows on you with every bite.

This discovery was serendipitous. There's no signage advertising the stall's presence, just a few tables set up underneath a plastic tarp and a couple of umbrellas in the yard of a tumbledown wooden house on Beach Street. The soup is served only on Tuesday afternoons. When we've journeyed up to Penang we've usually left on Sunday or Monday, and even when we're in town we're not often cruising treeless Beach Street at two in the afternoon, when the sun is high in the sky.

But fate or fortune brought Dave past this house one afternoon while he was shooting George Town for an upcoming article. He noticed the stall and we made a point of returning. It just happened to be Tuesday.

There are two other items on offer here -- a clear soup with beehoon (rice vermicelli) and choy sum (mustard) leaves, and a warm sweet ginger soup with taro and sweet potato that is so forcefully flavored with the rhizome that it almost burns the throat going down. (This is the soup I would want if I were suffering from a cold.)

This stall was started by the current vendor's father over 50 years ago. "You're so lucky to be here on a Tuesday!" a regular patron told us. We'd have to agree. After two bowls of sago (and a taste of the ginger soup) it was all we could do not to order a third.

Sweet soups and beehoon soup stall, Lebuh Pantai / Beach Street. Mon-Fri only from 2pm until the soups are gone. Herbal coconut sago soup Tuesdays only.

 

 

Comments

[A Lil Fat Monkey]

Thanks for pointing the place guys. Heading to Penang in a a few weeks time. Will try to look out for it.

[Marts Aziz]

Just came back from Penang today, I need to get out before Penang Bridge International Marathon starts tomorrow.

Dave is amazing, I love the 3rd picture!!!

[Allen Todd]

Suggestion: You could make it easier for people to find some of these great, but obscure, food stalls if you posted their GPS coordinates.

[Hannah]

That looks and sound utterly amazing. I've had almost no experience with desserts like this (only really black sticky rice with coconut milk), but I love the idea of the sweet-salty interplay! I desperately need to travel to Asia more :)

[Nancie]

I'll be making a quick stop in Penang this winter. This is on my list. Thanks!

[wandering educators]

oh, YUM.

[Going With My Gut]

This post made me smile. Sago with gula melaka and ginger soup with sweet potato are desserts lodged deep deep deep in my childhood -- something I haven't thought about in a loooong time. So thanks for sharing.

PS I wonder if anyone in Penang still makes ice balls? They're like ice kachangs / cendol, just packed tight into a ball and you nibble lick it. I haven't had one since I was about 3, but the memory still holds strong!

Wen

[Tapping Therapy]

My mom used to cook this similar dish during rainy seasons here in our country. Instead of using sweet potatoes, my used bananas.

[Katy]

Wen -- are you talking about the egg-shaped ice balls? We have that in Taiwan too, I've got a picture of it taken at an old street on my last trip to Taipei, but can't link it here.

That's another childhood memory - we called the vendor 叭噗冰阿伯/Bar-Boo ice (cream)Uncle. Bar-boo as in the sound of the leather horn. (see the link)
http://www.atlaspost.com/landmark-6721891.htm

The breakfast vendor (as in my comments of the previous post) used bell - that's the Ring-Ring uncle;
The late night tossed flour tea vendor used steam whistle - that's the Bee-Bee uncle, who I heard but never saw at midnight.
As for the popped rice uncle - you knew when he was there.

If there is an ice store called Perfect Ice in Penang, they probably do ice balls.

[Christmas Sweets]

I love Asian sweet soups! I especially like those that use coconut milk and I like them hot. Gosh they're perfect as snacks or desserts for me. Absolute comfort food I tell ya. I wanna have some right now especially that it's cold. Sniff.

[nkc]

This place is just next to #165 Victoria Street

[penang home rent]

penang is host to some really nice foods, thanks for sharing it

[J2Kfm (Malaysian Food Blog)]

You're really good at finding street foods like this. Amazing. Even I have not heard about such a herbal, sago soup.

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[lara dunston]

This looks delish! Love Penang and George Town in particular, especially for the food and all its many variations and complexities. It's been many years since we've been to that part of the world. It will be good to get back one of these days. In the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy salivating here every now and again!

[Quay Po Cooks]

I love sweet soups, almost all kinds and will never try to try new ones. Thanks for heads up and will keep this in mind when I have a chance to go Penang. I enjoy all your pictures, lovely!

[S Lloyd]

This is delicious. I tried it once and your photos help me replaying those great moments. I have since perfected it myself, and it is now a soup that I cook once in a while at home.

[Abby]

Oh my gosh that looks amazing! Great photos. You've just made me want to go to Penang even more than I did before! It didn't work out last time I was there. I won't make that mistake again!

[Tina]

This is very mouth-watering, Thanks for the links, i would love to try these sweet soups.

[Moer]

Love the food, love the place. Planning my next trip to Penang but need to avoid St Ann period.