Penang Trip - Day 3: Balik Pulau Penang Asam Laksa

Since we were staying at Batu Ferringhi, as a food adventurer, we decide to take a drive the entire island of Penang. We were going to Balik Pulau, a town in the west central of the island. This small kampong is famous with durian and Asam Laksa, and we were hunting for – Penang Asam Laksa!

On our journey to Balik Pulau, we enjoyed the scene of the entire Batu Ferringhi beach

View from a hill, which located at the entrance of a famous tropical fruit farm at Teluk Bahang, which possesses more than 200 species of fruits

Due to short of time, I can't visit the farm this time round, sigh. I promise I will visit the farm in the next Penang visit, and show you how many unique fruits they have.

After the long journey, finally we were there, Balik Pulau. Although we all were severe car-sick, but we still be able to smell this rice noodle from afar. The stall we have visited is the one of the famous stall in Balik Pulau, it is located at the coffeshop which beside the market and the junction of the road to the south (Bayan Lepas direction).

The Asam Laksa soup’s key ingredient is tamarind (assam) which gives the soup a sour taste and topped by the ingredients like mince mackeral fish, lemongrass, chilly, mint, pineapple slices, onion, prawn paste, cucumber, laksa flower and laksa leaves.

How does it tastes like?  Hmm... honestly, it's always not enough to have one bowl only, it inspires your desire to have one more after the 1st bowl.  It's hard to be fulled by this spicy and sour rice noodle. 

Boss, one more please... I ordered my second bowl, siam laksa

Could you differentiate these two bowls of laksa? The picture below is the Siam laksa, which coconut milk is added, the soup is thicker and tastes less sour.  Through the food tasting, I found out that I still prefer the original Asam Laksa to Siam Laksa, How about you?

You may wonder is it worth to having it after the long journey? Wait, because you haven’t tried the drink yet, another secret weapon of the shop - the freshly nutmeg drink with plum.

Don’t belittle this juice; you won’t forget the tangy taste once you have tried. It’s hard to find this juice elsewhere and it tastes totally different with the normal nutmeg juice (I highly recommend nutmeg drink with plum instead of nutmeg drink alone).

It’s pity that we were rushing to our next stop, so we didn’t have chances to explore this village.  Hopefully, we can visit Balik Pulau in next durian season.  If you are durian lover, try to come here during durian season (in July and October)

Address:
67, Main Road,
11000 Balik Pulau, Penang

Ps: If you are not staying at Batu Ferringhi, you could take the other route which is faster and shorter.