Breakfast @ Air Itam Market

"Let's go breakfast in Air Itam Market!!!"

There are many hidden treasure in Air Itam market only known to the locals. And nope! not the famous-asam-laksa. (My mum can make better laksa than that)

The one stall that make me going back to air itam again and again and again... is the curry mee near the bridge. It has no proper name or address or contact number. It is being recognised with several names : "near-the-bridge curry mee", "sister curry mee", or what my mum always refer it to as the "squatting curry mee".  

Years and years and years ago, when the 3 sisters from Thailand came to Penang to settle down and started a small business selling curry noodle. There was no proper table or chair but just stools arranged around their humble little made-shift stall in one of the alley near Air Itam market. Customers was spotted squatting around the stall, enjoying their hearty bowl of curry noodle before the start of their day. Hence the name. Now, there are dining tables and chairs for customers but there are still some who prefer to have their bowl of curry noodle the old way.

Self-service is encouraged if you want your bowl of curry mee fast.

Charcoal is used to prepare the soup to bring out the flavour of spices and coconut milk. Soup is not as thick and "lemak-y" as curry mee you get in KL, but the fragrance of coconut milk and spices dance in your mouth with every sip you take. Oh, and the sambal. Heavenly, spicily, tongue burning-ly good..................................................

One thing i am very, very particular with a bowl of authentic penang curry mee is the cuttlefish. It MUST be sambal sotong (chilli cuttlefish) !! Cuttlefish must be marinated and stir fried with pounded chilli paste before serve to give your bowl of curry mee an extra body. Trust me. There is definitely a different between a bowl of curry mee with sambal sotong, and a bowl of curry mee with boiled sotong (which a lot of stall is serving now, and is so sad because the original recipe is SAMBAL sotong!!).

Rating :

Ambience : 2/5

Limited seating, limited parking lot.

Service : 3/5

Self-service is definitely faster than waiting for your noodle to be delivered. However, the 3 aunties are friendly.

Price : 4.5/5

RM2.50 for a normal bowl of curry mee. As for myself, I definitely ask for more cuttlefish, which i only need to pay RM0.50 extra!!

Taste : 5/5

Recommendation : 

Add more cuttlefish if you like. One of the ingredient missing in the photos above is pork blood jelly which i dont know how to appreciate, but is a must in penang curry mee. If you cant stand spiciness, go slow on the sambal. Or you can opt for the stall next to this, which is some-what-equally good, but not as spicy as this stall. Also recommend that you start looking for parking space once you turn in to Jalan Paya Terubong. A bit of walking after a hearty breakfast is good for digestion. (but you know that is not the main reason)

Opens early morning till around noon.

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No... this post is not over yet. :D

Ok. this is what i do, or rather, what my mum will do for us when we go for our curry mee breakfast:

As soon as we get a seat and placed our order for curry mee at the sisters', mum go to the little cart right opposite the junction (refer map) and queue up for char kuey kak/fried carrot cake.

We will normally have a pack or two to take away, and share it together with our curry mee.

Carrot cake is fresh and firm. And with enough of wok hei - strong flame to lock in all the flavour in your carrot cake, but not overburnt. The best fried carrot cake i ever had in penang, kl and most likely the whole of malaysia!! probably in singapore too..

Rating :

Ambience :

Service : 3/5

Price : 4.5/5
RM2.00 for a normal plate of fried carrot cake, with egg. WIthout egg, RM1.50

Taste : 5/5

Recommendation :
Be early. It sell out fast. and i mean real fast.... The last time i went, their last order was around 10.00am.

Opens early morning until it sold out.

Map (for both curry mee and fried carrot cake) :