Asam Laksa & Poh Piah, Bee Hooi Coffee Shop, Pulau Tikus

Bee Hooi  is one of the very much known coffee shop opposite the Belisa Row in Pulau Tikus be it breakfast or dinner. Most of the stalls are opened during dinner time and the crowds will flock the place by 8:00pm. I first got to know Bee Hooi for the pretty famous Lor Mee, it was then, I’m not sure if it is now :) Then a few of my friends enjoyed the char hor fun there.. in fact, there are a number of stalls offering pretty good food. One of it is the poh piah and laksa stall.

Business has just started, uncle has just carried the whole pot of piping hot mangkuang (turnips strips cooked in broth across the road. Do you know that some uses turnips to cook hokkien noodles or any soup to sweeten it? So you can imagine the taste of the gravy/broth.. :) Even before the stall was fully set up (before the mangkuang and the laksa soup pots were placed on the stove) customers were already placing order, some had already finished their meal and decided to take away for supper.

So uncle got to work the moment he reaches, wrapping popiah-s. Since he has been doing this for a long while now, he wraps them up skillfully, pretty fast trying to meet customers’  orders, both eat ins and take away-s.  Sometimes there’s few different people helping him, not sure if they are his kids though. Orders came pouring and all he do is wrap wrap wrap while auntie is in charged of the laksa and also delivering orders to customers’ tables.

Poh piah, 2 pcs @ MYR 2.60. Filled with lots of ingredients… there was chili paste, sweet sauce (hoisin sauce) spread on the poh piah skin, lettuce, mangkuang, scrambled eggs, some precooked mixed vege with prawns) topped with several condiments like fragrant crispy fried shallots.

Look at the fillings… it’s actually very appetizing and 2 yummy rolls are enough to fill your tummy…

When I had poh piah in my hometown, SP, it is something like this but maybe not with this much ingredients… and served and eaten dry like this…

When I came to Penang, only then I got to know that most poh piah-s are usually served wet, like this.. it’s the broth/gravy from the mangkuang… I personally prefer it without the gravy :)

Asam laksa here is relatively cheaper than the ones in gurney drive…  small ones are at MYR2.50 and big ones are at MYR3.00. Gurney drives is at 50 cents more. I usually order the big one… you have 2 options, big one with extra laksa, or like I always ordered with extra vege instead. For the big ones with extra vege, since there’s no extra laksa, you will get 2 big pieces of fish meat. That’s what the auntie said to me when I first ordered it…

Penang asam laksa is served with it’s usual companions… cucumber shreds, onions slices, lettuce, bunga kantan (torch ginger flower), red chilies, and mint leaves…

And of course, laksa will not be complete without the fish and the pungent yet yummy, hot, sour and a little spicy soup… If only they sell fried poh piahs as well :)

Bee Hooi Restaurant
Lorong Pulau Tikus
Pulau Tikus, 10350, Penang
(Same row with Baskin Robbins, next to EON Bank, opposite Belissa Row)