A bunch of my friends recently enlightened me of the existence of Hawker Hall. These guys regularly spend their nights at Backyard Pub – the ol’ school pub that is still as popular today as it was years ago. Every now and then, they would visit this eatery, which is located just a few doors away for some ‘fancy’ hawker food. It sounded fascinating enough and so, here I was.

After I’ve arrived and ordered my food, took a look around and understood what my friends meant by ‘fancy’. It wasn’t the price tag – sure, it is priced slightly higher than what it would cost you at a hawker stall. That makes plenty sense given the effort put into beautifying the eatery and the affluent area it is located in. Right? It is affordably priced, that’s for sure. It is basically a modern kopitiam. Which was what my friends meant … basically, you are able to have hawker food but minus the messy, crowded, at times dirty stalls and instead, eat them in a nice, comfortable eatery.

Penang Char Kuey Teow, 12.90 ringgit + Ice Kacang, 8.90 ringgit

PSX_20191121_073154 — Penang Char Kuey Teow

I ordered the Penang Char Kuey Teow because it seemed to be a crowd favorite. I’ve read the review online and quite a number of customers raved about it. Upon tasting it, I can understand why. It was delicious. My friend and I finished it all up within 10 minutes. I was surprised truly, I did not expect it to taste as real as it would be. You’d be able to tell the difference between a dish from a hawker stall and a proper, more established eatery, right? There is simply that extra ‘kick’ that comes in one and absent in the other. The dish here tasted like it came out of a hawker stall, the authenticity is maintained – tastewise. It was yummy! There were the tasty noodles with 3 medium sized prawns + sprouts + ‘kerang’ and egg. I’d order it again.

The Ice Kacang was nice and refreshing, a good way to end my visit here. Notice the amount of ingredients they provided?? Quite generous. I loved the fact that there was an equal ratio of ice to ingredients. When you mix it all up, it was lovely. I also appreciated the fact that the peanuts used here was fresh. I’ve lost count of the number of eateries that love including peanuts that looked and taste like it has been around for years – it has lost its crunchyness and taste stale. Here, it tasted fresh and crunchy. To have it with the rest of the dessert was da’ bomb. The Ice Kacang also came with lots of red beans and corn. Yum!