Durian Daze in Penang

King of Kings

Another year, another durian holiday in Penang!

As is our family tradition, my extended family whipped out our schedules (on our respective phones), whilst eating our Chinese New Year lunch, to figure out when we could make our way to the Pearl of the Orient to feast on the fabled fruit (and other goodies) for four days, three nights.

By now, we have our routines down pat: the setting up of a common $ pot, the hiring of a van and driver to take us all around, the identification of a few nice peranakan restaurants for dinner, and of course our durian routines, which I summarise here in a few simple rules:

1.  Go in the morning.  Mornings are critical because these are when the durians which fall in the night are harvested and brought to the collection centres.  Later in the day, the durians would be less fresh and more importantly, the good ones would have been eaten by the tourists who got there in the morning.

At the durian collection centre 

2. Go to the farms and collection centres.  Avoid the city centre.   That’s where durian prices are jacked up in order to fleece all the tourists.  No self-respecting local goes there.

3.Go with a knowledgeable local.  Which could be a friend, family member or your driver.

Having said all that, be flexible should things go wrong or the durians run out.  Our group was turning up in two batches - the main group on Thurs morning, then another two the next morning.  As such, we decided to have our first batch of durian the afternoon of our arrival (breaking rule 1 above) as we would otherwise have to wait one whole day more before sampling the fruit..

We went off  first to a durian collection centre in Balik Pulau recommended by a friend.  Unfortunately, by the time we got there, it was a little late as they had run out of durians after setting aside the majority of the day’s durians for a durian party at a local hospital (in other words they were probably quite a reputed supplier, just our bad luck to appear late in the day).  So we had to go to a roadside stall we had passed earlier on, called Durian Kaki.  Easy to find as there is a gigantic inflatable durian right outside.

Durian Kaki 

Here, we had a good time feasting on King of Kings (really creamy, slightly fermented taste - *yums*, lots of meat on the seed), a rather good XO durian (another one with that alcoholic note) and Black Gold (bittersweet flavour) and one last one which I can’t remember as it was not impressive.  The King of Kings was really good so we ordered a second one - of course it is the most expensive of the lot but well, this is what we came to Penang for.

The next day was not a big durian day since we were waiting to meet up with our fellow travellers, but on Saturday we went off to a durian collection centre in Balik Pulau, followed by a durian stall.  There were just three of us (everyone else had gone off to Ipoh for the day).   My uncle was our "durian tour host". The durian collection centre had been recommended by a friend, but the selection was a bit limited (were we there a little late?). Anyway, we had Cheh Puay (green skin) and Ang Hae (red prawn) - both rather good. We then went to a small roadside stall where we had Hor Lor (gourd-shaped) which I found rather hard.  We also had a kampong durian, which as everyone knows is hit or miss and in our case it was a miss.

Cheh Puay (Green Skin)

My uncle then drove off to a private house which was also serving as a durian collection centre.  Quite interesting as the house was in the middle of a housing estate! I could just imagine the neighbours complaining in Singapore. 

Unfortunately "the boss" was not around and only one of the "couriers" was there.  So we could not buy any durians.  The house itself had a number of fruit trees (nangka I think) and one batch of rambutans had just come in. 

We also went and bought more durian (mostly Ang hae ) to bring to the people who went off to Ipoh.  They would eat it later, as dessert after our seafood dinner.  (More on that later).

So that’s all the durians we ate during our little jaunt this year.  I was quite amused subsequently to learn that my colleague was in Penang around the same time, staying at a durian farm (in a tree house at that).  Maybe an idea to explore for another time :-)

Not such a slow durian season

As was the case last year, our visit to Penang was timed to coincide with what we hoped would be the peak of the durian season.  Unfortunately, as related my previous post, the lack of rainfall had caused a late and small durian harvest. This had prevented us from feasting on Orh Chi or "Black Thorn" durians when we visited Nibong Tebal.  Does this mean however that we were totally deprived of durians?  The answer, fortunately, is no.

It was a slow start.  We found a roadside stall on our way back from Nibong Tebal which sold "kampong" durian and a small selection of other durian varieties, which we brought back to my uncle's place for a light snack. The "kampong" durian is really from one of those wild roadside durian trees which people then pick up to sell.   They were not the creamiest nor richest in flavour.  But nonetheless we dug in enthusiastically and within minutes the durians were all gone amongst our large group.

We also had the chance to savour other yummy goodies as well, including the fermented rice snack called tapeh.  It's not easy to get in Singapore (unless you go to the Katong Antique House on East Coast Road which sometimes sells this on a Sunday morning) and is also not that common in Malaysia these days.  But of course my relatives know where to find it in Penang.  I have to say it is an acquired taste, but since my Father has been buying it off and on for years, we have somehow acquired it.  (My sister remembers him feeding it to her as a little girl!).

I also did not mention earlier that the other motivation behind our trip to Balik Pulau was of course to eat durians!  The hills behind the town apparently provide a conducive environment and geography for durians - the right amount of sunshine, drainage, etc.  Here, we could forget all about the late and small harvest.  The durian trees grow in the wild on either side of the road, as it wound through the hills.  My aunts kept telling me that there were durians all around but obviously you need to develop an eye since I only saw the very obvious ones where they were clearly visible against the sky behind.

The durian plantations on the hill typically have their own little stalls on the roadside where customers can sit and eat.  This is what we did last year.  This year, we ended up in the Bao Shang Wang durian plantation stall because my uncle's cousin's Friend owns it. We drove down this really steep road to get to the sheltered terrace where we would eat our durians.  Wow!  It was the first time I've ever eaten durians with such a gorgeous view in front of me!

View from Bao Sheng

Khun Po durian

What was truly very different, however, was the clientele.   Here, in the hills on the other side of Penang, a long car journey from the nearest town, was a bunch of skinny, tanned, Ang Moh Lang dressed like hippies!  Helping sort and clean durians, eating the durians, helping clear away the durian skins and seeds!   Apparently the Bao Sheng durian folk also do some homestay and somehow these chaps found out about it and come to stay.  It was a strange, somewhat surreal experience as I would never have expected to see so many non-Asians so far away from the main tourist spots and eating durians to boot!  It certainly bust the stereotype of the Ang Moh who can't abide the sight nor smell of durian.

Besides human beings, there were a number of dogs wandering around the place.  One or two were the "house dogs"; collared, sleek, plump. Others were strays; skinny, dirty.  Somehow they seemed fairly tame too.

So what did we eat?  We ate (in order of ascending sweetness) : D604; Xiao Hong (a rather orangey colour rather than red); and Khun Po (named after the gentleman who first cultivated it).  The folks who didn't eat durian (yes there were some in our party) were given watermelon and bananas.  We washed down everything with tea.

More durian sampling

And that was not all.  Apparently my uncle's cousin went somewhat overboard and arranged for us to visit a second plantation.  Ummm.... instead we got him to deliver the durians back to my uncle's place and he took them to our family home in Georgetown.  Where we ate them the next day!  Washed down with Chinese tea, to cleanse and refresh the palate, to better savour the next different durian variety.  Alongside, for the non-durian eaters were chiku, pomelo, and other tropical fruits.  Plus another unusual Penang kueh-kueh called "Ee yah kueh".   

So small harvest aside, we still managed to have a most satisfying durian holiday.

We're all going on a durian holiday

Durians in my uncle's house in Georgetown

Durians, durians!   For a number of years now, the ambition was to go on a family holiday to Penang to eat durians.  Finally (after some shoving from my cousin) we fixed the dates at Christmas, bought tickets in February and made it down at end July.  As always, it was our opportunity to catch up with family members and also find new places to eat.

But first, our main target: the durians.  My cousin was all for pre-planning, identifying the best durian stalls/farm.  Which we did, somewhat.  But at the end it was not really necessary.  My Penang Uncle said that the stalls in town were "not good value", his code phrase for "too expensive" and bought our first batch of durians for us on Day 1 (a friend of a friend brought them in from the farm).

Durian cultivars, Malay names

On Day 2, our MPV driver (we hired an MPV) drove us to a roadside stall somewhere near Balik Pulau where we ate durians fresh off the farm.  Don't ask me where - I have no idea.  One road in the hills looks much like another. 

What's the big deal about durians in Penang, the uninitiated might ask.  First, obviously it is the freshness of the durians - just off the farm.  Second, the sheer range and variety of durians available.  And I'm not talking about the standard D24 or Mao Shan Wang (although these are definitely available).  Penang durian farmers take pride in cultivating new and unique durians, with names such as  "Ang Hae", "Cheh Pui", "Or Chih", "Capri" and many others (the first two are Hokkien phrases meaning "red prawn", "green skin" and "black thorn"). The names are also translated into Malay (literal translations).  See more information here and here.

Our roadside stall

A true connoisseur would probably have a good time sampling each durian as though it were a rare wine and recording tasting notes to better recall the distinctive texture, flavour and colour of each cultivar.  Alas, my family members are clearly not true connoisseurs as our only instinct was to eat as fast as we could in order to get our (un)fair share of durians before the flies got on them and the other members of our greedy group got to them.  Nonetheless, it was indeed a truly memorable gastronomic experience up there in the cool hilltops of Penang, enjoying the rich flavours and yummy goodness of the King of Fruit.

Sadly, there was no Day 3 feasting as we were due to return to Singapore.  We'll have to wait till durian season comes around next year.