Line Clear Nasi Kandar @ Jalan Penang

Penang is vastly known for its most famous dish "Nasi Kandar" Being called such was because "people go from house to house while 'kandar'ing food on their backs to sell" When one speaks of the BEST nasi kandar ini Penang, we avoid looking at the famous franchises that has spread along almost every street in KL such as Nasi Kandar Pelita or Nasi Kandar Kayu. Much can be said about what commercialization has done to the taste of the original nasi kandar.Instead, we seek for the one which is "locally" known for serving the best and most authentic Nasi Kandar, Penang has to offer, with no franchise and no commercialized taste, right to the very origin! And this is the one we found.

***Pictures are from several visits

The legendary hallway.. cramped on the busy road of Jalan Penang. It is pretty easy to miss. Operational hours: 24 hours

Parking wise, there is a pay parking lot right opposite of it. Capitalism makes everything convenient!

Don't be too happy when you see this sign. THIS is where you start queuing during peak hours! Sometime even further behind, and if it rains.. God helps us all. (or you can bring an umbrella)

The narrow entrance makes it hard for customers to enter the shop, especially when the beverage counter is right infront and they are always "excuse me"-ing themselves to serve drinks.

PACKED. This was during a weekend. Maximum waiting time: 30 minutes. Secret tip #1: If you bring a party of more than 5 people, talk to the staff  (and depending on the level of crowd) they will ask you to take a seat and UNFAIR nice enough, they would go to your table and take your order. Just be sure to ask them to "banjir" your rice with curry, or else they would come plain as they would place the condiments (chicken, fish, veggie etc) you ordered on separate individual plates.

Middle of the line! We can almost see the food from here! No? Not yet? Okay....

Yup.. can't complain the staff's awesome showmanship! haha they seem to be used to tourists and so they treat everyone with a big smile like the happy travelers we are! The good thing about a narrow hallway is that everything seem to pass by you when you're queuing. And so we found this amazing spectacle being prepared in the kitchen.. want to know what it is? Coming up in a few pictures more! =D  

Oh man.. still not there yet? Okay.. Let's take a look at some other pictures first.. Secret tip #2:  If the crowd is to massive and you come with at least another companion by your side.. It is best to ask him/her to reserve a seat for you first while you are queuing (It is that 'competitive' to get a seat there.. better safe than eating your nasi kandar standing)

Oh goodness me.. look at the size of those squids! One of the many complete array of dishes from sea to land that this shop has to offer. Surely would have ordered these if not for Mr Foodpacker's allergy towards them. 

Is it just me.. or are we getting further from the food counter? haha the mind starts playing with you after all the commotion while queuing.. To name a few: "SEJUK!!" from beverage counter, the classical "PANAS!!" from the kitchen and some grumpy uncles eagerly waiting for his turn standing so close behind you that they are literally breathing down your neck.. 

Will you look at that O_o  Fried fish head infamously known to cost a ton, yet not many can resists such a beauty..

Pay close attention to the amount of meat in these babies.. These fish heads are SOOO heavy that trying to pick them up with one hand didn't even make it budge!

Finally!!!! FRONT OF THE LINE! "Time to order me loads of food so that it'll be worth the wait" will be running through your head.

Most important ingredient of all and to us the ONE thing that separates this restaurant from the rest of its competitors worldwide.. Ayam goreng!!

A slightly messy set up there.. but it is what it is and you asked for it- an authentic Nasi Kandar shop! =D
They have some telur dadar, telur mata kerbau, some fried chicken with spices and daging masak hitam.

Just in case some of you were wondering what was the spectacle we saw in the picture before.. this is it!
HUGH PRAWNS!!!!!
Never before have we laid our eyes on any other prawns bigger than this elsewhere.

Vegetables and variety of offerings on the other side of the table.

The mesmerizing nasi briyani to go with your meal.. we prefer to eat ours with white rice as the taste of each condiment would stand out more that way :)

The much improved seatings now expand all the way to the back of the shop. All seatings are under a roof, no worries of the rain there. But don't look for privacy here as most of the time, you'll end up sharing the table with another customer.
Also, it seems that there are much complains about the hygiene of the shop.. but with our bare eyes as witness, and considering the number of customer they had on that day.. proved that the critics were 80% wrong. The shop was quite clean to us =) 

Papadom. A Nasi Kandar's best friend. Crispy and heavenly textured at its best.

Ayam goreng and sayur kacang hijau. RM6. We prefer the green veggie than the yellow one as it is more watery and juicy.

Ayam goreng and sayur kuning. RM6. Without 'kicap', thus no black gravy. Mrs Foodpacker doesn't like sweet food ;)

Ayam goreng, sayur kacang hijau and telur ikan. RM8.20. Look at the very generous amount of telur ikan given T_T

Ayam goreng x2, sayur kuning and bendi. RM12.10. Again without 'kicap' gravy. Sambal belacan literally poured on the other chicken.. just the way Mrs Foodpacker likes it!

Udang kari. RM30. This is RM30 a pop! haha double statement for double effect! A friend mentioned  that he was unsure whether this is a prawn or a lobster =P 

The size of the prawn compared to the other dishes we were having. HUGE HUGE HUGE One can't help but to simply feel excited and immediately order this prawn once we saw its size.

The prawn after peeling off its shell! After looking at this visual.. my mind kind of tricked me to think that the prawn tasted like chicken haha it must be because of the size. Tasted really fresh! No we can hold our head high and tell our friends that, "We've eaten a prawn THISSSSSSSSSSS big" XD

Fish head curry. RM80. It takes them a while to prepare this dish for you.. approximately 8-10 minutes. But no worries, the satisfaction is guaranteed as the fish head will STILL remain hot and warm even after 30 minutes! Look at the thick creamy curry.. don't you just feel like bathing in them? =O~

Looking at the size of the fish head, this meal can be shared up to 6 people! They come with sprinkles of sliced onions and bendi.  After it came to our table, we sort of started a trend because other tables started to order them too! Anyway, this fish head curry was VERY SPICY! (not an exaggeration) to the extent that sweat was dripping all over Mr Foodpacker's face when he ate it! 
P/s: Be sure to order lots of ice drinks if you plan to take this on. And order lots of them one shot because if it's too crowded, it might take a while for your drinks to arrive! and wiping tissues on your tongue doesn't help.   

Tender white meat straight from the sea into the curry! hehe Don't be surprised by how much meat this fish has.. when you are done with one side, just flip it over and you have a completely new side of meat to enjoy! Just be careful when you scoop the fish apart as it tends to break into smaller pieces and sink into the curry. Then it will be hard to differentiate between the meat and bones.

The famous faces that has been here. Now and then an artist would always check in @Nasi Kandar Line Clear into their social networking websites.

And the list goes on and on and on. Should give you an idea of how famous this place is.

 

You can check their Facebook page too if you want!

Last but not least, if you are thinking twice to come here because of the long queue.. Here is a glimpse of hope for you! Not so bad during non-peak hours ey? Don't give up to easily! Plan your time right and you can enjoy every dish this shop has to offer at your disposal! ;)

Dishing it out: Taste wise it is probably THE BEST NASI KANDAR WE HAVE EVER TASTED! It is highly addictive and at a point of time you will notice nobody will talk on your table because they are too busy eating the wholesome meal! Given the circumstance of how nasi kandar is normally judged -as a whole- each ingredient in a plate of nasi kandar served here combines well together as a complete an authentic nasi kandar dish. They have to offer everything you want and more.. most complete array of dishes from animal and plants living from land to sea! Don't say you've tasted the best nasi kandar before you have a taste of Line Clear. Trust us, once you have a taste of this, you would be begging to come back to Penang for their Nasi Kandar.

As a side note, we once tried to search for a nasi kandar restaurant that can beat Line Clear and we made it our promotional launch for Mr & Mrs Foodpacker food blog. We called it "Nasi Kandar week" and we tried 5 alleged best nasi kandar in KL/Klang in 1 week! To our demise, we couldn't find another replacement for Line Clear  and it still remains the best nasi kandar we know.. but we found some other pretty good shops too and one of them came pretty close to the taste of Line Clear.. it is called "Fareed Line Clear".. YUP THE IRONY

Coming back for more value: ABSOLUTELY YES the days we spent out of Penang are the days we keep thinking of Line Clear
Crowd: YES
Cleanliness: MODERATE
Service: GOOD
Category: HALAL/PORK-FREE

GPS Coordinates: N05.41965,E100.33265


View Line Clear Nasi Kandar in a larger map

If you'd like to know the COMPLETE ADDRESS of the restaurant, please click on the "Location" tab below. (After Facebook comments and right before Blogger comments, its in between!)

Tel: 04 261 4440

..and that's our "DISH" of the day!!!!!