新连香饭店 Sin Lean Heang Restaurant — Restaurant in George Town

Do you like waiting? For sure, you will wait. If you are willing to wait, eating here can be like a 5-star experience. If you don't like to wait, you will go crazy.

Nestled in the shadow of the Maccalum low cost flats in the heart of Georgetown, this obscure hole-in-the-wall restaurant has thrived for several generations. It's amazing - and amusing - to watch the customers, servers and food come together for a timeless dance of waiting, watching and eating.

When you come here, you will wait like crazy.

Here's why.

We made a reservation thanks to an old-timer friend who called up ahead of time and booked a table for us. We came here with a special dispensation. We felt like VIPs. We arrived 30 minutes before opening. And we still had to wait. I started to think about eating the rough-cut chillies or drinking the soy sauce.

We felt sorry for the people who came on time. If you come on opening time, you are really late. And if you are late, and you miss the first seating, you will have to watch the dishes arrive, one dish at a time, just like a nine-course wedding banquet. And you cannot sit at the table until the banquet has ended.

"Come back at 3pm," the servers told one family who arrived at 1215pm.

So the people around us stood and waited. They carried their Louis Vuitton bags, stood in high heels, sweated in gold chains and sweltered in their gorgeous CNY clothes. Some people smoked. Others crouched. A few people cursed. Several families gave up waiting. A lucky few were given chairs to sit on.

I could feel them waiting. Oh, it's hot here. No air-con. Not everyone gets to feel the fan.

As they waited, they stared at the slow parade of dishes issuing forth - once every 5 minutes, maybe - from the tiny dark kitchen hidden by a sliding door.

As they waited, they looked at two empty tables that were reserved for somebody. They asked the servers: "Who reserved the table?" Don't know. "Why can't we sit there?" Don't know. "Why got red tablecloth?" No answer. "Can we sit there?" No cannot. "Wait how long more?" Don't know.

Because our table was just outside, the families who were waiting stared at the food arriving on our table. We'd finish eating one dish. Then the next dish arrives 10 minutes later. At no point did we get two dishes on the table. We finished our meal an hour later. Only then did they get to sit down at our table.

Everyone here basically eats the same thing with minor variations. Nearly every dish has oysters, or fish or prawns. Everything is prepared in the traditional Hokkien or Heng Hua style. Subtle flavours. Delicious.

Everyone orders the oh chien (fried oysters), the noodles or tang hoon, or the oh kee ha kee (fried prawns and oysters coated in batter). Special stuff, y'know. One of a kind.

Tip: order an extra large serving of oh chien. More oysters. Less starch. (you'll have to pay much more, of course.)

The people on my table loved eating here because they've been eating here generations. They love it here. it brings back precious memories (of waiting).

They are willing to wait.

I loved the unique experience. I, too, am willing to wait.

Are you...

Lovely oysters meal!!

Again, this old eateries located near the "old" McCallum flats was next in my itinerary of the day. I rarely travel further than Georgetown area so if there's any place that I want to go, I'd make sure that I go there first.

◾oyster omelette aka or chien - I love it when the omelette was crispy around the outside and moist on the inside. The seasoning was not too much and it allowed the natural flavour of the oysters to stand out. ◾Oyster noodle - the commercial "yellow noodles" were used, and as I grew up eating handmade noodle most of my life.. I'd prefer my noodle to have less (or literally free of) Kan sui aka alkaline taste. However, the oysters were plump, juicy and most importantly cooked just right and it gave some umami taste to the already delicious sauce. ◾Stir fried glass noodle with oysters - this is also another dish that I prefer as it had the wok hei to it... And no alkaline taste. I ate more of this.. while the yellow noodle was whacked by the less demanding kids. ◾Do cool your body down with the sugarcane juice in bottles.. if only the juice was not as diluted.

This place is a must try for oyster lovers.

Your patience might be severely tested if you come here during peak hours or even holidays, especially when the weather is hot and unforgiving. But if you learned to deal with it (or around it 😅), the experience might...

Would have given negative stars if possible. This is more to warn yoy guts to avoid the place.

We went on Tuesday but SLH next door was closed, so we decided to try the next restaurant(JU XIANG) offering the same hokkien style cuisine. Yucks , the food was horrible and put together carelessly without any pride. We should have been alerted to the imminent disaster when we noticed the 'life' brand chilli sauce bottles for the Or Chean on the table. We ordered the following; Or Mee:tasteless and very bland with about 5 pieces of stale oyster. Or Chean: super starchy undercooked inside and the outside was charred and burnt. When we told the lady out the 'chow hoay tahr' burnt dish. She replied it is garing/crispy. Also 5-6 pieces stale oyster. The fried tanghoon was lousy and only the bak -ki was marginally ok. The bean curd used for fried leek was borderline rancid. Please do not eat at this joint because you will be encouraging the aunty to churn out more disgraceful food giving Penang a bad name. Patronise the original...