Hameediyah Restaurant - Campbell Street, Penang (special cover)

At last, I managed to write about this restaurant even though it is my most priority "bizarre" food in Penang but only last weekend I had the chance to get this assignment completed. To me, Hameediyah serves the best nasi briani in Penang and at least I would get my nasi briani here 2 times a month when I was living in Penang. This small restaurant resided at no. 164 of the double-store shops stretch in Campbell Street, heart of Georgetown, Penang.  

F&B Elevator

The yellow painted restaurant is easier to find, after turn into the Campbell Street just after the arc. It has 2 floors and all the food preparation are located at ground floor. First floor and some part of ground floor are well air conditioned so do not worry of the spicy dishes. The uniques interior in this restaurant are, the narrow round stairs to the first floor, the kitchen food elevator and their intercom system, yes intercom system, no joking! If you dine at first floor, after you make your order, the mamak will intercom their colleague at the food counter downstairs to prepare the order. Later your order will be elevated to the second floor with the food elevator which located at the back section which connect upstair and downstair. The elevator is just a mechanical manual system and I am not sure how many years they have been using this. Later if you ask them to prepare the bill they will calculate the price on a small  handheld chalk blackboard, remind me when I was in school. I really impressed by these unique food and beverage system. I learnt the word baek (baik) or good, meaning to say OK from this mamak restaurant. Whenever you make any orders, they will response back by saying baek, baekk, baekkk meaning that they understand your order or will be prepared soon. I often use this word baek in my daily speak nowadays.    

Briani with its chicken

From top left clockwise, beef kapitan,
dhalca, Fried chicken & chicken kapitan

Hameediyah serves varieties of mamak dishes with nasi putih or normal white rice while nasi briani and murtabak are their best. If you try nasi briani do not miss to get the dishes of their authentic chicken kapitan or ayam ros, daging kapitan (beef kapitan) and parpu or dalca (dhal gravy) besides the grill mutton, cucumber and pineapple acar and pappedom. Penangites, especially mamak call dhal as parpu and by the way pappedom is a dhal cracker that normally eaten with rice. Interestingly you are learning new mamak food words here, great! Use your bare hand (right only, of course) to eat these dishes and I dare to tell, after you wash your hand, you will still could sniff the "aura" of the parpu or kapitan gravy, even though you are already few hours in KL afterwards. I already brought 2 friends here (on different occasion) and they experienced the gravy smelly hand!

Grill Mutton

It is believed that Hameediyah already celebrated its 100th anniversary and stood still at the Campbell Street. In fact about five years ago they opened another shop beside, specialize for tandoori and little kind of fine dinning section there and another normal restaurant in Relau, Penang. My Penangite friend told me that the taste of the dishes in the Relau restaurant is similar to the originally Campbell Street restaurant. Early this year I was told by my friend that Hameediyah opened a branch restaurant in Jalan Diplomatik, business area, Putrajaya and since I am in KL and drooling for their briani I went after the branch and managed to taste it. It was really not the same of the originally home restaurant and that was just about before they sold over the restaurant to a different operator. Last weekend visit I managed to ask them about this Putrajaya branch and was told that they were unhappy with the competition there. Well at least I still can enjoy it from the home ground. I wanted to tapaw or take away some murtabak to KL that day but it was not available during that noon. If you want to know more how to get here, call 04 2611095. Hameediyah Restaurant also cater for birthday and event party, you can call En. Nizam at 04 2621076 for booking or enquiry.