Sky Emperor Chicken Feet Koay Teow Soup @ Kimberley Street

Kimberly Street (Lebuh Kimberly) is one of the best spots in Penang to enjoy hawker food in the evening. In this street alone there are four ‘Kings’ of food, a title given to the hawkers by some TV show. The Four Heavenly Kings (yeah, same title as that 4 singers in Hong Kong in the 90s) are: Char Koay Teow stall in front of Sin Guat Keong Coffee Shop, Sky Emperor Koay Teow Soup, Koay Chap and the Chinese Dessert shop.

This round, Sky Emperor Koay Teow Soup stall is the one being featured. The nicely stacked braised whole chicken thighs and wings would definitely catch your attention when you walk pass this stall, something that you won’t see in other Koay Teow Soup stalls. It’s pretty obvious these are also their specialties, much better than their Koay Teow, which I find to be above average at best.

Any given person would give these scrumptious drumsticks another look.

And since the Koay Teow Soup isn’t that impressive to me, I will skip that and go straight into the recommended food here – the braised chicken feet. As tempting as those chicken thighs and wings could be, the chicken feet is the star here. They don’t put the keyword ‘chicken feet’ in their signboard for nothing you know.
Because of the chicken feet’s soft, juicy and succulent texture, they are able to soak more flavor while being braised compared to the rest of the chicken’s meat. If you do not order the chicken feet and lament the Koay Teow’s average taste, you only have yourself to blame, really. And for those non-chicken-feet-eaters, I could only feel sorry for you for missing out on this delicious delicacy. But honestly, chicken feet is really not that acquired taste especially if you’re Asian.

Braised chicken wing, it was so-so. Even though the same braised sauce is used, it doesn’t taste as nice as the chicken feet’s.

Hot braised sauce is poured over the cooked meats over and over again for the food to feel warm and taste better.

And where there is braised soy sauce meat there’s always braised eggs as well.

This Koay Teow Soup stall only operates at night and can be found next to the Swatow Si Ko Th’ng (Chinese dessert) stall. If you are game enough for Almond Soup, do try it here with some Chinese crullers. A warning for first timers though, I find Almond Soup to be an even more acquired taste. To me they smell and taste like cockroaches! But for those who like it, they swear by it.

If you still have no clue which Koay Teow Soup stall I am referring to (despite it being the only one around) just look out for the one that sells ‘Koay Teow Soap’. Hey I am not making this up ok, it is clearly written on their signboard lol.

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