Latest news of durian stalls in Penang

Durian stall update from the Star

GEORGE TOWN: Business has picked up for durian sellers in Macalister Road since the reopening of the stretch of the road which was closed for about a week after a lightning arrestor crash from a building during a windstorm.

A seller, who wanted to be known only as Lim, said his business had been steadily growing since the stretch reopened on Thursday night.

"Last week was a slow and difficult week. Now, things are looking better," he said.

Another seller, who wished to be called Ah Keat, said his business had returned to normal after sales dropped during the road closure.

Some 130m of the road was damaged after digging works started in a search and rescue effort for economy rice seller Lim Chin Aik, 44.

His car was buried by the impact of the fallen lightning arrestor from the 21-storey Menara Umno on June 13 during the freak storm.

A stretch of about 1km which was closed to traffic was reopened on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, the recent rainy weather has only slightly affected the durian harvest for the current season which began early this month.

Bao Sheng Durian Farm owner Chang Teik Seng said that since durian was a hot season fruit, the recent rain had affected the supply in his orchard in Balik Pulau but not in large numbers.

Durian Ice Cream at Island Creamery

Our long hike concluded at Serene Center. Carrying the dynamic ZI as a 6.5Kg weight had SW covered in sweat. That meant that dinner had to be somewhere outdoors and conducive to three stinky people. We ate at Le Petit Cuisine for the first time. It was okay, the steak was sold out so SW had to settle for a veal tenderloin with some cream sauce and pasta. I had the cutlet and pasta and we shared a salad. After that, we proceeded to Island Creamery for dessert and since it was Father’s Day, they were giving away a free scoop of ice cream to all dads (how nice of them).

Island Creamery doesn’t do the usual flavors, everything is a bit localized. They don’t have chocolate, vanilla or strawberry per se but I’m pleased to report that they have durian flavor as a standard one now. I didn’t see it available in scoops in the display freezer, but they had tubs of it for sale as pints.

Durian Ice Cream at Island Creamery

You can see all the other interesting flavors they have around the Durian ice cream…

 

Durian at Dempsey – Relocation of Stall

I’ve known for a while that the big public car park at Dempsey was shut for construction, I just didn’t know what for and how long. One of the consequences is that the durian stall had to relocate… but to where?

Yesterday, SW, ZI and I took a long stroll to check it out, so here’s our investigative outcome.

Dempsey Car Park Construction Site

The entire Dempsey car park is boarded up and shut. Why?

Dempsey Car Park Cabling Project

Apparently a cable tunnel project. Very strange. Why would they have to dig up the entire car park for a cable tunnel? hmm.

So where did the durian stall go?

Dempsey Durian Map

And in case you didn’t quite get that official map, here’s another one.

Dempsey Durian Self Made Map

It was too far in for me to make it on foot (we still had a long hike ahead of us), but it is durian season now so the stall should be in full swing, usually from 4pm onwards. One thing’s for sure, they didn’t want you to think that they’d packed up and shut their booth down. Business is too good! 🙂

 

 

 

An unexpected durian popsicle encounter

After checking in for my late afternoon flight at KLIA, my troop and I headed for the immigration booths. Strolling along, I noticed a new pop-up stand that now takes up half the width of the corridor (actually you can’t miss it). Between Selangor Pewter and Secret Recipe, a small freezer with a very exciting design caught my eye.

 

Of all the fruits depicted, it was the durian that really got me walking over to take a closer look. Was it just marketing? or did they really have the durian potong stick?

Durian Potong Stick at KLIA

Indeed! There lay the durian potong stick ice creams next to the red bean ones. It looked pretty good and it was a hot day. My mother who was with me decided that we ought to have one. Oh well, lots of time before the flight so we may as well make the most of it. The potong stick was quite refreshing but I didn’t think it was quite as tasty as the other brand of durian potong stick. It was probably made of D24 and wasn’t stinky like a mau sang wang.

If you’re at KLIA and feeling peckish (but not for MacDonalds), get a potong stick which costs less than RM3. Ahead of the booth towards the immigration checking counter, there are some benches where you can sit and enjoy your ice cream.

 

KLIA booth selling Durian Potong Stick

Directions:

Look for counters G or H at Entrance 7 or 8. Walk through the hall, past the check in counters towards Secret Recipe Cafe and this booth is on the left of the cafe.