CRIZ BON APPETITE

Name: GUANGZHOU CAKE HOUSE
Address: 158, Lebuh Carnavon, 10100 Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: 016-470 3392
Opening Hours: 8.30am – 4.00pm
GPS: 5.415442, 100.334712

RATING:
Ambience: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Recently, a client of mine invited me for a dinner. We circled a few rounds within Georgetown to seek a place for dinner and ended up at Segafredo, Upper Penang Road. The ambience of the bistro & pub was great. There were the outside area and inside area with soft house music. This is quite a cool place for a small meeting as well as for casual chit chats.

My client ordered the Chicken Arrosto (RM13.50) which looked very impressive in the menu. He ended up with a chicken drumstick which was too small a portion for his big size although the taste was not bad at all.

On the other hand, I ordered the Fish & Chips (RM14) which was also too small a portion for my appetite. There was nothing special at all in this dish except for the two big prawns served in the salad.

Overall, I would think the bistro is rather pricey in their food and beverages items. We paid RM61.53 for the meal, inclusive of 10% service charge and 5% Government Tax which came up to RM8.03. I guessed the bistro served more party goers than diners well here as it is situated within the night entertainment spots of Upper Penang Road. Just refer to the map below if you would like to pay a visit to this place.

Name: SEGAFREDO (UPPER PENANG ROAD)
Address: 3J, Upper Penang Road, 10000 Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: 604-262 2611
Opening Hours: 11.30am – 1.00am
GPS: 5.422310, 100.334820

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 6/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 9/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Penang has many Duck Koay Chiap stalls from Lebuh Melayu, Lebuh Kimberley, Jalan Macalister, Jalan Air Itam up to Lorong Kucing in Pulau Tikus. The one that I like most is still from Lebuh Kimberley. The soup is just right for my taste without too much of bitterness from the herbs that are used in the braising of the duck. On top of that the amount of duck meat given is much more than any of the other stalls I have been to.

BRAISED DUCK KOAY CHIAP (RM4-RM6)

BRAISED DUCK BROTH (RM4-RM6)

BRAISED DUCK RICE (RM4-RM6)

BRAISED DUCK MEAT WITH EGG (RM5-RM6)

Name: KIMBERLEY STREET DUCK KOAY CHIAP
Address: Lebuh Kimberley, Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 6.30pm – 11.30pm (Closed Thursday)
GPS: 5.416200, 100.332717

RATING:
Ambience: 5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 6/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Name: HOCK LYE SEAFOOD VILLAGE
Address: 130A, Jalan C. Y. Choy, Bridge Street Foreshore, 10300 Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: 604-262 7524, 012-525 1874
Opening Hours: 11.30am – 2.30pm 5.30pm – 10.30pm
GPS: 5.404451, 100.330689

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

“Hey Jon! Where’s my lasagna?” Hmm… Where have I heard this before? Yea… it’s me! Haha. I felt like I have a part of Garfield hidden inside me as I am always craving for lasagna. After searching in many Italian restaurants for lasagna that’s good and affordable, I ended up in Pasta & Pie at Northern Beach Café again and again. Why? It is because the dish can be ordered as ala carte or in a set which will cost you not more than RM16.90. I ordered the set as I can get an appetizer, a main and a dessert at a much lesser price.

You have a few choices to choose from and I chose the Mushroom Carrot Soup. The soup is thick and creamy and it comes with a breadstick. This is how I always love my soup to be. Yummy!

“Thou shalt not touch my lasagna!” Right! You got it! The lasagna is my favorite but the portion is too small to be shared with anyone else. The smell from the melted cheese and the smoothness of the meat and lasagna pasta has always sent me craving for more. It’s a must to try.

As for dessert, I chose the Pumpkin Cheese Pie as it was not too filling compared to the many varieties of chocolate cakes and apple pies the stall has. The top of the slice of Pumpkin Cheese Pie was baked with crunchy almonds slices and accompanied with yummy custard sauce.

There are many other pies which I have tasted before such as the Chicken Pot Pie, Shepherd’s Pie, Mushroom Chicken Pie and many other sweet pies that are really good as well. In fact, you can even custom ordered your birthday cakes, wedding cakes, dessert & sweet for your tea party by contacting Tony days before your function.

To get there is real easy. Just drive along Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah where the Northam Hotel is and turn left into the Northam Beach Café. The stall is strategically located within the dining area.

Name: PASTA & PIE @ NORTHAM BEACH CAFE
Address: 58, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, 10050 Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: 016-555 0317 (Tony Cheah)
Opening Hours: 6.00pm – 11.00pm
GPS: 5.427159, 100.323522

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

I was at Prangin Mall few days back and had lunch with one of my friends during his lunch break. We decided to drop by Home Recipe Food Corner since the set meals there looked reasonable with a net price of not more RM14. Set meals meant to be fast right? But that wasn’t the treatment we had received. With the limited one hour of lunch time, we had to forgo the desserts and yet paid for the same amount. I will tell you the reasons at the end of the post.

The set meals came with free drinks, one Iced Lemon Tea and one Lime Juice. Both tasted extremely sweet. It’s bad for those healthy conscious people.

Next came the soup of the day – Mushroom Soup. The soups were diluted but yet edible. I doubt that it is made from some secret home recipes.

Here were the main courses we had – Cheese Satay Chicken Chop (RM13.90 set) and Sour Plum Chicken Chop (RM12.90 set). The Cheese Satay Chicken Chop presentation was real impressive with baked cheese on top but the taste was just normal. Nothing special and the chicken chop size was rather small. The Sour Plum Chicken Chop on the other hand was also the same, nothing special. I guessed the chef did not marinate the meat before hand.

As for the desserts, we had some problems with that. It was to be fresh cut fruits and a scoop of ice cream. We waited almost 25 minutes after the main course but we were not served at all. I was rather irritated by their service. 3 staff and a chef but no one served us. Not that the place is extremely big not to notice us. One staff was busy checking out the latest fashion trend opposite the shop. One was busy chatting with the other and the chef did not even push them to check on the completion the customer’s set meals.

My advice to the boss, do not get school boys and girls to handle your business if they are not serious at all. You may lose your business. After all, they only realized about their faults after we had decided to pay and leave for work. So what would you choose? Take the delayed serving of desserts or get a black record in your company for coming back late? As for my recommendation on this place, I won’t advice at all unless you are extremely hungry to consume the whole set courses and with ample time in hand.

Name: HOME RECIPE FOOD CORNER
Address: Level 3, Atrium A, Prangin Mall, Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 12.00noon – 9.30pm
GPS: 5.414534, 100.331290

RATING:
Ambience: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 2/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Note: This little French stall has now relocated to a big mansion at 3B Jalan Irrawaddi, Penang effective September 2011. Business Hours: 12pm-10.30pm (Closed Tuesday)

Bienvenue à la La France! Est-ce que je peux vous aider? Que voudriez-vous avoir hui?Oops! I have forgotten that I am not in France but I am surely having French food over here now. Haha! By the way, those words meant “Welcome to La France! How can I help you? What would you like to have today?” Why was I mumbling in French when I am right here in Penang, Malaysia? Well, here’s the answer. Please read on.

Have you been to the Northam Beach Café for the past 6 months? You would have noticed that there is a stall selling French food by a young couple. The hubby is a Frenchman whereas the wife is our local Chinese who can speak real fluent Hokkien. One look at the menu and you might be wondering why they are serving omelettes, crepes and Ciabatta or white breads during dinner time. As for the locals, those are for breakfast. For the French, those dishes are homemade food that you can get practically anytime of the day.

How was the food then? I would say I was very impressed with the quality of food served. Although it was not fine dining, it was one of the best French food that I had taken locally in years. The breads were of good quality, so were the crepes which were freshly made on spot. As for price, it was a good bargain for the quality food served. We managed to try out the Marine Provencal (RM9.80) which consists of a long Ciabatta Bread filled with large chunks of tuna fish mixed with Mozarella Cheese and sprinkles with herbs. It came accompanied with coleslaw and Pomme Frite (French Fries). It was marvelous!

As for dessert, we ordered the Crepe Peanut Banana (RM4.80). It has thin soft crepe filled with banana precooked with grounded cinnamon and herbs. The crepe came in pairs with garnishes such as chocolate, grounded peanuts and icing sugar. Well, the French are the experts in decorating their food. This dish is a must try for those sweet tooth people out there. Do you know what is so great about this place? It’s MSG free for a healthier diet and most importantly, it’s tax free!

If you have the opportunity to be there, do also try out their Omelette Fromage, Omelette Jambon-Fromage, Omelette Forestiere and Omelette Primeurs. To get there is real easy. Just drive along Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah where the Northam Hotel is and turn left into the Northam Beach Café. The stall is strategically located within the dining area.

Name: LA FRANCE @ NORTHAM BEACH CAFE
Address: 58, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, 10050 Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: 604-229 0362 (Northam Beach Café contact number)
Opening Hours: 6.00pm – 11.00pm (Closed Tuesday)
GPS: 5.427159, 100.323522

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Many people would just ignore this restaurant as it looks rather old and unimpressive but not the regulars. If you are near that area with your family, you can consider dropping by this restaurant aka coffee shop for dinner. Do try to be there earlier as most of the time the shop would be rather packed. As in most restaurants, the captain would make recommendation and take your orders but here they do provide menu too. That was something I did not expect to see. Most of the food in the menu are Cantonese dishes and contain lots of ginger, rice wine and vinegar. So, if you are not sure of the right combination for your meal, just leave it to the captain (Auntie) to recommend.

The food there can be considered tasty and has a touch of Mummy’s home cook food taste. My friend and I decided to try out the place after seeing that there was quite a crowd each time I passed by that area. We ordered Mapo Tofu, Kong Po Chicken with Cashew Nuts and a plate of Stir Fried Brocolli with Roasted Pork. We did not expect to see the amount of the dishes so much that it could have had fed 3 persons. I made a blunder this time as I changed the tofu from Crabmeat Tofu to Mapo Tofu as this dish combined with the Kong Po contained too much of sourness from the vinegar it has. But, both of us managed to finish up all the dishes with additional order of rice. Overall, we paid RM29.10 for the food with no discount of 10sen at all! I wondered why some restaurant owners are so money faced… haha 😛

You just can’t miss the shop as it is just next to the tallest UMNO Building (Menara UMNO) in Penang. The shop is located just at the junction of Jalan Zainal Abidin and Jalan Macalister.

Name:
SIN TAI TUNG SEAFOOD RESTAURANT (Opposite Menara UMNO)
Address: 130 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-2271745, 012-480 1428 (Mr. Ng Kok Beng)
Opening Hours:
5.00pm – 10.00pm, 1.00pm – 10.00 pm (Sunday)
(Closed Tuesday)
GPS: 5.416061, 100.324895

RATING:
Ambience: 5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Note: The stall would be relocated to a few shop houses away at Kedai Kopi Bee Hong on 12 May 2012 to enable some construction works

Maybe some of the foreigners may not know what is Tang Yuan but I can assure you that this dessert is very delicious. Tang Yuan is made out of glutinous rice flour mixed with water and form into small balls, either plain or colored. They can also be eaten unfilled or filled. You can opt for plain syrup or brown syrup cooked with or without old ginger slices. The most common filling would be red bean paste, black sesame paste or peanut paste. My grandmother used to fill them up with minced pork, cook them in boiling water and served them with chicken soup and vegetables. I really missed that and could not find anyone else selling it this way. I guessed the recipe went with her as well.

Anyway, Tang Yuan was originally served only during Lantern Festival, Winter Solstice and Chinese New Year. Today, they can be found easily in the frozen food section of any Asian supermarkets around the world. No matter what, I would still prefer those made fresh as they are softer. It has always been a tedious job and time consuming rolling the glutinous rice flour into balls but now you can just get them easily throughout the year. Where would you find the best Tang Yuan shop in Penang? The stall is right in the heart of Georgetown.

Recently, I visited the famous stall to savor the yummy dessert. My friend and I ordered two different combinations just to show you what Tang Yuan looked like. One bowl was filled Tang Yuan in gingered brown syrup whereas the other was unfilled Tang Yuan in plain syrup.

Just look at the fully filled Black Sesame and Peanut Tang Yuan. Don’t they look yummy?

Do not miss the opportunity to try out this wonderful dessert when you are in town during dinner time. The stall is situated by the roadside just diagonally opposite Traders Hotel, Magazine Road as well as Lebuh Lintang leading to Sushi King Prangin Mall. It is right after the second traffic lights on your left if you are coming from Jelutong Expressway towards town.

Name: TANG YEN HAWKER STALL
Address: Magazine Road, Penang, Malaysia. (Opposite Traders Hotel)
Contact: 016-477 7764 (Ah Hock), 016-454 4031 (Anna)
Opening Hours: 7.00pm – 12.00am (Closed on Wednesday and Sunday)
GPS: 5.413039, 100.330603

RATING:
Ambience: 5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 5/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

There are also many different versions for the Curry Mee of Penang. You get the salty, sweet, salty sweet, spicy with lemon grass or chicken curry. Some would be cooked with thick creamy coconut milk, evaporated milk, full cream milk whereas some could be of almost clear soup type. Some stalls would also have an array of curry chicken, chicken legs, fish/meat balls, chicken intestines, squids, cuttlefishes, clams, tofu balls, prawns, pig blood gelatin, processed pork skin, long beans, etc for customers to choose.

The one I went to was located along Chulia Street. The crowds there were usually big and waiting for a bowl of noodle would take up to half an hour or more. The Curry Mee soup is not like those selling elsewhere. It has the taste of some curry spices and comes with a big fish ball, garnished with lots of tofu balls, cuttlefishes, clams and pig blood served with a spoonful of fragrant chilly paste. We ordered four bowls and they cost us on RM10.00. Do try this stall out when you are along town area. The Wan Than Mee and Apom stalls there are just as good.

The location of the stall is very prominent. As you move along Chulia Street towards Weld Quay, you would see lots of hawker stalls on your right. The stall is just right in front of a furniture shop. Next to it is the famous Wan Than Mee stall.

Name: CHULIA STREET CURRY MEE
Address: Lebuh Chulia, Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 7.00pm – 10.00pm
GPS: 5.417892, 100.336595

RATING:
Ambience: 5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 5/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 5/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)