CRIZ BON APPETITE

Diners would get the opportunity to dine in Foodcaller (富一碗) @ Queensbay Mall which had relocated from Bukit Mertajam, Penang. Though being at the currect venue for merely few months old, the management had gone through many years of R&D to come out with a menu that would be economical yet tasty for its diners. Located at Level 3 (North Zone) of Queens Street @ Queensbay Mall, Foodcaller promises to bring in exciting arrays of ramen and dumpling for every diner with a twist in adding in local flavors. Since the restaurant is still quite new, all prices would be nett, without GST and service charges.

Let us have a look at the variety of dumplings available at Foodcaller. They have the Steamed Dumplings (RM6.70 [3pcs] / RM10.90 [5pcs] / RM19.90 [10pcs]), Salted Eggs Baked Dumplings (RM13.90 [5pcs] / RM25.50 [10pcs]) and Pan-Fried Dumplings (RM7.50 [5pcs] / RM11.50 [10pcs]). Though all the dumplings were nice with juicy bites, my personal favorite was the Salted Eggs Baked Dumplings. Somehow, the slightly crunchy skin plus the juicy filling, combined with the sandy saltiness from the added salted egg yolk attributed to the uniqueness of the dumplings.

We were introduced to some of their recommended ramen dishes, starting with their Braised Pork Pickled Dry Ramen (RM16.70), served with a complimentary bowl of soup. I’m impressed with the texture of the ramen noodles which were al dente to my liking. As for the braised pork, the meat pieces were tender with just the right combination of flavors. The addition of the soft center hard-boiled egg was a bonus as the oozy yolk indeed made the ramen creamier to consume.

We also tried out their Signature Ramen with Homemade Dumplings (RM15.90). Basically, the filling and taste for all the dumplings were the same as those steamed one. However, what amazed me more was on the broth for the ramen which was filled with rich and creamy flavors. According to the chef, the broth had gone through the process of slow simmering for 7 hours before being extracted. The broth might not be as tasty as from those authentic Japanese restaurants with some “hidden ingredients” but it was good enough for my personal consumption. Again~ I could not get enough of the heavenly prepared soft center hard-boiled egg~ 😛

Another of their signature dish was the Japanese Chashu Signature Ramen (RM16.90). Basically, the taste was the same as the Signature Ramen with Homemade Dumplings with the dumplings being replaced with slices of Japanese style chashu (braised rolled pork belly). However, I personally felt that chashu should be braised a bit longer as it did not have the melt-in-the-mouth experience as I had tried elsewhere. Moreover, I also felt that the kitchen should garnish the dish with some blended black sesame oil to pep up this dish further.

For Teppanyaki dishes, each main dish would be served with a bowl of hot steaming fragrant rice topped with some minced meat, some stir fried cabbages with dried chilies, an omelette, a bowl of soup. The portions served were rather large and would be great for diners with great appetite. We tried out 3 options such as the Chef Bean Sauce Fish Teppanyaki (RM18.70), Sour Sambal Curry Prawns Teppanyaki (RM17.80) and Garlic Roast Pork Teppanyaki (RM19.80). Though each main dish had its own unique flavors my liking, I would still chose the Sour Sambal Curry Prawns Teppanyaki as my favorite set due to its aromatic yet generously portioned prawns which indeed was an appetite booster.

For tomyam lovers, you would be in for a great surprise as Foodcaller has 2 great dishes to tempt your craving. Firstly, we tried out their Tomyam Seafood Fried Ramen (RM18.90) and it impressed all of us as the aromatic yet fragrant flavors of the tomyum indeed seeped into each strain of the ramen and at the moment it was filled with the wok hei (high heat cooking) to my liking. Moreover, it was a heavenly plate of ramen with generous amount of prawns, squids and scallops~ I sure would want to order this dish during my next visit.

However, for the Tomyam Grilled Chicken Ramen (RM17.90), it could somewhat be a love-hate relationship for some diners. The broth had almost the Southern Thailand’s style of tomyam which was rich, creamy and yet sweet but only with mild sourness. It could be a bit on the sweeter side for some.

One of the latest additions to the menu was the Hot-Stone Noodles Series (Mixed – RM33.20, Sliced Pork – RM23.50, Fresh Scallop – RM26.70 and King Prawns – RM30.80) with various options and add-ons. The hot-stone dish was served with a basket of flat broad noodles (hor fun), garnished with Chinese Kale (kailian). Either you can pour the noodles into the hot-stone bowl or you pour the soup over the noodles. My advice would be the latter as it would prevent the noodles from getting over soggy with the highly heated broth in the bowl. Please note that you have to pour in the soup as soon as the dish has been served on your table as the broth would evaporate quite fast. Additional request for the broth would be chargeable. The richness and sweetness of the broth was something you just can’t enough of as it has been slow simmered for over 10 hours to extract the natural sweetness from the bones. I’ve never seen or heard of Hot-Stone Noodles before and this could well be the only restaurant serving it this way in Malaysia.

There are quite a number of hot and cold beverages you could choose from such as those below.

Overall, the quality of the dishes served here were quite good, comparing to some of those other eateries within the same complex. Price wise, it might be a bit over average for diners but you can be assured of the quality of the food. However, Foodcaller has many ongoing promotions to help you save up more. Do check out their daily promotions (T&C: for FB & WeChat users only) as well as tea time special (not valid on public holidays).

For more items from the menu, you can view the slides below:

Upon entering the main entrance of Queensbay Mall (Central Zone), turn right and walk towards the North Zone (J.Co, Morganfield, T.G.I. Friday’s, Maybank, etc). Take the escalator to Level 3 and walk towards the Queens Street area. You can see Foodcaller on your right, taking over the former shop lot of Okomen Japanese Restaurant, in between Curry House Coco Ichibanya and Golden Triangle Thai Restaurant.

Name: FOODCALLER (富一碗)
Address: 3F-03A, Queens Street, Level 3, North Zone, Queensbay Mall, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: +604-638 6602
Business Hours: 11.00am-10.00pm (Last order 9.30pm)
GPS: 5.335052, 100.306708
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/foodcaller/

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7.5/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7.5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

The Northeastern Style Dumplings, more commonly known as DONGBEI JIAOZI (東北餃子), are the staple food of the capital city of Beijing, China. The ravioli textured and size like dumplings can be stuffed with just anything you like. Since Dongbei cuisine are often quite heavy in the usages of meat, garlic, vinegar and thick sauces, you would expect the stuffing to contain meat of any sort combined with different types of vegetables as well as different versions of vinegar content condiments. Now these delicious dumplings with natural fruit or vegetable flour skins are available for purchase in Penang.

You can also serve these dumplings with some noodles as how I did it. This noodle dish was simply irresistible!

PHONE UP ORDER: (FROZEN PACK/冷凍包裝)
Price: RM0.80nett/pc
Orders: (Penang Island Only/只限檳島)

PACKING 1: (RANDOMLY SELECTED – NO CHOOSING/沒得挑選)
15pcs pack: RM12.00nett (include 5 types of mix fillings)
• Cabbage (白菜)
• Celery (芹菜)
• Capsicum (青辣椒)
• Tomato + Egg (番茄 + 蛋)
• Chives + Egg (韭菜 + 蛋)

PACKING 2: (RANDOMLY SELECTED – NO CHOOSING/沒得挑選)
50pcs pack: RM40.00nett (include 8 types of mix fillings)
• Cabbage (白菜)
• Celery (芹菜)
• Capsicum (青辣椒)
• Tomato + Egg (番茄 + 蛋)
• Chives + Egg (韭菜 + 蛋)
• Radish (白蘿蔔)
• Mushroom + Carrot (香菇胡 + 蘿蔔)
• PORK FREE (Chives + Glass Noodles + Egg + Prawn) 素三鲜 (韭菜 + 冬粉 + 蛋 + 虾)

PACKING 3: (SELECT YOUR OWN FILLING/隨意挑選以下餡料品種)
100 pcs pack: RM80.00nett
• Cabbage (白菜)
• Celery (芹菜)
• Capsicum (青辣椒)
• Tomato + Egg (番茄 + 蛋)
• Chives + Egg (韭菜 + 蛋)
• Radish (白蘿蔔)
• Mushroom + Carrot (香菇胡 + 蘿蔔)
• PORK FREE (Chives + Glass Noodles + Egg + Prawn) 素三鲜 (韭菜 + 冬粉 + 蛋 + 虾)
(SPECIAL REQUESTED MEAT/特選肉類):
• Beef + onion (牛肉 + 大葱）
• Mutton + Carrot + Coriander (羊肉 + 白蘿蔔 + 香菜)
• Spicy Fragrant Chicken (香辣味雞肉)
• Pork + Dried Seaweed (豬肉 + 紫菜)

Note: Some basic ingredients include pork n prawn unless stated otherwise.

SKIN FLAVORS: (RANDOMLY SELECTED – NO CHOOSING/沒得挑選)
• WHITE – Milk + Egg White (牛奶 + 蛋清)
• GREEN – Spinach (菠菜汁)
• YELLOW – Carrot (胡蘿蔔汁)
• RED – Dragon Fruit (火龍果汁)
• BLACK – Toasted Black Sesame (黑芝麻)
• PURPLE – Purple Cabbage (紫甘藍汁)

Name: DONGBEI HANDMADE DUMPLINGS (東北手工藝餃子)
Contact: (+6)012-480 2909 (Ms. Song/宋小姐)
Business Hours: Please call up for more information on available date, time and exact pick up point along Jalan Gottlieb (near Waterfall Hotel), Penang.

RATING:
Taste: 7.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7.5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

The Northeastern Style Dumplings, more commonly known as DONGBEI JIAOZI (東北餃子), are the staple food of the capital city of Beijing, China. The ravioli textured and size like dumplings can be stuffed with just anything you like. Since Dongbei cuisine are often quite heavy in the usages of meat, garlic, vinegar and thick sauces, you would expect the stuffing to contain meat of any sort combined with different types of vegetables as well as different versions of vinegar content condiments. Instead of the normal white flour skins, let me show you a basic recipe with the usage of natural fruit or vegetable juices to make the dumplings more colorful. I would also be sharing a basic filling recipe here.

SKIN INGREDIENTS:
300g bread flour
150ml fruit/vegetable juice
1 tsp of salt
Water (add some if too dry)
Note: You can substitute the juice with water for plain ones

FILLING INGREDIENTS: (SPICY FRAGRANT CHICKEN)
300g minced chicken (any meat of your choice)
300g cabbage (finely chop)
3 stalks spring onion (finely chop)
1-2 red chilies (remove seeds, finely chop)
1/2 tsp 5-spice powder
2-3 tbsp chili oil (from the dipping sauce recipe below)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp of sesame oil
1 tbsp cornstarch
Pinch of salt
Sprinkle of grounded pepper

DIPPING CONDIMENTS:

Option 1: Ginger & Black Vinegar
200g young ginger (remove skin, finely julienne)
1/4 cup black rice vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
Preparation: Mix all the liquid. Add in the julienned ginger when serve.

Option 2: Spicy Chili Oil
60g-80g chili flakes
3/4 cup oil (any type)
2 star anise
2” cinnamon
1 tbsp sesame oil (optional)
1tsp salt
3 cloves garlic (remove skin, finely chop)
10-15 bird’s eye chilies (slice, optional)
Preparation: Heat up the oil, sauté the star anise and cinnamon for 1-2 minutes. Add in the chili flakes and sauté until fragrant under LOW FIRE. Add in the salt, stir evenly and scoop out. Add in the chopped raw garlic and sliced chilies when serve.

Option 3: Pickled Peanuts & Garlic (14 days required to be eaten)
300g raw peanuts with skin (wash, soak in hot water 20 minutes, drain well)
3 bulbs garlic (cut off roots, remove skin)
1 cup black vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup lime juice
Preparation: Mix all in a large bowl and pour into a tall jar. Marinate in the chiller for at least 2 weeks. Serve the pickled peanuts and garlic without the liquid.

PREPARATIONS:
• Mix all the filling ingredients thoroughly and leave it to marinate in the chiller for at least 30 minutes.
• To make the dough for the skin, sift the bread flour into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle of the sifted flour and slowly add in the juice and salt mixture slowly. Knead until the dough stay clean from the mixing bowl. Add a bit of water if the juice is not enough. Let it rest in the bowl covered for about 20-30 minutes.
• Dust your table with some flour, slightly flatten the dough and cut into 4 strips.
• Dust more flour on the table and roll them into long sausage like rolls.
• Cut all up to evenly sized small balls (about 40-50 pieces). Dust more flour to avoid them sticking on the table.
• Take one piece of the dough and slightly flatten it with your palm.
• Use a small rolling pin with your right hand and slowly flatten the dough while your left hand slowly rotating the dough.
• When the dough is flattened to your preferred size, fill it up with about 1 tablespoon of the meat filling.
• Fold it up and crimp the side as shown in the diagram below, starting from the left side and do the same for the right side.
• Dust a tray with more flour and place your done dumplings on it.
• The cooking of the dumplings is quite crucial as you would want to maintain the al dente of the skin. So take note of the method to boil them. You could steam them but the skin tends to get dry faster.
• Heat up 3/4 pot of water. When boils, pour in the dumplings. When the water boils again, add in a glass of room temperature water. Let the water boils again and do the same step by adding another glass of water. When the water boils this time and you can see the dumplings floating up, they are cooked. The whole process would take about 6-8 minutes.
• Scoop out the dumplings and apply some oil on them to prevent them from sticking.
• Serve hot with your preferred dipping sauce.

(Makes: 40-50 pieces)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Alternatively, you can also serve these dumplings with some noodles as how I did it. This noodle dish was simply irresistible!

For those who would love to savor these delicious dumplings but reluctant to stay in the kitchen to produce them, you are in luck! You can soothe your dumpling craving by just calling up the supplier at the link here.