CRIZ BON APPETITE

NOTE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CEASED OPERATION.

If you are a frequent diner at Tao Authentic Asian Cuisine at E-Gate Penang, you would have realized that they have been undergoing renovation works for some time since early December 2012. Now the restaurant was opened on 19 January 2013 and has been renamed as Kampai. The restaurant has been refurbished to a simple Taiwanese ambience concept with low stools and open space dining areas, serving Pan Asian cuisine ranging mostly of Taiwanese cuisine with a light selection of cuisines from China, Japan, Korea and more. This new concept is another brainchild of the Managing Director, Mr. Jack Suen (孫有恒) who has brought in the new Taiwanese “quick stir fry” dining concept to Malaysia. About 95 dishes would be available from the order menu, of which 70% would consist of dishes priced at RM9.90++ each. The balance dishes from the order menu ranges between RM6.90++ to RM29.90++ per serving.

On top of the fixed menu, there would also be live seafood available based on market price as shown on the tag displayed. Some of the choices might be Red Lion, Siakap, Tiger Prawn, Kappa, Crab, Lala and more.

Other fresh seafood would also be available based on the price displayed on the tags. Options might be octopus, cod fish, oyster, white promfret, scallop, prawn, balitung, bamboo clam, salmon head, sea urchin, trichiurus fish, flower crabs and more.

We started off with some cold cuts such as the Sashimi Moriawase (盛盒刺身 – RM29.90++), an assortment of raw fish which consisted of salmon, tuna, snapper and mackerel cuts.

Next was the Smoked Duck (煙燻鴨 – RM9.90++) which came in quite a large portion.

We also fried out the Taiwanese Spicy Chicken (台式椒痲雞 – RM9.90++) which was quite good as the meat was juicy and tender. However, it lacked a bit more chili flakes for my liking.

The Garlic Pork (蒜泥白肉 – RM9.90++) on the other hand was quite nice with a special sauce. It was one of the Taiwanese’s favorite dishes.

As for Clams with Ginger Soup (蛤蜊薑絲湯- RM9.90++), the soup was quite nice except for the overpowering taste of added grounded pepper.

The Garlic Water Frog Soup (蒜味田雞湯- RM19.90++) was just normal to be with a strong hint of garlic minus the fragrant aroma. I would rather have this in my porridge.

The Taiwanese Roasted Pork (烤鹽豬肉- RM9.90++) on the other hand was quite dry and was rather salty to my liking. Somehow it did not have that sort of nice roasted flavors as on our local version of roasted pork.

The BBQ Lamb (醬燒羊排 – RM15.90++) was rather tough for me. It was grilled with some quite nicely flavored BBQ sauce but somehow the meat was mot marinated well enough for flavors.

There was also the Grilled Lemongrass Lamb (香茅羊肉串 – RM15.90++) which to me tasted almost similar to the BBQ Lamb. There was no distinctive lemongrass flavor and was not marinated well enough as the above.

Again the Grilled Beef Ribs (鹽燒牛小排 – RM19.90++) was quite normal to me. It did not have any special sauce given except for some spices pepped salt for dipping. At least the meat was nicely marinated.

Next was the Grilled Squid in Sea Urchin Sauce (花枝雲丹燒 – RM15.90++). Nothing special to me and the portion was rather small for us.

As for stir fry items, we had Kung Bao Chicken (宮保雞丁 – RM9.90++). This was another common dish for me and somehow I felt that it lacked the “wok hei” I was expecting.

At least, the Stir Fry Leek Chicken (蒜苗鹽豬肉 – RM9.90++) was reasonably flavored to go with a nice hot bowl of steamed Japanese rice (free-flow).

Lastly, it was the Stir Fried Tiger Prawns (乾燒虎蝦 – RM9.90++). This is so typical Taiwanese style with lots added onions and capsicum in sweet and sour sauce.

The beverages from this restaurant would basically be canned drinks and beers. Some of the recommended beers would be the Taiwan Beer (RM12++ each) and Taiwan Fruit Beer (RM12++ each). The Taiwan Fruit Beer has 4 flavour such as Lychee, White Grapes, Mango and Pineapple. Other beer brands available would be Budweiser (RM13++), Carlsberg (RM14++), Carlsberg Gold (RM15++) and Asahi (RM17++). For children, there would only be mineral water (RM2++ each) and canned drinks (RM2.50++ each) such as 100Plus, Coke, Sprite, F&N Strawberry, F&N Grape, Iced Lemon Tea, Chrysanthemum, Soya Bean and Grass Jelly.

You can click below to view a larger photo of the menu available in Kampai Restaurant. The live seafood in the tanks and fresh seafood on ice would be based on market rate and would be charged separately per 100 grams as displayed at site.

Overall, I personally felt that the dishes served here lacked the authenticity from the actual Taiwanese food I have tried. Though the Taiwanese cuisine we have tried in Malaysia were mostly from the Taiwanese street food scenes, somehow the so called “quick stir fry” dishes served here did not provide me with the type of identity I was expecting to get. 90% of dishes from the menu may consist of name of dishes from the region but they still taste almost similar as what I would get from those stir fry (chu char/大炒) stalls widely scattered all over the country. The only advantage I can see would be its availability to serve late night food hunters up to 2.00am daily with quick food to pair with beers. Another few items not available would be desserts and those milk tea easily available in Taiwan. Anyway, the sitting capacity would only be up to a maximum of 80 pax.

The Kampai restaurant is located within the E-Gate building just next to Subway Sandwiches & Salads facing the main road (Tun Dr. Lim Chong Eu Expressway). If you know how to go to Tesco E-Gate, you won’t have problem at all locating the restaurant.

Name: KAMPAI RESTAURANT @ EGATE PENANG
Address:
1-01-05 & 1-01-06, Ground Floor, E-Gate, Lebuh Tunku Kudin 2,
Gelugor, 11700 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-658 7826
Business Hours: 12.00noon-2.30pm, 5.30pm-2.00am (Daily)
GPS: 5.375828, 100.315405

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 9/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 6/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7.5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Tao Authentic Asian Cuisine, an upscale restaurant that serves All-You-Can-Eat buffet with specialties ranging from Japanese, Chinese, Thailand and other foreign or ethnic food plus a different concept outlet by the name of Yea Japanese BBQ & Shabu Shabu, has officially opened another branch at Penang Times Square recently on 25 September 2012. The latest branch, which is also a pork-free outlet, was the biggest amongst all the branches and can accommodate more than 150 pax at one time with quite a handful of private cubicles for private functions. Priced at RM46++ for lunch*, RM62++ for dinner* and child (90cm to 140cm in height) having to pay half price, this branch has the most buffet spreads (other than the ones ordered from the menu) amongst all their outlets in Malaysia. Currently, they have an “early bird” promotion where a 10% discount would be given to those who had checked in between 5:30pm and 6:30pm from Monday until Friday.

Important Note (*): Please check the time and price as stated right at the end of this post for more detailed information as they can differ on different days.

The unique part about dining in this branch compared to their other branches would be that this one has an almost a full buffet spread without even having to order from their ala carte menu. Let’s start by studying what they have to offer at their appetizer section. Firstly, it was the cold section where you have options for fresh mussels, oysters and cooked prawns, followed by a vast variety of sushi for just anyone. Fresh seafood and sushi lovers would surely love this section.

The next section along the U shaped counter would be the cold cuts and other appetizers. Sashimi lovers would love this section as it had fresh cuts of white & red tuna, salmon, smoked squids. On top of that, there were some sugar coated cashew nuts for you to munch while waiting for your food to be prepared at a later stage. Next to those cold cuts would be some appetizers for the day. Those appetizers would be like chuka wakame (pickled seaweed), salmon salad, salted anchovies with peanuts, honey lotus roots, jellyfish salad, flavored deep fried sakura ebi and 3 layer egg.

Opposite would be the section for salads and some precooked dishes. You would have some greens and fruit to create your own salad with the dressings provided. There would also be the Oden stove for you to savor those skewers of goodies. Basically the stock was made out of a light soy based dashi stock with additional flavors emitted by the skewers of meat, fish cakes and vegetables. That was the Japanese way of having “Yong Tau Fu” during winter. Two dishes of precooked dishes were provided on that day and they were Sweet & Sour Salmon and Beef Stew.

The next section was the Kushiyaki (skewer grill) and Teppanyaki (iron griddle cooking) section. There were a large variety of skewed items and raw items at the counter. Just pick whatever you like and the chefs would cook them perfectly to your preference and send to your table.

Finally, you have the dessert section to pick what you like. There would be the chocolate fountain, pastries, jellies, “tong sui” and King’s ice cream to look out for.

Now let’s have a look at some of the common dishes that would be available in the Ala Carte Menu throughout all the branches. The menu would have different categories such as cold cut, soup, agemono (fried dishes), yakimono (grilled), itame mono (main dish), nabemono (noodle soup), mushimono (steamed) and temaki (hand roll). Since the buffet spread were already real impressive, we just tried out some of the dishes in the menu. We started with the Abalone Slices. It came with some salad dressing. The dish’s name might be classy and pricey but what we had were actually mock abalone which had the common name “gui fei” abalone. They were processed squid meat, cut to have a standard shape and thickness.

I quite love the next dish which was the Pickled Papaya Salmon. The slight sour sweet papaya pickles wrapped with a fresh layer of salmon and dressed with a tangy dressing was perfect for my meal.

I have always been a fan of Chuka Idako (Seasoned Baby Octopus). The preparation was not like those I have tried at other Japanese restaurants. The ones here had a more personal touch with a more coarsely prepared homemade sauce. However, I found them to be lacked of a unique flavor – toasted sesame seeds. This addition would surely boost up the taste further.

The next dish was the Japanese version of croquette called Cheese Korokke. It was nothing fanciful except for some cheese flavored minced meat and potatoes with an over sprinkles of black pepper.

Then there was the Coconut Shrimps. It was oily a bit without an underlay kitchen towel to soak the excess oil but can be palatable with some nice dressings.

We also had some Fried Fish Balls. It was just normal with some fish paste coated with some bread cubes and deep fried until golden brown.

The Tori Miso Yaki (Grilled Chicken Thigh) was rather impressing as the chicken pieces were well marinated and given a nice caramelized texture on the skin. Delicious!

Beef Bacon Skewers were served next. It was simple and yet fulfilling with a kani (crab) stick and some enoki mushrooms wrapped within the beef bacon prior to a light grilling.

We also ordered some Motoyaki Scallops. They were average as the sauce applied was on a saltier side.

There was also the Kyuri Wasabi Saba (Grilled Mackerel with Wasabi) which had a light grill. It was nicely done with a nice flavor and not fishy at all.

For lamb lover, you should go for the Teppan Lamb. It was heavenly delicious. I won’t mind having the dish with some garlic rice if not for the wide selection at the buffet line. LOL!

Carefully prepared with a light touch of spiciness, the Tsubu Gai Itame (Stir Fry Japanese Whelk) would also go well with rice. The chef did a great job of not cooking the sea snail meat to be too rubbery.

Their Chawan Mushi was simple but nice with light steamed egg. However, I still prefer the ones at Sakae Sushi with added toppings such as vegetarian shark’s fin and shimeji mushrooms.

Lastly, we tried the Jade Scallops. The steamed scallops had some seasoned glass noodles as base and topped with some sweet paste and chopped spring onions. Somehow, I prefer this version more than the Motoyaki Scallops.

As for beverages, it would be by order. Cold or hot beverages such as lemon tea, peach tea, green tea, coffee and more would be included in the buffet price. Other beverages may incur more cost into your bill. Please ask carefully on the free flow beverages available for the day prior to ordering.

Overall, I quite like the buffet concept here as I can choose whatever I like to eat at the buffet line (what I can see is what I would get) instead of wondering what I would get from the menu as most of the items are with Japanese names without further descriptions in English. For those Chinese educated diners, you won’t have this issue at all as Chinese names are available. Taste wise, there are still rooms for improvement as some of the dishes in the menu were not up to my expectations. They were rather towards the commercial taste rather than being authentic. Price wise, it’s a bit high for those who could not consume much unless you are a true oyster and sashimi lover to get your money worth. Moreover, there are the confusions of the applicable 2.5 hours time limit and pricing. Please digest the information CLEARLY before dining to avoid any disappointment. The pricing and time limit would differ even during the same dining period but on different days. Please take note of this important information as stated at the end of this post.

If you know how to go to Penang Times Square, you won’t have problem at all to find the Tao Authentic Asian Cuisine. The restaurant is located at the central atrium of Penang Times Square. Just walk towards the escalator within the mall and go up to Level One. You would see the restaurant on your right.

Name: TAO AUTHENTIC ASIAN CUISINE @ PENANG TIMES SQUARE
Address: Penang Times Square, Jalan Dato Keramat, 10150 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-228 5826
Business Hours & Price:
WEEKDAYS (Monday – Thursday)
Lunch: 12.00noon – 4.00pm (RM46++)
Dinner: 5:30pm – 10:30pm (RM62++)
WEEKENDS & PUBLIC HOLIDAYS (Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays)
Lunch: 12.00noon – 4.00pm (RM46++ for Friday ONLY/RM62++ for Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays)
Dinner Session 1: 5:30pm – 8:00pm, RM62++
Dinner Session 2: 8:30pm – 11:00pm, RM62++
Note: Early bird (5:30pm – 6:30pm) entitled for 10% discount. This offer is only applicable from Monday until Friday.
GPS: 5.411728, 100.324879

RATING:
Ambience: 9/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 9/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

I’m sure most of you would have heard of Tao Authentic Asian Cuisine (Juru Auto-City, E-Gate & KL Kota Damansara), an upscale restaurant that serves All-You-Can-Eat buffet with specialties ranging from Japanese, Chinese, Thailand and other foreign or ethnic food. You should be happy now to hear that they have a different concept outlet by the name of Yea Japanese BBQ & Shabu Shabu, officially opening for business on 30 November 2011 at Penang Times Square, George Town, Penang. This new All-You-Can-Eat outlet can accommodate up to 300+ pax with many cubicles for private gatherings. Charges would be RM53++ per pax (Adult), RM26.50++ (Child from 90cm to 140cm in height). Currently, they have a promotion where a second person would get a 50% off the bill from 10.00pm onwards. The promotion will be on until further notice.

Important Note: Each table would only be allocated only 2.5 hours of buffet session. There will be certain days that they will fix the buffet session time, especially during weekends and public holidays. It’s advisable to call up to make your reservation as well as to check on the session timing.

What’s so unique about this outlet compared to others will be the usage of a custom made crystal stone grill on charcoal instead of gas stove on individual table. This is a first indeed in Malaysia! With Korean technology, this crystal stone can withstand and store heat up to a few hundred °C (normally around 450 °C / 842 °F). At least this material is more hygienic and bacteria free compared to lava/black stone which would have cracks after a long period of usage. Cooking with such stone grill can be considered a healthier alternative as it would not have oil or fat added in if compared to other grilling methods such as the metal grills. They have over 70 pieces of such innovative crystal stone grills in the restaurant.

So what’s so special about dining here? Well, it’s a fun and adventurous way to create your own food with the different sauces available on each table. You would have many ingredients to test out such their special slightly sweetened soy sauce, pepper & salt, cheese powder (with a mixture of milk & icing sugar), lemon juice, black pepper, wasabi powder (great with seafood items) and Japanese 7 taste chili powder (Shichimi Togarashi – chili flakes, white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, dried orange peels, seaweed (nori), dried ginger and poppy seeds). There was also a bottle of water for you to wash your grilling stone.

If you are not so familiar on how to cook your BBQ items well with the right marinates, I’ll advise you to take some time to view the documentary on “how to” on the TV. Here’s a short clips on how to cook some of the items as shown on their TV.

All the BBQ and Shabu Shabu items can be obtained from the respective areas. As for Shabu Shabu, there are over 30 types of vegetables and meat/fish ball section for you to choose. Some of the items included different types of meat balls and fish balls, cuttlefish, quail eggs, crab sticks (kanikama), bean curd sticks, artificial abalones (processed calamari slices), Taiwanese sausages, clams, different type of pork innards, romaine lettuce, bean sprouts, cabbages, enoki mushrooms, shitake mushrooms, abalone mushrooms, lotus roots (need a longer cooking time as it was rather hard), crown daisy chrysanthemum leaves (tang oh/ 茼蒿) and many more.

As for the BBQ items, the meat and seafood are kept in designated refrigerator to maintain their freshness. Some of the items included saba (mackerel/鯖魚), ayu (sweetfish/香魚), snapper (鯛魚), shishamo (willow-leaf fish/柳葉魚), salmon (鮭魚), shrimps (in fact they are big green shelled prawns), oden (fish cake quite similar to onion omelette with basils but with a more al dente texture), baby octopus, pork intestines, garlic scallops, garlic oysters, fried bean curd, beef brisket, sticky pork, lean pork slices, lamb shoulder slices and many more. They will never be shortage of any meat slices as the staff would always be there to slice more.

As for Shabu Shabu, you have an option to choose ONLY ONE SOUP from 5 types of available soups, namely shabu shabu (昆布柴魚湯), miso soup (味噌湯), malak soup (麻辣湯), tomyam soup (東炎湯) and salted vegetable duck soup (咸菜老鴨湯). Since we had so many people in our group, we managed to try out some of the options. The shabu shabu soup base which actually consisted of kelp or large seaweed boiled with fish bones. It had that clear non-fishy taste with a gelatin-like after taste. It was mild but suitable for more seafood based items. The miso soup base had that mild fermented bean taste but was on a sweeter side. This soup would be quite good with those bean curds and meat items. The salted vegetable duck soup base had more of the salted vegetable flavors minus the overpowering ducky taste. It was great initially with some bean curds and meat items. As you boil the soup longer, it got saltier and thus with slightly bitter after taste (salt reduction reaction, same as for sour based liquids). I won’t recommend this soup base as you would end up becoming thirstier.

As for dipping sauces, they do provide more than 10 options such as the sachai sauce (a type of Hypnea seagrass sauce/沙菜醬), chili bean curd sauce (豆乳醬), miso sauce (白味噌醬), chili bean sauce (辣豆瓣醬), spicy soy sauce (魚烧辣醬), cumin sauce (孜然醬), seafood chili spicy sauce (海鮮酸辣醬), spring onions, garlic, chili paddy and more. Although the sachai sauce was highly recommended, I preferred the miso sauce more as it had that slight salty sweet flavor that went well with my food. It would be great if the restaurant would also provide some sweet sauce (甜醬) and spicy dried shrimp sauce (蝦米辣醬) just like those served with the Hong Kong Style Chee Cheong Fun as both sauce would be great condiments to BBQ and steamboat items.

You do not have to worry not having something to bite on while waiting for either your stone grill to heat up or your shabu shabu pot to boil as the restaurant would also provide some salad, cold and hot dishes to start on. At the salad station, you can always mix and match whatever vegetables you like and top them up with whatever dressings available on that day. They have orange dressing, thousand islands dressing and wafu dressing (commonly known as Japanese vinaigrette which had some twists of apple cider, soy sauce, sesame oil and seeds, lime juice, sugar, vegetable oil and some grated radish). All the dressings were nice for my plate of salad.

The cold dishes included some Japanese style potato salad with Japanese cucumber and carrot, silky smooth tofu in sweet soy sauce, some pork salads, honey fried shrimps, pickles and so on.

The hot dishes station was awesome. It had dishes that were flavorful with the evidence of high usage of quality ingredients. The dishes served on that day included Mambo Fish with XO Sauce (XO醬炒龍肉), Black Pepper Beef Fillet (黑胡椒牛柳), Sweet & Sour Pork (糖醋里肌) and many more dishes which I could not savor any more due to too much food available. LOL!

By the way, you could also try out their Bibimbap, a Korean Stone Bowl Rice. Just get any of the waiters or waitresses to bring you one. The dish would come with steamed Japanese rice in a super hot stone bowl, topped with some cut omelettes, carrots, cucumber, morning glory, mushroom, kimchi and chicken, to be mixed thoroughly with a special sauce. The whole concoction tasted quite similar to our local sotong kangkung (cuttlefish with morning glory). It had that sweet sauce taste with a hint of sesame oil. Unfortunately, the stone bowl was not hot enough and the rice was a bit too wet. Thus, we did not get that fragrant flavors emitted from some burns through the stone bowl.

As for dessert, they have quite a variety of items ranging from Western cakes, tarts, jelly, Japanese style mocha to fresh fruits and ice creams, not forgetting the Chinese/Nyonya style tong sui such as peanut soup, red bean soup, bu bu cha cha, etc. Do not miss out the Japanese green tea (mocha) mochi with lotus filling. They were awesome! You could check out on their chocolate fountain too.

Beverage wise, you can order anything from carbonated drinks, cordial, coffee and tea. Most of the beverages are refillable.

Beers and sake are charged separately. As for sake, it’s only RM10 nett for a 150ml jar or RM130 nett for a 1.8L bottle. Beers are at RM50 nett for a bucket of 5 bottles.

Here are some of the items we had taken during our visit during the pre-opening day. Don’t you think it’s valued for money at RM48++? The quality is just as good as Sarkies Sunday Buffet Hi-Tea at E&O Hotel, George Town, Penang.

The café is located at the right wing of Penang Times Square right under Sunshine City Supermarket. It consists of two floors – ground floor and mezzanine floor. The easiest way to reach there would be to park your vehicle at the open car park at the entrance of Penang Times Square, and walk all the way through the automated glass door next to Swensen’s. Walk straight until the end of another automated glass door. As you exit the automated door, you would see a wooden door on your right. It’s actually another automated door to go into the restaurant.

Name: YEA JAPANESE BBQ & SHABU SHABU @ PENANG TIMES SQUARE
Address: Ground Floor, Penang Times Square, Jalan Dato Keramat, 10150 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-229 7826
Business Hours:
6.00pm – 1.00am (Monday – Thursday)
12.00pm – 1.00am (Friday – Sunday & Public Holidays)
GPS: 5.411728, 100.324879

RATING:
Ambience: 9/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 9/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7.5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)