Ivy’s Kitchen @ Chow Thye Road

Penang is well known of its food and you can get most of them in town area. Unfortunately, some of them were commercialized (e.g. RM14 for a plate of Char Koey Teow) or prepared in less healthier side in order to satisfy customer’s taste bud. Can you get a family-pleasing meal in town area? That’s the question I keep on asking myself, until I found this Ivy’s Kitchen.

Ivy’s Kitchen is located at Chow Thye Road, same row with Jemputree and Isaribi Tei. For first timer, parking may be little difficult but should not be a big deal after you read this paragraph. You take the Burmah Road. When you see Jemputree, slowdown, stick to the right and you will see 127 Coffee Shop. Turn into that 127 Coffee Shop. You can park inside 127 Coffee Shop. If it is full, proceed to the exit behind and go straight. There you will see a big parking lot. Park your car and walk from there.

Ivy’s Kitchen is a pork-free restaurant and is operated by a lovely couple – Mr. Tan and Ms. Ivy. Ms. Ivy is usually busy in the kitchen so it is called Ivy’s Kitchen. They operated since 2 years + ago. There is an open space dining area in front of the restaurant.

In case you are afraid of  mosquitoes at night, they are setting up an air-conditional area inside.

This time, we were invited for food review. There were 8 dishes overall including a dessert, but first we had the sweet and sour flower crab (RM30 per kati (600g)). The sauce was surprisingly good and is a thumb up for me who prefer not so spicy food. The dish is suitable for family in which kids are able to put some sauce on their rice. For adult, they can always add some “sambal” if it is not spicy enough. Their “sambal” is good as well (I forgot to take photo here… sigh).

Before I forget, these are drinks we ordered. Each at RM2.20, they had different colour and I took Cucumber Mint drink, which was quite special compared to other restaurants. Tasted like timun… (what else)

One of my family’s favorite dishes is the Joo Hoo Char (Fried sweet turnip and cuttlefish) wrapped with lettuce (生菜). You can’t miss it especially during Chinese New Year. We found it in this kitchen as well (RM10). My expectation was high and fortunately it passed my review.

The dark hand is courtesy from Criz.

We had some chicken lobak (RM6) as well. For me, it is just average. Perhaps more “five spice” (五香)  would be good.

The “Assam (Tamarind) Prawn” (RM4-5 per pax) consisted of medium side prawns and tasted good. They used medium prawns so that the assam paste can easily penetrate the skin.

Spicy food is also one of their specialties. We had “sambal kailan” here. While “sambal kangkong” and “sambal sweet potato leave (番薯叶)” are not new to me, “sambal kailan” is something different and is :sweat: It was priced at RM8 (small), RM10 (medium), and RM14 (large).

They do have their signature Ikan Bawal (Black promfret) Gulai Tumis (RM9 per 100g). The spiciness suited my taste bud and the sourness was perfect. Reminded me of my good-o-time when my mum used to cook the similar meal for us.

This is the special “beef rendang” given by Mr. Tan. Personally I didn’t try it but according to other floggers it was not bad.

This is soup of the day (Tofu and seaweed). Price is RM8 for small, RM10 for medium, and RM14 for large.

Finally we had our dessert of the day, which was red bean cook with longan and sago (RM2.00 per pax).

The soup is “kit kit” (thick).

With all these dishes, my tongue told me one thing, “The food tastes good and I feel less Ajinomoto in this restaurant!”. Yes, this would be my family’s choice of restaurant (if they live here). I used to dine with grandparents and they are very particular on the food quality (as particular as complaining the peanut appetizer is not fresh or chili padi has not been washed). It may take some time to prepare the food but it is worth the waiting. Of course, we hope it is not because it was invited food tryout.

The restaurant also gives offers for customers. For each RM5 purchase, you are entitled for one chop. Collect 10 chops in a card and get a free set meal, or RM7.50 discount from total bill. For bill discount, maximum of 2 cards are allowed per visit.

As a whole, I would recommend this restaurant.

Other attendees:

Criz – http://crizfood.com/

Jane (Duckie) – http://duckies-food-blog.blogspot.com/

Mary – http://reginatravel-foodparadise.blogspot.com/

Cheryl Wee – http://nuttyeve9.blogspot.com/

Allen Ooi – http://yummy-station.com/

Cynthia (NKOTB) – http://mylovemyfood.blogspot.com/