It is never too early to plan a Christmas and New Year’s celebration with friends and family. Whether you are planning a short family getaway, a dining celebration or a party, here are 6 no-brainer ways to celebrate the upcoming holidays at Hard Rock Hotel Penang
This Thanksgiving Day (24-Nov-2016), Taste Cafe in G Hotel Gurney (GPS: 5.43778, 100.31056) will be cooking up a storm for a gourmet Thanksgiving feast at an attractive price. This is also a good opportunity for early Christmas celebration in case you plan to avoid crowd during holiday session. We recently visited the premise for a preview session prepared by the culinary team led by Sous Chef Ketut Gede Dodi who excels in French, Indonesian and International cuisine, backed with 12 years of international experience.
Bouncy is not difficult to spot as it is one of the resident-turns-commerce house at Jalan Mahsuri next to 888 Hokkien Mee (after Sunshine Square and before FIZ3 traffic light under the flyover) (GPS: 5.32684,100.29037). Parking-wise, there is a car porch for two cars in front of the cafe. Alternatively, you may park your car along the main road.
Compared to other Choo Char restaurants, Tian Yew Claypot Restaurant 天佑砂煲鱼头 offers only few dishes such as the signature claypot fish head. Founded by young couples, the restaurant is located at Arena Curve, The Arena opposite of sPICE (formerly PISA). To get there, assuming you are coming from Sunway Tunas traffic light, turn left when you see the new Toyota show rooms. Go straight and the restaurant is on the left (GPS: 5.32573,100.28026).
Opened since June 2016, Tian Yew Claypot is opened daily during lunch and dinner times (11am-3pm, 6pm-9pm) and is closed on Monday. As mentioned, their signature dishes being claypot fish in two variances – stewed or curry. Note that despite of “fish head” title, customers can opt for fish body as well and as a matter of fact, we ordered fish block/tail all the time.
It took a while for the dish to be served as the fish along with other ingredients such as yam, leek, tomato, spongy beancurd cubes, and salted vegetables will be stewed in the claypot itself for few minutes. The key ingredient here is the yam which turns the soup into sweet and savory flavor. Honestly, we have phobia when ordering fish dishes like this as we always get “bill shock” (e.g. >RM40 for small plate) after the meal. Fortunately, price at Tian Yew Claypot is quite reasonable with claypot containing a single block of Barramundi (a.k.a Siakap in Malay) like this priced at RM27. Note that fishes are counted by weight and is based on market price.
For those preferring something spicy, they may opt for curry fish head/block. The curry with mild spiciness tastes more like an “Indian” curry with strong aromatic taste from spices. As ladyfinger lover, we had some extra ladyfingers added. Pricing-wise, it is similar to the “stewed” version.
Another unique dish here is the Stir-Fried Sweet Leaves with Egg 树子菜炒蛋 (RM10 small). We were surprised that sweet leaves (also known as “Mani Cai”) commonly used in complimentary soup of Pan Mee can be stir-fried into a scrumptious main dish hardly found in other restaurants.
Green Dragon Vegetable 清炒青龙菜 (RM12) – our new favorite for vegetables and tastes as good as other vegetables by plainly stir-fried it. Other than claypot, other signature dishes include Teochew porridge and stuffed bitter gourd.
As a whole, despite of its limited choices, Tian Yew Claypot Restaurant is a great place for claypot fish along with some unique dishes. Pricing-wise, it is quite reasonable as well. A little wait time is required as the food is usually prepared by the chef cum owner himself.
De Fresh Cafe (GPS: 5.32256,100.28303) is located in Elit Avenue, Bayan Baru, Penang. Compared to other restaurants there, the cafe is pretty low profile with a PVC banner hanging outside. We visited one evening to give it a try.
Ah~ Smoked Duck Breast (RM21.90) cooked to perfectly pink and juicy on a pile of mashed potato and vegetable salad. Smoked duck breast is our favorite but is usually only appeared in buffet spreads or semi fine dining restaurant. Fortunately, we found it at Mayonize Western Corner, Raja Uda, Penang.
This Uncle Lim is not the Uncle Lim in Komtar, but at One Precinct, Bayan Baru. Seriously, we had been here more than 20 times since it first opened in year 2015. Let’s see what’s so special about this restaurant…
Ethiopia Sidamo Hunkute coffee with notes of plum, floral, fig jam, and blueberry carefully hand dripped by barista. Sidamo is an exclusive Arabica coffee from Ethiopia (an Africa country) and this is just one of the handcraft coffees by Mellowcup Cafe.
Pub Street/Night Market in Siem Reap town is a famous tourist spot with restaurants mushrooming in that area. Most of them, however, are not cheap compared to local restaurants in other regions (after all, Pub Street/Night Market are meant for tourists). We, however, found a Cambodian restaurant with reasonable price and decent food quality – Cambodian Traditional Chef Restaurant.
Only You is located at Street 22 in Siem Reap town (GPS: 13.35604,103.85945). Street 22 is a long stretch of street and the restaurant is located toward Siem Reap river, six streets away and north from Hard Rock. We walked from from our Cafe Lodge Boutique Hotel to the premise after returning from temple hopping and taking a shower. As a first timer, the hidden gem is slightly difficulty to find as there is no street signboard along the way. An easier way is to open up an online map. The easiest way is to call for Tuk Tuk, of course.
