Malaysia/Penang food review with map and GPS

My friend lastly proudly shown her homemade peanut soup, which claimed to be delicious:

It is made of the following ingredients:

花生 Peanut
红枣 Red Date
莲藕 Lotus
贻贝干 Dried Mussel
排骨 Pork Rib

According to her, adding dried mussel greatly improve the taste of the soup. You may try it out one day. Any question kindly drop a comment here. Thanks.

This is my first time writing a food review not physically consumed by me. Anyway, here it goes.

My friend went to Melaka last weekend for business trip (actually is her husband… she just went for kepoh) . When going to Melaka, visitors like to try their chicken rice ball and satay celuk. The different between normal and rice ball is on the rice itself, in which it was made into round shape. There is a story in which busy workers in ancient time used to slot in a piece of chicken into the ball so that they can carry them around and consume it easily. Kind of like “Chinese” sushi.

There are many chicken rice ball shops in Melaka nowadays and you may need to queue up in the famous one. Since one of the famous shop is closed, my friend went to another shop and had bad experience on it.. so she complained, complained, and complained…..

:scold:

First of all, the chicken rice ball is tasteless.

Secondly, the steamed and roasted chickens (RM7.00 per quarter) are not tender and the texture is not nice.

Thirdly, the shop is kind of commercialized (e.g. like Chicken Rice Shop), which is lacking of a “local” feel.

Fourthly, the price is expensive (e.g. Bean Sprout = RM5.00).

Fifthly, half chicken for 2 persons….. IMHO, I don’t think this is an issue. Once I even ordered half chicken in Nandos personally.

;))

As a whole, this shop is not recommended by my friend. There is a similar article about chicken rice ball in Melaka here and the blogger had the same opinion as well.

Restoran Famosa Chicken Rice Balls
No. 28-30, Jalan Hang Kasturi,
Off Jonker Street, 75200 Melaka.
Tel: +606-2860121
Fax: +606-2824595

Located at a business center namely Kristal Point, when El Mondo Pizza restaurant was first opened in September 2007, I visited the place and ordered their specialty – El Mondo Special (RM20.90 Net) which is wooden baked. It has rich topping and thin base which make it a better choice compared to one of the popular pizza chain restaurants here.

The restaurant at that time is smoky as there is a microwave near the counter used to toast bread for soup of the day. Now, the environment becomes much better and I noticed a Coway air purifier installed next to the door. They also provide western food and set lunch in the menu. Once, they offered set lunch below RM10, which is quite reasonable.

The restaurant, however, is not crowded most of the time… perhaps it is due to high competition over there. There are more than 3 western restaurants and another famous pizza restaurant (Domino) opened recently. During lunch time I saw many white collars went for economic (mixed) rice instead, which is fast and of course cheaper. My last visit is on Oct 2008 in which I ordered Fish and Salsa set lunch. At first I thought it is pan fried fish fillet topped with a salsa sauce available in market, but in the end it is fresh tomato chunk with onions and parsley (香菜/欧芹), and served with butter rice. Quite nice but is little small for me. The set lunch comes with vegetable soup, dessert (Tiramisu), and drink (Ice Lemon Tea/Coffee/Tea). It was a Thursday and surprisingly I am the only customer from 12:00PM – 12:45PM.

Soup of Vegetable

Fish and Salsa

Tiramisu

As a whole, in order to attract more customers, El Mondo should revise its menu to make it more attractive. The addition of 10% service tax compared to net price when it initially opened is not everyone’s favourite as well. White collars have limited time for lunch and they prefer cheaper meals during weekday. Also, Kristal Point is well known of its difficultly in finding parking space. With all these factors taking into consideration, El Mondo Pizza can be a successful business.

Located at i-Avenue is a restaurant called Summer Cafe 夏日小食. Compared to other restaurants, this one is kind of empty early in the evening (around 7pm).

The environment is nice with comfortable chairs. The menu includes meals served with plain rice, fried rice, hand made noodle, and etc. During my visit in August I ordered 芝士海鲜烩蛋饭 (Cheese Seafood Omblete) (RM9.90 Net) which is very nice considering I am a cheese lover. The rice serves with big prawns, squids, fish slices, ham slices, and crab rolls melted in cheese and covered in egg. Tastes yummy.

芝士海鲜烩蛋饭 Cheese Seafood Omblete

芝士海鲜烩蛋饭 Cheese Seafood Omblete

There are some sizzling (hot plate) dishes as well. For example, with little twist on the meal mentioned above, you may order Tepan Cheese and Seafood with Rice (铁板芝士海鲜饭) (RM14.90 Net), in which the cheese now acts as the base on hot plate. The cheese still popping when the dish arrives. Their specialties include toufu, such as Tepan Toufu (招牌红烧铁板豆腐) (RM12.00 Net) serves with big prawns. The dishes are quite presentable in general.

铁板芝士海鲜饭 Tepan Cheese and Seafood with Rice

招牌红烧铁板豆腐 Tepan Toufu

Deep Fried Squid 香脆苏东

Another specialties are their ice blended beverages, which cost around RM6.90. It has a big scope of ice-cream put on top. The “Mix Fruit and Ice Cream” is yummy while “Chocolate Lover” is just average.

雪泡杂果 Mix Fruit and Ice Cream

巧克力情人 Chocolate Lover

Surprisingly, sometime the food may become unavailable, including its specialties toufu and ramen. As a whole, even though the price may be at slightly expensive side, the restaurant is worth trying.

Name: Summer Cafe
Address: 01-01-12B, i-Avenue, Medan Kampung Relau 1, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang.
Email: [email protected]
Contact: 016-4357886 (Yeow Zhe Ching)

Located at Queensbay Mall, this restaurant is a high class dining place. Even so, you still need to queue up especially on Friday to Sunday. Perhaps it is due to its famous Shanghai pork dumplings (RM9.00++), which is juicy and tasty. It is a must have when you visit the restaurant.

腊肠北菇滑鸡蒸饭 Steamed Rice with Chicken, Mushroom and Chinese Sausage

狮子头煨面 Stewed Ramen with Braised Meat Ball

养颜红莲炖雪蛤 Red date with chinese woodfrog oviduct soup

北海道带子拉面 Hokkaido Scallop Ramen

There are many ramen dishes in the menu. There are two types of ramen, thick and thin. Once I ordered Hokkaido Scallop Ramen (RM22.00++) and the scallops are really big and fresh. The ramen dishes are usually big so make sure you reserve some area of your stomach and help finishing off your female counterpart’s ramen. The chicken in Steamed Rice with Chinese Sausage (RM15.00++) are tender as well. There are a variety of desserts as well, such as:

Honeydew Sago Dessert: RM8.00++
Red date with chinese woodfrog oviduct soup: RM12:00++
Ginkgo Lotus Tremella Soup: RM12.00++

蜜瓜西米露 Honeydew Sago Dessert

四川排骨担担面 Si Chuan Spareribs Ramen

白果莲子银耳糖水 Ginkgo Lotus Tremella Soup

The management is smart actually. Even though you did not order anything, you will be served and charged with titbits (some nuts costed RM2.00++) and wet towels (RM1.00++ each). A glass of plain water also costs RM1.00.

:stunt:

As a whole, you should visit the place for once-in-a-while gathering due to its nice environment and signature food. In order to stay competitive, Dragon-i should revise their pricing to make it more affordable. A Hong Kong Kai Lan (香港芥兰) which costs RM18.00++ is not everyone’s list. Make sure you make reservation during weekend (see phone number below). It is heard that one or two waitresses are from China and quite pretty.

:love:

Food: 4/5
Value: 1/5
Service: 3/5
Ambient: 4/5

Name: 笼的传人上海拉面小笼包 Dragon-i Restaurant Sdn Bhd
Address: Lot No. 2F-77,78,79 & 81, Queensbay Mall, 100 Persiaran Bayan Indah, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Pulau Pinang.
Tel: (604)6466888 Fax: (604)6467888
Outlet Manager: Deric Tan

You may have seen bottomless drink. How about bottomless ice-cream? Located in New World Park is a restaurant called Mizi. It is a western restaurant. When I first entered the shop I saw one ice-cream fridge containing ice-cream of various favorite. Not sure what it is for so I sat down and start ordering.

Fish Cordon Bleu Set Lunch	Bottomless Ice Cream	Mizi's Signature Mushroom Soup
Seard Norwegian Salmon	Seard Norwegian Salmon (Inner)	Chicken Normandy

I order Fish Cordon Bleu Set Lunch the first time I visited the restaurant. I was told to self-service the dessert which is ice-cream. So while waiting for the main course to arrive I went and “dug” some. I am still wondering whether it is free-flow or not until one day I saw an auntie class dug one mountain of it two times. So I braved myself to dig it for second time after the meal.

;))

As a whole, the food is nice especially those fall under “Chef Specialties”. For example, Seared Norwegian Salmon comes with big piece of salmon inside an edible powder skin. You can easily get full with that main dish (if you still not full, eat ice-cream!). You must try their mushroom soup as well as it is one of the best mushroom soup I ever tried.

The seat is limited so if you would like to go there for lunch, make sure you arrive latest by 12pm or else you may have to wait for a while. The shop is wholly-owned and managed by Mega Rich Delicatessen Sdn. Bhd. and there is another branch in Prangin Mall called “J. L. Gourmet Cafe“.

Name: Mizi bistro
Address: 102-D-6, New World Park, Jln. Burma, 10050 Penang.
Phone/Fax: 04-2272921
Email: [email protected]

Sometimes, after finishing jogging at Air Itam Dam :sweat: , I will have my lunch at Air Itam as well, which is usually referring to Gee Siang Cafe (formerly known as Asian Cafe). It consists of about 20 stalls there such as economic rice, bak kut teh, claypot chicken, fish head beehun, apong, fried noodle, and etc. The food are slightly expensive compared to other hawker centers (most probably it is due to the fact that it is near to a tourist spot). However, I like the environment there as it is hygiene.

海鲜薄饼 Seafood Poh Piah	Pan Mee	Pataya Fried Rice
Belacan Fried Rice	Tomyam Fried Rice	Futo Maki and Sake Temaki
Sushi Set	Kani Special

There are some new stalls setup recently. One of them is “Fried Rice” stall in which the fried rice actually not bad. The Tomyam fried rice served with big prawns while Pattaya fried rice is a fried rice cover with egg. The Balacan fried rice which is mixed with onion, egg, anchovies, chicken, and mango tastes good as well.

There is a Sushi stall there as well and is prepared by a pretty lady :love: (heard got boyfriend already). The sushi is slightly expensive (pretty comes to a price you know!) but is freshly made on the spot. Kind of special considering a sushi stall in hawker center.

Before I forgot, this cafe serves Dim Sum in the morning. Saturday is usually crowded with people starting 8:30am. The Dim Sum is nice. A special thing is there is no “ordering card” used. You just take your Dim Sum, eat, and call to sum up at the end. A traditional way of enjoying food :tea: .

Wikimapia

Even though slightly isolated, next to Jusco foodcourt (near to car park exit) is a Japanese restaurant called Nippon Yataimura 日本屋合村. Yataimura 合村 means whole village. It is wholly owned by Oh Sushi Two (M) Sdn. Bhd. and should have some outlets in Kuala Lumpur as well. I visited this restaurant in one Tuesday (26/Aug/2008) and surprisingly there are only few customers there. During Friday lunch hour, you may ended up queueing out there.

Nippon Yataimura View from Dining Table	Nippon Yataimura Menu	Nippon Yataimura View from Dining Table
Nippon Yataimura Menu	Half Ramen & Temaki Combo

The ambient is nice as each dining table is surrounded by fake bamboo so that you have more privacy there. There are lanterns installed on the roof as well. The service is slightly poorer as I enter without people entertaining. I sit there waited for few minutes and there is still no people coming to take order. F*! Eventually I walked to the counter and asked for it. I ordered “Half Ramen & Temaki Combo” which served with a bowl of ramen (very small), chawanmushi, salad, California temaki, unagi temaki, and fruit. Not much special compared to the one I ordered at kissA Koyotei. There is even one sashimi set costs RM116.

When I made payment that time, the cashier received a call from his cellular and he actually accepted it and talked to the phone while entertaining me… what a multitasking manager (who else dare enough to talk to the phone like that).

As a whole, the ambient is nice but the service could be better.

Food: 3/5
Value: 2/5
Service: 1/5
Ambient: 5/5

Name: Nippon Yataimura Japanese Restaurant
Address: LG-83, Queensbay Mall, Bayan Lepas, Penang.
Tel: 04-6468763 Fax: 04-6465763