梁文韬: 我不是食神 (English translation)

文摘自光明日报 D5“好味”14.11.2008 (星期五)

梁文韬: 我不是食神（乐于分享广播饮食文化）

区域不同食文化也有异

记者: 什么原因让您不承认自己是食神?

韬哥 : 大家都听过<<米其林指南>>吧,它可说是当今被公认的一项美食评分制度,在欧洲尤其被认为是最高美食指标.有一回, 米其林派人来香港鉴定会12 家餐厅.我想说的是,中华佳肴是以味道为主,但鬼佬对吃却以餐厅的装饰,环境以及气氛为首要条件,两个区域对吃存有不同的见解.

单单味道方面,中国人注重的是较原汁原味的美食,西方人基本嗜吃含乳脂味的食物.比如说吃鱼,中国人吃鱼要带骨,西方人吃鱼却要去骨;至于烹方式, 中国人喜欢蒸,西方人钟意烤.还有许许多多饮食上的差异.

就我所知,12 家被遴选出来的餐厅,结果只有2 家是中餐厅,其余10家都是西餐厅.

我不能说他们对吃没有水准,又或者香港的中餐厅表现不好,只能说的是,两个区域对吃都寸有不同的文化,品尝的舌头也不一致….就单单以举出来的例子来看,吃的文化和层次是多方面且博大精深的,就这个个案,我又岂敢承认自是食神呢?


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My translation :


Regional difference causes difference in eating culture.


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Kocha Taiwanese Delight 台灣古早味

We diverted to Kochabi again since the FengWeiQing (風味情) is no longer 'cheap'. Kochabi's business is so damn good that there's always people queuing at the corridor awaiting to be seated.

Ahem! I like 'yellowish' one... :)

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Free Voucher for Cariso's readers

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The 'notorious' Char Koay Teow?!

Another story session.

Now...I have finally visited this famous or should I say the so-called 'notorious' (?) Char Koay Teow stall at Lorong Selamat.

If I am not mistaken, I did not eat CKT for at least 10 yrs. This time I broke the rule all because of Sarah & hubby(CY) loh, who came all the way from Australia. :)

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Miss Saigon Vietnamese Street Food

Vietnamese Street Food @ Miss Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine, E-Gate.

A bunch of us were invited for a food review today at Miss Saigon on its newly launched menu - Vietnamese Street Food.



Interior deco with yellowish lighting. Not ideal for foodshooting but good for my mood. :)

Whenever I think of Vietnamese food, I think of beef. I believe any dishes that come with beef must be at least 'secured'. :) Anyway, don't worry if you don't consume beef since chicken is also available as an alternative.

Summer Rolls (RM5.80 - RM10.80)

Top row (left to right) : Traditional Northern Rolls, Traditional Southern Rolls, Farmer's Egg Rolls.

Bottom row (left to right): - Fresh Vege Rolls, Classic Hor Fun Rolls (beef) & (chicken).

Out of all the rolls, Classic Hor Fun Rolls with beef is the one I liked the most.

Clockwise from top left : Mini Prawn Paste on Sugarcane (RM10.80), Crispy Hanoi Rolls (RM8.80), Crispy Gourmet Seafood Rolls (RM9.80), somebody was having "wrapping rolls" hands-on practice. Guess who?! This guy's fingers seemed to be as delicate as ladies one, oh mine.... :p

Exotic Side :

Left to right

1st row : Cinnamon Beef Chunks La-lot (RM11.80), Grilled Chicken T-shaped Wings (RM9.80)

2nd row : Wok fried flower chicken (RM14.80), Wok-fried flower beef (RM14.80)

3rd row : Spiced Grilled Eel Cake (RM12.80), Villagers Grilled Snail Cake (RM12.80)

4th row : Street-style Salty Soft Shell Crab (RM13.80), Royal Seafood Skewer (RM10.80)


Salads (RM6.80-RM9.80)

They offered Sour Green Mango Salad, Miss Saigon Salad (with pineapples inside) -which is also their signature salad dish, Cold Glass Noodle Salad, Crunchy Papaya Salad, Jellyfish Salad.

Frankly speaking, they tasted almost the same as we were having so many dishes at one go lah! BUT.... I liked the one with mango and pineapple more as they were more appetizing.

Rice Noodles (RM12.80 -RM14.80)

They offered Traditional Southern Beef Bun (RM14.80), Traditional Southern Chicken Bun (RM12.80), Crunchy Eel Glass Noodle Soup (RM13.80), Traditional Vietnamese Chicken Pho (RM12.80), Traditional Vietnamese Beef Pho (RM14.80) . All come with clear broth.

Center : Villagers Snail Noodle Soup (RM13.80) - Stir fried sea snail & green banana served with thick broth of Laksa noodle soup. I liked this the most as it's kind of a special combination to me. With the almost same pricing range, I'll rather go for snail. :)

Vietnamese Sandwitches

Left to right : Vietnamese Street Baguette (chicken/beef) (RM9.80),

Frog Curry with Garlic Spiced Baguette (RM10.80)

Alright, this is the Royal Seafood Skewer (RM10.80) - it comes with freshly grilled salmon, green paper, mushroom in BBQ sauce.

Overall the street food was pretty OK and some of the dishes (wordings in pink above) really intrigued my taste buds. I came with doubt due to the bad impression that we had on its early opening days when the service was claimed to be slow and the kitchen was claimed also not performing to its best. Thanks to the boss for giving us the chance to try out the new menu and also clear my doubt on its food quality!

I strongly believe that this street food of Miss Saigon will attract more customers if the serving portion can be larger with current set price. Hiak hiak! *wink wink*

Other attendees are :
PenangTuaPuis from PenangTuaPui
CK from What2seeOnline
Gill & Jason from Gourmet Garden
Lingzie from Lingzie's Tummy Treats
Steven Goh from Steven Goh
Criz from Criz Bon Appetite & gang
Allen from Yummy Station
Allie from Havenly Allie
Nicholas Chan from Shiok Or Not

清潤響螺湯 (Conches Soup)

Out of a sudden TaiLou brought back these conches. The first question flushed into our mind was, "Holy shit, how to cook leh?"

This is the first time cooking conches, somemore it's such a giant size one!

Can you see how big the giant size one is (!) ?

1大3小 (1x big, 3x small) = Total RM8.00

Bring to boil for about 45 mins or longer until the meat can be separated from the shells.

This is the look of them after removal from shells and also cleansing of internal organs & etc.

We decided to use 1x big and 1x small to cook soup.

Long hours of cooking is needed. This one has taken easily 4 hours in slowcooker under HIGH power.

When we called up aunties/uncles for recipes, most of them suggested to fry in thin slices with ginger & etc and then dip with soya sauce or whatever. They all said it will be like eating abalone.

I have heard that lots of Hongkies like to use conches to cook soup and I have been ages wondering how it tastes like. Why do they like to eat conches soup? I quickly went and flipped through the soup recipe book I bought. Yahoo! Got leh the recipe!

Now I've finally got the chance to taste it! It indeed tasted like abalone! Oh mine.......the soup is very nourishing, sweet and rich.

材料 : 響螺, 淮山 (RM2) ,枸杞 (隨意), 豬尾龍骨 (RM4),雞骨 (RM2),鹽 (少許).

Ingredients : Conches, Huai Shan (RM2), Lycium chinense Miller (some), pig bones (RM4), chicken bones (RM2), salt (taste with seasoning).

1) 新鮮響螺用滾水泡浸汆燙,約半小時至45分鐘, 使內質堅實. 納涼后, 取肉去殼.

(Fresh conches bring to boil for ~30-45mins, let cool then remove the meat from shells)

2) 將尾龍骨,雞骨, 淮山,枸杞, 響螺肉, 用slow cooker續煲大火2-4小時.
(Add in pig bones, chicken bones, Huai Shan and Lycium chinense Miller. Cook in slow cooker under high power for 2-4 hours)

3) 可呈加料理酒. (You may add in cooking wine during serving)

This book is useful in such an emergency case! :)

Moms Kitchen

Moms Kitchen @ Tanjung Bungah.

This was not THE targeted destination actually. We were supposed to get a treat by CE at Annabelle's Place (AP). We diverted to Moms Kitchen instead due to AP was not opened yet. It's already 12 something at that moment :( .

Orchid lah!
Herbal Tea (RM2.50)

Green Curry Chicken (RM11.90) - this is the best one compared to the rest of the dishes.

Phud Phed Squid (RM11.90) - When the other dishes came, we started to wonder "why did we order dishes of all same colours one leh?" This one was kinda spicy.

Tod Mud Fish (RM1.50x6) - We didn't like it at all this fish cakes. Aiks....we should have ordered the chicken wings instead of this when recommended by that guy. Anyway, we were kinda surprised why this one is in their recommended list then?!

Kailan Salted Fish (RM8.90) - this one is OK.

The dessert was very small serving only, but later only did we find out that it's FOC one woh. :p
3x of us. Total of the bill = RM60.40.

Moms Kitchen (Permai 32, 12A Lebuh Lembah Permai 4, Tanjung Bungah, 11200 Penang ) 04-8900787

Seasons Butter Kailan RM16.50!

I mentioned before the set lunch here. This round I wanna tell a story coz got someone very keh gao.

Each of us ordered the pretty same choices of set lunch like last time. After all, it's the same 5x fellows mah. Their set lunch is really good and worthy, in fact better than many of those nearby-FIZ restaurants that offer set lunch at similar price or higher.
KV said," I wan2 order a dish of chai, boh chai (no vege) cannot lah."

"OK! order lah! "

Without looking at the menu, KV waved at the waiter asking him to recommend. The waiter then recommended this jiao pai vege dish - Butter Kailan.

Everybody tried and rated good.

"Hmm......good hor?! Very special hor?!"

"Hey, we must learn how to cook like this also lah!"

So on and so forth......

When the bill came, the vege dish alone costs RM16.50!

Muahhahahahaha! We all laughed until peng! :p

Jaya Cater's Corner Banana Leaf

Jaya Cater's Corner @ Jalan Tengah Bayan Baru (Same row with RHB)

Whenever the iao lurs come to work in day shift and in GOOD mood, they will hop from one restaurant to another to try out different set lunch. One of the kaki(s) favours indian food. That's how we slotted in this restaurant.


Total of the bill is RM54.53 with drinks. Each one paid RM11.

I guess this is pretty OK as we don't have to travel all the way down to town for banana leaf meal.

Little Castle Cafe new Menu

Little Castle Cafe (western food) has introduced new menu for its ala carte.

This is the old daily set lunch. Everyone knows already lah. Eat until sian liao.

Wednesday Set (Chicken Maryland) RM15.90 nett.

Frankly speaking, I've tried a few times on its old set lunch menu but never really into anyone of them, coz most of them are oily. The one appears to me the most scary one is the chicken covered with fried cornflakes that dish. OMG! The conflakes skin is sparkling with oil. That time my colleague (who is a AYAM king) has actually removed the entire conflakes skin away!

Luckily with this new menu, now I have found one which is less oily and acceptable at satisfactory level. :)

Creamy pepper mushroom chicken (RM13.90 nett) - I am OK with this dish. I dislike deepfried chicken like the above one. This one ngam! Got chicken, got spaghetti (rather plain, suit me!) and vegetables. Serving is not too big, ngam me loh. :)

Provencale fish (RM12.90 nett) - the presentation is very poor for this dish but Mr iao lur finished it the fastest out of all.

BBQ combo (fish & chicken) (RM12.90 nett) - rather small piece heh?!

BBQ chicken) (RM11.90 nett) - This fellow just sat there munching munching munching, no feedback anything as usual. That means he is OK with this dish loh.:)

These new menu dishes were served after waiting much longer than those usual set lunch dishes. Perhaps the chefs still need to take some time to get familiar with the cooking?! Ha! :)

Add : 53-01, Lintang Batu Maung, 11960 Penang.
Tel /Fax : 04-6262212
Wifi available.

Fuho Set Lunch

FUHO Restaurant (chinese food) Set Lunch

FUHO now has daily set lunch. Compared to last time when it was newly opened, the serving size of this set lunch dishes has now been reduced. Last time it was far tooooo large until all the guys also surrender, swearing to me don't dare to go again(!).

Tuesday : Steamed Chicken in Black Bean Sauce (鼓汁蒸肥雞)

Dessert of the day - I always forgot there's still one dessert to be served lastly. They used to serve this when you have almost bottom up your drink! Gosh! Come earlier lah, can or not?!

Ala carte from menu : Clay pot chicken with salted fish (咸魚瓦煲雞) RM12.80

Here's the set lunch menu from Mon- Thu. Each set comes with drink (Longan/Sugar Cane/Chrysanthemum (龍眼/竹蔗/菊花) ) & dessert of the day (甜品) .

Monday Set A
Fried Squid/Fish/Chicken with Dry Chilli (Gong Boa) (宮保蘇東/魚片/香雞)
RM10.50

Monday Set B
Steamed Chinese Herbal Chicken with Assorted Mushroomin Foil (藥材錫紙包雞)
RM14.50

Tuesday Set A
Steamed Chicken in Black Bean Sauce (鼓汁蒸肥雞)
RM9.50

Tuesday Set B
Braised Seafood Beancurd with Vegetable (海鮮豆腐)
RM14.50

Wednesday Set A
Hot & Spicy Pork Ribs (酸辣排骨)
RM10.50

Wednesday Set B
Claypot Chicken with Chinese Sausage / Salted Fish (瓦煲臘味雞/咸魚雞)
RM13.50

Thursday Set A
Steamed Pork Belly with Mui Choy/Yam (梅菜扣肉/芋扣肉)
RM11.50

Thursday Set B
Fuho Drunken Chicken in Claypot (富豪瓦煲醉雞)
RM14.50

Price quoted is nett.

Add : No 45, 47-01, Lintang Batu Maung, 11960 Bayan Lepas, Penang.
Tel/Fax : 04-6265212
WIFI available.
(same row with Little Castle Cafe (western food), 04-6262212)

Yee Heong 宜香茶樓飯店的羊腩煲

Highly recommended this dish. 羊腩煲.

I am a loyal Yee Heong's fan.

Yee Heong 宜香茶樓飯店
Yee Heong 宜香茶樓飯店 (part II)
Yee Heong 宜香茶樓飯店 (part III)
Yee Heong 宜香茶樓飯店 (part IV)

The 4th day we went to The Annabelle's Place & The Summer Garden. My camera was not with me therefore no chance to shoot any photos at all. *Ai....too bad lah!* Hmm...I think I must get my gang to back me up in future! Either one of them must carry at least one camera at any one time. :)

Before I placed order, my gang warned me so,"Hey, you don't eat so full ah....we go for 2nd round k".

Since I was warned so, therefore this round at Annabelle's I tried to order lighter meal. Asian delight - Hokkaido fried rice and brandy bread with orange slices. Of coz not forgetting our the-must-order Hi-Tea set with scones. :) The Hokkaido fried rice turned out to be a surprise to me (you know... fried rice is always very oily mah). They also tasted and all said, "hmm...not bad heh!"

Later on we proceeded to The Summer Garden with our Tai Kor B joining in. The mixed lemak assam laksa was really everybody's favourite dish until we ordered a 2nd bowl !! We also tried out its dessert, the crepe with ice cream. The other dish, Jap teriyaki sauce chicken with rice turned out to be a total let down though. The rice was soaking & swimming in the rice box with chicken floating on top of the 'drenched' rice, is this a Jap style of 'lam pui' or what?! *sigh* Anyway, all thanks to Mr. B for belanja.

The Sire Museum 震撼我心!

這一篇我要用華語寫, 因為我的英文表達能力不好, 只夠混吃用.:) (I would like to use chinese to blog this post as my english narration is poor, just fair enough to 'wan sek'.)

那天是星期天, 我慕名而去 (感謝 CK 的方向指導). 很可惜,它沒有營業. 但,我想那個星期我是超幸運的, 我們還是被禮貌的邀請進去參觀. (Through CK's help on the direction, I went on Sunday but it was closed. Anyhow we were politely invited for a visit inside.)

對我而言,我的相機幾乎跟美食畫等號, 很難會讓我機不離手拍其他東西.但一踏進這裡, 我的手就情不自禁的把相機提起來了.

走過每一道門關, 步上每一層階梯, 踏進每一方樓閣, 我的心裡都不其然的"哇! 哇!" 贊不絕口, 因為她實在是太過于震撼人心了! (我用"她", 而不是"它", 因為對我而言, 她是迷人的, 氣質非凡的!. :))

每一腳步都是驚喜.每一角落都是心思.

她 - 醞釀著濃厚的藝術懷舊風情.

她- 大膽的採用前衛時髦採光設計.

她 - 細膩博雅, 古典富裕莊嚴.

她那古典韻味結合現代時尚的品級, 堪稱前無古人, 后無來者.

試問,有哪一間私人的餐館兼博物館能夠有如此的能耐把這些因素給全都綜合起來, 而又如此的大方的讓我們大眾飽享眼福?!

至今, 她的美, 依然深烙在我的腦海裡.

她 - 簡直就是永垂不朽的玫瑰一朵, 讓我畢生難以忘懷.

慘了, 難不成我愛上她了?!


在此, 我想和您們分享她有意義的美.

Dine. Wine. Antique.Gallery.

葉祖意故居. 現金已被 Dato' Seri Stephen Yeap Leong Huat (葉良發) 重修變成餐館兼博物館. 參觀紀念價值甚高. 主要有葉氏家族的祖傳古董,傢俬,家族照片及歷史畫相. 資料齊全兼且美不勝收.

由于當天是星期天, 沒有營業, 裡頭缺乏燈光, 我的攝影效果很可惜的顯得黯淡了些哦.

從左至右(上): 入口. 底層前端就是餐廳. 廁所設計美觀得更是讓我驚訝.
從左至右(下): 水池. 中庭. 露天盆栽吊飾.

底層中段: 葉祖意夫婦故照. 水池鯉魚.

底層後段 - 精緻典雅. 旋轉樓梯, 白釋迦雕塑, 后庭.

從旋轉樓梯往下看.

第一層
時尚樓閣.絕佳的採光設計. 古董理髮椅. 家族珍藏.

第一層後段. 家族古董珍藏. 照片及歷史畫相.
第一層中段. 採自然陽光照射, 打造室內綠茵.
第一層前段:富裕莊嚴的紅彤黃金色系.
往上一層閣樓:保留原汁原味,呈現故居原貌.

第二層前段. 室外露天.
第二層中后段:家族古典珍藏.

這一次我沒有機會品嚐她的美食,確實有點兒遺憾.

我深信坐在如此特別精緻的餐館兼博物館裡頭, 一邊體驗享受其寧靜的用餐環境, 一邊與您的朋友聚會品酒或細嚼其佳餚美食,感覺肯定不同凡響!

I'll be back! *wink*

我很慶幸葉氏後代可以如此無私的把其維修后的祖先故居以及家族珍寶讓普羅大眾參觀.

我衷心的希望The Sire Museum 能夠有效的維持及控制人流,或許添加措施(比如讓參觀者穿上鞋套 (shoe cover) 等)以保護她的維修價值,同時也讓其寶貴的古董珍藏,傢俬等等免遭人為損壞.

The Sire Museum & Restaurant
4, King Street, Georgetown, 10200 Penang. (Standing at the Great Eastern building facing the Esplande or Dewan Sri Pinang, The Sire Museum is located at the street on your right hand side)
Tel : 04-2645088, Fax : 04-2645089
Lunch : 11.30a.m. ~ 3.00p.m.
Dinner : 6.00p.m. ~10.30p.m.
Close on Sunday.