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Tainan Restaurant 台湾小吃店(Invited Review)

This is a 13-yr-old restaurant taken over by a young man last year. If you still recall, this is the first Taiwanese restaurant in Penang.



At this restaurant, you will not be seeing commercial type of typical taiwanese food, but the homecook style (blended with local taste) instead. If you are looking for a cheap and yet good meal, this probably suits you!

Saucy Chicken Rice 贵妃鸡饭 RM8

Sweet-based of sauce cooked with wolfberries/goji berry.



Taiwan Beef Noodle RM7

Ingredients : Beef (you will expect ngau lam and muscle here), pickled Chinese cabbage and pakchoy.



Beef is freshly bought from the market by the restaurant owner. Therefore you can let go the worry of consuming 黑心牛肉 from supplier.

Their noodles are flat version, unlike other Taiwanese restaurants in Penang.



Their soup base is very thick and resembles OXTAIL soup, non-spicy version. Therefore you are advised to bottom-it- up when it is served hot!
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Face To Face （面对面版面专卖店）Sarawak Kolok Mee

I was aiming at their Sarawak Noodles, not Pan Mee.



Traditional Sarawak Noodles RM6.90



They used homemade noodles, which is genuine version. One main difference is their version is far healthier than those actual ones in Sarawak - meaning less oily. It is drier too.



Ingredients - minced pork, char siew and fish ball. (Genuine kolok mee doesn't have fish ball right?! :) )

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De Title Dining Cabin (Invited Review)

Apart from the Lorong Selamat's Char Koay Teow, did you notice there is one PURPLE building there?



Yes, this is another new one (not too new though, already half year old since Dec last year), a restaurant run by two young ladies who have traveled around the world in search of recipes.



Their passion can be seen from every décor in the premise wihich is self-decorated. If you are observant enough, then you will notice that every exterior window frame is made of different design too!

Downstair dining area.



The wall alongside the staircase.



They have many menus. One for 1st & 3rd wk, one for 2nd & 4th wk; and further divided into Lunch and Dinner. It's kind of confusing for me! I shall slip in part of the menu in between photos as reference (only).

This restaurant is one of the few restaurants that never use MSG. Most of their sauces are homemade too!

Well, you don't get shocked when you see the LONGGGGGGGGG list of sauce choices in their menu (scroll till the btm).

Homemade Mushroom Soup - A version with many types of mushrooms blended into one. [My rating : 8/10]



PizzaiolaVeggie Pizzailo RM9.90
Chicken Ham Pizzailo RM13.90
Beef Pepperoni Pizzailo RM14.90

Chicken Ham Pizzailo with Roti Canai Base (RM13.90) - Chicken Ham + Pineapple + Sweet Corn [My rating : Nil, no chance to taste :)]



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James Foo Western Food

Finally I was able to squeeze into this restaurant after driving past there thrice. It always looks FULL HOUSE mah!

This premise is far more comfortable and eye-catching than the old one.



Modern and hygienic interior deco.



Under the same pricing standard, I would definitely opt for this restaurant rather than 'the other one nearby'. :)

Still, under such 'comfortable' ambience, NO additional charges (service tax/gov tax) is imposed. THIS IS THE BEST!

Blackcurrent Jumbo RM5.50 / Chrysanthemum tea RM1.50

Real big! See? Big jumbo glass which is taller than the chilli sauce bottle.



Fresh Oxtail Soup RM8.00 (only served during weekends). Two pcs of tender oxtail rings in this bowl.



Accompanied with potatoes and carrots. Hmm......bei pai leh!

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Spaghetti Marinara (El Casa vs No Eyed Deer)

El Casa Restaurant

During the El Casa invited review session I didn't manage to taste its spaghetti marinara, therefore this round I decided to taste those that are not included in the past.

Linguine Seafood Marinara RM18.90+

Cheng-cheng-tei! Their version of this pasta was light in sauce with 'sea'- taste, not the usual sauces like those we could get off- rack from supermarket. The ingredients were not many, it came with fish slices, squids and prawns.



They served you halfway de-shelled prawns.



Fish & Chip de El Casa RM16.90+

Again, I found this dish to be light-weight, meaning everything seemed to be 'non-oily'.


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Plus 2 Restaurant （加二餐厅）云吞面档 Good meh?!

This is a restaurant that gains wide popularity among USM students and some FIZ workers due to its location and price.

Their price for wanton noodles has been revised since 1st May.

Wanton Noodles : RM3.00, RM3.50, RM3.80
Wanton soup : RM4.00, RM6.00, RM8.00
Shui kao soup RM 1.20 (1 pc), RM6, RM12, RM18

This is RM3.50 serving. This is the look of their wanton noodles. Attractive? Not for me.



I would have got better ones elsewhere with price still below RM3.00

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Ang Eng Keat (Sua Kau) & Ang Guan Huat Catering

It's been ages long since I last been invited to a 'household' wedding dinner.

This host family is generous, serving wide ranges of exotic delicacies (山珍海味) and free-flow liquors (任饮) including XO.



五福临门



琵琶香鸭 + 金猪仔 (Crispy duck + crispy piglet) serving in one dish.



What left behind was the duck, of course not the crispy-skinned piglet!


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Are we the only Hokkien-speakings at Delicious Straits Quay? *LOL*

"Oh.....No wonder lah!" This is the expression when I finally saw this line "A subsidiary of Eastern & Oriental Berhad" when browsing the menu.

Why why why?

When I was at a food review session the other day, this "Delicious" term caught my attentio, not only because it was mentioned repetitiously but also because of this keng one," Aiyoh, if you think of eating the desserts at C* Brown, you might as well going to Delicious loh, same amount of spending, lagi TATT!" .

This amount of people during a WORKING monday at ~2pm should be considered "good business" already kua! This is neither FIZ nor town area oh.



but then when I looked around, I saw mostly are foreigners (guess 'second-home'?!) and very elegantly dressed locals. :)

"Ei, do you think that we are the only table speaking Hokkien ah?" :p

"May be loh!" *followed by LOL*



Lemonade from the Front Lawn RM9.90++ -- Wowo! Super sour!

Hot Honey Lemon RM5.90++ -- See? Got biscotti somemore!



Mascarpone Pesto Chicken served with Fried Potatoes and Asparagus RM39.90++



Big serving indeed! Half the chicken is in this plate already. Add on the potatoes somemore! Not full yet? You must be kidding!

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Opposite Padang Brown's Bak Kut Teh

This is the so called famous bak kut teh which is located at Jalan Perak, opposite the Padang Brown (same row with SONY, Klinik Singapore and 'Pakar Urut Only One').



I was not really impressed with the soup base but I can tell you that I was truly impressed by their fast and efficient ways of serving the food and entertaining your needs.

Credits are given on : 1) fast in ushering you for seats and taking your order. 2) as soon as your bak kut teh claypot is served and within 5 min, they already top up the soup for me (!). 3) their work segregation is very good, systematic, no kelam-kabut. Each one is dedicated to his own job responsibility.

The yam rice is very moist. I like it.



A claypot for two persons is RM16. FYi, charging per head is RM8.

I was impressed with the variety of ingredients stuffed inside the claypot too!!

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El Casa Wine & Dine Restaurant (Invited Review)

The colour tone and image portrayed are sharp enough for you to know that this whole restaurant is Mediterranean-based, with white & blue colour painting inside out. (Oh ya, except the restrooms :) .

The yellow lighting which I like the MOST is matched with blue sky ceiling and neat table settings, expressing cozy and cool ambience.



Left to Right :
Wine display corner (Wide selection of wine from France, Australia, Chile and etc).
Outdoor seating (smoking area/ceiling fan).
Indoor seating (non-smoking area/air-cond).



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風味小食館 Foong Wei Heong Restaurant : Quickly eat and go away!

Foong Wei Heong gives me such impression. I don't know about you. *shrugged*

Pros : Fast in serving. Serving quality dishes.

Cons : Have a kind of feeling of rushing you to quickly eat and go away.

I went there in early May. Booking time was changed from 7.30pm to 6.00pm, per their request (to spread out the crowd). Prior to this successful booking, many calls were done.

Fyi, just as soon as we finished our dishes, they quickly cleared the table. Another thing is as soon as we settled the bill, we were not 'allowed' at all to sit there chit-chatting while drinking tea (coz they stopped serving you tea already! hinting you to leave already mah!) and guess what?! they started to pull away the red cloth (table cover)! Wahlau ei!!!!!!!!!!!

Spring Roll



Sea Cucumber with Mushroom & Broccoli



Shiong Tong Yun Choy


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Village BBQ & Steamboat (Invited Review)

The BBQ Corner - Raw ingredients



Charcoal BBQ grill in action



CHARCOAL BBQ

Seriously I found that this charcoal BBQ section did not impress me that much if compared to the Portuguese Grill(!!) at the later part.




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Tek Sen (德成飯站) Claypot Salted Fish Pork

Once in a while I will still miss the dishes at Tek Sen (德成飯站), but now it's at the new premise. The whole interior is lit with yellow light!

Claypot Salted Fish Pork (RM14.00)

This is one of their signature 'dish of the day'.



Instead of what you see below, I prefer the way once they cut the pork into long thin stripes, which after cooking they all look like long curly wrapping ribbons. :)



See? As thin as this!


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Sweet-i 甜在心糖水屋 (Invited Review)

This is just a few units away from the fish shop (corner unit). You may not notice it since it is blocked by the trees alongside the pavement on the Jln Sg Dua, which is opposite the Tesco Extra.

The wall is full of tong shui menu. 眼花缭乱！



If you are persistent, you may try it out one by one everyday, ha! Luckily I have the privilege to share with others during this one-time-sapu-all session.




I am quite impressed with the tong shui served here. Why? if don't talk about the price lah ok ( you judge it yourself then, ok?!), the tong shui here boh siau tee & liao jiao kao (less sweet & got enough ingredients). Some items that are not easily spotted at other tong shui stalls, you can find them here.



Tapioca Jelly BoboChaCha (香草薯粉条麽麽喳喳) - RM2.70 (each packet), RM3.00 (each container)

The green one is jelly.



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Yeng Keng Hotel's Hainanese Cuisine (Invited Review)

Yup! Yeng Keng serves Hainanese cuisine too!

Note : The price below has included portion for 10 pax since we are in a group of 11  pax. The dishes shown in the photos below are catered for 10 pax.

Spring Rolls : RM12.00 (per portion of 2 pcs) / RM24.00 (for 4 pcs)

The photo shown below is for 4 pcs. The price of the spring rolls can be quite damaging mainly due to the seafood items.

Ingredients: crab meat, chicken meat, prawn, black mushroom, yambean, carrot, onion.

The sauce is a mixture of oyster sauce, Lea & Perrines,  A1 sauce, tomato sauce and HP sauce.

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Yeng Keng Hotel - ZOom In! (Part II)

Continued from Yeng Keng Hotel - ZOom In! (Part I)

This swimming pool is located at the right hand side of the building. This is the angle taken from the backyard.

Heading for first floor - you will be welcomed by this sitting area before reaching the 1st floor.

A very modern sense of style! Super red vs black matching with bamboo feel. Shooting from outside to let you see how contrast the colour tone portraits.

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Yeng Keng Hotel - Zoom In! (Part I)

I was as astonished as others when first seeing how great the restoration 'look' of Yeng Keng Hotel at Chulia Street is.  This visit makes me think of  The Sire Museum which deeply impressed me last time. Therefore I guess it worths spending two posts for the hotel interior photos and illustrations since I have the privilege exploring it through an invited food review lately.

You can get all the 'About' or history of this 20-room restored heritage boutique hotel from the Yeng Keng Hotel's website.

What I enjoyed 'zooming in' here is -- no matter how lousy a camera you are holding is, the image turns out to be nice! Yeah, you ought to thank the great conservation & upgrading work undertaken by the owner and also the fabulous contrast colour tone of the hotel design too!

This is the entrance with chinese traditional essence, which is now illuminated with yellow light lanterns, eye-catching enough uh!

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Hop over to Yeng Keng Hotel - Zoom In! (Part I) for full view of this post.