Penang Redux 5

We lived in a hotel along Gurney Drive and it only makes sense in the long month we were stuck there to have at least one meal at Plaza Gurney.

Hungry and tired from shopping (surprise, surprise), we were browsing through restaurants outside when I saw something very interesting in one of the restaurant Menu.

Pork Ribs. Yes, you heard right, here there be pork ribs!! I found out later that Chicago Rib House is a sister company to Tony Roma's and licensed to serve pork. Needless to say, I grabbed the Friend and rushed in.

We ordered the platter of three types of appetisers. Here we have the deep fried battered mushrooms. Fresh mushrooms battered and fried to crispy juicy perfection with a side of two dipping sauces.

The other side of chicken tenders and potato skins. Juicy chicken and carby goodness filled with cheese. Oh my!

The star of the day. Half a rack of pork ribs cooked in spicy BBQ sauce with two sides of broccoli and mash. The ribs was soft and juicy and finger licking good. We sucked the meat around the bone dry.

Another lunch trip during work near the old Kuan Yim temple along Jalan Kapitan Keling. Immediately next to the temple is a very old shop that had been serving Loh Mee for over 20 years... I think. Should be more than that and it has an illustrious history. Two little squeeze bottles holding chilly and garlic paste for the noodles.

Here comes the Loh Mee. The sauce was thick and fragrant but not too thick that when the noodle suck up the sauce, there is nothing left. There were pieces of pork in it that added to the overall deliciousness of the dish.

Lobak. I liked the meat seasoned with five spice but the Colleagues found it too soft. It was overall a good lunch.

We are still not through with our Penang Trail with lots more to come.

Penang Redux 4

Still on the breakfast trail, we decided to ditch hotel food again and headed to Gurney Drive to Song River where we see quite a large group of people having little claypots of food.

One of the pots held this, fish head noodles. Sour and hot, clear and sweet. The noodles used were thick meehoon that absolutely soaked up the flavour of the soup. We ordered fish meat instead of fish head. In Penang, the soup is without evaporated milk as they do here in KL and I find I like this version more.

Ee Fu Mee. Tasty noodles filled with fish meat. The noodles were firm and fried to perfection.

This egg dish was my favourite. And until now, I drool thinking about it. The egg is cooked well, but still slightly undercooked and soft. Somehow the dreaded bitter gourd was an excellent complement to this. This is definitely a must try!

When you head down to Padang Kota Lama, or Esplanade, do stop by the food court there. Especially store number 8. They serve a really mean plate of fried rice, Malay style.

This was the reason it was the best Nasi Goreng, or fried rice I have taste in a long while. My lovely plate of spicy sambal. Four of us took twice this amount to basically drench our Nasi Goreng.

Sorry about the lack of quality in this picture but this is it. Nasi Goreng with fried chicken and a fried egg. The rice was fluffy and tasty. No unseeming clumps of rice sticking together. Each grain was by itself, showing the true skill of the cook.

We sat at the far end of the food court because we wanted to order drinks from this shop. What's good you ask?

Coconut shake. It's coconut juice topped with vanilla ice cream. There are pieces of coconut flesh swimming in the whole concoction as well.

This drink was refreshing and cooling after shoveling insane amounts of chilly into my system.

Penang Redux 3

I'm back again with more Penang food.

We walked towards the end of Beach Street, opposite the Fire Brigade. We were told that this beef noodle is very, very good. Of course, what we didn't know was, it was very, very, VERY expensive. RM7-8 a bowl!

Noodle in one bowl and soup in the other. While it looks pretty plain, it tasted very good with the chilly seen in the above picture. Dump, mix and slurp.

We each had a bowl of beef soup filled with beef balls and slices of meat. The soup was interesting as it had a slight herbal taste to it. The beef stock gave the soup an overall sweet taste to it. But worth RM7 a pop? I'm not too sure about that.

Or Chien ordered from a neighbouring stall. This was supposedly not the Penang style but the Taiwanese style. It was cooked until the egg was crispy while keeping the oysters still juicy. It was still very good in my estimation.

After days of hotel breakfast, we headed out to Pulau Tikus for some Kuay Teow Th'ng.

Small bowl of flat noodles with fish balls and some chicken meat cooked in a tasty soup. Not a bad way to start the day.

Our order of yam cake turned out to be more of a disappointment though. No sweet sauce was served, it only came with chilly sauce. Also it had more flour than it had yam. 

There's more Penang goodies to come!

Penang Redux 2

We had a few interesting dishes during lunch most days, thanks to our resident Penang Foodie specialist.

We brought to somewhere neat a Great Eastern building for Char Kuay Teow. While I am not really a fan, I do enjoy a good dish of this sometimes. This was fried with duck egg. I couldn't really taste the difference that much, only that the duck egg was much stiffer than normal chicken egg. Overall interesting but wouldn't say it's 'fantastic'. Then again, Char Kuay Teow has always been alright for me.

Same coffee shop serving mamak mee. It was no where near the Padang Kota Lama one. I preferred that one much more. This was a little too wet for me.

One of the colleagues 'tar pau'ed this Bak Chang for us. It was solid with ingredients of chestnuts, green beans, salted duck egg yolk and mushrooms. However, I like the taste of the one they were selling in front of Union School much more.

Yam cake. It was slightly on the soft side. I wished I could have tasted more yam in the mix.

Penang Redux will continue. Stay posted.

Penang Redux 1

Another long work trip to Penang, and another long trip filled with eating and basically having some fun. We had tonnes more good food this time around as we managed to hooked up with someone I would term as a true blue Penang foodie. If there is good food, he knows where to find it.

Today's entry wasn't one of his recommendations, and while it was good (as all Penang food tend to be) it wouldn't be the best I would have.

On our way back from Kek Lok Si, we stopped by somewhere in Air Itam for some hawker fare. The Char Kuay Kak is just regular, by Penang standards, I mean.

Next up was Kuay Teow Th'ng using Sai Toh fish balls. The fish balls were amazing and sweet.

Or Chien. Big oysters cooked in eggs. The eggs were a little too slimy for my taste but I loved the eggy taste it produced.

Char Kuay Teow. Quite forgettable. 

There's more Penang Food Fest this time around. Stick around!

Il Lido @ Jalan Yap Kwan Seng

After hearing so much about Il Lido, I knew I had to give it a try to see what exactly the hype is about. This is a little late because I will be blogging about their festive menu, which they served in December 2010. My bad :)

Nice bright shiny menu, waiting for us.

While waiting for the Degustation menu and the Festive menu, we were served some really lovely bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The amuse boucher. I'm not really sure what this is, but it's lovely and crispy.

Crab Salad with Avocado and Bisque Jelly. It tasted fresh and good.

Seared Wagyu Beef Carpaccio with Truffle. My first try of truffle and I loved it. It has a strong smell but it went well with the rather raw beef.

Hand-dived Scallops with Aged Parmesan Cheese Fondue and Green Asparagus. The scallops were absolutely fresh and delicious.

Pan Fried Goose Liver with Saba Wine Must and Sweet Potato Galette. Did I mention how much I love goose liver?

Homemade Porcini Mushroom Cappelletti with Saffron Foam and Hazelnuts. This is where the meal started to slide downhill. I wasn't too sure about this dish. It tasted fine but to me, it wasn't exactly memorable.

Tagliolini with Lobster ‘Amalfi’ Style. I enjoyed the pieces of lobster but I didn't think the taste of the pasta was all that good.

Roasted Suckling Pig with Plum Sauce. I had high hopes for this with all the good reviews I have read on other food blogs. However, it turned out to be a big mistake. It was very dry and not crispy enough.

Turkey Supreme Stuffed with Goose Liver, Truffle and Orange Sauce. The turkey was very dry and crumbly. It was really hard to chew and swallow it.

Molten Lava Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream. This was very good. Moist and warm, the chocolate was flowing and the ice cream a good company to the warm chocolate.

Chestnuts Tart with Mandarin Liqueur Sauce. Thick and rich and not too sweet. I love the fresh fruits sprinkled on top.

Complimentary petit fours.

And we finish with coffee.

While there were highlights in this meal and dishes that were good, there were also misses that made me rather disappointed. I wouldn't exactly be jumping to return to this place but I am willing to give it another try if the chance came up.

il Lido Italian Dining + Lounge Bar

Jalan Yap Kwan Seng
50450 Kuala Lumpur
03-2161-2291

Coliseum @ Jalan TAR

Sorry for the long periods in between posts. Work and all that nonsense got in the way. And the fact I was out of town for the longest time.

Today, I bring you Western food, Hainanese and old school style.

I am not sure where the 'hotel'. This place is seriously old schooled with waiters my grandfather's age.

See what I mean? 

Oxtail soup. Thick and fragrant.

My meal came as a set, with a side salad. Look at the thick slices of toasts in the background.

I can't remember what dish this was but it's basically chicken with a serving of rice. The creamy sauce was good and went well with the slices of chicken.

Simple fare of roast chicken. Juicy and tender.

Minute steak. Coliseum is famous of its steaks. So far, it hasn't been proven wrong.

Sizzling tenderloin. I had a wear a bib to eat this. The sauce was thick and creamy, the meat juicy with a slight touch of red juices.

In comparison, my side dishes of sauteed potatoes and veggies were pretty pathetic.

Overall, Coliseum still serves good solid food, even if I think their waiters are this side of ancient.

Coliseum

100 Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman 

50100 Kuala Lumpur, 

Tel: 03-2692-6270
Open Weekdays 8am-10pm