Month: October 2008

When my friend in KL told me that they had lunch at “FISH MARKET” more than a year ago, I though they were having seafood in wet market where people selling fishes :??? . I only found out that it is a western restaurant with specialties on fishes after an outlet is opened in Queensbay Mall, Penang.

Flame Platter for One

One of its specialties is the Flame Platter (RM25.90++), which is served with fish fillet, prawns, french fries, and fragrant rice. The staff will bring along a torch flame and BBQ the cheese on top of the prawns in front of you. Kind of smokey though but is a good dish to order for first time visit. There are Flame Platter for Two/Four as well.

Alaska Pollock and Chip

Sweet Alabama Smoothie

Hot Chocolate

Not all people can afford the meals there. Some people will most probably order Fish and Chip (RM15.90 ++), which is the cheapest main course. The smoothies are also cost about RM8.90 ++. The price has increased RM1.00 during my last visit in October 2008. Even the hot chocolate (which taste like Milo) and mineral water also cost RM6.90++ and RM2.90++ respectively.

Baked Fish In Garden Herbs

Garlic, Chili, and Tartar Sauces

Fried Country Mushroom

If you don’t like french fries, there is a healthier dish good to try – Baked Fish In Garden Herbs (RM19.90++). The boneless fillet is baked in aluminium wrapper with herb. Kind of like local “ikan bakar” style but the quality is there.  The homemade sauces which consist of garlic, tartar, and chili sauces are good. For starter, Fried Country Mushroom (RM9.90++) is worth trying. Recently, the 6 pieces juicy mushrooms have been recently sliced into smaller chunks and fried into golden color. Good thing is the dish looks become “bigger”. Bad thing is that there is more flours used, which made me feel like I am eating flour more than the mushroom itself. I still prefer the good old 6 full pieces mushroom style.

As a whole, even though MFM is not an everyday’s restaurant, it is worth trying if you really like fishes or undergoing certain events. There are now 3 outlets in Penang – Autocity, Queensbay Mall, and New World Park. Its website is not Firefox-friendly though.

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

Name: Manhattan FISH MARKET
Address: Lot No. LG120, Queensbay Mall, Persiaran Bayan Indah, Bayan Bay, 11900 Penang.
Tel: 04-6461620
Web: www.manhattanfishmarket.com

Tony Rama’s is famous of its steaks but my friend went to Pavilion branch for some set lunches last Friday. Similar to TGIF, the dishes are at expensive side (e.g. rib eye costs about RM50++) and set lunches cost about RM16.90++ each. My friend ordered Rosmary Chicken served with potato soup, bread, and drink.

The french fried is more than the chicken itself.

The soup comes with a pack of biscuits. Wonder it is from Khong Guan or not.

The bread is wrapped in a paper. Kind of unique but my friend feel kind of cheated as 6 of them share 2 breads. Does it mean than one person will entitle only 1/3 of the bread?

Figure above shows ice lemon tea. As a whole, the shop is good for its ribs but not others. The chicken set is too small and there are many options around with this kind of price.

Similar Review

:vomit:

WTF? You ask. This is streaky pork (五花肉/三层肉) made by my friend. Not so presentable but here’s the ingredient:

五花肉 Streaky pork
大蒜 Garlic
八角 Aniseed
豆油 Soy Sauce
糖 Sugar
盐 Salt
黑胡椒 Black Pepper
绍兴酒 Shaoxing Rice Wine

Again, it is tasty according to her. My family used to make this kind of dish (we called it Black Pepper Pork) but without the addition of rice wine.

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:

Chicken rice ball

First of all, the chicken rice ball is tasteless.

Quarter of Steamed + Roasted Chicken

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

Lime Juice

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.

El Mondo Special

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.

Chicken Chop Set Lunch

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).

Summer Cafe

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)