If you ask me what I did during Chinese New Year, here the list:

1. Eat
2. Eat
3. Eat
4. Eat
5. Eat

Yes, it is all about eating, including this Zealand Bak Kut Teh which I visited during CNY at Gurney Drive.

Zealand Bak Kut Teh opened from 7:30am – 2:45pm daily. The same restaurant serves seafood at night (from 6pm – 11:30pm).

There are actually two Bak Kut Teh restaurants there. From what I heard is that Zealand provides better service but less varieties, while another one provides more varieties but more expensive and the service is poorer. Let’s see how’s the food tasted like…

As usual, we ordered Chinese Lettuce topped with Chicken Floss 玻璃生菜 (RM8.00). The portion suits two persons and tastes ok.

They do have fried noodle as well. My friend recommended me this Fried Tau Chiam 豆签 (RM5.00) which was mainly made of soy bean. Not bad. It tasted a bit like Teo Chew Fried Noodle.

Here came out main dish of the day – Bak Kut Teh (RM10.00). The bak kut teh is of sweet (甘甜) type. This bowl is for one person.

It came with two choices of rice – plain rice (RM1.00) and Yam rice (RM2.00).

One concern when eating Bak Kut Teh is whether or not they provide soup refilling. Some give you only one refilling while some give you a dark face. This restaurant, surprisingly, generously give you refill without you asking them to do so.

I like to dunk You Tiao (油条) (RM2.00) into the soup. When refilling, the manager saw us putting them into the soup and advised us not to do so since it will make the soup oily. He then gave us another bowl of soup, just to put the You Tiao into it

At first glance, Zealand provides good service with reasonable price at one of the tourist spots in Penang. Will visit them again.

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(Don’t worry, I am still here. Please add me back to your bookmark.) Last week my friend and I went for Prangin Mall for shopping and dinner. My mind suddenly blanked on what to eat in there as shops over there often came and gone. One shop which stays quite long and successful is perhaps – 涮涮乐 (Shuan4 Shuan4 Le4) which is famous for its Tomyam steamboat. So, we paid it a visit that day. It does not have English name so I just simply gave it one.

It took me half an hour to figure it out that it is not pronounced as “Shua1 Shua1 Le4″. 涮涮乐 means to rinse meat slices on hot boiled soup for just few seconds and consume. Leaving them in steamboat for 30 minutes is not considered as 涮涮乐. It is called “tim th’ng” (炖汤).

Unlike other buffet style steamboat restaurants, this restaurant provided you fixed raw ingredients. We ordered set B which is good for 1-2 persons (RM33.80. Additional 1 person charge RM1.50). It comes with (take a deep breath): prawn, chicken slice, sotong slice, sotong ball, fish ball, crab stick, vegetable ball, dumpling, chinese mushroom, abalone mushroom, bean curd slice, vegetable, cabbage, egg, inoki mushroom, meat ball, tou ki, and fish wantan. If you asked me whether the quantity will be increased if another person is added, this one I was not sure.

You can choose among instant noodles, Di Wang noodles, Tang Hun, bi hun, yellow noodles, or rice. We picked Di Wang Noodles (帝王面) that day. Don’t look down on its size. The portion is quite big once cooked.

One uniqueness of 涮涮乐 is that the meats are cut into thin slices, so they are easier to cook. You can pick two from beef, mutton, and pork. You can also pick two of the same kind, such as 2 x pork.

You can choose between clear or tomyam soup, or both (add RM2.00). We picked clear + tomyam soup. They use gas to fire up the steamboat.

You can also ordered some snacks. We ordered Eel Roll (RM5.20), which was fried into crispy and tasted good.

Whenever I passed by this restaurant, I saw many youngsters and couples enjoying their steamboat there. This time is not exception as well. Fortunately there are also some families and uncles like me enjoying their dinner there. At first glance, their tomyam is not bad. Perhaps the only concern is whether customers prefer fixed or buffet style.

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Mumbai House Restaurant

Can you travel to India for lunch during working day? Yes, you can. Today I bring you to Mumbai to eat curry.

Dining Area

One nightmare for food bloggers in any restaurant is – the dark dining environment such as the one in this restaurant. The photos taken are dark and you have to “photoshop” them a lot afterward. Turning the flashlight on won’t help as it usually spoils the whole photo. Sigh~

Papadum

We were in a group of three and we ordered their value meal for 2-3 pax (RM38++), which include the following items:

1. Raasam
2. Samosa
3. Tenggiri Chicken
4. Fish Masala
5. Squid Cukka
6. Bhindi Masala
7. Plain Rice
8. Garlic Naam
9. Orange Cordial

A lot of new terms here for me but first, we have our free-flow papadum. The hot and sour sauce provided was delicious. We didn’t aware that their papadum was free-flow during our first visit

Lesson 1: Always ask if you are not sure.

Raasam

The first item arrived was Raasam - a soup which tasted like tomato soup with addition of peppers and other spices. It was spicy without any rice.

Samosa

The second item was Samosa - a snack which look and taste like Karipap. Similar with Karipap, they were stuffed with potatoes, peas, and other spices.

Tenggiri Chicken

Here came Tenggiri Chicken, which reminded me of Tandoori Chicken usually found in Nasi Kandar restaurants. Tasted okay for me.

Fish Masala

Fish Masala was the best dish in this value meal course. It consisted of boneless fish fillets cooked with various spices. It was not too spicy, not too sour… just perfect for my taste bud.

Squid Cukka

Squid Cukka

In contrast, Squid Cukka was at spicy and sour side. Maybe it had added “cuka” (vinegar) and hence is called “cukka”. Remind me of Chuka Idako in Japanese restaurant….. :p It used small squids which usually seen on economic rice. I still prefer Fish Masala.

Plain Rice

Speaking about rice, the one provided in the value meal was small! When the rice arrive, I thought it was for one person. Who know, it was for 3 of us! Mana eh par! I wasn’t told that you can actually order another plate of rice FOC (2nd plate free, 3rd plate on ward charge!) until we paid the bill. Sigh~

Garlic Naan

The Garlic Naan was also nice. Unfortunately, we also didn’t aware that the Naan is free flow until we paid the bill again..

Lesson 2: Always ask if you are not sure.

Bhindi Masala

Almost forgot, we also have vegetable dish – Bhindi Masala. Basically is ladyfingers fried with chili. Tasted okay.

At first glance, the restaurant provides authentic Indian recipes in a nice dining environment. Their specialties are more toward spicy food. The service could be better especially when there are many customers. I was not sure about the dining environment at night but it was too dark in the afternoon. Will visit this restaurant in future but I must make sure that I ordered 2nd plate of rice and more papadum.

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Pastamania @ Gurney Plaza

Once I can’t differentiate between pasta and spaghetti but after visiting Pastamania at Gurney Plaza (next to cinema), it is clearer now. Pasta is an Italian term of “paste”, which is generic name for all kind of pastes made of flours, eggs or egg whites. Spaghetti is one type of pastas which is thin, long and cylindrical. I visited this restaurant as they provided 30% discount for student (remember to bring your badge and show to the host when ordering) from Mon – Fri (2pm – 6pm) so that poor students like me got chance to try foreign food.

Minestrone Soup

There are 3 combo meals in the menu. However, their combo came with at most a soft drink, soup, and garlic bread. That is, it came without main course. I ordered Combo A (RM8.90) which came with 3 items above and you could choose between Minestrone Soup and Chicken Soup. “Minestrone” refers to a soup made with various vegetable. The soup tasted like Kim Gary’s 罗宋汤 (Russian Borscht). Not bad.

Garlic Bread

But wait… a nice  soup cannot live without a garlic bread. I like to dunk it into the soup and eat it.

Marinara Spaghetti

For the main course, I ordered Marinara (RM17.90) consisting of prawns, squid, and clams in tomato herb sauce. You can choose pasta you like. For my case, I had chosen spaghetti. The sauce was slightly tasteless at first but you can always add chili, black pepper, or even cheese powder which were available on each table. I prefer this way instead of being too salty or too spicy when arriving on table. The seafood was fresh and generous. The pasta was hot as well.

Bruschetta

I should not order this Bruschetta (RM5.90). It contained the same “garlic bread” in which I dunked into my soup just now. “Bruschetta” is made of toasted baguette (bread) topped with marinated dices tomatoes… a common Italian dish. Not bad actually if I didn’t order garlic bread initially.

Pastamania Dining Area

At first glance, this restaurant provides variety of pastas, as well as pizza. Having 30% discount for students and no tax applied are really a plus. I only spent about RM27 that day after discount. Will try their pizza next time.

Related posts:

1. Ko-Fu Loft @ Gurney Plaza

Double Good (Batu Maung)

“Where is table 22?”. That’s one of the questions I heard from one of the waitresses on the opening day (Jul-21-2009) of Double Good (好好) Hong Kong Style Roasters restaurant in Batu Maung, Penang. It is the 3rd branch of Double Good (first in Bukit Jambul, second one in Prai’s Autocity). I like to have lunch in Bukit Jambul branch which is famous with its Indonesia Shrimps (印尼虾) and “Three Cup” Chicken (三杯鸡). This 3rd branch took different strategy by offering customers Hong Kong roasted duck/chicken/pork as their main course. Let’s see how’s the first day look like.

Dining Area

The restaurant was almost full even we arrived at 12am and some had to wait outside (I saw cariso as well). The service was in mess that day but anyway it was expected for most restaurants on the first day. I saw some familiar managers/waitresses face there. Perhaps training should be provided beforehand, not to mention that this is their 3rd branch. We waited until necks extended 1 cm for the food to arrive and we almost wanna canceled some of it.

Bean curd in Thai style

There was a portion in the menu which is called “Snack”. Not really a snack for me. They are more like a normal “choo char” dish for 2-3 persons to me. The bean curd in Thai style (泰式豆腐) (RM7.00) was good with generous topping.

Salad Chinese doughnut

The salad Chinese dougnut (沙律油条) (RM6.00) was kind of cold and hard. The topping was just plain. Perhaps some vinegar pickled carrot/cabbage would be good.

BBQ 4 meats with rice

As long as Chinese restaurant is concerned, my family is quite particular on the rice being served. It must be hot (unless it is Sushi). Else, we will lost our appetite even on the most delicious food. Unfortunately, the BBQ 4 mean with rice (烧味四拼饭) (RM6.50) I ordered had the same issue. Among Char Siew, Seow Bak, roasted chicken, and roasted duck, I prefer roasted duck followed by the Char Siew. The sauce was nice too. Just the rice…

Roasted Chicken Rice

The same applied to the Roasted Chicken Rice (RM2.80). From now until Jul-27-2009, you can enjoy it at RM1.80 per plate. Go! Go!

Longan and Soya Bean

It took one and a half hours to finish our simple chicken rice lunch. As first glance, the restaurant is trying to differentiate itself from competitors around by adapting new concept. In my opinion, it is a good start (there is a famous “choo char” Chinese restaurant behind it so it is difficult to stick with default concept). There is not many to recommend on my first visit but I believe the service can get better in time.

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Summer Garden Cafe

Previously, I found an article on a local newspaper on this cafe so I was planning to visit it one day. Early this week, thanks to a public holiday replacement, I was able to find this restaurant located at Tanjung Bungah while venturing around Batu Ferringi area.

Vellux Call System

The moment I sit down, I noticed a device on my table – a calling device made in Korea. I noticed a similar device in one of the Korean restaurants at Pulau Tikus there. Sadly I didn’t have a chance to play with it as the counter is just next to me (can waive hand to call waitress).

As mentioned in previous article, the place offered various type of food, from local to Japanese to western. The restaurant is targeted on mid to high income group, and is popular on its steaks imported from Kobe (神户）, Japan. I heard that cows over there are drinking beer + being massaged before being xxxxed to ensure that the meat is at upmost quality. Kia si lang!

BBQ Pork Ribs

BBQ Pork Ribs

From the menu, you can even order abalone, which is based on market price. Similar to Ingolf,  they serve beers in large glasses as well. Unfortunately, I cannot take beef as well as beers so I just ordered BBQ Pork Ribs (夏日园烤猪排) (RM26.00++) (Yeah, they serve pork). It is one of the house specialties, tender and smoky flavour glazed pork ribs. Sprinkle with sesame seed. The ribs are big and tender (seems like they boiled it first before BBQing it).

Tea and mushroom soup

By adding RM15, you are entitiled for soup of your choice, Smoked Duck Salad (RM25.00++ ala carte), and a tea. I ordered Cream of Fresh Mushroom Soup (RM9.00++ ala carte) which according to them is homemade.

Smoked Duck Salad

The Smoked Duck Salad is a thumb up. It is sliced smoked duck breast served on a bed of salad, served with cranberry sauce (copied from menu). However, I noticed that the portion became smaller (3 vs 6 pieces) compared to ala carte screenshot on the menu. Maybe it was the set meal “lite edition”.

Crepe Dream

Crepe Dream

Seriously the BBQ Pork Ribs was big and I was almost full. My butt, however, was still itchy and ordered another dessert – Crepe Dream (RM14.80++ for single scope or RM26.80++ for double scope). It was a thin pancake made with egg batter and stuffed with banana, chocolate, and rum sauce. It served with 1 or 2 scope of Haagen-Dazs ice cream of your choice. There were 3 choices and I picked Rum and Raisin, my all-time favorite. You know it was Haagen-Dazs based on its smoothness when putting it into your mouth.

Dining Area

Thanks to the itchiness, my bill ended up RM50++ for me alone Anyway, will try this restaurant in future as I not yet try their Japanese cuisine as well as their homemade cakes (heard they got my favorite Tiramisu cake). According to the owner, both menu and building are still expanding. At first glance, the restaurant provides a cozy and relaxing environment for customers to enjoy their Western/Chinese/Japanese food, including local, Japanese, and western.

Time to save money

Related posts:

1. [CN] Summer Garden
2. Summer Cafe, i-Avenue, Penang

Isaribi Tei

One weekday during lunch time, as usual, I was not sure where to eat… so I drive without any direction and passed by Burmah Road. Then, I suddenly remembered an email forwarded by my friend – Isabiri Tei. So, I paid it a visit that day and brought along my friends on next visit.

Dining Area

I must admit that the owner spent lots of effort in decorating the restaurant. Starting from the garden in front of the house to the backyard.

Tori Nasu Miso Yaki Set

There were many choices in the menu. During my first visit, I ordered Jun Special – Tori Nsu Miso Yaki Set (RM18.00 ++). The Tori is similar to the one in Teppan Yaki with the different that this one was grilled with seasoning from Miso soup as well. The chicken was tender and tasted good. It came with rice and salad. Unfortunately, the rice was little bit hard… evident of not enough water.

Salad came with set meal

Note that the salad was nicely prepared with tomato, broccoli, carrot, lettuce, onion, and tiny butter mashed potato.

Grilled Salmon Maki

I also ordered Grilled Salmon Maki (RM17.00++) which came in 4 pieces. Nicely prepared and tasted good.

Beef Cutlet Set

Then I brought my friends for second visit. Figure above shows Beef Cutlet Set (RM22.00++) which comes with rice, Miso soup, and mayonnaise. Tasted good according to my friend.

Smoked Salmon and Unagi MakiSmoked Salmon and Unagi Maki

This time we ordered smoked salmon and unagi maki (RM35.00++) which came in 8 pieces. As usual, it tasted good.

Seafood Teppanyaki

We also ordered Seafood Teppanyaki (RM32.00++) to share between us. It came with fish fillet, shrimps, squid rings, scallop, cabbage, and rice. Tasted good. On the down side, the scallop was kind of hard and I hope they will give me more instead of just only one.

Sushi and Tempuara Set

We also ordered Sushi and Tempura Set (RM28.00++), which came with 9 pieces of sushi and some tempura. Sushi were nicely prepared and tasted good. Tempura were kind of cold when they arrived. It also came with a plate of salad.

At first glance, the restaurant provides quality food and nice environment to dine in. The price is at slightly expensive side but it is expected judging on the facts above. The owner is actually a Japanese (Mr. Y. Kayashima). Will visit it in future.

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Canton-i

What to do after receiving your salary? First thing is to finish paying your debt, bills, loan, and wife (if any). If got extra balance, you are always welcome to transfer to my bank account. Other than that, we should enjoy a nice meal outside to pamper ourselves on hard work done. Two days ago we paid a visit to Canton-i (香港粥面家) at Queensbay Mall, which is well known of its true HK food (and price).

Dining Set

One of my friends visited it last time and was scolded by the management not to take photo. After interrogation, she was actually taking whole building photos like planning to come out with Home Decor or Casa Impian magazine… in which it is better to inform management first on such a “big event”.

水中花篮 Flowering Red Amaranth	七仙女 Seven Belle
冬瓜龙眼海底椰 Winter Melon Longan Sea Coconut	笼的传人 Dragon-i

Getting back to business, the flower teas (RM5.00++) were not bad and you can refill them. The “Dragon-i” drink (RM12.00++) which is made of dragon fruit, however, was just average and may not worth the value.

双拼捞面 Double Combo Wonton Noodle	双拼捞面 Double Combo Wonton Noodle (Soup)
炸酱面	猪软骨面 Soft Pork Rib Noodle

According to my friends, the wonton noodles topped with roasted duck/honey BBQ pork (char siew) were good in general. The shrimp wontons were wrapped with big shrimps. The price basically ranged from RM12.80 – RM13.80.

双拼饭 Double Combo Rice

Other than wonton noodle, you can order roasted duck/char siew combo with rice (RM12.80++). The rice portion look like Sushi for me but may be big for some girls.

香芋流沙奶黄包 Steamed Egg Yolk and Custard Bun

香芋流沙奶黄包 Steamed Egg Yolk and Custard Bun

I remembered that one of my blog commentators was looking for creamy custard in Penang, and I finally found one (RM6.00++) in Canton-i. Other than kawaii skin which looked artificial for me, it actually tasted good.

蛋挞 Egg Tart

薄餐

We also ordered some snacks like egg tarts (蛋挞) (RM5.00++)  and pan cake (薄餐) (RM5.00++). The egg tarts were slightly oily while the pan cake was sweet version stuffed with peanut crunch, coconut, refined sugar. It was hard instead of crunchy.

南乳猪手面 Braised Pig's Fore Shank Wonton Noodles

I ordered Braised Pig’s Fore Shank Wonton Noodles （南乳猪手面) (RM12.80++). The shank was well cooked and reminded me of good old time when my mum used to cook it…

Hair on Pig Fore Shank

Hmmm?? Hairs!!

Chopstick

At first glance, Canton-i really did provide true Hong Kong authenticated dishes. The foods are satisfying in general. However, they also transferred HK price to Penang here. Canton-i is under the same management of Dragon-i. Some waiters/waitresses were really friendly while some might not. The comment form was also poorly designed, such as requiring customers’ private information such as name and I/C number (This one really KNS!). Worse part is, one of the waiters even picked the comment form we filled in and had a look on the spot! He then ignored it after we declined to put our name and I/C number They also missing of the price rating question in the form (Yes, we know you are expensive).

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CHE GO Korean BBQ Dining Area

How was your weekend? For some, weekend is their shopping day. I don’t particularly like it as shopping complexes are usually crowded with people, not to mention paying for more expensive parking fee for limited space. I went to AEON Sebarang Prai last Saturday noon and surprisingly it was not crowded at all. I also paid CHE GO Korean BBQ Restaurant a visit.

Hot Pot Kimchi Fried Rice Set Lunch

CHE GO offers various Korean food, including kimchi, herbal chicken soup, pancake, ramen, and raw food in which you can fry them on your dining table. I had limited budget (Advise: Always check your wallet before entering any shop) that time so I order a Hot Pot Kimchi Fried Rice (泡菜石锅炒饭) (RM14.90++) set lunch, which consist of 2 vege side dishes, fruit, soup, and drink.

Hot Pot Kimchi Fried Rice

Unlike local fried rice, the hot pot kimchi fried rice is not oily at all. It was served in hot pot and had a half-fried egg on top and once you minced it with rice + kimchi, it tasted good like claypot rice and little spicy with the addition of kimchi.

Kimchi

The additional kimchi side dish was satisfactory as well.

At first glance, the restaurant provides some decent Korean food. The environment may be little bit warm if crowded. Not sure about its BBQ but hopefully can try it one day.

Related posts:

1. Aeon Shopping Center, Bukit Mertajam

Home's Cafe

I received a brochure in my letterbox one day. It is regarding a newly opened cafe similar to Old Towns, Island Red, Main Street, White House, etc. So, I paid the Home’s Cafe at D’Plazza a visit yesterday.

D'Plazza Early Stage

My first hearing of D’Plazza is from my colleague, who purchased a unit of apartment over there… an ideal place for Bayan Baru and Free Trade Zone (FTZ) workers. Why they so rich is beyond my knowledge. I only know how to eat. The building is just partially finished and many shops remain unopened as the time this blog is written. Luckily there is no construction going on around the cafe or else there will be added ingredient on food.

Nasi Lemak with Fried Chicken

I ordered 3 food + 1 drink, including this Nasi Lemak with Fried Chicken (RM5.00++). It really takes some time to prepare this simple meal… probably due to the fried chicken. Anyway, the chicken is nicely fried. Reminded me of KFC Nasi Lemak breakfast which costs a whoppy RM7++.

Ice Blended White Coffee

I remember I put “1″ next to “Hot White Coffee” in the order chit, but somehow they gave Ice Blended version (RM5.80++) Nvm… The white coffee tastes ok… not so sweet, not so thick either.

Cheese Toast with Onion

Here come Cheese Toast with Onion (RM4.20++), which is recommended by the owner. The bread is nicely toasted with thick layer of cheese. Very good in my opinion

I actually ordered Yam Cake also but unfortunately it never come, so I only got 2 food to share today. The hosts and waitresses seem busy and spinning around but is understandable due to new business. At first glance, the shop provides a comfortable environment for diners and possibly some good food. It poses the advantage of being the first restaurant opened in the plaza. Will try their Hokkien Mee, Hor Fan, Chicken Chop, Sausage, etc in next visit. I hope it will open during breakfast time for Omega eggs and Kaya breads.

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