It was last Saturday when a group of bloggers went for… wait… is this a wet market? Not really. It was Siong Ho Fishhead Bee Hoon and Porridge (松和鱼头米粉和粥) stall located inside Hualy Food Court at Weld Quay. You can pick various kind of seafood from the stall.

If you are coming from Jelutong Express Way, the food court is on your left after passing through a serious of traffic lights and before reaching ferry terminal.

At night, you will notice a signboard with a chef holding a fish.

That day, they showed us some giant and luxury fishes, including bass, groupers and expensive red groupers (七星斑).

This big grouper was ready to be slaughtered.

Before that, let the auntie hug hug first.

Each day they had fresh ingredients prepared, including tomyam paste, fried garlics, spring onions, rice noodles, fish balls, pork’s kidney, quail’s eggs, and mints.

The cook was preparing fried fish fillets.

The fried fish fillets were ready to be served.

Tom Yam Prawn Maggi Mee (东炎虾面) (RM9 – RM10) – One of the best dish Prawns were fresh. Tom yam soup was not too spicy. Suitable for most people even heavy sweater like me. Of course you can’t compare the tom yam in authentic Thai restaurant but the paste here had certain quality.

Tom Yam Fried Fish Head (Thick) Bee Hoon (东炎炸鱼头粗米粉) (RM6) – The soup was same with previous one. Just that it was replaced with thick vermicelli  and fish head. The fish nugget was fried beforehand and was kind of thick. Personally I prefer thin fresh fish slices cooked with tom yam beforehand, allowing the soup penetrating the skin. Note that thick noodle absorb soup very fast.

Tom Yam Sotong Bee Hoon (东炎鱿鱼米粉) (RM6) – The sliced octopus was kind of plain due to its nature. Again, long hour cooking beforehand would make the octopus tastier.

Mixed Seafood Tom Yam Soup (东炎海鲜汤) (RM8 – RM12) – Of course if you don’t like noodle, vermicelli, rice or whatsoever, you can just order plain tom yam seafood soup.  The different is that it came with some meatballs and mushrooms.

Serious I don’t have much chance to try every single dish that day. 23 people of us, each person one spoon already finished up one dish. Next few dishes are clear soup version. The soup used chicken bone as base.

First one is Crab (Thick) Bee Hoon (螃蟹清汤粗米粉) (RM5/100gms) – I didn’t have a chance to try the crab but according Sam Ong (who “stole” half of the crab), the crab was lack of meat even it looked big.

The same went to Crab Porridge (螃蟹粥) (RM5/100g) – Seriously after spending effort cracking crab using hands, I am not sure whether I still have mood to eat porridge or not.

Grouper Fish Bee Hoon (石斑鱼肉清汤米粉) (RM8)

Fried Fish Maggi Mee (炸鱼肉清汤面) (RM6)

Frog Porridge (田鸡粥) (RM6/100g) – The frog for me was just average. A little plain… or maybe I was “stunted” by Tom Yam’s spiciness just now.

Pork Mee Suah (肉料面线) (RM8) – If you don’t like seafood or in illness recovery mode,  it is good to have a bowl of pork wheat vermicelli. It is nice to see wheat vermicelli here.

The pork was freshly minced into a bowl.

For clear soup version, the best (IMO) still goes to Chinese Pomfret Porridge (斗底鱼粥) (RM7/100g). The sweetness of the pomfret made the soup tasted good.

The best dish of the day went to Claypot Fish Head (红烧鱼头) (RM12 – RM15). Best served hot. It was as good as those you will get in restaurant. An additional of a few small chilies stimulate your taste bud.

Lastly they had Fried Fish Bee Hoon (炒炸鱼肉米粉) (RM6.50). It had “Wok Hei”.

The claypot was basically for decoration purposes.

We also had some drinks that day.

The one I ordered was Ginseng Root Wolfberry Red Date Tea (洋参须杞子红枣茶) (RM1.40). Not bad. This reminded me that I should make this kind of drink at home more to maintain health.

As a whole, Claypot Fish Head is a must try, followed by Fried Fish Bee Hoon. Price is reasonable as well. Some seafood is seasonal-based so it could be just average sometimes. The clear and tomyam soup are satisfactory. There is a parking area next to the restaurant so it should not be an issue. Will visit the stall again.

Special thank to Ah How and Criz for their generosity.

Participating bloggers:

http://crizfood.com/
http://studiomoonspell.blogspot.com/
http://sexydracula.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001113331161
http://www.mrain.com/pgcc/
http://www.foodpromotions.com.my/
http://www.icalvyn.com/
http://www.sherming.com/
http://www.limpek.com/
http://www.joannechong.com/
http://www.ifublog.com/cincai
http://blog.yam.com/summermaples
http://hudxismephotoblog.blogspot.com/
http://vernonkong.blogspot.com/
http://iamkezman.blogspot.com/
http://louislimkh.blogspot.com
http://www.foodmice.com/

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Ahhhh~ finally a delicious egg tart in dim sum restaurant! The filling was thick, sweet, fragrant, and shining. The skin was like puff skin and wouldn’t mess all over the table.  At 8am, all egg tarts were finished.

The restaurant is Tho Yeun Dim Sum 桃园点心. It was located along Campbell Street, Georgetown, Penang (N 05.41806, E 100.33382). We went there in last Saturday morning around 7am. That was another weekend in which I had to stay in Penang island for another food review.

The host served you by pushing a trolley to your table. I saw an article on wall saying that the restaurant had been operating there for 80 years. The restaurant is also selling mooncake. I plan to get one “Single York Durian Mooncake” but sadly it is still not yet available that time.

Having said that, the restaurant was nicely decorated with lanterns even though it was an old building.

As usual, first time visit must order Siew Mai 烧卖 and Har Kao 虾饺. The Siew Mai tasted a bit sweet. From the figure above you see two more items I ordered – fish balls and “not-sure-whats-the-name” dish.

The prawns in Har Kao tasted fresh.

The Lor Mai Kai 糯米鸡 really got chicken taste. Too bad it was too dried.

The chicken legs was a bit hard for my liking. It was cooked with mushroom and ginger. I still prefer the one cooked with herbs.

Their fried stuff was not bad as well, namely their fried prawn stuff (虾卷/虾饺). They are not oily nor over-fried. You can select different type of fried prawn stuff and mix into one plate (each costs RM1.20).

They also have some specialties, including this “again-I-forgot-to-get-the-name” dim sum, which had fish and pork minced and wrapped in Siew Mai skin.

We were almost full… yet we did not try their bao yet.

My friend asked me is this Malai Gao 马来糕 (steamed egg sponge cake) or Ji Dan Gao 鸡蛋糕 (baked egg sponge cake)? To solve the mystery, I took one piece and tried it up. Yup, this is Malai Gao. It was still warm when served, which I liked.

At first glance, the egg tart is a must-try but be sure to go there early. Dim sum tastes a bit sweet but still not bad overall. Price is reasonable. Food presentation is just average. Two of us ate until peng toh (overeat) plus tabao 4-5 dishes and it cost about RM37. Will visit the restaurant again as I saw some customers enjoying claypot porridge, which looked unique… Heh~

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Sawadeeka~ Today I bring you all far far… far far at Teluk Bahang, which is after Batu Ferringgi if you coming from town. We were invited for a food review at Tree Monkey inside Tropical Spice Garden, a tourist spot in Penang with a lot of herbs and plants for viewing pleasure. I had been there once but didn’t notice that there was a restaurant inside.

This is the GPS location.

Don’t worry if you don’t have GPS as there is a signboard at the roadside.

Remember to take the left path and you need to walk up a bit and reach a staircase. The restaurant is on top.

The dining area is partitioned into different styles – hut, tatami, and “not-so-standard” table.

What I meant on “not-so-standard” table is because the tables and chairs are imported from Chiangmai and they are assembled without a single nail!

From the menu board, you roughly know what kind of restaurant it is. Hehe~

We even saw people having parasailing on the ocean.

The environment is really super nice. There’s sea view, soft music, and dim ambient at night. A very good place for couples. Note that some fellow insects may say “hi” to you when dining, including mosquitoes. The restaurant actually did prepare some mosquito coils.

This was our welcoming drink – Sunset Paradise (RM10.00) and is only available between 6pm – 7pm

It was a new drink and tasted good.

The presentation was quite nice, which had pineapple leave and cherry on top.

We were served with two signature dishes. The first one was Thai Tapas. Here’s the deal, you can choose among 8 pieces (RM30)/ 12 pieces (RM45) / 16 pieces (RM60) from the following menu:

If I am going to pick 16 pieces, definitely I will pick 16 x Mussel Salsa :evilsmile:  but there is a catch. You can only select max 4 pieces per item.

The second was Asian Tapas. The selection is different compared to the first one. You can select 8 dishes (RM60) or 12 dishes (RM90). Repetition allowed:

Again, if I were you, I will select 6 x Nam Tok and 6 x Beef Rendang as according to other food bloggers (I cannot take beef), they were the best among others. However, the catch is that you can only select maximum 2 of the same dish.

The Tomyum soup is one of the selections, and it was one of the best you can find in Penang island. It was a bit spicy and if you don’t like spicy soup, you may try the white soup which is also known as Tomkha. It tasted sweet with mild-to-none spiciness.

The family photo. The meal comes with 2 x tumeric rice, which tasted good even eat at its own. Having said that, this meal could be designed for two persons.

Ah~ sunset~ super nice. Sadly it was blocked by some trees but no big deal.

After the meal, here came the dessert – Coconut ice cream (Thai coconut ice cream topped with jackfruit and sea coconut seed) (RM8.80).

I use this photo as my wallpaper.

After the meal, we had special tea and coffee – Spice Tea/Coffee with Condensed Milk (Hot or Cold) – RM8.00. Yeww~ maybe I was not used to it. I ordered tea and it had strong spice taste… like Chinese Five Spices 五香粉. My tongue paralyzed after finishing it.

There is a shop selling various kind of spices, herbs, lotions, soaps, and etc. I took this opportunity to snap some photos.

After the unique tea/coffee session, we called it a day. The staircase is a bit dark at night. Luckily I have my pocket LED light with me.

As a whole, a classy, romantic, and relaxing dining place. Having meal here is more like paying for ambient than the food. The food itself actually not bad as well as they are prepared by authentic Thais. It should be a popular dining area for tourists since it is located inside a tourist attraction.

You may download the menu from here. Note that it may change from time to time.

Fast Facts:

• 80 pax capacity
• WiFi available
• Pork Free
• Vegetarian available
• Family Dining
• Alcoholic beverages available (RM30 per bottle corkage charges)
• Boss: Mr. PattKhor, Person-in-charge: Ms Wisakha
• Business establishment: 30 July 2010
Furniture from Chiangmai. No nails used in building set up.
Chefs from North East Thailand.
Herbs to use in kitchen taken from the spice garden.

Participating bloggers:

1. William Tan – http://www.genesissix.com/
2. Warren Tan – http://www.genesissix.com/
3. CK Lam – http://www.what2seeonline.com/
4. Criz Lai – http://crizfood.com/
5. Carrie Soon – http://www.cariso.net/
6. Lingzie – http://www.lingzie.com/
7. Alan Choong – http://allaboutpenangfood.blogspot.com/
8. Amanda Teoh – http://allaboutpenangfood.blogspot.com/
9. Steven Goh – http://www.stevengoh.com/
10. Mary Teo  – http://reginatravel-foodparadise.blogspot.com/
11. Cheah BH (Bee) – http://buzzingbee.blogsome.com/
12. Patrick Soon – http://studiomoonspell.blogspot.com/
13. Tiffany Thor – http://sexydracula.blogspot.com/
14. Yeap Jian Ming – http://cokeworldcitizen.blogspot.com/
15. Chan Chee Wah (Waco) – http://www.noweating.com/
16. Nel Ng – http://bearyinformative.blogspot.com/
17. Emily Chong – http://www.millymin.com/
18. Xherlyn Chong – http://hysteric-elegance.blogspot.com
19. Calvyn Lee – http://www.icalvyn.com/
20. Sherming Chua – http://www.sherming.com/
21. David Lee – http://www.limpek.com/
22. Joanne Chong – http://www.joannechong.com/
23. Danny Ooi – http://www.joannechong.com/

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After the dim sum, I spent my evening at Strada Caffe, a casual dining place in Kyrstal Point, Bayan Lepas, Penang. We were invited to review the food there and spent 4 hours there snapping and tasting food. In this post, I will introduce some dishes I tried that day.

The place is air-conditioned and separated into three areas – non-smoking area, smoking area, and private “cubes”.  The moment you walked in, the coffee aroma stormed your nose. Yes, one of their specialties is coffee.

We tried some starters, Asian Delights and Western cuisines that day. The first item arrived on the table was Green Garden Salad (RM8.90). It consists of lettuce, capsicum, onion, croutons, sun flower, seed, egg and smoked chicken, served with house salad dressing. The sauce was actually home-mixed. Tasted good.

Surprise! It has Seafood Chowder in Bread Bowl (RM15.90) as well. The seafood was simmered with mushrooms, carrots, potatoes, onions, celery, heavy cream and a touch of butter.  The bread was a bit  hard somehow.

Next we move to Asian Delights. Kam Heong Seafood Combo (RM8.90) was not bad. It consisted of prawns and squid rings in Kam Heong sauce, and topped with an egg and prawn crackers. You usually find this kind of dish in choo char outside. Surprisingly it tasted as good as the one outside.

Next is Salted Fish with Chicken Fried Rice (RM8.90). The chicken wing tasted sweet with coated honey. The fried rice was lack of “Wok hei” but the overall taste still okay.

For western food, the Mongolian Chicken (RM15.90) was good. The sweet and spicy sauce tasted good. The coleslaw tasted like the one in KFC.

They do have some yummy milkshake with ice cream (a.k.a frappes). From the figure above, there are Choco Banana Frappes (RM8.90) and Strawberry Kiss Frappes (RM8.90). Some preferred Strawberry while some prefer Choco Banana. I prefer Choco Banana Frappes as it is less sweet.

If you don’t like banana favor, you may try Chocolate Chip Frappes (RM8.90). It tastes excellent as well.

I liked that Mango Frappe (RM8.90) as well. Another item in the figure above was Orange Jewel Milk Shake (RM7.90).

More important are their espresso, coffee, and latte. They really did invest in espresso machine and have nice latte art on top. I don’t have a chance to try that day but they looked tempting.

Other than asian delights and western food, the cafe also provides cakes.

We tried 3 favorites that day – (from top to bottom) Marble Cheese, Chocolate Mint, and Oreo Chillied Cheese (all at RM6.90/pc). I liked them all and fortunately the cheese taste were light, in which I prefer. Else it is hard to get rid of the cheesy smell before you go to sleep even you swallow whole bottle of Listerine.

Finally, we had iced coffee slush (RM9.90). It was the mixture of liquid plain coffee with a scope of vanilla ice-cream. It tasted bitter at first when you put a spoonful into your mouth, but sweet in the end. You probably will see two face reaction when eating this. Kind of unique experience.

We had too many items during that night. For the rest, I just made them into slide shows. Below are the price lists sorted in the way they appears in slide show:

Kung Pao Chicken (RM9.90) – Stir fried with kung pao sauce, served with cashew nuts, fried egg, prawn crackers and rice.
Bao Zhiang Mien 爆酱面 (RM11.90) – Noodle in house-blended gravy, with minced chicken and 3-colored vegetables.
Tomyam Seafood (RM8.90) – A choice of bee hoon or instant noodles.
Ice Bear (RM6.90)
Italian Lime Soda Float (RM6.90)
Spaghetti Bolognese (RM9.90)
Caffe Strada Roast Chicken (RM13.90)
Cheezy Grilled Chicken (RM17.90)
Grilled Butter Fish (RM19.90)
Fish and Chip (RM8.90)
Grilled Lamb Shoulder (RM19.90)
Caffe Strada BBQ Chicken Wing (2pcs RM5.90, 4pcs RM9.90) – served with house chicken wing sauce

As a whole, a “not so” casual dinning place in business center. At one end, it is a hang out place with people singing (similar to Station 1). At another end, it is like mamak stall in which you can catch football event there. At another another end, it could be a preferable place for couples and families due to quality of food Anyway, we could see that the owner did invest on coffee machine. They do have some specialties, such as home-made garden salad and cakes.

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Usually I will go back hometown on Friday. If not, then I stay overnight in Penang and go for jogging the next morning. Recently got many so if you asked me what I did on Saturday morning – dim sum. Getting bored of those commercialized dim sum restaurants, I searched around and found this old dim sum restaurant – Aik Hoe Restaurant 益和茶楼 (N05°25.076′, E100°20.166′) at Carnovon Street, George Town, Penang.

In newer restaurants, you usually will notice a order chit placed on table. In busy days, you need to select dim sum from a counter. Items you taken will be recorded on the order chit. After the meal, some even want you to pay at the counter. This is not the case in Aik Hoe, in which maids will bring a basket of dim sum to your table for you to select. This kind of style is nothing special in my hometown, but in Penang island, it is rare. The price is quite reasonable. Normal dim sum only costs RM1.60 while special one is only RM2.00.

Tea is counted by headcount. I ordered Tie Guan Yin 铁观音 and it was only RM0.90 (versus RM1.00 in most restaurants).

These were what I ordered that day. The har kao 虾饺, siew mai 烧卖, and fish balls 鱼丸 were fresh but slightly smaller. For me, they are okay considering the price.

The tu kar chor 猪脚醋 was slightly disappointing – lack of vinegar taste (probably due to overcook) and lack of oily skin – which I like.

What is this? It consisted of minced pork wrapped in thick rice noodle. The taste was a bit dissapointing as it tasted more like the content of “Tua Bao” 大包… and was a bit sour. Yeww….

They do have some “choo char”. I did order fried noodle 煎生面 (RM4.50) – my favorite. It came with fresh peeled prawns and fish fillets. I noticed some tables ordered Wan Tan Noodle as well. Will try that next time.

It was Saturday morning and surprising it was not crowded. Parking could be a bit far since there is a morning market there. It is hard to find dim sum shops cheaper than this in the island (except the colorful dim sum in night market, of course). The female owner was friendly. It is a daily gathering place for old folks. For them, it is their happiest moment of the day. For me, it is another restaurant I need to share with you.

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This restaurant name is catchy – in Chinese it sounds like you need to reserve first before dining there. Situated in previous  Swenswen’s lot (next to Sakae Sushi) in Queensbay was a new high class Taiwanese restaurant called Xian Ding Wei 鲜定味. I first visited it on 30-Mar-2010. Cheap labor like me was not able to visit it again to cover more aspects so I might just post the “first glance” now.

I went there with my colleagues during lunch hour. That time we just received “bribe” ($$ a.k.a 遮丑费 paid by someone to cover crime, in this case, crime of intentionally underpaying employees) from company so we decided to pay this newly-opened (that time) restaurant a visit. We flipped through menu and eventually we all ordered “set meals” as those are the only items we could afford:

Taiwan Style Sweet and Sour Pork Set 糖醋咕佬肉套餐 (RM17.90++). As you can see from the figure. The set meal was nicely decorated. There was a bowl of soup of the day, rice (choose between white rice or braised pork rice 卤肉饭), few dessert, and the main course. The main course was served on metal pot/plate and was heated up to keep the food warm.

Similarly, soup was covered with a lid as well. By the way, Sweet and Sour Pork Set was just average according to my friend. Kind of hard and lack of sauce.

Braised Pork Leg with Peanut Set 花生卤猪脚套餐 (RM19.90++), however, was good. In fact, it was the best among others.

The pork leg was braised for long hour, allowing the sauce and fragrant of the spice penetrating the skin. It is not too salty and best consume with rice. The portion is “big” as well (well, at least the biggest among others).

I was the most unlucky person. I ordered Dry Shrimp in Sweet Ferment Rice Wine Set 酒酿干烧虾套餐 (RM19.90++). The menu screenshot looked promising with more than 2 big shrimps. When it arrived… however….

Two shrimps for RM20++? Also, there was no rice wine taste. More like Thai Sauce Shrimp to me. I ended up had to cut each shrimp into 10+ chunks and slowly consumed it with rice. While eating, I keep on comparing the portion with the screenshot on the menu. “How come like that?”

Last set meal was the Sweet Braised Squid Set 红烧蜜中卷套餐 (RM19.90++).

It was okay but again, the portion could be bigger.

Good thing is, their drink was somehow special. I ordered Mixed Fruit Tea 什锦水果茶 (RM5.90++) and it was excellent in term of presentation and taste.

It may be a bit too sweet for some people though.

My friend ordered Dragon Fruit Juice 龙珠果汁 (RM5.90++) and it was just not as pure as the one blended at home. From my understanding is that Red Dragon Fruit is session fruit. Wonder how they ensure that the item is available 365 days…

At first glance, excellent food presentation. However, we felt being cheated by screenshots from the menu. It is not about the texture of the food (even though there are differences), but the quantity. The actual food itself had smaller portion. With such price, I would expect bigger  portion, and also bigger bowl of rice. Perhaps the restaurant is out of my league. Four of us spent RM102.80 that day. There are lots of improvement need to be done. Will visit it again provided someone treat me.

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Welcome to the month. Within this lunar month, believers usually try to avoid setting up big events as they may offense our “good brothers”. Anyway, thing has its exception. We had a new dim sum restaurant called Viva Dim Sum Delight (东城点心) opened on 10-Aug-2010 (Tue). It is located just next to Chinese Swimming Club in Tanjung Tokong and occupied a section in a food court called Viva (previously known as Sea Horse food court). A group of bloggers were invited for a food preview in one of the afternoons.

According to the owner, the objective of his dim sum restaurant is to change Penangites mindset that they can enjoy hotel-class dim sum at food court price. They are specialized in “bao” and I had the most “bao” in one day in my whole life that day.

What surprised me is that they did offer Shanghainese Meat Dumpling (Xiao Long Bao 小笼包) at unbelievable price – RM4.80!! First thing came into my mind when ordering this dish in normal dim sum restaurants is – the Xiao Long Bao was dried and torn off before arriving. Surprisingly, this is not the case in this restaurant.

The dumplings were wrapped into perfection and there was still soup inside. It was smaller compared to some high-class restaurants but judging on the price, you can’t complain much. In most restaurants, the price is double-digit.

Second item which impressed me was the Steamed Bun with Butter Cream and Salted Egg Yolk 特制流沙包. This bao usually only can be found in “Wong Kok” style high class restaurants. The bao texture is nice and the “gravy” will spill out the moment you tear it off.

There is a way to eat this bao. How I usually consume is I use my front teeth to “drill” a hole on the bao’s skin, then suck the gravy out slowly (it is hot). Only start biting the skin when you finished sucking the gravy.

Also available was the Baked Hong Kong Style Polo Bun 香港菠萝包. The content was make of Char Siew 叉烧.

Viva Dim Sum Delight sure has many unique bao. Another one was Shanghainese “Mistress” Bun 上海二奶包 which looked like women breast with nipples . The coated skin was sweet and shining, making you wanna lick it.

The content was made of white cream (白奶油), making you wanna suck it.

This is not ordinary Lotus Paste Bun 莲蓉包. It is Steamed Bun with Premium Lotus Paste and Egg Yolk 蛋皇莲蓉包. The content was a bit sweet to my liking.

This reminded me Moon Cake Festival is coming.

Next one is Steamed Bun with Supreme Barbecued Pork 蜜汁叉烧包. For me it was just average. Too dried, perhaps?

Can you imagine how many buns I ate that day?

Other than buns, the restaurant also has some special dim sum. The one which caught my eye was Crispy Dragon Roll 香脆升龙卷. It is similar to the normal prawn roll 虾卷 we had in normal restaurant, except this one is 3 times bigger. The mustard was mixed by chef himself.

The content? Full of prawns.

Also special was 龙须卷 (I don’t have its English name here). Note that this item is only available during weekend.

The filling was special as it was made of avogado 鳄梨, cream 奶油, and butter 牛油. The outer layer was fried into crispy with rice noodle.

The Traditional Steamed Glutinous Rice 古法糯米鸡 consists of chicken, Char Siew, and Chinese Sausage 腊肠. Depend on personal liking, this is a slightly dry version (some prefer wet). More ingredients (e.g. mushroom) would be better.

This dish looks a bit “Japanese”. It is called Scallop and Fish Roe Dumpling 凤眼带子饺. Good if you like fish roe.

As a whole, hotel-style dim sum at food court price. The Xiao Long Bao 小笼包 is definitely worth a try due to its quality and competitive price. In order to provide the best quality, the flour used to make buns is actually imported from Hong Kong (and hence the great texture on their buns). It opens from morning till evening. Judging from the menu, it is targeted on young to middle age customers. According to the chef, they planned to add “ramen” section in three months time if business goes smoothly.

Special thanks to both chefs.They are quite young, aren’t they?

This is the GPS location.

You may also download their full menu as well as “Teach Yourself Eat Xiao Long Bao” guide below. I was heard that the dim sum is by order basis during weekday. It is understandable as Xiao Long Bao need to be consume immediately after steaming.

Viva Dim Sum Menu

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When I told my friend that I am going to Young Heart, their first impression was Young Hearts bras :facewall:  . From Penang foodies’ POV, it was a restaurant in Pulau Tikus, Penang. I heart of Young Heart before but never had a chance to visit it. Some bloggers had blogged about it and feedback were generally not bad. Fortunately I was invited for new menu items review last Saturday.

The moment I walked into this restaurant, I feel comfortable as the dining area was nicely decorated. There was an area with tatami as well.

The owner must be a plant lover. There are numerous plants around house’s compound. There are many aloe vera plants as well and they are used to prepare drinks. A true home-grow and home-made recipe.

This is the owner’s cutie lion… uh… dog. So cute until I wanna cubit (pinch) it. It was kind of drowsy as we accidentally woke it up.

If my blogging tool has rating system, I would give 5 stars for the cleanliness.

Now, let’s go to the food. The first new item was the new “All Day Long Super Value Package” (全天候超值优惠套餐). There are two packages – 2 persons and 4 persons. For the 2 persons, you are entitled to order 2 main courses of your choice + 1 vegetable of the day + 1 soup of the day + rices/noodles at only RM39.80. You may sound “Wah! One person around RM20… worth or not?”. Let’s see what we can order from the menu…

For the two main courses, you can pick from 15 items in the menu. I would go for prawns or chicken since there will be a vegetable dish provided. Also, I would go for the noodle since the portion was bigger. The two main courses we ordered on that day was Chinese Teriyaki Prawn 酱烧明虾 and Orange Pork Chop 橙花猪扒.

There is no restriction on which package you can order. If 3 of you went there and you would like to order this 2 person package, you are allowed to do so. Of course, for hungry ghost like me, I could swallow this 2 person package alone.

From the figure above, you may noticed a plate of  dumpling, a.k.a. Jiaozi 饺子. It comes together with both packages only during dinner time (from 6pm – 8pm) (Don’t ask me why). So, the package more worth it if you went there in the evening .

For 4 persons package, you are welcomed to choose 3 main courses (instead of 2), and the price is RM59.80. We had Stir Fried Broccoli with Mix Mushroom 鲜菇拌炒西兰花, Stewed Chestnut Chicken 栗子焖鸡, and Deep Fried Garlic Prawns 香蒜炸明虾.

Other than Super Valued Package, there are 50% discount during happy hour (3pm – 6pm) daily. The discount, however, applied on certain items only, and they change from time to time . There will be a “Secret Receipe” flipping card on table for you to refer. The following were 50% items we enjoyed that day (Price shown is before discount):

Stuffed Chicken with Dried Oyster 发财好市焖鸡 (RM7.00). I like this one. Huat Chai + Dried Oyster usually gave an impression of “salty”. This one, however, just well done and best consumed with rice.

Deep Fried Balacan Pork Belly (Balacan 香酥肉) (RM10.00). Beware of this dish. Once consumed, it is hard to stop.

I don’t have a chance to try this Home-Made Young Heart Steam Tofu 葱油豆腐 :(

Twin’s Coli with Bailing Mushroom in Special Sauce 灵菇扒双花 (RM18.00). This is something special. It looks like Hor Fun, but it was actually cauliflower fried with “fake abalone” and topped with dried scallops. Cauliflower lover should try this.

There are also some home-made drinks in which you can add additional aloe vera flesh into it. I am lazy to go through on all the orders except the one I ordered…

.. which was Honey Lemon with Sea Coconut (with aloe vera) 蜂蜜柠檬海椰 (RM6.00). Tasted great. You probably spent most of your time “sucking” those sea cocounut and aloe vera.

The table was full of food.

As a whole, a relaxing green lung in the stressful city. This is a restaurant definitely worth the visit. The restaurant makes you feel at home as it is so comfy that you will lay on floor and . The home-grown aloe vera as an ingredient is a competitive advantage. Food quality vs price is excellent as well. Of course, if you want to eat Char Koey Teow or BBQ crabs, this is probably not the place. The food here is more health-concerned. With so many items choose from the menu, perhaps the only item in my wish list is – free-flow rice. For more information you should visit their official website.

After the review, we chit chat for a while. There is a board on the wall which inspired me – 只要有心改变，一切焕然不同。Yes, if you are willing to change, things will be different. When will our “wise” government will see through this?

Lastly, let me cubit the “lion” again…

Participating bloggers:

Gourmet Garden
Steven Goh
Food Promotions
Cariso
Criz Lai
and me.

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As mentioned, June to August is Durian session. My colleagues and I are durian fan. We dared enough to travel to Balik Pulau just for durian lunch. The first trip was on 3-Jun-2010, in which we traveled to Balik Pulau Wet Market by two cars. There was a durian stall called 118 which was recommended by friend’s friend.

The stall is located inside Balik Pulau Wet Market. Enter the main entrance and continue straight until reaching the end. The stall in on your left.

For the first trip, we enjoyed Little Red 小红, D604, D703, and Zhu Chun 株春. They are far more delicious than normal unbranded durians. However, the first trip was disappointing as some of the branded durians had not fell down yet due to raining session. We were expecting Bak You 肉油 and Green Skin 青皮. My colleagues preferred bitter type of durians.

23 days later, we went to the same stall again. This time, there were branded durians, such as Ang Jing 红仁, Hor Lor 葫芦, D14, Green Skin 青皮, Lim Feng Jiao 林凤娇 and Ang Heh 红虾. The owner also offered a special durian with wine taste, or simply known as XO. As a whole, the winner went to Ang Heh. It was soft and smooth with strong aroma. The pulp was thick and sweet with a bit bitter (甜中带苦).

Overall, 8 persons of us tried 11 durians that day if not wrong, and it cost RM120 (each person RM15). The owner was quite friendly and offered us extra durians when we found out that some of them were less than satisfactory.

Here’s the contact detail in case you would like to make reservation.

118 was not only the durian stalls in Balik Pulau Wet Market. In fact, there was another stall I visited. This time, I brought along a Japanese friend. Surprisingly he liked durian as well. Sadly I could not remember all genres I tried this rouund, except green apple 青苹果, in which my Japanese friend found it quite sweet and tasty. He preferred sweet than bitter type.

Thanks to the owner and also my friend who treat me the durians.

Taking durian photo is a challenging task for little birdie like me. First, all durians look the same. Second, you need to remember different species of the durian you enjoyed. Lastly, you have to eat also! Others won’t wait for you to finish taking photos.

As a whole, this year’s durian session was kind of disappointing due to raining session, but still worth a try (not to mention that it is only once a year). Do pay Balik Pulau area a visit. You will find some durian stalls at the road side.

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Area around Sunshine Square is a great place to work. There are many restaurants around. The only cuisines not available are “Choo Char” and dim sum. Last month, the first “problem” solved as Fisherman Wharf 东海渔村海鲜餐厅 initially opened at Bayan Lepas had opened a branch in Sunshine Square (the area where Nanyang computer shop previously opened). There was RM2 offer for certain dishes last month so we took that opportunity to pay it a visit.

I went there with my colleagues. Some of them already been there for 2nd time. The environment was nicely decorated and there are some private rooms.

On the wall there was a long painting showing the Penang Bridge. Take a look and you will see some funny elements in it.

The place was crowded that day since it was the last day for the RM2 offer. First item to arrive was the baby chicken 童子鸡 (RM2.00 each). Tasted good. However, we noticed that some chickens were over-fried than others.

We also got informed that the rice was by headcount. So take as many rice as you want.

The item of the day was actually Deep Fried Trotter in Thai Style (暹炸咸猪手) (RM40). My colleagues had tried last time and would like to try again. Note that we were not rich, but simply like to eat (a.k.a “tam jiak”). The portion this time, however, was slightly smaller.

When eating trotter, some of us preferred the meat portion, while some preferred skin + oily portion. I am the later type.

The trotter, as a whole, was not as delicious as the one I encountered in some of the restaurants in Kedah, but it was one of the best in Penang island.

By the way, the dark soy sauce was delicious. It is good to dip it with the lettuce decor on the dish.

After that dish, more and more customers flooded in and the serving stopped for quite some times. We waited impatiently and finally here came the signature bean curd 招牌豆腐 (RM2.00). This was the second time we ordered the dish and one funny thing is that the bean curd had been changed from homemade to Japanese bean curd instead.

My friend ordered Fried “Bee Hoon” Singapore Style 新洲米粉 (RM6). Tasted nice.

We continued waiting and we had to remind them on the last dish they missed out – Pork Stomach Soup 猪肚汤 (RM2.00) which was readily made. It came with ginkgoes. Sadly they were  a bit cold when they arrived.

Finally a fine dining Chinese restaurant in Sunshine Square area. It should be a good place to bring foreigners/visitors for local cuisine. Hope it will sustain after promotion period and the food won’t be “double standard” thereafter. Perhaps I am too handsome, we even got a “discount” on the bill (actually it was due to mistyping). Good thing is that the waitresses worked in professional manner even at peak hour. The Deep Fried Trotter in Thai Style was delicious. Will visit it again when someone treating.

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