MFM – Excellent meals, expensive meals.

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

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

Alaska Pollock and Chip

Sweet Alabama Smoothie

Sweet Alabama Smoothie

Hot Chocolate

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

Baked Fish In Garden Herbs

Fried Country Mushroom

Garlic, Chili, and Tartar Sauces

Fried Country Mushroom

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 Roma’s – Famous on its ribs, expensive on its dishes

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

五花肉 Streaky Pork

: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.

花生汤 Peanut Soup

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.

Famosa Chicken Rice Ball – A not-so-famous commercialized shop

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

Chicken rice ball

First of all, the chicken rice ball is tasteless.

Quarter of Steamed + Roasted Chicken

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

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

El Mondo Pizza – Good Food Wrong Place

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

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

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

Soup of Vegetable

Fish and Salsa

Fish and Salsa

Tiramisu

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.

Summer Cafe, i-Avenue, Penang

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

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

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

铁板芝士海鲜饭 Tepan Cheese and Seafood with Rice

招牌红烧铁板豆腐 Tepan Toufu

招牌红烧铁板豆腐 Tepan Toufu

Deep Fried Squid 香脆苏东

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

雪泡杂果 Mix Fruit and Ice Cream

巧克力情人 Chocolate Lover

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)

Kenny Rogers Roasters – Different branch different value

Updated 17-Jul-2013: This Kenny Rogers outlet was closed.

Exif_JPEG_PICTURE

Quarter Chicken with Original Sauce

Those living in the cities should be familiar with Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurant. Its slogan: “Less fat… less salt… less calories…” may attract customers looking for healthier chicken meals. In Penang, I had visited the branch in Bukit Jambul Complex and Queensbay Mall. The one in Bukit Jambul Complex has to wait longer even though there is no customer, while the chicken in Queensbay Mall is smaller.

:dissapoint:

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Aeon Shopping Center, Bukit Mertajam

 Update 10-Jul-2014: AEON Bandar Perda is closed since 15-Apr-2014 and will be re-open at Alma (GPS: 5.320137, 100.477550) on 30-Aug-2014. The main tenant will be replaced by Parkson.

Shopping Mall View

Yesterday was the first day of Hari Raya and I spent some hours in office to update some status back to US counterparts so that they can proceed with their work during this long holiday (see, how committed I am). Thinking of where to eat for lunch, I eventually stopped by Aeon Shopping Center at Bukit Mertajam before going back to hometown.

AEON BM Map

Fortunately it is quite easy to find the shopping complex (see wikipedia). If you come from Penang Bridge, easiest way is to make a U-turn below Kulim-Butterworth highway (same junction in which if you turn left you will go to Sunway Carnival). Alternatively, you can also make U-turn somewhere at Megamall (which is nearer but maybe illegal). You can also refer to the map I drew.

Shopping Mall View

The shopping center was opened in 22 August 2008, which is rather new. I reached there at 11AM and Jusco will only open at 1PM due to holiday!!

Shopping Mall View

Luckily the shops around still opening. The shops are quite similar to those in Queensbay Mall, such as 老爸茶 (La Ba Cha), Kenny Roger, Nandos, Secret Recipe, Johnny, KFC, McDonald, Laksa Shack, and so on. Some new restaurants in northern region are such as Black Canyon, Hongkie Recipe, Big Apple, Che Go Korean BBQ, Food & Tea Hong Kong, and so on.

For my first visit, I had my lunch at Food & Tea Hong Kong which hopefully can have a review of it soon.

Shopping Mall View

The shopping complex is spacious with higher roof and reflecting marble floor. There are many entrances from car park so make sure you do not get lost in the building. There is a rooftop car park as well. There is a cinema inside, which will definitely draw some crowd during weekend as well as weekday.

Overall, the shopping complex is promising. Due to the fact that there are too many shopping complexes around, it is expected that the competition is high and definitely some are perform better than the others. Only time will tell who is the last winner of this shopping complex war.

Dragon-i 笼的传人 – Famous of its Shanghai pork dumplings

Located at Queensbay Mall, this restaurant is a high class dining place. Even so, you still need to queue up especially on Friday to Sunday. Perhaps it is due to its famous Shanghai pork dumplings (RM9.00++), which is juicy and tasty. It is a must have when you visit the restaurant.

腊肠北菇滑鸡蒸饭 Steamed Rice with Chicken, Mushroom and Chinese Sausage

腊肠北菇滑鸡蒸饭 Steamed Rice with Chicken, Mushroom and Chinese Sausage

狮子头煨面 Stewed Ramen with Braised Meat Ball

狮子头煨面 Stewed Ramen with Braised Meat Ball

养颜红莲炖雪蛤 Red date with chinese woodfrog oviduct soup

养颜红莲炖雪蛤 Red date with chinese woodfrog oviduct soup

北海道带子拉面 Hokkaido Scallop Ramen

北海道带子拉面 Hokkaido Scallop Ramen

There are many ramen dishes in the menu. There are two types of ramen, thick and thin. Once I ordered Hokkaido Scallop Ramen (RM22.00++) and the scallops are really big and fresh. The ramen dishes are usually big so make sure you reserve some area of your stomach and help finishing off your female counterpart’s ramen. The chicken in Steamed Rice with Chinese Sausage (RM15.00++) are tender as well. There are a variety of desserts as well, such as:

Honeydew Sago Dessert: RM8.00++
Red date with chinese woodfrog oviduct soup: RM12:00++
Ginkgo Lotus Tremella Soup: RM12.00++

蜜瓜西米露 Honeydew Sago Dessert

蜜瓜西米露 Honeydew Sago Dessert

四川排骨担担面 Si Chuan Spareribs Ramen

四川排骨担担面 Si Chuan Spareribs Ramen

白果莲子银耳糖水 Ginkgo Lotus Tremella Soup

白果莲子银耳糖水 Ginkgo Lotus Tremella Soup

The management is smart actually. Even though you did not order anything, you will be served and charged with titbits (some nuts costed RM2.00++) and wet towels (RM1.00++ each). A glass of plain water also costs RM1.00.

:stunt:

As a whole, you should visit the place for once-in-a-while gathering due to its nice environment and signature food. In order to stay competitive, Dragon-i should revise their pricing to make it more affordable. A Hong Kong Kai Lan (香港芥兰) which costs RM18.00++ is not everyone’s list. Make sure you make reservation during weekend (see phone number below). It is heard that one or two waitresses are from China and quite pretty.

:love:

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

Name: 笼的传人上海拉面小笼包 Dragon-i Restaurant Sdn Bhd
Address: Lot No. 2F-77,78,79 & 81, Queensbay Mall, 100 Persiaran Bayan Indah, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Pulau Pinang.
Tel: (604)6466888 Fax: (604)6467888
Outlet Manager: Deric Tan