CRIZ BON APPETITE

Archive for October, 2008

CHILI’S @ G HOTEL

Posted by Criz Lai On October - 31 - 2008

If you are in for a large portion of food served to you, then you should pay Chili’s located within the premises of G Hotel a visit. The restaurant has a long history in the food chain business as early as 1975 with its first restaurant opened in Texas, USA. Presently, it has over 1,000 restaurants all over the world. This Texas-Mexican influenced American food chain had woos many nationalities with their huge amount of food as well as free meals for children below the age of 12 years. Of course you would have to order at least two main meals to be entitled to this offer.

Chili’s offers a wide selection of food and beverages ranging from Specialty Drinks, Margarita Bar, Starters, Soup, Salads and Sides, Big Mouth Burgers, Sandwiches, Fajitas, Steaks, Grilled Entrees, Favorites and Desserts. They would also recommend the Lunch Favorites as well as the Top 5 New Flavors of all time.

Recently, I was there for the birthday of my niece. We shared out some of the recommended items in the menu. The first dish that was served was the Quesadilla Explosion (RM22.95). It has fajita marinated chicken, corn relish, mixed chesses, cilantro, diced tomatoes and crispy tortilla strips, garnished with chipotle ranch drizzle, cheese quesadilla wedges and citrus balsamic dressing. Well, it tasted just like any common salad. There’s nothing to boast about except the serving was huge.

Next was the Classic Nachos (RM21.95). The nachos have some thinly blended beans, queso and seasoned beef hidden under baked cheese and jalapenos. These were served with some mixed greens and sour cream. I found these to be too sour for my liking even without dipping into the sour cream. The nachos are best taken while they are hot as cold classic nachos would taste a bit out of this world.

We also ordered the Fish & Chips (RM22.95). There’s nothing special about the crispy batter fried fish fillet served with lots of fries and tartar sauce at a first glance. Well, looks can be deceiving as the fish was real fresh and the crispy batter brought out the best of this dish. It’s worth the amount spent for this dish.

The Southwestern Eggrolls (RM13.95) came next. There were some smoked chicken chunks, black beans, corn relish, jalapeno cheese, red peppers and spinach wrapped in a crispy flour tortilla and served with avocado dipping sauce. I found these to be real good as the combination of ingredients was just nice and the avocado dip blended in great.

The next dish was the Crispy Honey Chipotle Chicken Crispers (RM24.95) served with lots of fries, a sweet corn on the cob and topped with their special honey chipotle sauce. I found these to be just normal, if only they were to marinate the chicken with some herbs to get that extra flavor. Maybe it was the chicken breast meat that they were using that caused the dryness and blandness in the taste.

The last dish from our orders was the BBQ Beef Ribs (RM46.95) served with lots of fries, sweet corn on the cob and topped with their special BBQ sauce. The dish tasted great, only if it was for a person who liked the “broiled” meat to come out from the ribs easily. No doubt the ribs were tender and juicy but it tasted like it was broiled soft and topped with some BBQ sauce. There was no charcoal burnt taste at all and it lacked the special aroma. I had tried better ones in Penang but the best still remained at Tony Roma’s in KL.

Overall, the meal was rather filling and they do charge service and government tax (15%) into your bill. In order to reach this restaurant, just find your way to Gurney Plaza along Persiaran Gurney (Gurney Drive). You can see the restaurant at the Al Fresco (Gurney Walk) area between the plaza and G Hotel.

Name: CHILI’S @ G HOTEL
Address:
(G-05) G Hotel Penang, 168A Persiaran Gurney, 10250 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-210 1111
Opening Hours:
11.00am – 11.00pm (Weekdays & Sunday)
11.00am – 12.00am (Friday & Saturday)
GPS: 5.437644, 100.310269

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7.5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 2% [?]

penang, restaurant, review

CIFU OMAR HOKKIEN MEE

Posted by Criz Lai On October - 30 - 2008

As a Penangite, most Chinese would go for non-halal Hokkien Mee where the soup is pork based. Have you tried the Malay version of the Hokkien Mee (Mee Udang) before? There is this old house along Jalan Tanjung Tokong selling this yummy hawker delight solely manned by Pakcik Omar. There would always be endless stream of customers from all different races patronizing this stall on weekdays. Well, they would only open their business for 3 hours from 11.00am until 2.00pm daily except weekends.

The taste of the soup is different as it is chicken based. Moreover, it has the sweet taste of rock sugar and prawns. Even the color of the chili paste looked so mild and yet can be real fiery to taste. You can choose your noodles to be either koay teow, bee hoon, yellow mee or mixed. You also have choices of the meat to be either chicken, beef or mixed. My friend tried out the mixed koay teow and mee Chicken Hokkien Mee (RM3.30). The dish came with lots of chicken meat, some crab sticks, prawns, eggs and chicken gizzards. The serving was large.

I ordered the mixed Chicken and Beef Hokkien Mee (RM3.30). The ingredients are the same as the above but with additional tender beef slices. The dish was great.

They also do serve Fried Chicken Legs Stew. The taste is totally different compared to those sold in Chinese stalls where those chicken legs were stewed with garlic, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, pepper and sugar. The one sold here has ginger, carrot, mushrooms and dried chillies. Although I prefer the Chinese version more, who would complain paying just RM1 for 4 large pieces of chicken legs here? It’s dirt cheap!

Just drive along Jalan Tanjung Tokong until you have reached the Island Plaza traffic lights. Turn right and then turn left into the service road where the Desa Tanjung shoplots are. Find a parking and walk towards the end of the shoplots. You would see an old house between Desa Tanjung and Ubi Food Court. That’s where the Malay Hokkien Mee stall is.

Name: CIFU OMAR HOKKIEN MEE
Address: Jalan Tanjung Tokong, 11200 Penang, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 11.00am – 2.00pm (Closed Saturday & Sunday)
GPS: 5.451883, 100.305992

RATING:
Ambience: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 6/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 4% [?]

halal, hawker, penang, review

JIT SENG HONG KONG ROASTED DUCK RICE

Posted by Criz Lai On October - 27 - 2008

Penang is one of the states where you can savor quite a few types of duck rice. You can have the Peking Duck Rice, Pei Pa Duck Rice, Braised Duck Rice and the Hong Kong Roasted Duck Rice. One of the famous one would be the Jit Seng Hong Kong Roasted Duck Rice situated along Lebuh Carnarvon. The sole chef cum owner, Mr. Lam, has been in this business for the last 3 decades, selling his freshly roasted duck rice daily.

Even before he opens up his business around noon, you can see that the whole coffee shop would be crowded with people. What makes his duck rice so unique that people would queue up for half an hour just to eat it? Firstly, the duck is real tender with so much of ingredients stuffed in it prior to roasting. Secondly, the skin of the duck is coated with his special sauce which would include some molasses (Ba Lei Ko in Hokkien or Melaco in Portugese). Thirdly, the portion served is very generous.

Most of the time, he would include a duck drumstick for a serving for two and above such as the photo below.

On top of his famous roasted duck, he also has Roasted Pork, Roasted Chicken and Char Siew (Sweet Roasted Pork) topped with his special sweet bean sauce.

Since the crowd was rather huge that day, I had decided to get some mixed combination takeaways with an extra bowl of rice. Can you imagine I had problem finishing the whole packet of rice? You hardly could see the rice with the generous amount of Roasted Duck Meat, Roasted Pork and Char Siew covering every inches of the rice. The whole pack cost me only RM5.

If you are a keen duck meat lover, you should try him out. It’s worth the wait. On top of the never ending flow of locals, tourists as far as Australia and UK patronize his place regularly. You could also contact him for takeaway of a full bird. Roasted Duck would cost RM36-38, Roasted Chicken at RM18 and Roasted Pork or Char Siew at RM35 per kg.

It is very easy to find this stall if you know where Lebuh Carnarvon is. If not, then move along Jalan Dr. Lim Chwee Leong until you reach a traffic light. Pizza Hut is on your right. Keep left and drive forth until you reach the next traffic light. Turn left into Lebuh Carnarvon. The duck rice stall is just within the Star Hotel premise next to Jalan Cheong Fatt Tze (formerly known as Lebuh Hong Kong).

Name: JIT SENG HONG KONG ROASTED DUCK RICE @ STAR HOTEL
Address: 246, Lebuh Carnarvon, 10100 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-262 2172 (Mr. Lam)
Opening Hours: 12.00pm – 3.00pm (Closed Public Holidays)
GPS: 5.414319, 100.333386

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 2% [?]

hawker, penang, review

SPICY NYONYA NASI ULAM (JUNGLE HERBS RICE) RECIPE

Posted by Criz Lai On October - 23 - 2008

Cooking Nyonya cuisines which are normally spicy, tangy, herbal and aromatic has always required a lot of patience. In fact, the preparation alone for most of the dishes would take up a long time as it involved so much hard work in slicing, cutting and chopping of herbs and ingredients. Some such examples could be seen in dishes like Laksa, Perut Ikan, Acar Awak, Otak Otak and many more. But there is one dish that even some of the established Nyonya restaurants such as Hot Wok did not have it in their menu as it involved a lot of tedious fine slicing of many herbal leaves – SPICY NYONYA NASI ULAM (JUNGLE HERBS RICE)

This dish is definitely a very healthy diet as most of the ingredients are taken raw. My demised grandmother had made this yummy dish all the time, so have my mother some of the time. Before it ended up in my generation that none of us would even remember the existence of this dish, I would like to take some time to prepare this dish and share with you my heirloom recipe. Although I am not the descendants of the Baba-Nyonya, I would love to see someone pick up this recipe and be proud that it has been part of the Malaysian cuisines.

INGREDIENTS A:
4 plastic cups of rice (about 1kg of cooked rice)
100gms dried shrimps (soak, dice, fry & cool)
100gms salted ikan kurau (treadfin) meat (cut small thin slices, fry and cool)
1 teaspoon belacan (shrimp paste) powder – Maggi
3 tablespoon kerisik (toasted and pounded grated coconut)
1/2” fresh turmeric (chop finely)
10 mint leaves (daun pudina – chop finely)
3 screwpine leaves (daun pandan – knotted)
Salt, sugar and grounded black pepper to taste

INGREDIENTS B (FINELY SLICED):
6 shallots
1 stalk lemongrass (serai – use the thinner end only)
1/2 stalk torch ginger flower (bunga kantan)
4 kaffir lime leaves (daun limau purut)
6 polygonum leaves (daun kesom/laksa leaves/Vietnamese mint)
6 asiatica pennywort leaves (daun pegaga)
2 turmeric leaves (daun kunyit)
15 basil leaves (daun selasih)
4 galangal leaves (daun cekur)
10 wild betel leaves (daun kaduk/Piper sarmentosum)

GARNISHING:
1 cucumber (halves and sliced)
Sambal Belacan (fresh shrimp paste chili sauce)
Some wild betel leaves (optional)
Some mint leaves (optional)

PREPARATION:

1. Cook rice. When cooked, loosen the rice and fold in the knotted screwpine leaves. Leave aside to be fully cool. Make sure the rice maintain the grain shape but still soft.
2. Find a large container (4 times the amount of the rice would do).
3. Toss evenly all the ingredients in A & B and serve.
4. You can eat it just as it plain or garnish it with the above garnishing with side seafood dishes like Assam Prawns, Assam Fish, Grilled Fish or even some dry meat curries. Sambal Belacan and cucumber is a must if you like the dish spicier.

(Serves: 4-6)

YOU CAN CHECK HERE FOR MORE RECIPES.

Popularity: 2% [?]

recipe

DEE TOM YAM

Posted by Criz Lai On October - 22 - 2008

I must admit that I have been going to so many Chinese stir fry restaurants and hawker stalls in Penang that I tend to have overlooked on the Malay stir fry stalls. In fact, some of these stalls can provide food as delicious as any of the food stalls out there. Hidden within the compound of Farlim’s apartment, Block 1B, is a small Malay stall providing cheap, good and yet delicious Malay cuisine. Although it has no signage on the stall, it runs the business by the name of Dee Tom Yam. At times, you can see patrons of all races queuing up to order his delicious food. The wonderful thing about this place is that you can opt to sit inside the coffee shop (Huat Huat) or relax yourself on the field between the two blocks of apartments.

You can either order dishes to be taken with rice or simply ask the boss to cook up some fried/soup rice or noodles items for your meal. The menu list is not long but it is good enough for a simple meal. What else would you expect as nothing in the menu (except fish based on market price) costs more than RM4.50? You could easily order Masak Pedas Daging (Stir Fry Spicy Beef), Tom Yam Udang (Prawn Tom Yam) and Kangkong Belacan (Fried Shrimp Paste Water Spinach) for just RM10. Rice would be at RM1 each plate.

As I did not have to crowd to test out all the dishes, I managed to order his Nasi Goreng Ikan Masin (Salted Fish Fried Rice) at RM3.50. The combination was great as it did not contain the overpowering taste of the salted fish and the rice maintained its softness. Moreover, there are a lot of vegetables and squid slices in the dish.

Dee’s Nasi Pattaya (RM4) was great too. The portion for the dish was large. The fried rice was beautifully wrapped in a thin layer of omelette and garnished decoratively with some chili sauce. By tearing open the omelette, you could smell the fragrance emitted from it. The rice was tastefully fried with mixed vegetables and prawns.

This is again another maze as I could not locate any road name to this place but you can always ask around the Farlim (Bandar Baru Air Itam) residents where Block 1B is located. If you are coming from the main road at Jalan Air Itam into Farlim (Jalan Thean Teik), you would pass by one traffic light until you reach a crossroad traffic light (Block 7A is on your left). Turn right into Lebuhraya Thean Teik. Keep to your right and turn into the first road on your right (Jalan Ru 1). You can see Block 1B on your right. Turn into the small lane and try to find a parking space. The stall is just next to a Chinese temple and directly opposite Huat Huat Coffee Shop at the corner of the field.

Name: DEE TOM YAM @ HUAT HUAT COFFEE SHOP
Address:
Block 1B (off Jalan Ru 1), Bandar Baru Air Itam, 10500 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 017-554 8089 (Encik Dee)
Opening Hours: 4.00pm – 12.00am (Closed Alternate Thursday)
GPS: 5.392530, 100.282383

Popularity: 1% [?]

halal, hawker, penang, review

KOWLOON HAINAN CHICKEN RICE

Posted by Criz Lai On October - 19 - 2008

Please note that this Hainan Chicken Rice stall remained in the same coffee house but the whole place has been renovated under the new ownership of Yummy Cafe.

Sometimes it is rather hard to make a decision to get good Hainanese Chicken Rice in town area as there were just too many around. Moreover, more and more shops have mushroomed all over town selling this yummy food. You might not believe it but all the shops have their own version of Hainanese Chicken Rice. Some might use sesame oil, rice wine, ginger juice, oyster sauce or just plain soy sauce. Somehow, I was stuck to one stall by the name of Kowloon Hainan Chicken Rice (same coffee shop as the famous Super Lai Lai Bak Kut Teh selling at night) for years. It could be due to growing up in the neighborhood and got accustomed to the taste or maybe I love the way the chicken meat slices were presented with lots of vegetables and dark soy sauce.

With more than 24 years of experience ever since he was just 15 years old, Ah San has been selling his unique type of chicken rice to the public. The rice served was different too as it was damp enough and had that special old ginger and chicken oil fragrance in it. I have never had any complaints before on his crispy roasted chicken (the best around 10am) or his smooth, juicy yet soft Pak Cham Kai (White Chicken). He would also sell some Roasted Pork Char Siew daily and Roasted Chicken Char Siew on certain days. With all the delicious meat, he has his special homemade dark soy sauce (for chicken) and sweet sauce (for Char Siew) which made the dishes even more appetizing. Here are two of his most sought after combinations.

If you have noticed carefully, each set would have sliced cucumber and cooked bean sprouts with some spring onions garnished on it.

Other than dining in, you could always buy back his yummy chicken which is quite big for a mere RM24 per bird. It would be advisable to call up to make your order if you required more birds. Takeaway sets are also available at only RM3.50 per box (with extra rice). You can choose either one of the meat or a mixed one would cost you between 50sen to RM1 more.

The shop is just opposite Red Rock Hotel. If you are driving down from Komtar into Jalan Macalister, you will see a petrol kiosk on your left. The shop is just right after that in Thong Lek Coffee Shop at the junction of Jalan Nanning.

If you are in for some adventurous home cooked Chicken Rice, you can always try out my own Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe.

Name: KOWLOON HAINAN CHICKEN RICE (Opposite Red Rock Hotel)
Address: 97, Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 016-455 8825 (Ah San)
Opening Hours: 10.30am – 3.00pm (Closed Tuesday)
GPS: 5.416585, 100.323029

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 9/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 9/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 2% [?]

hawker, penang, review

savoring the best in town…

Archive for October, 2008

CHILI’S @ G HOTEL

CIFU OMAR HOKKIEN MEE

JIT SENG HONG KONG ROASTED DUCK RICE

SPICY NYONYA NASI ULAM (JUNGLE HERBS RICE) RECIPE

DEE TOM YAM

KOWLOON HAINAN CHICKEN RICE

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