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Archive for December, 2008

3RD PENANG FLOGGERS MEET – POTLUCK GATHERING

Posted by Criz Lai On December - 7 - 2008

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The Third Penang Food Bloggers (Floggers) Potluck Meet at Gill & Jason’s Place on 6 December 2008 was another great experience for many. The food was so wonderful that I do not think anyone else would ever experience such an international spread. We had food ranging from Western, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, etc. This would not have happened if it were not the effort of everyone who had sweated it out in the kitchen to come out with something great to make the gathering such a success.

There were all together 12 attendees at the gathering from 10 food websites. To start the ball rolling, let me start with what I had bought to the gathering.

Criz Lai of Criz Bon Appetite – Western & Oriental Fusion (Nutmeg Cherry Tomatoes / Spicy Chicken & Abalone Salad / Jack Fruit Pork Strips / Fragrant Sambal Prawns). I had a fun theme for my self created recipes. I had the cherry tomatoes stuffed with sugared nutmeg strips. Each tomato had a mild tomato taste with a touch of the sweetness from the stuffed nutmeg strips.

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The Spicy Chicken & Abalone Salad was quite a blast with the floggers. It contained some roasted chicken chunks, fresh Pacific abalone slices, wood ear fungus, ginger flower, kaffir leaves, dried grated coconut, roasted sesame seeds mixed with chili paste, dried shrimp powder and lime juices.

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The stir fried Jack Fruit Pork Strips was another hit for a few floggers. It had a mixture of fresh jack fruit strips, turmeric flavored pork chop slices, cooked with some special sauce with a touch of Shao Xing wine.

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The Fragrant Sambal Prawns was cooked with a fusion between Indian and Nyonya Style. Some large prawns were cooked in sambal hae bee (spicy pounded dried shrimps) with onions and curry leaves to bring in that special fragrance in the dish.

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Jason & Gill – Cheese Fondue with Baguettes / Salsa Salad / Lemonade with Pomegranates. Our loving couple came out with Cheese Fondue, imported directly from Europe. The frozen mixture has that unique liquor taste in it. Although the alcohol content is not that intoxicating, I love it best with the fresh German sausages Ken brought.

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The Salsa Salad goes well with the meaty dishes as it has that pungent and sour taste in it – a great appetizing salad indeed. Sorry to say, I forgot about taking shots of the tasty lemonade drink.

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Ken Chan – Cantonese Style Spicy & Sour Pork Ribs / Fresh German Sausages / Roasted Stuffed Chicken. Ken brought a whole pot of the sour pork stew. It has a mild touch of some herbs with lots of cabbage. The pork ribs were tasty and tender.

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The fresh German sausages which Ken brought all the way from Kuala Lumpur were huge but juicy. We even have a small BBQ area for that.

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The Roasted Stuffed Chicken took quite some time to be defrosted and roasted to perfection. The waiting time was not disappointing at all as the meat had all the herby taste from the coating and ham stuffing absorbed deeply into the meat.

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Lilian Chan – Smoked Salmon & Herb Focaccia Appetizer. Lilian did a great job by creating her own herb focaccia bread for the gathering. Her dish has a spread of mayonnaise on the bread slice and topped with a rolled smoked salmon and some cream cheese. It was something great that you won’t get from any buffet appetizer menu.

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Lingzie of Lingzie’s Tummy Treats – Cheesecake Brownies & Lime Pie. The Cheesecake Brownies Lingzie made was rather rich. It has a thick chocolate taste in it. Sweet for some but it was a lovely treats for us.

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Although the Lime Pie was rather soft and sour in taste, it was very appetizing. It has crushed digestive biscuits as base, baked eggs, condensed milk and lime juice as topping and was served with whipped cream. Simply delicious! I even had three helpings to the dessert.

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Steven Goh – Kimchi Fried Rice. The Kimchi Fried Rice was tasty. It has lots of chicken meat and prawns in it and the overall combination of the Kimchi with rice was just right.

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Allen Ooi of Yummy Station – Mashed Potatoes. Allen tried his best to come out with a recipe he had not tried before. That was a good effort indeed. The Mashed Potatoes was quite nice, although it could be slightly improved with some added sour cream and black pepper to make the dish more creamy and spicy.

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CK Lam of What2See Online – Sushi Rolls. CK brought along a big tray of Sushi Rolls with many varieties to choose from. We have Chopped Baby Octopus Sushi, Fish Roe Sushi, Crab Stick Sushi and Unagi Sushi. All the sushi tasted real fresh and yummy but the Wasabi plus the soy sauce accompanied was real fiery. Both my ears and nose almost caught fire due to my carelessness of applying too much on my sushi… haha 😛

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Rebecca of The Nomad Gourmand – Fruits. We have the privilege to meet up with Rebecca from KL. She had prepared what we needed most – fresh fruits. She served us with Vietnamese dragon fruit, Australian mangoes, Malaysian yellow watermelon and Thai wax apple (jambu air). Even the fruits were rather international too. 😛

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Min aka 550ml Jar of Faith of After Giovanni – Hakka Dish (Stir Fry Sohn Pan Tzai – ???or Àbacus Beads) & Disposable Utensils. Min, also came all the way from KL, came out with a rather unique Hakka dish – Stir Fry Sohn Pan Tzai. The dough is formed by mixing tapioca and yam, cut into abacus-bead shapes and boiled until it looked translucent. The cooked dough is then fried with sliced cuttlefish, dried shrimps, wood ear fungus, some chopped celery stalks with a touch of light soy sauce, sesame oil and some seasonings. The taste was great as I had never tasted this Hakka dish before.

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The gathering sure did foster closer relationships amongst the floggers. I could not wait for the next gathering. Most probably it would be held after the Chinese New Year which will fall on 26-27th January 2009.

Popularity: 5% [?]

SEVEN SISTER CAFE & RESTAURANT

Posted by Criz Lai On December - 5 - 2008

NOTE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CEASED OPERATION BUT THE PUB IS STILL IN OPERATION

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If I mention about Restoran Zim Sum along Jalan Anson or its sister companies, Town Steamboat Restaurant and Dim Sum Food Restaurant along Jalan Macalister, most Penangites would know about them. What about another sister company by the name of 7’S (Seven Sister) Café & Restaurant just a few blocks away along Jalan Nanning? Quite a number of people who passes by this nice bungalow lot would think that it’s just another pub in town. You are wrong as this place served one of the cheapest set lunches in town.

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I was there to try out their set menu recently and found their food quality to be real impressive at the price I was paying. The set menu came in 3 categories – Noodle Soup & Pasta Set (RM7.80nett), 4-course Western Set (RM14.80nett) and Rice Set (RM10.80nett). All sets will come with a Dessert of the Day (Ice Cream) and a Drink of the Day (Iced Lemon Tea, Soft Drink, Coffee or Tea).

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Since there were only two of us there for lunch, we tried out two of the set meals. I had the Western set which also included Appetizer of the Day (Classic Caesar Salad) and Soup of the Day (Fresh Mushroom Soup). The salad portion was big and has a few fried sausages in it.

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The Fresh Mushroom Soup was great too with lots of mushroom slices in it. It might not be the best around but it was quite creamy and tasty.

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I get to select my main meal from a list which comprised of Grilled Chicken Chop with Mushroom Sauce, Pan Fried Salmon Steak with Lemon Cream Sauce and Black Pepper Grilled Lamb Chop. I opted for the latest. I did not regret ordering this dish as the presentation was marvelous and the black pepper sauce was thick and tasty. There were lots of potato wedges and greens hidden under 3 big pieces of juicy medium rare grilled lamb meat.

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Dessert of the Day was next. It was just a plain scoop of Strawberry Ice Cream. Who would want to complain? That was a bonus!

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My friend on the other hand tried the Rice Set thinking that it would be small serving. He chose the Seafood Japanese Tofu from a list of dishes which also included Stir Fried Chicken with Dried Chilies, Sweet & Sour Fish Fillet, 7’S Homemade Steamed Chicken in Ginger Sauce and Fried Lamb Cubes in Teriyaki Sauce. The dish came in a clay pot with lots of Japanese Tofu and mixed seafood. The gravy was nice.

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A large bowl of rice with an omelette above and some fresh tomato slices was accompanied with the dish. Dessert followed.

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I would surely drop in to try out their Noodle Soup and Pasta sets when I am down that area again. The list of food listed such as Egg Noodles in Homemade Abalone Soup, Yellow Noodles in Homemade Light Ginger Soup, Spaghetti with Grilled Chicken, and Spaghetti with Grilled Dory Fish was quite impressive.

This place also does provide Happy Hour from as early as 4pm until 9pm.

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Moreover, there’s a public karaoke area for you to sing your heart out until 3am in the morning.

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If you are coming from KOMTAR area (Jalan Magazine and Jalan Dato Kramet) into Jalan Macalister, you would see its sister companies, Town Steamboat Restaurant and Dim Sum Food Restaurant on your left. Drive on and turn into the second junction (Lebuh Nanning) on your left. You will see a big white bungalow with red trims on your right. The famous Lorong Seratus Tahun curry mee is just opposite this restaurant.

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Name: 7’S (SEVEN SISTER) CAFE & RESTAURANT
Address: 26 Lebuh Nanning, 10400 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-228 2653
Opening Hours:
Restaurant: 11.30am – 3.00pm, 6.30pm-10.00pm
Pub: 4.00pm-3.00am (Karaoke), 4.00pm-9.00pm (Happy Hours)
GPS: 5.415253, 100.322270

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: 8.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 2% [?]

WELCOME TO A BRAND NEW PLATFORM

Posted by Criz Lai On December - 4 - 2008

Welcome to the all new CRIZ BON APPETITE. Thank you for all your supports that have made what the site is today. Do enjoy browsing through the more user-friendly features here to find out what’s the best in town. More new reviews and recipes will be up in no time.

WELCOME

Wishing everyone a prosperous year ahead!

Popularity: 3% [?]

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