CRIZ BON APPETITE

If you are a fan of the former 68 Kelawei which has relocated to Batu Ferringhi area under the name The Eclectic, you would surely love the fusion style of food prepared by Beach Blanket Babylon. In fact, Beach Blanket Babylon, The Eclectic, Thirty Two At The Mansion and Bagan 18 are all members of the Penang’s premier group of restaurants. Beach Blanket Babylon is a great relaxation place for food and beverages after a hectic day of work. Located at Penang’s trendiest and most happening Upper Penang Road, it offers great dining areas inside with an English styled ambience, Al Fresco for outdoor diners who prefer to enjoy the light breeze from the Straits of Malacca and a dimly lighted but romantic upper level with mattresses and pillows to cuddle.

Other than the wine and cigars which the café is promoting, they have an interesting menu which comprised of soups, salads, house specialties, main courses, sandwiches, snacks and desserts. The most interesting part is that they do change their menu weekly. Having enjoyed their food ever since they were in different locations in Pulau Tikus and Georgetown before, I was more than eager to find out what they have in store for us. Having all eyes and concentrating deeply onto the menu, we chose a soup and a main course each. We have to skip the desserts as we were still having hangovers from having too much of Jenni’s yummy Tiramisu Cake earlier. LOL!

The soup came first. The Cream of Mushroom Soup (RM8) was way ahead in quality compared to those I have taken before. A few types of mushrooms (fresh ones too I presume) were blended and cooked with barley/rice until broth-like. I love this dish a lot and I do not even have to add in more pepper or salt. The taste was just perfect.

The Sweet Potato and Coriander Soup (RM8) was also great. You can practically get the sweetness of the potato and at the same time the fragrant aroma from the blended coriander.

Immediately after we have finished our soup, the main course was served – Chargrilled Rosemary Chicken with Black Pepper Sauce (RM21) with plentiful of French fries and boiled vegetables. To my surprise, this dish was served on a sizzling plate although it was not stated in the menu. The chicken was well marinated and the taste of the black pepper sauce blended in real well.

Next dish was another surprise as I was expecting just a piece of roasted chicken with some salads but it came with a large bowl of steamed rice. The Quarter Roast Chicken with Mushroom Sauce (RM18) was truly amazing. The sauce itself was a compliment to the overall taste of the roasted chicken. Instead of the usual white sauce mushroom gravy, it came with a touch of tomato puree, herbs and some sliced Chinese mushrooms. This dish is truly magnificent.

Since we were having late dinner, we only ordered Chilled Grapefruit Juice (RM8) and Ice Lemon Tea (RM7.50). Overall, we spent RM77.55, inclusive of a 10% Service Charge. To some, the food might be considered pricy but it was worth every cents to be there dining, using the WIFI service and at the same time watching all the party goers walking by to some of the pubs and discos surrounding there.

Finding your way to Beach Blanket Babylon would not be hard at all as it is situated at a corner lot just directly opposite E&O Hotel (Eastern & Oriental Hotel) along Lebuh Farquhar. Parking can be quite chaotic on weekends. You can opt to park your car in the Penang Bowl car park or a not so far away Red Garden car park (opposite Cititel) and take a stroll to Upper Penang Road entertainment area.

Do you think that floggers are a bunch of great eaters? Well, I must admit that I am surely one as I never stop eating good food anytime of the day. As for my tea time today, I ate 1/8 of a Tiramisu Cake from Jenni Homemade Cakes & Bakery (RM4.40), 2 packs of thin Steamed Potato Kimchi Crackers (40sens) and a hot cup of Old Town White Coffee (RM1.10).

Well, who could resist the temptation of savoring Jenni’s homemade cakes? Not only are the cakes moist and rich in taste, the best part is that they are not too sweet for my taste bud. The greatest news is you can buy selected cakes in halves or quarters. You must try out their cheese cakes. As for me, I can never stop taking them although I did realize that I had gained a few inches to my waistline. LOL! If you are a chocolate and cheese lover, my recommendation would be that you try out their Chocolate Mint Cake, Chocolate Dark/White Belgian, Chocolate Truffle, Chocolate Spanish, Chocolate Rum and of course their Green Tea Cheese Cake and Tiramisu. In fact, you can try out most of their delicious mouth watering 1/2 kg cakes since you can buy them in quarters.

Whenever I consume cakes, I would normally get something salty too. What do you think of a small pack of 5 thin slices of yummy Steamed Potato Kimchi Crackers at 20sen per packet? Wow! It is real cheap! I managed to get 20 small packs from a local wholesale shop for RM4.00. It is a real bargain as the crackers were real good. They come in a few different flavors such as plain, kimchi, tomato and seaweed. I have not tried the other flavors but since the kimchi ones were real good, I would expect the rest to be just as great.

Visiting the cake house would be easy as the Pulau Tikus branch is just next to the Bandar Baru Supermarket along Jalan Cantonment Road. The Bandar Baru Branch is just opposite the Bayan Baru Market (next to Sunshine Square Supermarket) along the main road of Jalan Mayang Pasir.

The second Penang Food Bloggers (Floggers) Meet at Edelweiss Café on 27 September 2008 was a huge success. Thanks to Gill & hubby Jason for arranging for the place, Lingzie for organizing the event so skillfully. Not forgetting those who have helped out in one way or another to make the event memorable. Thanks CK Lam and PenangTuaPui for helping out too.

More than 25 people gathered under one roof to meet who’s the person behind the respective food blogs. Some of them came as far as UK. Welcome to Malaysia, Nigel & Diane.

There were door gifts filled with discount vouchers, tarts (courtesy of CK Lam) and Chocolate Brownies (Courtesy of Shi Hui) for everyone.

We were privileged to have our seasoned flogger, Lilian Chan of Malaysiabest.net to join us in the wonderful evening. Amongst those who had attended were Buzzing Bee (I want more fruit tarts as the ones in the first meet :P), Carrie (Where’s the Green Tea Red Bean Cake you owed me? Hehe!), and Andrew (What’s dish do you want to cook next? :P) & wife (Psss… you sure he did not mess up your kitchen?), Durianberry (I was hoping you would bring some of your bread rolls for me to dip in the soup. :P), Nick Chan (What have you to say for being the youngest active blogger? Gosh! How old are you now? :P), Allen Ooi (Taiwanese Crispy Chicken nearby? Come my house lar.. I can cook better. Haha!), Alvin Ng, Steven Goh (Nice knowing you there. ), Yi Phing, Ken and many other guests.

At RM38nett, we were served with delicious set dinners. Our loving couple, Gill and Jason, did a great job on liaising with the management of the restaurant to come up with our own special menu. I’m still licking my fingers from the leftover of the Vanilla Ice Cream with the Apple Flan guys. LOL! Without much delay, let’s jump into the food photos now.

2) Curry Pork Sausage (served with French fries and salad) – has tomato sauce and curry powder sprinkled on top

The night ended up with an additional lucky draw prizes for everyone, arranged by yours truly.

Going to the restaurant won’t be hard as it is located within the heritage trail of Penang. If you are coming from Prangin Mall along Jalan Dr. Lim Chwee Leong, you will reach a traffic light. Drive on until you have reached the second traffic light and turn left into Lebuh Panta
i. Start counting the roads on your left until you have reached the 5th road. That’s Lebuh Armenian. The restaurant is on your right next to a medical supplies wholesaler. Parking might be a problem here as the roads here are quite narrow. You might want to consider parking further up or along Lebuh Ah Quee and walk to the restaurant by using the small lane nearby.

I wondered if anyone has been around when Swensen’s first started its operation up in Mount Pleasure in Batu Ferringhi area. I used to be a regular there until I got out from being a teen. LOL! My favorite has always been the Earthquake – 8 scoops of ice cream of your choice, plus 8 toppings. Who would resist that as a teenager? Even now! However, I have decided to try out their other products this visit.

Being an American franchise, they should be good in burgers. I tried out their BBQ Mushroom Chicken Burger (RM16.90). It has a piece of chicken patty topped with BBQ mushrooms, some eggplants and served with French fries and coleslaw. The portion was big and the taste was great except for the burger was a bit dry. Well, chicken meat has always been dry as it does not contain as much fat as beef.

Next was the Fish Baked Rice (RM17.90). There were quite a lot of chunky pieces of grilled fish fillet on top of some rice with some white sauce and baked with cheese. Not bad for the taste except for the dryness of the fish. They could have done better by not over grilling the fish as the baking alone would have made the fish cooked. The portion looked normal but it can be quite filling.

Since I was there late in the afternoon, I dreaded the idea of jumping around having my lunch as my actual intention of visiting them was to grab their ice creams. Well, I was not totally disappointed too. What came next was heaven. I ordered the Sizzling Pan Apple Crumble (RM24.90) to be shared. What? That price for a scoop of ice cream with a piece of cake? I must be crazy! The dish did not disappoint me at all. The apple crumble came in a hot pan with a big scoop of Vanilla ice cream on top. The waiter then poured some syrup with some chopped apples in it over the pan. It was bubbling furiously. He then poured some butterscotch over the ice cream. This is truly wonderful. I was expecting this to be too sweet for my liking but the combination of everything was just nice. It’s worth a try.

Some people might think that it’s rather costly to dine in Swensen’s but one thing you need to realize is that their portion is rather big to fill you up. On top of that, if you are lucky to be in Penang Island itself, you have the opportunity to try them out in Queensbay Mall with their latest promotion up to 30 November 2008. They will rebate you with cash vouchers worth the amount on your bill for your next visit. So hurry up if you have yet to try them up.

Swensen’s has two branches in Penang. One is in Auto City down in Juru, mainland and the other one having the promotion now is in Queensbay Mall. To find the restaurant is easy. Just shop around the mall and you will see the corner shop at level 2, central zone area.

A lot of people, even the Penangites themselves, were not aware that there is this little paradise hidden at the foot of Penang Hill. Located at the entrance to the Jade Emperor’s Pavilion (Thnee Kong Tua) in Air Itam, this small scout camp like restaurant has been in operation since early 2008. Even the entrance itself reminded me of my school days when the scouts would build bamboo arches to greet attendees to their campfire events.

Café Cantina’s customers include many people of different ages, races and nationalities. It is a hangout place where old friends and families would gather to share news of their latest updates. Speaking of old school mates, the layout itself made me moved back into time when I was having my meals in the school canteen. I really missed all the actions then. But one thing which is better than my school canteen would be their Free Wifi facilities. I have never thought that I can bring my laptop over to a school canteen now. LOL!

Even the smartly decorated so called blackboards were decorated with chalked designs. This one really caught my attention and it was drawn by some school kids. What? “Don’t eat too much abo can fat?” I was laughing hysterically at that message as I was there for my dinner. One of the ever friendly partners cum boss, Lawrence gave me a smile while explaining to me that the graffiti was for health conscious individuals. He even has a disclaimer in his menu stating that most of his dishes had coconut milk (santan) in it and he would not be held responsible for any health implications. Thanks Lawrence. That’s something new for me too… Haha!

The food served at Café Cantina is totally different compared to what you get out there. Those dishes are a fusion of Malaysian Chinese, Malay-Chinese Baba Nyonya, Eurasion (Serani) and Thai (southern Thai dishes). Here are some of the dishes you can order. Please do inform the chef on your chili preferences as it might be too spicy for you.

The Green Curry (RM8) is one of my favorite dishes because it has that special fragrant and unique taste. You can opt for seafood, chicken or beef. I ordered the chicken and the dish came with a creamy green look. OK! I must admit, I love Martian food. LOL! The dish has a strong Thai sweet basil leaves flavor and also some Thai apple eggplants. The taste would be great for those who love the sweet taste from the basils.

You can even order the Seafood Otak Otak (RM15-RM18). It has a mixture of seafood, eggs, coconut milk and spices all in a foil and steamed to perfection. It is something Nyonya but with a touch of Thai ingredients.

If you have children around who could not take spicy food, you can opt for their Belacan Chicken Wings (RM2 each) or their Pandan Chicken (RM2.50 per piece). My recommendation would be the Pandan Chicken as the size is big and the taste is great.

You can even order their Thai Omelette (RM8). It has some minced meat with a tasty sweet and sour sauce wrapped in an omelette. This is also suitable for children.

We should also have some fiber in our meals. Do try out their Beansprout Salad (Kerabu Taugeh) (RM6-RM9). This is quite healthy as it has lots of fresh raw beansprouts mixed with some spicy Thai sauce. You can even order Mieng Kam (One Mouthful), Som Tam (Green Papaya Salad) or just get the chef to stir up some green vegetables of your choice.

There are still many other tasty dishes such as the much recommended Cantina Beef, Tom Yam, Pad Ped (Yellow Curry) or Panang (Red Curry) and seafood of many kinds for you to choose from the menu. If you do not fancy having rice with the above dishes, you could even order some side dishes such as rice and noodles in many styles, namely Thai, Chinese, Cantonese and Hokkien. If you are in for a surprise, get the chef to cook up something unique for you at no extra charges. It may be fried or soup. What would you want to have then? A green curry fried noodles or Phad Thai? Well, it is only RM5 for a regular plate (too big for me in fact) or RM8 for a large plate to share around.

As for drinks, the pricing is reasonable. Nothing will cost you more than RM2.50. A yummy bowl of Shaved Ice (Ais Kacang) is only RM2.50. You can even add one scoop of ice cream for an additional RM1. Selected can beers are only RM5/RM5.50 each. You can drink and chat until the wee hours of the morning. Remember not to drive when you are drunk as they would be a resting place for you to become sober. Haha! Although the place would be open until the last customer leaves the place, be polite enough to let the staff get some good rest before the start of yet another busy day.

I’m sure you won’t miss the place as Café Cantina is located just on your right on your way up to the Penang Hill Railway Station along Jalan Bukit Bendera. It is just at a junction where you would see a beautifully decorated Chinese Arch “Tien Kong Than”. You have ample parking spaces along the main road.