CRIZ BON APPETITE

Other than Northam Beach Café, there is another place called Breeze Café right up by the coastal area of Tanjung Tokong. The concept here is totally different compared to NBC as all the food and beverages are managed by only a restaurant there. They do serve Western food, noodles & rice dishes, finger food up to ice creams, coffee and hard liquors. Not a bad place to laze about on the easily available deck chairs while enjoying the cool breeze from the sea. This is quite an ideal place for love birds as well as for small groups of friends.

The management can even arrange for BBQ by the beach for a minimum of 4 persons (RM25+ each), a group of 25 persons (RM25+ each plus a free bungalow stay) and themed buffet dinner for a minimum of 20 persons (RM25+ each) by the beach. You can check out more information on the promotion through any of their other restaurants, Nyonya Café (i-Avenue) in Bayan Lepas, Penang or Nyonya Café (New World Park), Penang.

My friend and I paid a visit recently and found the place quite relaxing except that you might find some stray mosquitoes biting since the place is dimly lighted and with a lots of decorative plants around. Both of us ordered a Shirley Temple (RM8) and a Kickapoo (RM4) as our drinks.

As for starter, I ordered a bowl of Mushroom Soup (RM4.50). It came in a big soup bowl with a few largely cut crouton. Not bad for the pricing but the soup tasted ordinary.

As for the main, I ordered the Chicken Cordon Bleu (RM10). The dish was presented in a simple way with the usual fries, salad, white plain bread (a quarter and non-toasted?) and the stuffed breaded chicken drumstick garnished with some mushroom sauce. Maybe it was my luck as the chicken was quite burn and dry and the stuffing has no taste of cheese at all. The mushroom sauce was rather bland too.

My friend ordered a Black Pepper Chicken (RM9). The garnishing was the same except that he got a larger piece of battered chicken drumstick with thigh. As for the black pepper sauce, I felt that it was rather diluted with not much of pepper taste in it. I still love the one at Yaw’s Roast & Grill.

My friend and I then ordered Love Boat (RM8) to share out as dessert. We were allowed to choose 3 flavors from the list of 6 flavors such as Vanilla, Coffee, Chocolate, Strawberry, Rum & Raisins and Mint Chocolate Chips. You can even order a scoop at RM3.50.

The total price came up to RM47.85 which included a 10% service charge. Overall, the place is not bad for drinkers. As for food, I would hope that the management would spice up the quality in order to gain more diners. I have not tried their other stir-fried dishes with rice or fried noodles yet. Maybe I might have other opinions of the taste and quality.

Most people, even the locals would miss this place as it is situated right inside the coastal area of Tanjung Tokong. If you are driving up from town area towards Tanjung Tokong / Tanjung Bungah / Batu Ferringhi, you will see the Penang Chinese Swimming Club on your right. Drive forward until you see a traffic light (Tanjung Bungah Hotel on your right). Make a U-Turn and drive towards the swimming club. Turn left into the road after the swimming club until you see Naza Hotel. The café is just next to the hotel. They do also provide budget motel here under the name Sea Wind Beach Motel. You can park right inside or just along the road. Parking spaces are rather limited within the compound.

Ever wonder where you would treat yourself or your guests to a sumptuous Peranakan (Straits Chinese) meal with great indoor and outdoor ambience? You should check out Hot Wok, a stunning Peranakan theme restaurant, which has just relocated right into the heart of Georgetown, Penang. Since the Nyonya restaurant started its operation in 1994, they have impressed many locals and foreigners with their quality food and great history on the Peranakan culture.

Walking into the restaurant is like walking back into time as the interior and exterior of the restaurant are beautifully decorated with intricate wooden carvings and fabricated windows of the heydays. The existence of beautiful marble top coffee tables, wooden chairs, hanging porcelain lamps and many unique artifacts adorning the walls within the restaurant will allow you to experience the feeling of dining as a Nyonya or Baba. If you are observant enough, you may find a few great museum pieces proudly being displayed along the walls. Some are originals as far back as the early 19th Century.

I revisited the place together with a friend of mine recently and found that the quality of the food served there has not change at all. Hot Wok has been one of the pioneers in Nyonya Cuisine in Penang. In fact, there are many other restaurants booming up to cater to the high demand on Nyonya food recently but what they lack in is the atmosphere and Peranakan experience that Hot Wok was able to provide.

We ordered a few dishes such as the Lobak (RM8), Jiu Hoo Char (RM8) and Curry Chicken Kapitan (RM14) to be taken with rice.

The Lobak (meat roll) is made out of fresh pork marinated in 5-spice powder with other ingredients and wrapped in tofu skin. The end product would then be deep fried to get the crunchiness and golden color.

The Jiu Hoo Char is a combination of cuttlefish strips stir fried with stripped turnips, carrots, mushrooms, pork and at times big onions. This dish is best eaten when wrapped in a fresh lettuce leaves.

The Curry Chicken Kapitan was indeed good. Choice pieces of thighs and drumsticks were cooked in blended spices, lime juice, Kaffir lime leaves and thick coconut milk. This dish was good compared to the rest of the places I have taken as the gravy was thick and nice.

We ordered some great desserts such as the Chilled Sago with Jackfruit (RM3.50) and Chilled Sago with Honey Dew (RM3.50). Both were topped with creamy coconut milk.

Since the boss also recommended their famous Hokkien Mee (RM4), we tried out a bowl and the dish was great. The sweetness of the soup is incompatible to those I have taken before. I could imagine the amount of bones and long hours they have taken to get the thickness of the soup. You can even have addons such as pork ribs as well as their crunchy roasted pork. The price might come up to RM7 but you sure won’t regret ordering such a quality bowl of Hokkien Mee. Anyway, you do not have to worry too as they will also allow you to use your credit cards on Hokkien Mee purchases. Well, I don’t think I know any other hawker stalls in Penang that provides this sort of services, do you?

Overall, the total price came up to RM53.70 which included a 10% service charge (RM4.90) for the appetizer, food and drinks. I won’t consider this expensive as Nyonya cuisine required a lot of preparations. Moreover, the food was of quality.

You won’t miss the restaurant as it is situated within two shoplots just between Nagore Place and Giant Supermarket along Jalan Burmah. As for parking, you can always find ample parking spaces within the Giant Supermarket compound or along Jalan Nagore.

There are many businesses in Penang that had converted part of their business to food business. The latest being the Mellano Florist along Jalan Dato Keramat. What I do not understand is that how could a restaurant have only 3 main dishes and 3 main beverages to serve its customers. Customers would want more choices when dining in. The 3 dishes mentioned are the Broadbean Delight (RM3.50), Glass Noodles in Chicken Soup (RM3.50) and Shanghai Beef Noodles (RM6.00). The drinks are Mango Yogurt (RM2.50), Strawberry Yogurt (RM2.50) and Root Beer Float (not available)

The Broadbean Delight was just some flour cake (somewhat like our koay kak) cut into strips using wavy chee cheong fun knife. It came with some soy sauce, crushed peanuts and some chicken meat. It looked impressive but the taste was totally not Malaysian and not to my taste bud.

The Glass Noodles in Chicken Soup came with some chicken strips, wood fungus, and 3 chicken balls. The soup tasted real flat for those who do not consume chili powder. It is very Taiwanese style. Not to my liking as well and the portion was real small.

The Shanghai Beef Noodles came with only thinly sliced beef and some intestine. This was again without much taste and no side sauces came with it. The soup in fact was too diluted without the sweetness of bones.

The drinks were normal with the Root Beer Float being not available on the first day of launching. I guessed the owner should look into adding more choices and to ensure the satisfactions of its customers. Overall, it flopped my taste bud totally.

The restaurant cum florist is located just immediately after the Honolulu Restaurant (previously Federal Theatre) along the main road of Jalan Dato Keramat. Parking can be real scare over here even if you are on a bike. So, be prepared to park behind Honolulu Restaurant and walk up to the restaurant.

Where would you go for some hot steaming homecooked food after working late in the office or had just arrived from a long tiring trip from outstation? Most of the time you would just end up at Mamak stalls or McDonald’s to grab your meals as majority of the good restaurants and famous hawker stalls would be closed by then. Well, I had that experience myself as I had late dinner dates with a few friends of mine. By the time they have finished their work (especially those from malls) and refreshed themselves, it would be almost 11.00pm at night.

You might get some stalls still selling rice/porridge but their food were precooked and left on the warmer for hours. What I needed was some freshly cooked dishes with rice. I have searched for this type of service all over Penang and managed to find barely a handful scattered at different districts of the state. One of the coffee shops worth mentioning would be the Kedai Kopi Kristal Seafood located right in the heart of Pulau Tikus. Not only do they serve their customers right until 2.00am, they also provide delivery services right to your doorsteps. What impressed me most was their internet/WIFI ready access in their shop as this extra service is extremely rare in Penang coffee shops.

The charges for the food here can be considered reasonable with a meat/vegetable dish in the range of RM6, RM8 and RM10 whereas seafood dishes would be RM10 and above based on the market rate. My friend and I spent barely RM32 on the food and drinks, not forgetting the extra helping of rice we had ordered. It was a waste that there were just the two of us. If there were more, we would have tried out their impressive arrays of steamed fish and spicy prawns. Here were the basic dishes that we had ordered.

I did also find out that there was another room upstairs with air-conditioning and KTV that can cater for a small gathering of 50 persons or more. It is real easy to find the shop as it is situated along the main road. Just refer to the map below for directions.

On my way back to my place, I saw a new Thai Restaurant opened up for business along Upper Penang Road. I was curious as it replaced where Pintail Bistro used to be. Although the previous restaurant served one of the best fusion dishes around, it had to be closed down due to lack of parking spaces and diners around that area. Well, this new restaurant had quite a nice environment with dim garden lights and soft Thai music playing against the background.

We sat down and were immediately served by a lady. It looked as if she was desperate to recommend this and that as we ended up having food enough to feed three persons. We ordered 5 dishes and a dessert and I did stress to her to make the portion smaller as there were only two of us dining.

The Appetizer Thod Marn Pla (RM7.50) which was to be some sort of Thai Fish Cake came. I expect them to give 4 pieces since there were two of us but instead they gave three. A bit pricey to charge that as there was nothing inside except for some minced meat and long beans. But the taste was quite nice.

The Khao Pad Sapparos (RM8) aka Pineapple Fried Rice was next. Not bad for the amount served but it lacked of the fragrance for fried rice. Moreover, it was slightly soggy.

The waitress recommended Mango Tofu (RM10) next. The taste was not bad, a bit sweet for my taste bud. The dish has not more than 2 packet of deep fried Japanese tofu, some shredded mango, battered minced chicken meat and cooked with some tomato paste and they are charging that high. They should at least check the market rate for any tofu dishes out there. Even a crab meat Japanese tofu that amount won’t cost that much.

The waitress again strongly recommended the Thai style Egg Roll (RM5). It was just a plain egg with some over salty minced chicken meat cooked with fermented beans inside. Moreover, it came last when all the plain rice as well as Pineapple Fried Rice were almost gone. I think they got their dish priority all wrong here.

As for dessert, she recommended the Thai Dessert (RM3.50). By right this dish is to be served with only some jellied water chestnut, sliced jackfruits and coconut milk. It came with additional sweetened attap palm nuts, nata de coco jelly and some over springy colored jelly. All the add-ons spoiled the taste of this traditional Thai dessert.

I would consider the food served here are a bit pricey although the amount charged was not with any taxes. We paid RM68.20 for the meal. They even charged us 30sen for a glass of water on top of the amount we had ordered? Come on! If they were planning to charge, at least state in the menu or just get me a bottle of mineral water instead. How to reach this restaurant? Just refer to the map below for directions.

We order our drinks Wildfruit Granita (RM13) and Iced Lemon Tea (RM7.50) followed by Cheesy Garlic Bread (RM5.50) while waiting for our main dishes to be served.