CRIZ BON APPETITE

Low Yat Plaza might be the best place to shop for computers as well as other electronic gadgets but where would you go for food then? I have found a great place hidden down at the basement of Low Yat Plaza. The place is called Hong Kong’s Food Culture. It is normally packed during lunch hours as the crispy roasted duck there tastes real great.

I was there to have lunch with my two friends and we ordered Curry Pork Rice (RM9.80), Fried Beef Nissin Noodles (RM9.80), Nissin Noodles with Egg set lunch (RM7.90), Roasted Duck Leg (RM9.50) and Steam Egg Custard with Honey Syrup @ Yellow Tan Tan (RM4). Overall with 5% Government Tax and 10% Service Charge, it came out to RM47.15 which was reasonable for KL standard.

It might be confusing if you are not familiar with the interior floor map of the plaza. I would recommend that you go out of the building and move around until you see the restaurant name boldly being displayed. You can’t miss it as they do have a small stall outside selling some finger food and beverages.

Name: HONG KONG’S FOOD CULTURE
Address:
LG-18, Lower Ground Floor, Low Yat Plaza,
Off Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: 603-2141 6998
Opening Hours: 10.00am – 10.00pm
GPS: 3.143976, 101.710353

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

Popularity: 2% [?]

Where would you treat your family for lunch on a Sunday? You should try out Sarkies Corner Sunday Buffet Hi-Tea, located in Eastern & Oriental (E&O) Hotel. By paying just RM42++ (adults) or RM21++ (children), you could savor one of the most wonderful spread of buffet lines in Penang, ranging from local delicacies to international favorites.

You may want to know what are the choices of food available in Sarkies Corner? At one corner would be the appetizers which consist of greens, salads, cold cuts and at times sushi. You have the soup section as well. As for the main course, there are so many dishes that stood out amongst the best in Penang, namely the roasted duck, chicken, grilled fish, skewed BBQ chicken (satay), roti canai, curry fish head, etc.

The restaurant provided a generous amount of food and all of them are of quality. I was surprised that they have thick slices of grilled cod fish and salmon, which are considered expensive in the market. They even gave a curry fish head each for those who love this dish.

As for dessert, there would be the local kuih (desserts), fruits, choices of cakes, jellies ice creams and of course our local favorite, Ice Kacang (Shaved Ice). Coffee, tea and juices are free flow.

If you are in for quality food without worrying about your waist line, this would be the most ideal buffet hi-tea in town. Please make reservation days earlier before you go there as there will be large crowds. You can even reach there earlier before 11.30am to ensure a good sitting place. Here are some of the photos of the food that the restaurant was serving.

I am sure everyone knows about the location of E&O Hotel, the oldest hotel in Penang. If you are not sure, you can refer to the map or ask any of the friendly Penangites and they would be glad to show you how to go there.

Name: SARKIES CORNER, EASTERN & ORIENTAL HOTEL
Address: 10 Lebuh Farquhar, 10200 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-222 2000
Opening Hours: 12.00pm – 3.00pm
GPS: 5.423154, 100.336021

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

Popularity: 1% [?]

Many people would just ignore this restaurant as it looks rather old and unimpressive but not the regulars. If you are near that area with your family, you can consider dropping by this restaurant aka coffee shop for dinner. Do try to be there earlier as most of the time the shop would be rather packed. As in most restaurants, the captain would make recommendation and take your orders but here they do provide menu too. That was something I did not expect to see. Most of the food in the menu are Cantonese dishes and contain lots of ginger, rice wine and vinegar. So, if you are not sure of the right combination for your meal, just leave it to the captain (Auntie) to recommend.

The food there can be considered tasty and has a touch of Mummy’s home cook food taste. My friend and I decided to try out the place after seeing that there was quite a crowd each time I passed by that area. We ordered Mapo Tofu, Kong Po Chicken with Cashew Nuts and a plate of Stir Fried Brocolli with Roasted Pork. We did not expect to see the amount of the dishes so much that it could have had fed 3 persons. I made a blunder this time as I changed the tofu from Crabmeat Tofu to Mapo Tofu as this dish combined with the Kong Po contained too much of sourness from the vinegar it has. But, both of us managed to finish up all the dishes with additional order of rice. Overall, we paid RM29.10 for the food with no discount of 10sen at all! I wondered why some restaurant owners are so money faced… haha 😛

You just can’t miss the shop as it is just next to the tallest UMNO Building (Menara UMNO) in Penang. The shop is located just at the junction of Jalan Zainal Abidin and Jalan Macalister.

Name:
SIN TAI TUNG SEAFOOD RESTAURANT (Opposite Menara UMNO)
Address: 130 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-2271745, 012-480 1428 (Mr. Ng Kok Beng)
Opening Hours:
5.00pm – 10.00pm, 1.00pm – 10.00 pm (Sunday)
(Closed Tuesday)
GPS: 5.416061, 100.324895

RATING:
Ambience: 5/10 (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: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: 1% [?]

NOTE: Arirang Korean Restaurant has ceased operation. In its place is another Korean Restaurant by the name of Sa Rang Chae Korean Restaurant.

Korean food is totally different compared with Japanese or Chinese food. The food uses a lot of garlic, chili paste, sesame oil, salt, soy sauce, sugar, ginger and fermented soy paste.

Usually kimchi (fermented/pickled vegetables) are served at the beginning of each meal accompanied by salad. In fact, the Koreans consumed a lot of vegetables with most meat dishes eaten wrapped in fresh greens. Most of their food are taken either deep fried, BBQ or in stews.

There are many Korean restaurants in the Pulau Tikus / Gurney Drive area. So far, the one with a quiet and good ambience is the Arirang Korean Restaurant in New Bob Centre. If you are in for a change of diet and try out the new experience, you can drop in there. Recently, I had a family dinner at the restaurant and that was quiet an experience for me and the family. Here are the dishes what we had ordered.

Kimchi & Salad:

Main Dishes and Side Orders:

As for pricing, you can judge for yourself if it is within or beyond your means to spend on a family outing. I had the meal with 4 adults and two children. The total cost for all the meals including green tea (Korean green tea has a mild coffee taste in it) was RM217.80, inclusive government and service taxes which came up to RM19.80.

Here is the breakdown of the food pricing: Samgyupsal (13 pcs plain fatty pork belly slices just to BBQ) RM21, 10pcs thick skinned Dumplings RM12, BBQ Pork Ribs with salad RM29, Haemul Pajean (flour based seafood omelette) RM20, Bulgoki (sweetened beef slices stew with glass noodles and vegetables) RM50, Seafood Stew RM60.

The restaurant is located right at the corner shoplot of New Bob Centre, directly opposite Penang Chinese Primary School (Peng Hwa). You won’t miss it at all.

Name: ARIRANG KOREAN RESTAURANT

Address:

11-G-1 & 2, New Bob Centre, Jalan Gottlieb, 10350 Penang, Malaysia.

Contact: 604-2268518, 6016-467 2203 (Park Won Chan)

Opening Hours:

12.00pm – 3.00pm, 6.00pm – 10.30pm (Sunday Dinner only)

GPS: 5.432649, 100.302150

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: 5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Pricing: 9/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)

Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: unranked [?]

Ramen has been getting so many responses recently that my friend had even opened up a shop specializing in Ramen and Pasta in Taiwan. It would be absurd to fly all over to Taiwan just to have a taste of her wonderfully photographed meals, especially her XO Sauce Ramen and Fried Rice. I have been longing for that dish for so long until I found a shop right here in Penang along Jalan Burmah in Pulau Tikus itself.

The place could not be prominently seen along the main road as it was hidden behind a row of shophouses. I would not say that the restaurant is grand and heavily decorated but it has the quiet and relax ambience for some good food and internet browsing. They do provide wifi facilities but it is hotspot. It would not be as fast but still you can do some simple emailing and browsing.

Coming back to the menu, you will expect to see a thick menu book which has beautiful taken shots of ramen dishes ranging from Taiwanese, Western, Thai, and Japanese styles. All the dishes are pork free. Of course I opt for the XO Sauce Seafood Ramen. The taste is marvelous with big prawns, fish fillet, squids and green vegetables. Except that the squids are rather rubbery hard, everything was perfect.

Next in the list was the Western plus Oriental style of ramen. We ordered the Sesame Chicken Ramen. It looked like spaghetti with bolognaise sauce with deep fried chicken fillet but it has the taste of mild sesame flavor. Not a bad combination though. Something different compared to the norm.

We also ordered a set of 4 fried shui gao (dumpling) to try out. The skin is totally different compared to the Wan Than Mee ones as these are more springy. Not bad for a new taste but I would prefer the filling to be richer. It came with ginger strips pickle.

Presently for April and May, they are having promotion for every set meals ordered. You can get a drink and a shui gao soup free for lunch and a fried ice cream and a shui gao soup free for dinner. Overall, the food can be considered good but the portion served is not big enough for a hungry person. The pricing is slightly above average. Both ramen dishes plus the deep fried shui gao, excluding the two free chilled Jasmine Tea we ordered, we paid RM25.95.

It is not hard at all to find the restaurant. Just drive down Pulau Tikus area towards One-Stop Midlands Centre. As you reach the traffic lights at Jalan Cantonment / Jalan Burmah, keep a look out for Bee Chin Heang and Kassim Mustafa on your right. Turn into the road on the right. Move on and you see the shop on your left.

Name: RAMEN WANG
Address: 11-A Lintang Burmah, 10250 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-2277 298
Opening Hours: 11.00am -10.00pm (Closed on Monday)
GPS: 5.432659, 100.311420

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (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: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Popularity: unranked [?]

Do you still remember last year when the FM Radio channel kept on broadcasting where to go for lunch? Well, before they even came out with the idea of banana leaf rice, I have been going quite frequent to this Shusi Banana Leaf Restaurant along one of the famous lanes in Little India. The white hair boss is a friendly person to talk with (provided his wife is willing to cook her mouth watering curries right on time :P).

You can opt for her different styles of cooking which include vegetarian, fish, chicken and mutton curries. The banana leaf rice comes in sets for 3 different vegetarian appetizers and 2 pieces of papadam (wheat crackers) served with hot steaming rice with your choice of curry (vegetarian, fish, chicken and mutton). An average set will cost you between RM4.50 – RM6.00, provided you did not add additional meat dishes. Adding more rice and dhal (potato & bean curry) is free.

We order a set each of the chicken and mutton banana leaf rice and we ate until our hearts’ content. The restaurant will also serve you plain iced water on the house but you can always try out the Indian Yogurt Lassi drink. There are also many other options such as tosai, puri, etc to go with your curries.

Going there would not be a problem at all as the shop is situated between Market Street and Chulia Street. As you move along the one-way Penang Street, you can see the shop on your left. As for parking wise, you have to try your luck in finding one along the busy street of Little India.

Name: SHUSI BANANA LEAF RESTAURANT
Address: 71 Penang Street, 10200 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 6016-476 2944 (Mr. Jaya)
Opening Hours: 12.00noon – 4.00pm and 4.00pm – 9.00pm.
GPS: 5.416275, 100.339583

RATING:
Ambience: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 7/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7/10 (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: unranked [?]