Steamed Cup Rice at BM

If you are thinking of that popular stall which is run by many generations, well...this is not. Instead this stall is strictly recommended by a BM friend who has a good sense of delicious food. We were intrigued by the name of the food...'cup rice' in short. We had not come across this in the island itself.

My steamed cup rice with a glass of fresh teh tarik

I was glad that we came to this stall because this coffee shop was much airier and spacious compared to the other one we passed by (which was supposed to be the popular one). We ordered a mixed steamed rice, which meant the steamed rice came with a mixture of chopped roasted chicken and pork on top with a cup (not bowl) of soup. It was only RM 3.50 per set. It was cheap but very filling.

Steamed cup rice topped with slices of chicken meat, roasted pork and its sticky gravy

What we think:

1. If you do not like sticky gravy on top of your rice, then this is not for you. The taste overall was just average for us as we were not into the sticky gravy rice thing. But this stall according to our BM friend was supposed to be better than the popular stall which was just round the corner.

2. I find the portion of the chicken and roasted pork were compatible with the price, which was just RM 3.50. But I guess I finished the meat first before the rice. It was cheap and the food was filling because the steamed rice was a lot.

3. The soup was good and the soup was served in the steamed rice cup.

The coffee shop where Hung Steam Cup rice stall is located

Details:
Hung Steam Cup Rice at Jalan Teh Cheoik Sah, Bukit Mertajam, Penang. (Just opposite Yoong Kee Restaurant)

Express Lunch at Loke Thye Kee Restaurant

This is the entrance to the restaurant (on the 1st floor) and the kopitiam (ground floor)

Loke Thye Kee Restaurant, as far as I can remember, was a rundown building for many years. I have never been there before but my husband had when he was kid. He told me that this place was considered a lavish restaurant in the past. 

Parking along Jalan Khoo Sian Ewe (beside the restaurant)

Now, it has been renovated and given a new breath of life. It is now as what it was in the past: a restaurant set in the 1970's but now with modern amenities such as the lift (which creaks at its every move that makes me wonder whether it is safe or not to use it). The floor (yellowish white and black in checked pattern) is of a typical old coffee shop style. The downlight throughout the restaurant gives it a cozy feel.

Cozy ambience with relaxing music

As of May 2014, they were serving their express lunch at RM 15 nett per set from 12 noon to 2 p.m. It was really express, true to their words. We finish our lunch at a very slow pace munching (and at the same time enjoying the relaxing ambience of the place) in less than an hour.  

The other half of the restaurant with tables facing the main road.

Their express lunch came with a tropical fruit punch, an appetizer of the day (that day was either a pumpkin soup or 'kerabu' chicken) and the main course of the day. Or we could opt for a tropical fruit punch, the main course and the dessert of the day. We went for the first option.

The yummy pumpkin soup

Kerabu chicken is equally good.

Steamed rice with stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts

What I think of this place:

1. The main course (steamed white rice and stir-fried chicken with cashew nuts) was good but I thought the portion of the chicken and cashew nuts was small.

2. Thumbs up to the pumpkin soup and kerabu chicken.

3. The tropical fruit punch was too sweet for my liking.

4. The stairs are steep but there is a very small lift that moves very slowly for those who hate the stairs. 

Yes, we definitely will come back to this place again. Oh yeah, they only have two choices of main course each day. So, I would advise to check out their menu before going.

Our express lunch table.

Details of the express lunch menu:

Monday       : Nyonya Assam Fish or Kung Po Chicken

Tuesday       : Butter Prawns or Local BBQ Chicken 'Ayam Percik'

Wednesday  : Sweet and Sour Fish or Black Pepper Chicken
Thursday      : Chicken and Cashew Nuts or Sweet and Sour Stuffed Squids
Friday          : Beef with Black Beans or Nyonya Chilly Prawns
Vegetarian food is served every weekday for lunch (Sweet and Sour Fish or Lamb Curry). The food here is pork-free.

The express lunch menu with two choices of the main course per day (weekday only)

Details of the place:
Address: No.2 Jalan Burma, 10500 Penang.
Telephone Number: 04-2641919
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Loke-Thye-Kee/610232382356876
Parking is available along Jalan Khoo Sian Ewe (beside the restaurant).
A useful link: http://lokethyekee.weebly.com/ 

Pasta Zanmai at Gurney Paragon

Pasta Zanmai at Gurney Paragon

When you are at the 6th floor of Gurney Paragon, you will notice three eateries at a corner just in front of the escalator. You have Rakuzen, Sushi Zanmai and Pasta Zanmai. The three outlets are actually related to one another because they belong to the same owner. 

Futuristic looking lighting in the restaurant

We went and scanned through their menus before finally deciding on Pasta Zanmai. The reasons we choose Pasta Zanmai over the other two are that it is something new to us and it offers fusion cuisine (of Japanese and Italian food). It sounds exciting and tempting to have cheese and wasabi on the same plate.

Open kitchen: you can see what the chefs are doing in the kitchen

In our opinion, Sushi Zanmai offers the usual choices of sushi like other Japanese restaurants.  It is a little boring. While Rakuzen offers bento sets and we were informed that they were more of Japanese fine dining. It reflects in their prices too.

Next to Sushi Zanmai, there is a shop selling Japanese food stuff and junk food and it also belongs to them. 

What we ate and the price (before 16 % tax):

The exciting part is that a mini set comes with two selection of food. 

1. Mini Chicken Cream Sauce Pasta & Soft Shell Crab Tortilla Roll (RM 26)

2. Mini Seafood Kimuchi Soup Pasta & Salmon Sashimi (RM 26)

3. Dessert: Sansu Mori ( 3 scoops of ice-cream: Chocolate, green tea, black sesame) (RM 12)

The drinks and the price:

Warm water (free of charge)

Green Tea (RM3) (a pot for a person)

Our pot of hot green tea for a person

The verdict:

The cream sauce pasta / spaghetti is served with strips of fried chicken and slices of mushrooms. The pasta and cream is good. The strips of fried chicken have a very strong chicken taste. It can be overwhelming to me but not my hubby. It is still good to him. The best part is the soft shell crab tortilla rolls. Oh my gosh...it is really tasty and the fried soft shell crab is not too oily. This is a must try dish here. 

Cream pasta with fried chicken (in strips)

Love the presentation of the tortilla rolls with soft shell crabs

6 yummy soft shell crab tortilla rolls

The seafood Kimuchi soup pasta is tantalising to our taste buds. It sourish soup goes well with spaghetti too (I did not realise this until then). It has a lot of mushrooms, a prawn, a clam and rings of cuttle fish in it. Thumbs up! The salmon sashimi taste really fresh and goes well with some soy sauce and wasabi. 

The hot bowl of seafood Kimuchi soup with pasta

Salmon sashimi 

We love the presentation of the ice-cream as the three scoops of ice-cream are presented in a boat-shaped plate. The black sesame ice-cream is the best. The chocolate ice-cream tastes real chocolaty and not too sweet. The green tea ice-cream could have been better. The flavour of the green tea is not that strong. We have tasted better green tea ice-cream at Sushi Zento and Miraku at G Hotel. 

Black sesame ice-cream is the best.

Our dessert: Sansu Mori

Psst..pst.. they have pizza too. Unfortunately, they did not serve pizza on that day so we did not get to try one.

We had dined on a weekday. So, getting a table was not a problem to us. The restaurant is rather small and I think it can only accommodate roughly 10 tables at a time.

Details of the place:

Address:

Pasta Zanmai & Hokkaido Ice Cream

163D-6-38, Persiaran Gurney

10250 Penang. (At Gurney Paragon)

Tel: 04-2189600

Closed at 10 p.m., last order at 9.30 p.m.

Charcoal Burger at Stacks, Penang

Stacks' charcoal burger 

We heard from a friends that the burger at Stacks are good. So, we gave it a try last weekend. My first reaction was "Wow! Charcoal burger!" I have heard so much about My Burger Lab in PJ but have no chance to try it.

You have two choices: pork or chicken burger

So, here is my chance to try something new. The menu consists of chicken burger and pork burger. They have several different toppings which are individually charged. We were advised on choosing the matching toppings instead of getting a strange taste burger. Toppings like bacon, ham and grilled eggs go hand in hand. While toppings like the pineapple rings go with mozzarella cheese and you  will get some sort of Italian pizza taste burger. We ordered two chicken burgers with pineapple rings and mozzarella cheese. The taste was tantalizing. The barbecue sauce was superb and they used chicken drumstick (boneless) in the charcoal burger. The grilled chicken was very fresh and juicy. Well, the charcoal burger was black (of course) and it tasted like bread (and nothing else to me).

Watching the "artisans" crafting our burgers

Stacks has seating with air-conditioned with see-through glass panels. We got to see how our burgers were prepared from our table. For take-away, they have some seats near the burger stall for you to sit and wait while enjoy seeing them crafting your burger.

The burger is pricier than McD's or roadside stall's burger. A chicken burger with pineapple rings and mazzarella cheese cost RM 13.80. A plain chicken burger will cost RM 10.80 while a plain pork burger costs RM 8.80. But it is worth it because the ingredients used are fresh and the taste is good. Burgers may be a type of fast food but here at Stacks, they are not that fast. A waiting time of 15 minutes (or even longer if there are many customers) is expected. So, do sit down, be patient, take a sip and wait for your Stacks' burger.

Served in baskets, the charcoal burgers really look appetising

Drinks that they served are mostly soft drinks and bottled water. We did not get any as we just had our drink during dinner. Yes, the burgers were our supper.

Our order number for the burgers

By the way, like many shops in Penang, they also have a loyalty card. Get 10 stamps on the card and get a free Stacks' burger.

The outlet's details:

Address              : Stacks at Siam Road, Penang  (a shophouse, near the famous fried koay teow stall)

Business Hours   : 6.30 p.m. to 11.00 p.m. (Closed on Tuesday)

Contact Number : 016-5895993 or 016-7711919 (call to reserve before collecting)(expect a 30-minute preparation time)
I am not sure where it had moved to or may have closed down. (Updated: June 12, 2014)

CAB Western Food

CAB Western Food restaurant at Farlim

Of late, more and more Western food restaurants are springing up in the island. Not to be surprised, each will gather their own crowd at their doorsteps. Big crowd at James Foo Western Food has kept us away until now. We are too lazy to wait in line when our stomach rumbles. That was what brought us to CAB Western Food one weekend. We thought the latter was not that packed but we were wrong. Luckily, we managed to get ourselves a table.

The iconic CAB chef

Someone told us that it is better than the famous James Foo Western Food. Anyway, we are not  too sure as we have never tried James Foo's.

A glimpse of the inside of the place: cosy but packed

As our starter, we had ordered the mushroom soup. It is very tasty and it comes with bread crumbs in it in addition to two crispy biscuits. Thumbs up! It is definitely better than the one we had at Hai Nan Western Food. It is RM 4.90 per bowl.

The mushroom soup

The price of the food here was not steep at all. At RM 13.90, we could get a plate of Grilled Chicken and Fish Combo with side dishes. This was recommended to us by the staff there. The taste is superb but maybe additives are used in them which left us feeling quite thirsty after that. Unlike other restaurants, they serve seabass instead of the usual dory fish here. So, this is good news if you dislike the taste of dory fish. The set of Grilled Chicken and Fish Combo is covered with homemade demi glaze (brown sauce). This is their house sauce. It is good! Plus they only served chicken drumstick in the set. 

Grilled chicken and fish combo with homemade demi glaze

This set has two choices of sauce; either homemade demi glaze or black pepper sauce. 

The portion is very big

The Rootbeer float that we ordered was just okay. It was RM 4.90. 

Rootbeer float

Next time, we would want to try their Lemon Butter Grilled Fish and Sizzling Chicken sets. They do look appetizing. If you are in doubt of what to order, just ask the uncle-in-charged. He is very friendly, courteous and informative.

Some pros and cons: 
- Their service is quite fast despite large crowd. 
- The washrooms are very clean and nice.
- Parking is just along the road outside the restaurant. At peak hours, it may be difficult to get one. 
- After the second time there, we finally concluded that their food was way too salty, not to our liking. (Updated: June 12, 2014)

Details of the outlet:
Address: 16J Lebuhraya Thean Teik, 11500 Ayer Itam, Penang (Next to Bata shop and near Wed's pasar malam site at Farlim)
Closed on Wednesday

Bearded Chicken Rice at Island Glades

Chicken rice has become ubiquitous in Penang. It is served in many coffee shops here. However, not every seller has the golden touch on his chicken rice. This one at Island Glades is serving chicken rice or to be exact wu shou kai (bearded chicken) rice. 

We have heard of them but never tried them before. I have seen bearded chicken on TV but they look like normal chicken to me. Therefore, I could not tell the difference. Maybe this should be left to the experts.

The bearded chicken rice with salad

This plate is the standard chicken rice with steamed bearded chicken. The bearded chicken are tender and savoury. Besides, the portion of the chicken as well as the vegetable is generous as compared to other shops. Usually, whenever we opt for chicken rice as our meal, we would expect two or three pieces of miserable cucumbers on our plate. But this is not the case. We get to enjoy a balanced meal here. The set also comes with a bowl of herbal soup and two small plates of chilli sauce and their special soy sauce.

This one with additional curry fried egg

The plate of chicken rice above has an additional curry fried egg. It is good too. By the way, the two plates of sauces are really tasty. I like in particular the special soy sauce.

Teriyaki chicken

Unlike other chicken rice stalls, this one serves a variety of chicken including Teriyaki. The roasted Teriyaki chicken is sweet and fragrant. Also it is garnished with a healthy portion of steamed vegetables. Thumbs up again!

The downside is the coffee shop was a bit hot for us although there were fans. If I am not mistaken, this was the only stall that was opened for lunch that day. So, choices are limited here.

Details of the place:

The coffee shop next to Gembira Parade at Lorong Delima 1, Island Glades, 11700 Penang.

Bak Kut Teh at Xuan XIn

Is Xuan Xin familiar to you? Actually, I am referring to Xuan Xin Ramen Kitchen and not Xuan Xin Resturant. Yup, they serve respectable ramen (Japanese wheat noodles). Although they are famous for its Szechuan cuisine, they also have ramen varieties that are not spicy (but terribly delicious!) such as their Bak Kut Teh (ramen with stewed pork ball as in the menu). 

Its strong aromatic herbal soup is very tasty

The bowl comes with several large chunks of bak kut (pork ribs) which have been stewed in its rich aromatic herbal soup for some time. The black soup is very tasty and sweet. A bowl of bak kut teh is very filling and although I yearn for more, it is enough for the day. It comes at a reasonable price of  RM 13.80.

Our delicious bak kut teh

The other bowl of ramen that we had that day was baked cheese ramen with pork chop and curry (RM 15.80). Needless to say, it is spicy and has very strong curry powder taste in it. However, at the same time, the ramen is sticky and has cheesy flavour. The taste is very strong and delicious. 

Baked cheese ramen with pork chop and curry

Their service was okay that day although the waitress had specifically informed us that the baked cheese ramen would take a bit longer to serve (10 or 15 minutes was not a problem to us). However, we did not wait quite long as we were among the first few customers that day.

Details of the outlet:

Basement of Gurney Plaza (not third floor)

Lye Lee Restaurant at Farlim

We yearn for healthy cooking. Therefore, after reading review from Kwong Wah Chinese dailies about preservative-free and additive-free bee hoon soup with ingredients of choice at Lye Lee Restaurant, we could not wait to try it out.

The place is just opposite Farlim's Petronas

Other than bee hoon soup, they also have porridge and koay teow. They have the usual choices of seafood and non seafood. Just to name a few, there are fish, prawns, crabs, minced pork, frogs and fish maws.

Fish, minced pork and fish maw koay teow soup (RM 13) with the chilli paste

We had ordered koay teow with fresh fish in slices, fish maws and minced pork. The portion of the ingredients was generous. The bowl of soup also came with lettuce in it and a small plate of chilli paste. They had a special chilli paste that went well with their soup. We were told to try it. Of course, they also serve chilli padi with soy sauce too. 

My fish and fish maw koay teow soup at RM 10

The verdict: the soup was sweet and tasty. The fish was fresh too. Everything was delicious except the chilli paste. In my opinion, the chilli paste tasted like the Hokkien Mee's chilli. We did not find it special anyway. During our first two trips, we were really happy that we did not feel thirsty after taking the whole bowl of soup. However, our third time there had made us very thirsty. So, this made us wonder whether they did what they preached. No artificial additive or preservative? We had used the 'feeling thirsty after a meal' as an indicator of whether how much artificial additives or preservatives were added to our food. 

If you are interested in crab porridge, they have fresh crabs where they will weigh them first before cooking. The price per bowl is quoted based on the weight.

The washroom is cleaner than most coffee shops. The place is not air-conditioned but it is quite airy with ceiling and wall fans. By the way, they are opened for lunch and dinner.

The details of the outlet:

Jalan Angsana, Air Itam, 11500 Penang.

(It is just opposite Petronas.)

Handmade Burgers at Andy Warlord

Tired of McD or Subway? Fancy eating handmade burgers? Then, Andy Warlord's grilled burger stall may satisfy your burger craving. It is one of the stalls in a coffee shop (next to a vegetarian shop) and is located just opposite the Perkeso building. The best part is the meat is freshly ground with no added preservatives. In other words, they are very fresh.

Andy Warlord's burger (Pork Kodo)

At Andy Warlord's, we had ordered a burger each. The ones that we ordered were Pork Shaman and Pork Kodo with English Muffin (bread). Both had basically the same ingredients except Pork Kodo had additional fried egg.

A closer look of the crispy bacon, cheese and patty...mouthwatering, huh?!

Ingredients of Pork Shaman (RM 8.50):

crispy bacon slice, handmade pork patty, cheddar cheese, cucumber, lettuce, barbecue sauce (with English muffin)

Ingredients of Pork Kodo (RM 9.50):

crispy bacon slice, handmade pork patty, cheddar cheese, fried egg, cucumber, lettuce, barbecue sauce (with English muffin)

Their customers can choose either an English muffin or a bagel. Unfortunately, their bagels had sold out so we opted for English muffin. 

The coffee shop where we had our burgers

Firstly, we find that pork patty was juicy and easy to bite. The same went for their crispy bacon. Yes, my teeth are not so sharp, so I like this. I had experienced whereby when I bit the burger, I also pulled out all the contents and everything was a mess. Secondly, the amount of the barbecue sauce in the burger was just right. Otherwise, it would be oozing out all over my fingers. Yes, it would be a mess again! Last but not least, the burgers were very delicious and they would make me thinking of them all the time. Yes, I could not wait to go back there again.

In short, we love eating Andy Warlord's burgers. Since we are big eaters, we think these burgers are more suitable as snacks or supper. They also have chicken burgers in case you do not eat pork.

The details:

Address: 226A. Jalan Burma (Opposite Perkeso), 10250 Georgetown, Penang.
It has moved to a place, just before Penang Chinese Girls' School (if you are coming from Waterfall Hotel). Carpark is available at the compound but limited. (Updated: June 12, 2014) 

Business Hours (from their Facebook page): Mon to Sat (6.30 p.m. to 12 midnight)

Mouthwatering Maxim's Durian Gelato

When I was small, the name Maxim has been a household name for cakes and pastries. Well, there are many cake houses mushrooming all over Penang in the recent years and I have practically forgotten about Maxim.

Last Saturday was the day that hubby and I went to try out Maxim's gelato / ice-cream. We only ordered a cup of three scoops of gelato. We got to choose the flavours we wanted. I was tasked with this and how I just wished to try them all. 

The selection of gelato at Maxim

The decision was tough as every flavour of the gelato was so tempting. However, in the end, I chose blueberry, oreo and D24 durian flavours. The durian flavour was actually recommended by the boss. 

Luckily, I had listened to his advice. The durian flavour was so delicious. It was as if we were eating the real durian itself. We could not help complimenting after tasting it. I guess that boss overheard our compliments and was very pleased. He started to tell us more about their gelato. His son had learnt gelato making skills in Italy and therefore, we could be assured of their gelato quality. Their D24 durian gelato is made with only D24 durian (not the mixture of different types of durian), so it explains the strong taste of durian. In our opinion, it is in fact better than the real durian!

Three scoops of gelato for RM 12

Their gelato is homemade and not so sweet. Therefore, it is healthier. They do not use crystal sugar instead they have opted for a healthier version.

He also shared with us that Penangites do not consume so much ice-cream as compared to the Westerners. The reasons are Penangites believe that they should not eat ice-cream during cold weather or even hot weather (having cough during hot weather)! We just laughed at his words.

Maxim's cakes, pastries and gelato

There were a few tables near the door for their customers to enjoy their gelato. We sat there and finished up (licking all the way) our gelato.

The details of the outlet:

Burmah Road, Pulau Tikus

10350 Penang.

(Opposite CIMB Pulau Tikus / Next block after Belissa Row)
The shop at Pulau Tikus is closed now but there is another shop along Penang Road. (Updated: June 12, 2014)