Restoran Zi Zai @ Paya Terubong, Penang

Over the past one year since I start open my blog to the public, I came to know many people such as food blogger, FoOd PaRaDise readers, owner of the restaurant where I visited and do review. Then we keep in touch with each other from time to time.

And today, I would like to introduce a place for "chu char" which I get to know him when I visited 西公园(See Kong Ooi). He is the chef there before. Then we keep in touch with each other through email. And I get to know that he is searching for new place to set up his own business.

He is Hock Chai , the restaurant owner of Restoran Zi Zai which some of you might knew him. The shop just barely 3 months ++.

The restaurant location is @

1239-G Ground Floor , Jalan Paya Terubong 11060 Air Itam. Penang.

(It is slightly opposite of Terubong Seafood and Ah Thong Paya Terubong Seafood)

Telephone : 04-8265713

Business Hour : 5 pm - 10.30 pm ( Last order at 10pm)

Close on every Tuesday.

List of the foods being served in this restaurant. There are another list of foods too but I just managed to captured one of it.

Settings of the restaurant

After the slight intro of the restaurant, let me share with you what we have order for our 2 visits:

Deep Fried Belachan Chicken ~ RM8

Before I went to the shop, I asked Hock Chai what is his favourites and he told me it's the belachan chicken. So I always kept in my mind that I shall try this as I did not order this dish back in See Kong Ooi.

The chicken turn out to be slightly burned but it is very crispy in the outer part and very tender inside. Both hubby and I found that it is a bit too salty for our liking and I have addressed this to Hock Chai and he told me that he will look into it. (He told me perhaps due to the marinating of chicken wings)

Assam Curry Fish ~ RM14 onwards

Hubby feel like having some curry for the night and so we ordered the assam curry fish. My gal like the assam curry sauce. As it is not too spicy.

Stir Fry Ladies Fingers - RM5

Usually we will order some green to go with the other foods. Since my gal is with us, we have to order something that is not spicy. So we ordered stir fry lady fingers with garlic. And my gal just loves it. And she almost finished it. ^-^

Prawn Omelette - RM6

Hubby worried that my gal cannot take the assam curry fish, so he ordered the prawn omelette for her. Mind you the prawn is rather big and fresh. We love the aroma of the omelette when it is being serve in our table.

After my first visit, I told Hock Chai about what we think of the foods and he told me that he will look into it and wrote to me again that he had introduce new dishes which I might like to try. So, hubby and I make a move there again after one month.

We ordered:

Watercress Soup - RM5

This is one of my gal favourite soups. Since they have the soup that day, so we ordered that. Mind you it is quite a big bowl of soup. It seems like we kept drinking it and it never end. So end up we leave some since we cannot finished it anymore. ^-^

Stir Fry Kang Kong with garlic - RM5

As usual, no spicy greens for my gal, we order stir fry kang kong with garlic and it turns out to be very nice. My gal enjoys it very much.

Braised Spareribs with Mushrooms - RM9

This is one of the dishes that Hock Chai asked me to try and it became quite popular dish since he introduce it in his new shop. The spare ribs is very tender and there are lots of mushrooms. It is quite a normal dish.

Fish Meat Tofu -RM15

For this dish, you can choose to have different kinds of fish and you can also have fish head too. But we order fish meat this time since it is easier for my gal. We love this dish very much and I would recommend that you try this out. It is very suitable for the elderly and the kids. Beside the deep fried fish meat, there are deep fried tofu, some greens, carrots and sprinkle with spring onion.

Recently, I received an email from Hock Chai that they have introduce another dish ~ Deep Fried Fish with Sambal Sauce. You can give it a try and let me know when you try it. If you don't like chu char, then they also serves different kind fried rice and bee hoon.

To avoid the long wait, I would suggest you to go early especially during weekends.