Tainan Restaurant 台湾小吃店

Today, I am going to blog about a place that locates in Midland Shopping Centre. It used to be a very popular shopping centre. But unfortunately right now most of the shops were closed down. I always went back there when there is POPULAR book fest. 
Before this review, I went back once and I noticed that the usual auntie were not there anymore. But the foods taste were some how same as before.

Tainan Restaurant 台湾小吃店
Add : Midlands Park Centre. 488D-1-07, Jln Burmah, 10350 Penang.
Tel : 04-2266871
Business Hours : 11.00 am to 8.30pm (Closed on Monday)

Interior settings
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For the start, I will start with some side orders

Taiwan Wantan Soup 红油炒手 RM6.50
If you like ginger. You would definitely like this. As the owner mixed the fresh ginger juice in the wantan ingredients. As for the soup base it is very clear based soup.

Eel Roll 鳗鱼卷 RM6.00
This dish were deep fried. It tastes quite nice. As there are many ingredients in there.

Taiwan Sausage 台湾香肠 RM8.50
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Taiwan Beef Noodle RM7
As I don't take beef but my friend told me that the broth was very thick and it tastes like oxtail soup. And they recommend that the soup should be drink while it's hot. As the taste varies when it turns cold. As for the beef itself, they comment that it was ok. Every morning the owner will go to the market to buy the beef themselves just to ensure the beef are in fresh condition.
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Saucy Chicken Rice 贵妃鸡饭 RM8
This saucy chicken is a sweet based sauce cooked with wolf berries. The chicken is very tender. I personally like the braised eggs. As the egg yolk is infused by all the braised sauce.

Golden Chicken Wing Rice 香草炸鸡翅饭 RM7
The golden chicken wings are marinated with some rice wine. That's why it has a very nice aroma . You can order this as a side order if you don't wish to take any rice.

Special Pork Rib Rice 豆瓣酱排骨饭 RM7
Although the outlook of this dish does not look attractive. But the taste vice is quite nice. Provided that you like bean paste. I would suggest that you had this with rice. As the bean paste is a bit salty. But when it combine with rice, it would be perfect. The pork rib that I had is very tender.

Pork Chop Rice 排骨饭 RM7

I still remember that I had pork chop rice so often in Taiwan many many years ago. Until I am phobia of it. ^-^ This pork chop was deep fried. It does not look oily at all. And the outer part is very crispy.

Golden Chicken Drumstick Rice 鸡腿饭 RM7
This is what I usually order when I visited this shop in the past. And the golden chicken drumstick that I had this time is a bit too dried. May be the owner had deep fried it for too long. :(
All the meals above were accompanied with salted vegetables, vegetables and minced pork for toppings/toppings of other choices.
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You can also opt for set menu. All you need is to add up RM4.50. Then you will get one drink, soup of the day and dessert of the day.

As for the drink you can choose from the menu. As for the soup of the day, it will change everyday (all home cook types). The dessert of the day changes daily as well, such as barley, mung beans, peanut, ice cream, dried longan white fungus and etc (all home cook types)

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Following were the menu offer by the restaurant:

MENU :

Special Pork Rib Rice 豆瓣酱排骨饭 RM7

Pork Chop Rice 排骨饭 RM7

Saucy Chicken Rice 贵妃鸡饭 RM8

Golden Chicken Wing Rice 香草炸鸡翅饭 RM7

Golden Chicken Drumstick Rice 鸡腿饭 RM7

Chicken Chop Rice 香汁鸡排饭 RM9.50

Salad Fish Fillet Rice 果汁沙拉鱼柳饭 RM9.50

Salmon Fish Rice 炸鲑鱼饭 RM13.00

Tempura Prawn Rice 虾排饭 RM 10.50

Taiwan Sausage Rice 台湾香肠饭 RM7

Drunken Chicken Rice 醉鸡饭 RM8

Taiwan Beef Rice 台湾牛肉饭 RM7

Udon Noodle 锅烧面 RM8

Taiwan Wantan Noodle 红油炒手面 RM6.50

Prawn Noodle 虾卷饭 RM6.50

Drunken Chicken 醉鸡 RM9.50

Taiwan Sausage 台湾香肠 RM8.50

Eel Roll 鳗鱼卷 RM6.00

Eel Roll Rice 鳗鱼卷饭 RM7.50

Taiwan Braised Pork Rice 台湾鲁肉饭 RM5.00

Taiwan Dumpling 锅贴 RM6.50

Prawn Roll 虾卷 RM7.50

Taiwan Wantan Soup 红油炒手 RM6.50

Crispy Nestum Chicken Ball Rice 沙律麦香鸡丸饭 RM6.50

Crispy Chicken Ball 沙律麦香鸡丸 RM8.00

P/S: Special thanks to Mr. Chong for the invitation.

Food Gallery (食代广场) @ Penang Times Square, Penang

During one weekend, we decided to drop by Penang times Square. It's been quite a long time after the opening that we did not return for a visit. Unfortunately, most of the shops were not open and Sunshine City is under renovation. So we walked around and decided to have a tea break at the food court. 
We stop by at one of the dessert corner. And we order

Mango Pudding with toppings
This stall they sell mostly desserts. As we love mangoes very much. Automatically, we will order mangoes. And there are few different toppings from the menu and different puddings. The mango pudding tastes alright. But my gal does not really enjoy the toppings.

Mango Sago Pomelo Ice
Hubby opts for this. If the ice would be a bit smoother will be better. End up with just had the upper part of the mango sago pomelo and with some ice. And left lots of ice sitting in the bowl. ^-^

Bak Chang
Hubby looked around and saw the bak chang corner and decided to buy one to try it. And a week before the dumpling festival, I saw this bak chang being sell in Sunshine Square. As for the tastes, it quite normal.
There are lots of foods in the food gallery though. A long stretch of foods. But since we were not hungry, we just browsed through.

Woolloomooloo MODERN AUSTRALIAN CUISINE

Two weeks ago, my friends were asking me for gathering. And we have to think of the venue. We need a place that we can chit chat and also taste some new foods that we had not tried before. Then there were some suggestion down town  where many suggests to go for Japanese foods. And I am so reluctant to travel so far as been busy up and down from town for the past weeks. So I suggested that we try out 

Woolloomooloo MODERN AUSTRALIAN CUISINE
Address: 21-G, Persiaran Bayan Indah, Bayan Bay, 11900 Penang.
Business Hour: Tuesday to Sunday 11am - 3pm; 6pm - 10pm (Close on Monday)
Contact Number: 016-404 9118

Interior settings

Lunch Menu
I am the first to arrive so I browse through the menu and end up I have in mind what shall we had for this gathering. Since there were only 6 of us who can make it for this gathering. And there are total 6 different main course from the lunch menu. So I suggested to them that we opt for their set lunch. (I think they have no choice but to listen to my suggestion. hahahhaaa........)
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We started off with the choice of drink ~

Hot Honey Green Tea

Ice Lemon Tea

Ice Honey Green Tea

Hot Coffee

Each have it's on choice of drinks.
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Next........ the Appetizer of the day

Chicken Salads
When I first tasted it, I commented that it was so sour. And most of us agree with it. But after we continue eating it, it started to tastes alright. As I think the chef would have garnish some lemon on top of the salads and we did not mix it well before we start having it. ^-^ 
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Six main course that offer as Set Lunch are all set in our table

Beer Battered Fish and Chips with salads and tartar sauce
Beer battered fish......... have you tried? It has been very popular in some of the restaurant in Penang. This main course is accompany with salads, tartar sauce and chips. It would be best that you dip the battered fish with the tartar sauce as we found that the fish itself is a bit tasteless. I still missed the fish and chips sold in my local suburb fish shop back in Melbourne. It is just the simple deep fried fish and chip and it tastes so irresistible. ^-^

Polenta - encrusted Fried Chicken with green pea mash & tomato relish
I am not sure whether have you heard of Polenta before? As this dish is using Polenta. When I google search for Polenta. I get to know that it is made with ground yellow or white cornmeal (ground maize).  I believe that the chicken breast was coated with polenta plus other ingredients and deep fried it. I find that the green pea mash a bit special as it is different from the other mash potatoes that we always having. If you find that the chicken is a bit dry, try dip with the sauces provided. It will lead you to different tastes.

Green Curry Chicken with Jasmine Rice
When my friends look at the menu, they make a comment that whether Australia are famous for it's green curry chicken. Well, in many parts of Australia, you can get authentic Thai restaurant that serves very nice Thai Cuisines. 
This dish turns out to be not bad. At first many tried and comment that it is very spicy. But for me, it tastes alright. If you cannot take spicy foods you may find that spicy for you. The green curry has its aroma flavors. It is best to go with white rice. 

Penne with Chicken Sausages & Roasted Tomato Sauce
This end up with the less popular dish among others as most of them found that they prefer chicken or beef to substitute with the chicken sausages. And the roasted tomato sauce are a bit too sour for our liking. However, the penne were alright. Not too soft nor hard.

Linguine with smoked salmon & dill cream sauce
Well...... usually I will find that anything that cover with the white cream sauce is a bit too heavy for me. But this one is something different. Lesson number two for this outing is we forgot to mix well again before we dig in. When we first tasted this, every one comments that nothing special but when it comes near the bottom part, we started to like it as it has wine aroma. The smoked salmon were nice and wish to have include more in there. Am I too greedy? ^-^

Woolloomooloo Beef Burger with cheese, caramelized onion and Fries
As I don't take beef, so I keep pestering the rest who takes beef to start eating this. As I would like to know how was it tastes like? By the looks of the burger, it looks irresistible. And my friend, Ling Tze  who tasted it before told me that it tastes great. So everyone dig in and told me that it was nice. Overall, they were satisfied with it. So beef lovers out there, do give it a try!
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Next, dessert time. And our dessert choice is Jelly with Ice-cream. There are two different flavors of jelly :

Cucumber Jelly with Ice - Cream
I had the only heart shape jelly among them. Hahaha..... When we tasted the jelly we were guessing what flavors was the jelly? We had few guesses and end up, I asked the person who served us what were the jelly flavors and he told us cucumber and carrot. We still cannot taste cucumber and carrot out from the jelly. But I like the ideas using vegetables in jelly. ^-^

Carrot Jelly with Ice - Cream
For comparison between the two jelly. Most of us voted for the carrot jelly. As it is sweeter than cucumber. ^-^
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Before we finished our meals, we had an additional desserts from my friend ~ Bee. She bought some Macaroons for us to try.

Macaroon
The macaroon were nice and thought that it was done by my friend. ^-^ Bee, once again thanks ya..... for this lovely macaroon.
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Well, we had a wonderful time catching up and also enjoys the attentive service provided by the restaurant. And hope that the restaurant will introduce more different main course. So that we can go back and try it out again in the future. 

EL CASA Wine & Dine Restaurant

Today, I am going to blog about a place that I have visited last month. I am very busy after review foods from this restaurant. I told myself that I have to spare myself sometime to write up the post since "Father's Day" is this weekend and you might be able to bring your family there to celebrate the special occasion.

EL CASA Wine & Dine Restaurant
Address:  No. 2, Jalan Irrawady, 10500 Penang.

Tel & Fax: 04 - 2299223/ James 012-9793318/ Colin 017-5729988
Operation hours: 11:00am – 3:00pm; 6:00pm – 10:00pm (7 days a week)

Google Map GPS : 5.425589,100.321537

There are ample car park place in front and besides EL CASA. After I park my car, I spotted that they have garden sitting area (with ceiling fans). And I was told the restaurant themes are blue and white. hmm....... I wonder what does the interior looks like?

When I entered the premises, I saw some Santorini painting on the wall and wide selection of wine from France, Australia, Chile and etc. Have you ever heard of a place call "Santorini"? It is located in the southern Aegean Sea, southeast from Greece's mainland. I have not been there but my sister in law been there, so I knew this place once I saw the paintings on the wall. And you can see from the photos above, they have a nice interior. I like the blue ceiling. It looks like blue sky with star. ^-^
EL CASA Wine & Dine Restaurant is strictly Pork Free Restaurant and Strictly Home made, no MSG use in their food. Free  Wi-Fi and non smoking for the indoor dining area. For those who like to smoke, you can opt for the outdoor garden areas.

Tomato Soup - RM6.90 (Daily Chef’s Homemade Special Western Cream Soup)
Note: * All kind of soup served with garlic bread*
And the soup of the day is Tomato Soup. It is basically blend tomato, celery, onion and etc. If you are tomato soup fans you can give this a try. But since this is a daily chef's homemade special western cream soup, it will change everyday.

Homemade Puree of Forest Mushroom Soup – RM6.90 
The specialty about this puree forest mushroom soup is they use wild mushrooms and blended together and top with sauteed potato and drizzle with thyme herb olive oil. I love the mushroom soup as it had its fragrant mushroom tastes.

EL Casa Salad – RM11.90
This is their Signature Salad. It consists of mesclun lettuce,  green apples, and crouton with a touch of our special homemade honey mustard dressing which compliment the whole dish. It actually includes sun-dried tomato but since the sun dried tomato for the day that they got is not up to their standard so they did not include in the salads. That's why you cannot see any sun-dried tomato in the salad. I suggest either they can add on the fresh tomatoes.  ^-^

Pan-Roasted Sea bass Fillet with Arrabiata Sauce - RM19.90
It serves with sea bass fillet pan-roasted spicy Italian tomato sauce with mixed herb wedges, sweet corn and sauteed garden vegetable. I like the way that they pan roasted the sea bass. It was a bit crispy at the outer part of the sea bass. If you like arrabiata sauce, then you can give this a try.

 Charcoal Grilled Hawaii Chicken – RM13.90
It is a grilled boneless chicken drumstick with Chef’s finest homemade tropical barbeque sauce  accompany with pineapple ring, french fries, sauteed garden vegetable and sweet corn. The chicken is tender and juicy. 

Spaghetti Seafood Cabonara – RM18.90
It is basically creamy sauce cook with squid, fish and prawns with spaghetti and garnish with parmesan cheese and French baguette toasts. I don't really fancy of the creamy type of sauce. As usually it makes you full after a few spoonful of this type of creamy spaghetti. ^-^ If you are cabonara lover, may be you can give it a try!

Sirloin Steak 180 gm – RM28.90
Sirloin Steak of around 180gm accompanied with sauteed garden vegetable, potato wedges and black pepper sauce. 

Pan-Roasted Fillet of Norwegian Salmon – RM27.90
 This one of the Signature Dishes. And frankly speaking, I enjoyed it very much. I am sure that my gal will enjoy this also. Salmon fillet were pan roasted topped with mixed herb lemon butter sauce and served with mixed herb mashed potato and sauteed garden vegetable. I will certainly go back for this and with their promotion now. You can have this for only $29.90 (with soup, desserts and glass of wine). ^-^

Flower Teas ~ Organic Green – RM6.90, Jasmine – RM5.90,   Pink Rose – RM6.90, Red Tea – RM5.90 and  Chrysanthemum – RM5.90
There are 5 different range of Flower Teas to choose from and price vary as well. Organic Green help lower cholesterol and blood pressure, strengthens the immune system and anti aging. Jasmine helps cool the body, refresh mind, help catharsis, regulates aging and constipation. Pink Rose regulate blood circulation, purifying, cleansing and detoxifying, help skin appear glowing and youthful. Red Tea is anti-oxidant-rich, caffeine free tea conferring substantial health benefits. Chrysanthemum helps treat cough, expectorant, anti-oxidation, enhance immunity, inhibition of blood cholesterol and high blood pressure.

     Home Desserts – RM5.90 

 

EL CASA Wine & Dine Restaurant PROMOTION