PIctures note

Do click on the pictures to get a bigger size :)

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Hai Boey Seafood Restaurant @ Teluk Kumbar

I was very lucky to be invited out for a seafood dinner last week and was fortunate enough to have brought along Apple's camera which I could conveniently stuff in my pocket. Thankfully she loaned it to me that night else I wouldn't have photos to post here.

Anyway, Hai Boey is located on the road leading to Gertak Sanggul on the southern tip of Penang island. The roads leading to this place is pretty dark at night so do drive slowly. It's easily spotted with the huge signboard with its name on it. For those heading there from Bayan Lepas, its on your left.

So on with the food. Since this was my first time there, I let my friends do the ordering and just be prepared for any surprises which will come along. The first was "Chi Leh" or spiky shells. Its cooked by just blanching it with hot water and we use a toothpick to pull out the meat of the shells. Its like a type of snail from the sea. Nothing too special here.

The 2nd dish was fried meat with brinjal. The brinjal and meat was held with skewers and then deep fried with a light batter. It was pretty refreshing and there was pork and prawns in the mix. I couldn't taste much of the brinjal though as it was sliced pretty thin. Probably would have been good if it was abit thicker. I still like it though.

3rd came my drink for which I ordered a coconut. Thankfully it was from the fridge so the juice was cold! Great. But the coconut was very old and the meat was hard and not very nice to eat. So I ended up just drinking the coconut juice. OK la for a drink.

4th, happens to be the 4 heavenly kings. No we are not talking about canto pop but this is basically 4 types of vegetables fried with Belacan or fermented prawn paste. This was really good and the Belacan was flavorful and it has just the right amount of spiciness to it. The vegetables was also well cooked and you can tell it was cooked over high heat (wok hei).

The 5th dish caught me by surprise. We had lobster, and it was huge! I'm not really a big fan of lobster as I feel that lobster meat is abit tough. The lobster was prepared ala local stir fried lobster with cheese. The meat was cut into large chunks and I got a pretty decent piece. It smelled good and looked menacing. But as I thought, it was abit tough to the bite. It's just not as tender as it is with a tiger prawn. But I guess for a lobster, it was pretty well prepared. Cooked anymore and it would be really spoilt. So a pretty good attempt though its not something I would eat everyday.

6th is their Char Hor Fun. Now this I have to say was a really good noodle dish. The noodles was well fried and flavorful and the sauce that is filled with seafood like squid and prawns was made just right. Highly recommended I would say. Later the captain did mention that their signature was Char Hor Fun with lobster, but that would then mean a really expensive plate of Char Hor Fun.

7th is steamed marble goby. This was probably the best dish of the evening. In Chinese, this fish is also known as Soon Hock or Lam Goh. Its a fresh water fish which is carnivorous and it used to be affordable until everyone realize how good it tastes. The flesh is very smooth and like a silky texture to it. It was also steamed just nice, perfectly cooked and the soya sauce that compliments it just give it a sweeter taste to the fish. Very good indeed.

8th is another vegetable dish. This time its steamed bitter gourd with meat stuffing. Yeap another vegetable with stuffing but for those that like bitter gourd, this one is really pretty tasty. The bitter gourd is steamed till its soft, and then its poured with a sauce. Its cut when its served at the table. The sauce goes well with the bitter gourd and the meat just adds some sweetness to compliment it.

9th is stir fry baby kai lan. This was just cooked with garlic and it was pretty normal. Nothing to shout about here.

10th and 11th are the last dishes and they are both crabs. There was BBQ crab with honey glaze and then there was the crab cooked with salted egg yolk. I preferred the BBQ crab more as you are able to savour the sweetness of the crab meat. I felt the one with the egg yolk was abit overcooked and the meat of the crab didn't turn out so well.

All in all, I must thank my friends for this lovely, and expensive meal (the lobster probably cost half of it). Hai Boey is surely a good place for some good food and the place was actually pretty packed with people even on a weekday. Try this place out ya. Do leave some comments too especially if you have been there and maybe have some food to recommend.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Behind 50, Love Lane Penang

Its not everyday that me and Apple get a night off, so we decided to go around town and stumbled on Behind 50 after I saw a post about it. This is one of the latest place in town to chill out with a cosy ambience and with some good food and drinks to go with it. Apple has the honey lemon and I went for their drip coffee. I'm told that the beans weren't that good for this batch and they will be getting better ones to replace it. Keep up the good work and definitely worth to check it out.
The place is made up really well and most of the furniture here are picked up along the way. The owners were pretty lucky as there were some being discarded and it suited them really well. The currently serve some simple meals such as spaghetti and chips and have some drinks such as coffee and beers. They also have desserts like ice cream! Well, we just had drinks on that night as we went there after dinner but will surely return to try out their other goodies. Keep it up Behind 50! Do leave a comment as usual ya.
Address : 50 Love Lane, Penang



El Casa Wine & Dine Restaurant

I had the pleasure to join a group of bloggers and floggers on a review of the delightful food that is available at El Casa Wine & Dine Restaurant. This place located at Jalan Irrawady is a corner lot at this heritage row of houses which has been tastefully converted to a restaurant. The restaurants theme is of that of Mediterranean, such as of Santorini at Greece. Pictures adorn of that place as well as the white and blue paint scheme. There is both an indoor seating area which can fit about 50 pax with a few large tables that fit 8-10 person comfortably. The outdoor seating is suitable in the evenings when the weather is cooler, to enjoy a glass of wine maybe.
So on to the food. The chef here is local and has worked at many fine hotels around the world and has recently decided to settle back in Penang. We are told that there is no MSG used and that all the items are made by themselves (for example, their soup are not powder base).

The first items which we are served is the Daily Chef’s Homemade Special Western Cream Soup and Homemade Puree of Forest Mushroom Soup. The soup today was their tomato soup and its made with a mix of vegetables such as onions to thicken the soup naturally. For the mushroom soup, definitely there is a very generous helping of mushrooms, and its a mixture of various types of mushrooms to give it its aroma.

Next was their El Casa Salad. When I first saw it, it looked really bland. Just a bunch of leafy greens and grounded croutons. On asking about it, we were then told that the chef did not include the sun dried tomatoes as the batch they made did not come out right. The salad has a honey based dressing, but since it didn't have all its ingredients, I'll hold my judgement on this one.

Next we have the Homemade Chicken Au Gratin. I find this dish to be nice to my liking with juicy bits of chicken in the small carresole coated with a layer of melted cheese. How yummy. This is followed by the Pan-Roasted Fillet of Norwegian Salmon. I find the salmon pretty good, nice and crispy skin and fish fresh. The sauce that is included is lemon butter and I think this sauce was what gave it away. Definitely would be good if it were slightly more lemony I felt. As for the Pan-Roasted Seabass Fillet with Arrabiata Sauce, I felt the fish was ok, nothing out of the ordinary. The sauce was interesting as its abit like a thick tomato paste with a blend of herbs. Not sure everyone likes this sauce but I felt it was pretty good attempt. There is also a Spaghetti Seafood Cabonara which was mainly served with prawns and bits of tilapia fish meat. Its good that the cream is not too cheesy and thus easy to eat. If only the fish came in bigger pieces, then this would have been a really good plate of spaghetti.

For meats, they have the Sirloin Steak 180 gm which looks really yummy. But since I'm not a beef person, I skipped tasting this dish. But it did look good and the portion is very large. Then there is the Charcoal Grilled Hawaii Chicken which looked pretty impressive when it arrived with a large chunk of pineapple on top of the chicken. On closer looked, was abit disappointed with the chicken as only the drumstick portion was used instead of a whole leg. Thus the chicken was abit small though it was well marinated. There is lots of garnishing though such as chunks of grilled potatoes thus it will surely be a full meal.

Finally comes the dessert, which on this day was the Home Dessert. It was lemon moouse top with a layer of chocolate and cherry. To me this didn't really work as the two just didn't blend very well with the taste buds. It looked really good though.

For drinks, we were served a few variety of their tea, such as organic green tea, jasmine and red tea. I would think that wine would probably have went better with the meal but it was certainly refreshing to see tea being served.

Currently El Casa is having a promotion where you can buy a voucher at 50% off (RM29.90) which includes a soup of the day, main dish of either steak or salmon, a glass of wine and a dessert. It's certainly an interesting option and worth a try for steak lovers.

Do try this place out and leave a comment as always ya.

Address :No. 2, Jalan Irrawady,10500 Penang.
Google Map GPS : 5.425589,100.321537

Contact for Reservation:-
Person :
Mr. Colin Wong
Handphone # :017 – 572 9988

Mr. James
Handphone # :012 – 979 3318

Email : elcasapenang@gmail.com
Tel & Fax # : 604 – 2299 223

Business Hours :-
Mon to Sun
Lunch : 11.00 am to 03.00 pm
Dinner :06.00 pm to 10.00 pm

Views of the restaurant, exterior and interior :
The various tea :
Daily Chef’s Homemade Special Western Cream Soup (Tomato) –RM6.90
Homemade Puree of Forest Mushroom Soup – RM6.90
El Casa Salad – RM11.90
Pan-Roasted Fillet of Norwegian Salmon – RM27.90
Homemade Chicken Au Gratin – RM17.90
Spaghetti Seafood Cabonara – RM18.90
Sirloin Steak 180 gm – RM28.90
Cooked medium rare
Pan-Roasted Seabass Fillet with Arrabiata Sauce – RM19.90
Charcoal Grilled Hawaii Chicken – RM13.90
Home Desserts – RM5.90