My LIFE, Food & Travel Experience ~ Malaysia, Taiwan & the World: El Casa Wine & Dine Restaurant

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

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 :-