Qi Kee Restaurant ~ Hong Kong 2011

How can we go to Hong Kong but not have any of their famous Wan Tan Mee right? So we went to Chi Kee Restaurant which is famous for the noodles! This branch is located in a shopping mall but I just can't recall where it is. Its just next to the Mong Kok MRT station though. Just look at the delicious bowl and its very sizeable dumplings. Read on!

This is how the shopping mall look like. The restaurant is located on the ground floor next to a very large food court.

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.

The View ~ Equatorial Hotel ~ Alaskan King Crab & Semi buffet

Heehhe... I have to say, how lucky I am to have a friend who would like to buy dinner at The View in Equatorial Hotel Penang. For those that are not familiar, I would say that The View is one of the better fine dining restaurants in Penang.
Typically, there is ala carte and then there are those that comes with a semi buffet.
So whats so special currently at The View, well they have the Alaskan King Crab promotion which is for September 2009 only.
On the menu, we have a choice of just ala carte King Crabs or with the semi buffet. We chose the semi buffet and ended choosing the Grilled King Crab and a King Crab Thermidor.
Their semi buffet is actually very good in my opinion. One of their signature is their salmon marinated with Whisky and herbs. This is just so delicious I had a few helpings.
Then they have a very good spread of salads with various garnishing and sauces.
Next would be their seafood cold platter. Here they have boiled and shelled large prawns, scallops on the shell and very fresh oysters. The thing I like about here is that their oysters never run out :)
After this, is their array of appetizers, where there have fish, beef, vegetables and duck. For this round, their duck was just excellent. The aroma and taste was very very good and I had at least 2 helpings of this dish. The fish was not as nice as I hope as the taste felt too complex. I couldn't try the beef dishes as I can't take beef.
Then their last items are their dessert spread. Alas I forgot to take pictures of their dessert today but their tiramisu and crumble and pretty good.
So for today's dish of the day, the focus is of course on the very famous Alaskan King Crab. For those who watch Discovery Channel's Dealiest Catch, this is it. Now when we first heard about it, I though we would be getting the crabs live and ship to Penang. Sadly, they only import the legs of the crab so thats all we got to taste.
Before we get to the main course, we start with the semi buffet as mentioned above. Then we are served with the soup of the day which happens to be seafood chowder. I would say its nothing to shout about as I feel the soup lack a punch to it. After the soup, we get a Strawberry sorbet (the flavour changes often). This I was told by the staff is to clear our taste buds before we savour the main course. It has a minty taste to it and its something like a icecream toothpaste. Leave your mouth fresh, though probably not white. Now is time for the main course.
First is the King Crab Thermidor. The presentation is always excellent here at The View. The food is nicely placed with just the right amount of garnishing. Below the Crab Thermidor is some mash potato with some vegetables. Now the taste of the crab is very fresh, but I feel that the cheese used in this style of cooking overpowered the freshness of the crab. Also the cheese was abit watery in my opinion but maybe this is how Thermidor is suppose to be?
Rating : 4/5
Next there is the Grilled King Crab. Now the garnishing is the same as the Thermidor and the only difference is in the preparation of the crab. For the grilled version, its just much better to my taste compared to the above. The crab is succulent, taste fresh and done just right! This to me is way better compared to the Thermidor version. Given a chance, this is a definitely must try!
Rating : 5/5

Links to more photos : http://www.apples-studio.com/gallery/ww38.4_09_dinner_EQ/index.html

Wikimapia link : http://wikimapia.org/#lat=5.3357035&lon=100.2835464&z=15&l=0&m=b&show=/13213019/Hotel-Equatorial-Penang&search=penang

The marinated salmon
Seafood on ice
My platter from the semi buffetSeafood chowderGrilled Alaskan King CrabAlaskan King Crab Thermidor