Cariso Delicacies Corner

This is a new restaurant at the corner shop lot after the Lorong Kampung Malabar, serving Thai & Nyonya cuisine.

Asam Pedas (RM8.00 – 2 fish) My rating : 8/10

This is an absolutely appetizing dish. It would be greater if heated with candle warmer during serving.

Thai Style Roast Chicken (RM11.00) My rating : 8/10

Spice- flavoured roast chicken, a good choice for those who like moist gravy type instead of dry belacan chicken.

Deep Fried Belacan Chicken (RM12.00) My rating : 7/10

Loh Bak (RM8 – 2pcs) My rating : 6/10

Braised Garlic Pepper Pork Ribs (RM12.00) My rating : 6/10

Pork Trotter with Vineger (RM16.00) My rating : 6/10

A bit too sourish and sweet to my liking.

Some of the Chinese dishes that are serving during CNY period.

Chicken Soup with Herbs (RM26.00) My rating : 7/10

An aromatic steamed herbal chicken.

Stir Fried Thai Style Mayonnaise Prawns with Broccoli (RM22.00) My rating : 8/10

Otak Otak (RM4.00 each) My rating : 9/10

A bit pricey but recommended!

Fried Kangkung (RM9.00) My rating : 7/10

I like the fragrant unique belacan/shrimp paste of this kangkung dish.

Malabar Belanda Eggs (RM4.50 – 2 eggs) My rating : 7/10

Thai Style Beef Koay Teow (RM9.50) My rating : 6/10

Kasturi Lime with Sour Plum Drink (RM2.80) My rating : 9/10

A recommended drink for all! Refreshing for hot day and when having Thai food.

Dessert of the Day (Steamed Pumpkin with Coconut Milk Custard – RM3.50) My rating : 9/10

I like this dessert. Moist with average sweetness.

Surprise! Located upstair of this restaurant is a lodging motel with affordable price.

MALABAR RESTAURANT – DINE & CHILL
Address: 26 & 28, Lebuh Cintra, 10100 Penang. (Same row with the famous Cintra Street Oh Kuih/Bak Chang and opposite the famous Yee Sang Kai Chook) 
Contact: 604-263 8266
Website: www.malabar.net.my
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/MalabarPenang
GPS: 5.418636, 100.333832
Business Hours: 11.00am – 10.00pm (Closed on Tuesday)
Happy Hours: 5.00pm – 9.00pm

Nyonya Breeze @ Abu Siti Lane (Invited Review)

Nyonya Breeze is located right opposite the Red Rock Commercial Centre @ Abu Siti Lane. A handful of us attended the invited review extended by Nyoya Breeze and arranged by Steven .

The interior deco is pretty simple yet comfortable.

[The rating below is purely based on taste, not considering price]

Nasi Ulam (RM7.00) [My rating : 7/10]

Steamed rice tossed with salted fish, dried prawns, belacan, ‘kerisik’ and assorted local herbs.
- I personally don’t favour nasi ulam that much as it’s too dry for me. Luckily the Asam Pedas (soup) came in rescue later on.

BUT ….. I appreciate every single effort done by the restaurant in preparation of those ingredients. As we all know, Nasi Ulam requires each ingredient to be cut to its FINEST size.

[...]

Invited Review @ Hot Wok, Burmah Road.

Last Friday a group of us, 14x pax in total, were invited by CK for a food review, extended by Mr. Kelvyn Yeoh, the owner of Hot Wok.

Downstair is divided into 3 portions – the front, the middle and the back. You can see that this pre war house is now tranformed into a beautiful house decorated with fine arts and antiques, close to become a nyoya gallery.

We were seated at the middle hall, alongside the staircase. Very ‘peranakan’ homey feel heh?!

Leading to upstair. The deco at upstair is lit up more brightly and more spacious BUT I personally feel that it is less ‘nyonya’ or ‘peranakan’ feel if compared to downstair.

Upstair dining tables.

This is not an art piece but a menu lah!

The owner with HK leng lui artist, 官恩那 and Tou Tou!

Loh Bak (My rating 8/10)
Very neat & nice presentation of this Loh Bak dish. The Loh Bak is not that ‘oily’ and I could taste the juiciness of the minced pork.

Kiam Chai Ark (My rating 9/10)
When scoop into small bowls, I won’t see the oiliness anymore. The soup is full of duck meat, salted vege (kiam chai) and tomatoes. The taste is just nice, not too salty and not too peppery. One bowl is definitely not enough for me!! This is the dish that made me begging for rice!

Choon Pheah (My rating 7/10)
This Choon Pheah (spring rolls) is best eaten when dipped with the special vinegar sauce.

Wrapping underneath the crispy skin is the shredded bang kuang and carrot.

Tau Eu Bak (My rating 8/10)
The Tau Eu Bak is actually hidden underneath the hardboiled eggs. It’s very ‘black’, you won’t be able to ‘see’ it. Just pick a slice and taste it then you’ll know how well it’s marinated and how tender the meat is.

Or Kuih (My rating 7/10)
Topped with chilli, spring onions & green onions, this Or Kuih is soft but not too lembik until sticking to your teeth.

Curry Kapitan Chicken (My rating 7/10)
The Kapitan Curry is red and rich in aroma but not that spicy. Potatoes accompanied with the chickens are also soft.

Curry Tumis Fish (My rating 8/10)
This is the second dish that made me begging for more rice. I believe cooking stingray in this curry tumis way is the most appetizing one as the gravy is full of lemongrass, blended with a tad sweet and more sour in taste.

Pork Cincalok (My rating 6/10)
I found this dish a bit too salty. I would prefer it to be sweeter in taste.

 

Assam Prawn (My rating 7/10)
This dish is basically ‘ALL black’ when it’s presented. *Headache* as how are we going to capture this dish then?! The prawns are marinated with dark soya sauce. Assam taste was a bit shadowed by the sauce though.

This is the look of the naked prawns when i’t not sun-tanned.

Jiu Hoo Char (My rating 6/10)
This Jiu Hoo Char is less moist. The cutting of ingredients are also a bit ‘rough’ in size.

Hokkien Mee (My rating 7/10)

Those who like sio bak one will definitely like this bowl of Hot Wok’s Hokkien Mee! Its soup base has very thick prawn taste.

Dessert (My rating 7/10)

Ice Kacang, Sago Honeydew , Sago Nangka, Sago Gula Melaka, Cendol , Mango Cendol.

I like the Ice Kacang and Sago Honeydew the most!

The one I marked with ‘X’ is the only dessert that I dislike as it tasted sourish and weird. Why? coz it’s Mango in Cendol.

Hot Wok Nyonya & Local Cuisine124-E & F Burma Road10050 Penang
Add : 124-E&F, Burmah Road, 10050 Penang.

Continued from Ivy’s Kitchen Invited Review (Part I – Set Meal)

Sweet & Sour Crab.

Gulai Tumis Chinese Silver Pomfret (tao tay, 中國鯧魚). It tasted a bit over-cooked due to long waiting time (Ahem, some late comers….) therefore it’s not appropriate to comment since it’s our fault.

Assam Prawns – The assam plum sauce all hidden at the shells and legs. A dry version of assam prawns, rather good.

Fried Bean Curd with Leeks (Sua Na in hokkien, 韭葱) – This one is perfect except a bit dry. Prefer to have more gravy.

Tofu with Seaweed (Chi Cai, 紫菜) Soup – Rich in seaweed taste but rather sweet.

Fried Snow Pea Shoots (Dou Miao, 豆苗) with Bean Sprouts – The garlic-fried bean sprouts’ texture was rather soft compared to dou miao. It would be great if fried with some salted fish.

Fresh Cut Fruits

I would like to thank Mr Tan & Ivy for the food review invitation. Also thanks to Criz for the big effort in organizing on behalf of me (I was dead sick that time)!Ivy’s Kitchen
Add : 58 Jalan Chow Thye, 10250 Penang (Two doors away from Jemputree. Next to Isaribi Tei)
Business Hours :- Mon-Sun (9am-9pm) Sat (12pm-9pm)
Tel : 013-4337878, 016-4337130
Catering services available.

I was invited by Mr Tan from Ivy’s Kitchen @ Chow Thye Road (off Burmah Road) to hold a small food review last week.

My personal feeling after food review: “How I wish that I could find one such cafe at FIZ who could cater for both cheng-cheng-tei kaki and also strong-taste kaki ! I felt that those working in town are more blissful than me loh.”

Dear floggers, if any of you is interested in their food after reading this series of posts, perhaps you may drop a few lines showing your interest and we may liaise with the taukeh to see if another BIG session of food review is possible(?!). *wink*

Ivy’s Kitchen offers worthy set meal with less than RM10. All combos will come with a fruit juice and a dessert (soya jelly with longan). Sound OK?!

Every RM5 spent entitles you for one stamp. You are entitled to redeem for one free set meal after collecting 10 stamps. Sound more OK?

For the combo meal, there are add-on options. You could add RM1 to get a Red Bean Soup (normal price RM1.60) or add RM 2 for Rojak (normal price @ RM3). Sound even more OK?

Here is the menu for Ivy’s Kitchen Value Meal.

COMBO A: Chicken Rendang (RM9)

This combo is one of their best-selling combo. I personally like this dish the most compared to other rice sets (combo B / combo C). Firstly, I love the drumstick. Secondly, the chicken was cooked till just nice enough, texture ngam-ngam-hoe. Thirdly, it’s topped with the gravy of the chicken rendang which is fragant and yet not that spicy, suit my taste. This combo is served with white rice, half slice of egg, keropok, pickled vege, fried ikan bilis + peanuts.

COMBO B: Beef Rendang (RM8.50)

This combo is one of their best-selling combo too. I believe its popularity lies on its beef rendang and the gravy. Most of us were impressed by the texture and the fragance of the beef rendang. This combo is served with white rice, half slice of egg, keropok, pickled vege, fried ikan bilis + peanuts.

COMBO C: Nasi Lemak (RM7.50)

The nasi lemak comes with shredded gingers. The combo consists of half slice of egg, slices of cucumber, sambal ikan bilis, fried ikan bilis, fried chicken wing, fried sardin fish (or alternatives), peanuts and keropok.


Don’t forget! The price is inclusive of fruit juice and dessert loh.

Custom Combo (RM9)

For those who are keen in having cincaru (Stuffed Hardtail Mackeral), you can opt for this combo.

Stuffed Hardtail Mackeral (Cincaru) – RM3.80 per fish. Trust me, when it’s served onto your table, the fragance is irresistible!

The making of cincaru. The fish was stuffed with Ivy’s homemade recipe paste, in generous amount.
For OLs who are sick of having rice and want to have something cheng cheng tei either during freaking hot days, gloomy rainy days or during your sick days, no need to go for KTT (koay teow thng), Ivy caters for your needs too.

COMBO D: Fried Fish Fillet Noodles (RM9)

The soup base is very clear and yet having sweetness. The fried fish fillets are soft-to-chew and not oily. The chicken balls are indeed good, in fact I personally favoured this chicken balls more compared to the fried fish fillets as they are smooth in texture and yummy! I could have just those chicken balls alone to go with my vermicelli.
(FYI, you could ask for add-on when ordering on that piece of paper).

Grouper (Koay Kow) Fish Porridge – RM9

This is an ala carte dish under noodles & porridge. There are four choices : bee hoon, cintan, tang hoon and porridge. You can choose ingredients of either koay kow (RM9) , prawn (RM8.50) , fried fish (RM6.50) , fish (RM6.00) or chicken (RM5.00).

The broth is very cheng tee. Topped with grouper fish, fantastic!

Poh Piah Chee (Mini Spring Rolls) – RM2 for one roll/RM3.80 for two rolls.

Rojak.

Click here for Ivy’s Kitchen home-cooked zhu char.

Ivy’s Kitchen
Add : 58 Jalan Chow Thye, 10250 Penang. (Two doors away from Jemputree. Next to Isaribi Tei)
Tel : 013-433 7878 (Mr. Tan), 016-433 7130 (Ms. Ivy)
Opening Hours : Mon-Sun (9am-9pm) Sat (12pm-9pm)
Catering services available.