Jun

Richard Rivalee Couture House & Cafe

Posted by: CK Lam in Chinese, Penang, Penang Restaurant, Pulau Tikus

A drive down Bangkok Lane will lead you to a charming couture house where fashion designer Richard Rivalee works with his staff in designing beautiful gowns. The hard working man who also has a passion for cooking has since open up a cafe right beside his boutique.

I came to know about this place from my friend KS. I was told that its popularity is coupled by word-of-mouth recommendations by a lot of satisfied customers.

It is open for lunch daily except Sunday. For dinner it is on order basis. The menu is limited. On the day of our visit, Richard has prepared ayam kurma and curry chicken. The ayam kurma was stewed with potato and carrot with very mild gravy. The curry chicken was slightly hot spiced and rich in coconut milk. Each set meal comes with white rice, a hard boiled egg, acar and mango kerabu. The mango kerabu was fresh and fragrant with “laksa flower”. These set meals were accompanied with clear soup. We truly enjoyed this flavourful meal.

The small and neat kitchen where the food were prepared.

Richard took much time explaining to us on how he got his boutique and cafe started. A lot of effort and attention was put into decorating the cafe himself.

The flooring of the exterior area is laid with wood and certain paths are paved with stones. There is a water feature right in the centre of the area and potted plants line up the side of the wall. This setting puts you in a relaxing mood.

The exterior area provides customers with a choice of sittings : bench, couch or just laze around with some scatter pillows.

The small interior dinning area was filled with his personal collectibles of urns, jars and prints which makes this place interesting and colourful.

The pricing of the food in this little cosy cafe is very reasonable. Do check it out at 12, Bangkok Lane, Pulau Tikus.

Tags: Acar, Ayam Kurma, Coconut Milk, Cosy Cafe, Couture Fashion, Curry Chicken, Fashion Designer, Friend Ks, Gravy, Hard Boiled Egg, Hard Working Man, Mango, Potted Plants, Pulau Tikus, Satisfied Customers, Sittings, Urns, Water Feature, White Rice, Word Of Mouth

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 8th, 2008 at 2:04 am and is filed under Chinese, Penang, Penang Restaurant, Pulau Tikus. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

15 comments so far

Poppy Seed

Interesting, usually fashion and food is a doomed combo but this looks really good.

June 8th, 2008 at 8:25 am

550ml jar of faith

Looks like a winner… often wondered how Bangkok Lane’s remained subdued on the F&B retail front… only a matter of time now before that’s all over!

June 8th, 2008 at 9:27 am

CK Lam

Poppy seed - This is a different combo, with fashion as the main subject and cooking as a hobby… so you could expect a small menu with two/three dishes for the day which changes daily.

June 8th, 2008 at 2:31 pm

CK Lam

550ml jar of faith - I noticed that Bangkok Lane is slowly changing to be a upmarket area…many old tenants have shifted out and new ones taking over (like Richard’s boutique).

Even the coffeeshop selling the famous mee goreng is undergoing renovation as we speak.

June 8th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

little inbox

Wow, running both type of business at the same time. As for the food, it’s some sort like prepared food, right?

June 8th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

CK Lam

He only cook two pots of dishes a day every morning, so food is always fresh..and the menu changes daily.

June 8th, 2008 at 8:47 pm

New Kid on the Blog

I’ve yet to explore up to Bangkok Lane… I really salute you for making so many food trips around in the island.
Secondly, I can’t really kept eating outside due to last incident. Looks like my food blog will be slightly slow in updating food review….. [sigh]
But am truly glad to see yours… cuz, at least it gives me a better idea where to dine in the future.

June 8th, 2008 at 9:02 pm

CK Lam

New kid on the blog - It is important that you take care and get well… health comes first than other things.
One fine day, we can arrange a get together for a foodie outing

June 8th, 2008 at 9:34 pm

cariso

I wanna go and try it out one fine day very soon!
cariso´s last blog post..Meals @ Adeline Rest House, Gopeng (Part II)

October 17th, 2008 at 4:44 pm

Mabel

By the way, how much is it for a set?

November 12th, 2008 at 1:58 am

CK Lam

Cariso - Will wait for your review.

Mabel - Its around RM10 onwards…different day with different menu. It is closed on the weekends.

November 12th, 2008 at 1:37 pm

Mabel

I went there yest… it was awesome… and also TGI for the short glass desserts…

Mabel´s last blog post..Finally it’s overrrrrrrrrrr

November 13th, 2008 at 2:37 pm

Tan

CK just to update you a bit on this Richard actually just introduce Nasi Lemak to its manu i think its serve only on thursday check it out!

December 5th, 2008 at 12:04 am

CK Lam

Tan - Wow… its great. Will go over there to try it out… his curry and chili dishes are really good.

Thanks for the info.

December 5th, 2008 at 12:18 am

Mabel

just want to tell you, Richard Rivalli has close down… hehe…

Mabel´s last blog post..Busy busy busy

May 28th, 2009 at 4:17 pm

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