Jan

Suffolk House Restaurant – Fine Dining in a Penang Heritage and Historical Site!

Posted by: CK Lam in Air Itam, Fine Dining, Heritage, Invited Review, Penang, Penang Restaurant, Pork Free, Wine Champagne and Spirits

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* This article was also published in the New Straits Times on 22nd May 2010.

An ambiance of calm and tranquility with stunning charm welcomed me as I walked into Suffolk House which is known as the first “Great House of Penang”. This recently restored 200-year old Anglo-Indian architectural building was built on the estate owned by Captain Francis Light, the founder of British settlement of Penang.

I had the pleasure of visiting their lovely Suffolk House Restaurant which is headed by Chef Johnny Fua for a food tasting session. This restaurant is run by the management of 32 Mansion, Bagan and Beach Blanket Babylon – all successful eateries in Penang.

Chef Johnny Fua & myself sharing a light moment…

Chef Johnny points out that fine dining is an art to be enjoyed. The ambiance, environment, comfort and decoration combines together with the artistic preparation of the food to deliver a whole new dining experience. He encourages his customers to sit down and enjoy the entire fine dining course, while taking in the creativeness instead of viewing it as a meal or simply rushing through the whole course.

All the dinning halls in the restaurant are decorated to it’s own uniqueness with gorgeous mirrors and framed art paintings. The lighting is soft and creates a wonderfully relaxing yet intimate ambiance.

The menu at Suffolk House is well thought-out, offering guests a nice selection of seafood, poultry and steak from the five main courses, with prices ranging from RM85 to RM120. The price comes with a set consisting of amuse bouche, two appetizers, soup and salad plus dessert and coffee/tea with frothed milk.

Table D’Hote Menu at Suffolk House

To start, the creamy Chicken tikka roll as an amuse bouche was served!

Next up was the bundle of Crispy money bag with baby shrimp, asparagus, roasted pepper & ricotta cheese. Morsels of shrimp and asparagus wrapped in the crispy bundle was served sitting on a bed of garden greens decorated with cilantro lime tomato relish.

Chef Johnny had the salad made of beetroot, apple, cucumber pickles, fried onion ring and added walnuts for the crunch and mint leaves for the refreshing taste. It was topped with crumble feta & mesclun leave and dressed in sour cream mayo. I simply love the vegetable combination of this salad.

The Curried parsnip & apple soup with a lovely texture has the savory sweetness of the parsnip and the delicious tang of apple together with a hint of spiciness from the curry spices. This soup goes well with the green olive butter toast.

The scoop of Tomato sorbet with sour plum shaving was served simple but creatively with added pieces of appetizing sour plum. For good reason, this particular dish is a mainstay on the menu till now.

Click to the next page for the main dish and the location of this restaurant….

Pages: 1 2 3

Tags: 32 Mansion, Air Itam River, Amuse Bouche, Array, Art Paintings, Baby Shrimp, Bagan, Banana Crepe, Beach Blanket Babylon, British Settlement, Captain Francis Light, Chef John, Chicken Tikka, Coffee Tea, Creamy Chicken, Creativeness, Curried Parsnip, Fine Dining Restaurants, Fua, Garden Greens, Grand Marnier, Great House Of Penang, HSBC, Intimate Ambiance, Light Moment, Malaysian German Society, Methodist Boys School, Morsels, New Straits Times (Life & Times), Olive Butter, Penang, Penang Heritage, Penang Heritage Trust, Ricotta Cheese, Rm85, Suffolk House, Suffolk Restaurant, Table D Hote, Table D Hote Menu, Table D’Hote Menu, Tomato Relish, Tomato Sorbet

This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 12:20 am and is filed under Air Itam, Fine Dining, Heritage, Invited Review, Penang, Penang Restaurant, Pork Free, Wine Champagne and Spirits. 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.

43 comments so far

food-4tots

Excellent ambience to spice up your date! (I miss those days, haiiiiii) The food presentation is awesome too!

January 25th, 2010 at 12:53 am

Lee Kok Siang

The food portion is too small

January 25th, 2010 at 7:01 am

allie

Are we to get all 3 desserts for one main course? OMG~~ I’m eyeing on the chocolate ice cream and banana crepe leh! drooling…

January 25th, 2010 at 9:36 am

CK Lam

food-4tots – Do visit this place on your home coming trip Nice place for a family outing.

Lee Kok Siang – It is an eight course meal which is I think is pretty sufficient.

allie – Your choice of main course comes with all the set appetizer, soup and also all the 3 desserts. By the time I finished the eight course, I was so full

January 25th, 2010 at 10:11 am

taufulou

woahh..this is the talk of my friends at the moment..go there for wedding shoot sure very nice 1..with nice food and new place to hang out..

Great to hear that pg now restore another new heritage landmark~ yay~

January 25th, 2010 at 10:57 am

NKOTB

so fast posted? I hv not posted mine…

January 25th, 2010 at 11:21 am

xin

wow! it is really a very nice place!!! I agree with bok on the wedding shoot part. and the food…ah…30 mins more to lunch, i cnt take it anymore.

January 25th, 2010 at 12:21 pm

CK Lam

taufulou – Sure is a nice place. Could just spend a few hours enjoying the food and the nice surroundings.
Permission is needed for photography taken in other parts of the heritage building.

NKOTB – Waiting to see yours too

xin – It sure is a popular place…talk of the town. Do visit it when you are up in Penang.

January 25th, 2010 at 12:37 pm

lingzie

great review ck! love the photos and great to hear that they change their dinner menu weekly. what i had when it first opened is really different from the food you had. which is really exciting for returning guests. cant wait to try their afternoon tea one of these days!

January 25th, 2010 at 12:43 pm

Life for Beginners

Ooh, nice tattoo on Chef Johnny’s left arm. Oops, I’m supposed to look at the food, rite? Hehe.

January 25th, 2010 at 5:09 pm

michelle

Great looking food & nice envirnment~
This restaurant is quite similar with Carcosa Seri Negara

January 25th, 2010 at 5:39 pm

J2Kfm

Fine dining indeed. Great ambience, tastefully presented food, what more can one ask for?

January 25th, 2010 at 8:32 pm

CK Lam

lingzie – Would be lovely if we get together for an afternoon tea together

Life for Beginners – Haha…looks like Chef Johnny have an admirer. Will intro him to you when you drop by.

michelle – I have not been to Carcosa but this place sure has the nice ambience to dine in.

J2Kfm – You said it all, my friend

January 25th, 2010 at 11:51 pm

iamthewitch

Wah the place is really pretty and peaceful… The rack of lamb looks delicious! I wonder if it’s similar to the one in Mansion 32..

January 26th, 2010 at 1:20 pm

mimid3vils

What a special experience dining in such a great mansion!!!

January 26th, 2010 at 4:22 pm

samlee860407

definitely a great place to dine in.

lovely environment, in a place like Penang !!

January 27th, 2010 at 3:31 pm

Nic (KHKL)

sounds like a great place for a special occasion! or even for some lazy afternoon tea. a piece of art…and history.

January 27th, 2010 at 10:41 pm

CK Lam

iamthewitch – I have yet to try those in 32.

mimid3vils – Indeed a totally different dining experience.

samlee860407 – You have said it all

Nic (KHKL) – I like having afternoon tea and will sure to hop over at this restaurant.

January 27th, 2010 at 11:30 pm

backStreetGluttons

A kingsly & lavish place for the rich & famous !
Where the power of the long gone British Empire is re-felt on a majestic scale and well bred diners taste & be pampered by magnificent fine cuisine !
We hope the backlane gluttons can gather enough courage to wander near soon

January 28th, 2010 at 6:41 am

Big Boys Oven

awesome! awesome! what a great year to start, defintely be urshering the year of the Tiger!

January 28th, 2010 at 9:17 am

Kitchenaid Stand Mixer

A certainly different feel and setting for a meal. I think I would try the Money Bag if I’m there… I just like crispy food!!

January 28th, 2010 at 12:09 pm

saucer

how’s the cost? is it gonna burn a hole in the pocket? else, can consider to bring witch there when in penang.

January 29th, 2010 at 10:31 am

CK Lam

backStreetGluttons – Do pay a visit on your next penang trip.

Big Boys Oven – Do drop in for a visit.

Kitchenaid Stand Mixer – It sure has the ambiance and more of your favorite, cripsy food.

saucer – There are a few menu’s to choose from and bound to have one that suits you.
We can go together when you are up in Penang.

February 4th, 2010 at 1:30 pm

cariso

CK, pls blog about the Afternoon Tea!

February 9th, 2010 at 8:28 pm

PCG

May I know what is the price range of the food? The food looks so tasty!!

February 21st, 2010 at 2:25 am

CK Lam

Cariso – Will share with everyone when I do go for their Afternoon Tea.

PCG – Do scroll through all the 3 pages of this post. The prices are written there with a selection of seafood, poultry and steak from the five main courses, with prices ranging from RM85 to RM120.

February 21st, 2010 at 11:15 am

does they open for high tea. ?

CK Lam Reply:
May 6th, 2010 at 1:24 am

Yes, they do serve high tea in the afternoon. Do call them up for more info. The address and telephone number is on page 3.

April 27th, 2010 at 1:39 pm

sam

do we need to make reservation for weekends?
what is the contact no.?

CK Lam Reply:
May 6th, 2010 at 1:25 am

It would be advisable to do so. This post has three pages and the address and telephone number of this restaurant is on page 3.

May 5th, 2010 at 6:34 pm

Hong

wow..this is delicious..been to the house once but I have never try the restaurant..anyway CK (aunty), how’s the price? thinking of going there

CK Lam Reply:
May 16th, 2010 at 1:33 am

There is a nice selection of seafood, poultry and steak from the five main courses, with prices ranging from RM85 to RM120. The price comes with a set consisting of amuse bouche, two appetizers, soup and salad plus dessert and coffee/tea with frothed milk.

May 16th, 2010 at 12:49 am

Hong

a little pricey but considering the environment, it’s not bad …
Thanx a lot for the info

May 16th, 2010 at 4:28 pm

May Brewster

While the food and ambiance is impeccable, it’s a pity the restaurant staff (including the manager) lacked good manners, otherwise, it would have been a perfect experience.

June 7th, 2010 at 12:02 pm

Disgruntled Customer

Suffolk is indeed a remarkable Building and such great restoration work done on it.

The staff running the restaurant on the other hand I am not too sure!
We had a great time there but right at the end, due to some misunderstanding in the bill which we were willing to pay and only asked nicely to clarify matters was made into such a HUGE matter and handled so wrongly by the staff, who went on to complaint loudly to other staff within earshot of other patrons. Tsk tsk!

Fine Dining? Well, the staff should acquire finer skills!

June 7th, 2010 at 5:00 pm

Joycelyn

Do i need to make reservation? I was calling the contact, but no one pick up..>.<

CK Lam Reply:
July 13th, 2010 at 9:59 am

It is best to make a reservation to avoid any inconvenience as the place can be fully booked for certain private functions.

July 9th, 2010 at 1:50 pm

Hoeynairda

Hi CK, am planning to have dinner there tonight. Can I clarify few things:
- any dress code required eg suit, jacket?
- can we take photos in/exterior?

Thanks

CK Lam Reply:
August 18th, 2010 at 5:10 pm

Casual smart should ok, no need suit.
As for photography, it is advisable to ask them before hand. Hope you have an enjoyable dinner

August 18th, 2010 at 4:58 pm

dennis angus

well, i would like to try out at the place,i fancy red wine,red meat preferably beef steak and brewed coffee. How much would it be during the dinner time?

December 8th, 2010 at 5:22 pm

Rafeek

This restaurant has a nice ambiance but the food served are not Halal. The lame reason sighted is always that they sell liquor and couldn’t get Halal certification. Easy solution, is to form a separate company one for beverage and one for food. Get Halal certification. Its sad that Muslims still get marginalized at a heritage site. Such a shame.

January 10th, 2011 at 9:21 pm

Faridah

I think there are many things to look after. The food need a lots of improvement. The wine list the choice not good at all. The service to be improved. I have taste all kinds of food in my life including all the Micheline 1 to 3 stars Restaurant. I am disappointed with the meal.

February 4th, 2011 at 7:44 pm

may i know how about the price?

February 9th, 2011 at 5:44 pm

little boy

hi all, may i know wat’s the budget for 4 adults?

CK Lam Reply:
June 28th, 2011 at 12:57 am

The telephone number of the restaurant is 04 2283930. Do find out more by giving them a call.
CK Lam recently posted..Mee Udang at Selera Sri Tambang, Bukit Mertajam Penang

March 27th, 2011 at 11:03 pm

piggy697

Hi CK, can I know the price of the food posted?
Thanks~

CK Lam Reply:
June 28th, 2011 at 12:54 am

There may be some changes in the selection of food and the pricing. Do contact them at 04 2283930 to find out more.
CK Lam recently posted..Mee Udang at Selera Sri Tambang, Bukit Mertajam Penang

May 22nd, 2011 at 7:00 pm

Joha Linde

I would like to enquire about renting the outside garden for a wedding. Is that possible. Further more do you have any set prices for a wedding arrangement.

CK Lam Reply:
June 28th, 2011 at 12:52 am

For more info, do contact them at 04 2283930.
CK Lam recently posted..Mee Udang at Selera Sri Tambang, Bukit Mertajam Penang

June 28th, 2011 at 12:20 am

Charles

is afternooon tea still avaialable for now?and the price for 2 for a dinner is roughly around 250 ++?

CK Lam Reply:
July 18th, 2011 at 11:19 pm

Prices varies on the type of dishes. Do call them at 04 2283930 for more info.
CK Lam recently posted..Nyonya Breeze Desire – Peranakan Cuisine in Straits Quay

July 18th, 2011 at 7:28 pm

lim susan

i would like to ask is tat suffolk restaurant open on 17sept or 18 sept?? Business hour?? how much for a dinner..
actually i want to celebrate birthday with my bf.. i want to give him some surprise.. will u help me?
pls replay me when u see this message.. thanks o lot..

August 30th, 2011 at 8:46 pm

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Dining Promotion in Penang for Valentine & Chinese New Year 2010 | What2See : Best of Penang Food! Feb 08 2010 / 11am:

[...] but not least, what could more romantic than dining in Suffolk House Restaurant which was recently restored into a fine dining [...]

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