* This article was also published in the New Straits Times (Life & Times) on 20th March 2010.

Located in Chow Thye Road away from the buzzing Burma Road is a new European style wine bar, aptly named That Little Wine Bar! I came to know of this quaint cozy wine bar when it opens in December 2009.

It was a pleasant surprise when my family was invited by the owner, Chef Tommes and his wife, Louise over for dinner. We were welcomed into the restaurant which expresses a sense of coziness with its decoration and low ambient lighting.

The beautiful exterior of That Little Wine Bar!

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Tags: 20th March, Ambient Lighting, Appetizers, Aromas, Array, Austrian Wine, Avocado, Baguette, Blossoms, Burma Road, Chef Tommes, Chicken Liver, Chicken PâTé, Chillies, Chocolate Cake, Chow, Chow Thye Road, Cozy Wine Bar, Crispy Crust, Crunch, Delicious Food, Dinner Date, European Style, Fine Wines, Finesse, Goe, Grauburgunder, Grauburgunder 2008, Herb Broth, Intense Taste, Last Christmas, Launch, Marinade, Mushroom Quiche, Mushrooms, Nasi Lemak, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Wine, Nutshell, Orange Zest, Parmesan, Pate, Patrons, Penang, Personal Welcome, Pinot Gris, Recom, Rotisserie Chicken, Sesame Seared Tuna, Soups, Subtle Flavor, Tast, That Little Wine Bar, Traditional Chicken, Wife Louise, Wild Mushroom Soup, Wine Bar, Wine Cellar, World Labels

The Sea Pearl Lagoon Cafe which is famous for its seafood is situated next to the Tua Pek Kong Temple in Tanjung Tokong with a beautiful seaside view overlooking the North Channel. I went there several times with my family and friends for lunch and dinner.

The seafood is cooked in very simple method, with their signature dish of coal-baked crabs and salt-baked prawns. I’ve eaten baked crabs in Teluk Kumbar Seafood, Crab Village Restaurant and Khuntai Restaurant, but I find this place produces the best baked crabs. The restaurant owner relies on these two signature dishes to pull in the customers.

Straight to the delicious food!

My mouth started watering with the aroma of the baked prawns filling the air. The salt-baked prawns with the smoky taste have us sucking and licking the shell.

Baked Prawn at RM18 half a kilo

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Tags: Baby Chicken, Brown Beans, Coconut Drink, Cold Beer, Crabs, Deep Fried Calamari, Delicious Food, Finger Food, Flour Mixture, Pearl Lagoon, Peh, Prawn, Restaurant Owner, Sambal Sauce, Sea Pearl, Seaside View, Signature Dish, Signature Dishes, Stir Fried, Tanjung Tokong Penang

As a newbie to an area, I would usually choose to patronize the restaurant that is recommended by word of mouth or through the blogs. This time around I chose the Cia Xiang Seafood Restaurant in Bukit Tambun for our family weekend makan outing. This restaurant is nearby the Bukit Tambun Interchange of the North South Highway and the area is dotted with a lot of seafood restaurants, with each close by.

Their signature dish is the Claypot Crab Rice. We were recommended to have two crabs for the claypot. We waited for around twenty minutes for our order.

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Tags: Array, Baked Crab, Bukit Tambun, Chinese Chestnut, Chinese Chestnuts, Chinese Sausages, Chopped Spring Onions, Claypot Crab, Cooked Rice, Crabs, Delicious Food, Fifteen Minutes, Fish Lovers, Flavour, Fried Onions, Good Combination, Gravy, Meat Dish, Meat Dishes, O Clock, Penang Restaurant, Pou, Rice Crust, Seafood Dish, Seafood Restaurant, Seafood Restaurants, Signature Dish, Spare Ribs, Steam Man, Tambun, Tambun 1, Teluk Kumbar, Tender Pieces, Trotter, Word Of Mouth

* Update – The place has closed down!

Recently, a few of the Penang Food Bloggers were invited to a food tasting & review of Miss Saigon, Penang. This trendy Vietnamese restaurant located at the prime area of E-Gate with bustling atmosphere faces the Jelutong Expressway with the view extending out to the Penang Bridge. It was an opportunity for us to discover some unique Vietnamese cuisine, and also having able to taste all the food in this restaurant’s recently revamped menu. The new menu, which is pork free has a total of thirty-one new items with varieties ranging from salad, rice noodles, sandwiches and summer rolls.

I would like to add in a word of compliments to the Management of Miss Saigon for their innovative and forward thinking. I have come to know that the restaurant previously did not receive a lot of positive comments. As a pro-active team management, they have constructively used the feedback from the  bloggers to improve their menu and the restaurant as a whole.

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Tags: 12pm, Active Team, Array, Assam Laksa, Baguette, Bloggers, Busy At Work, Ck Lam, Complement, Compliments, Coriander, Criz, Dedication, Delicacy, Delicious Food, Differe, Dipping Sauces, Dish, Dishes, Egg Roll, Feedbacks, Food Tasting, Free Menu, Gelugor, Glimpse, Goh, Grilled Chicken, Hanoi, Hese, Kudin, Light Lunch, Miss Saigon, New Menu, Oodles, Ooi, Pandan, Penang Bridge, Penang Food, Penang Restaurant, Plain Water, Ple, Prime Area, Pui, Refreshing Twist, Rice Noodles, Saigon Viet, Sandwiches, Sea Snail, Skewer, Taste Buds, Tastebud, Team Management, Vietnamese Cuisine, Vietnamese Food, Vietnamese Noodles, Vietnamese Restaurant, Vietnamese Sandwiches, Warm Water

Young Heart Restaurant is tucked in a strategic location near Pulau Tikus market in Penang island. Found nearby the junction of Cantonment Road and Market Street, this restaurant serves up some delicious food while keeping the prices reasonable. Remarkably, it has been around since 2005 and show no signs of slowing down.

The theme of the restaurant revolves around the Heart, as stated in its motto; The Fragrance of the Refreshment comes from the Heart. Most entries in the menu are kept plain and simple, with main usage of healthy ingredients and less reliant on extra artificial flavoring. Indeed a delightful change from all those other food we get these days.

Innovative and practical sauce plate

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Tags: Artificial Flavoring, Cantonment Road, Chili Oil, Delicious Food, Delightful Change, Dragon Fruit, Fish Balls, Fish Paste, Fried Chicken Wings, Fried Rice, Fried Tofu, Fruit Mix, Healthy Ingredients, Kiwi Fruit, Mango Sago, Penang Island, Penang Restaurant, Rm4, Strategic Location, Tea Time, Tikus, Young Heart

Zhonghua Restaurant is located at One-Stop Midlands along Burma Road in Penang. It is on the first floor of the building, just right beside Berjaya Hotel. At the time of the dinner (last Saturday), the restaurant is offering a 50% promotion for its Peking Duck dish. This definitely is a bonus to those that loves this cuisine.

The dishes for the night were of course the Peking Duck, Black Pepper Duck, Mixed Vegetables and Spareribs.

The naked Peking duck with its crispy skin was sliced in front of us. It makes up a plate in which everyone of us gets a few pieces each.

The plate of crispy duck skin was served with a basket of pancakes, spring onions, cucumbers, carrot sticks and hoisin sauce. A bit oily but goes well with the pancake. This time around, we requested for the remaining duck to be fried with black pepper, a different way as compared to our previous Peking duck dish at Midland Court Restaurant.

This is the succulent Chinese Pork Spareribs, marinated tastefully with mouthwatering flavor.  We were given a set of fork and knife to cut up the meaty rib which is very tender (just like dining in a western restaurant). Every one of us loves it.

Zhonghua Restaurant is an excellent dinning place for delicious food especially the Peking duck and Spareribs. The dinner cost around RM140. As most of you would know, there is also a restaurant in Cititel Hotel that goes with the similar name. I am not sure about their ties however these two restaurants serve slightly different cuisines respectively as mentioned in my older post.

Tags: Black Pepper, Bonus, Burma Road, Carrot Sticks, Cuisine, Delicious Food, Dish, Dishes, Hoisin Sauce, Last Saturday, Midland, Nbsp Nbsp Nbsp Nbsp Nbsp, Pancake, Pancakes, Peking Duck, Penang, Penang Restaurant, Restaurants, Spring Onions, Ties, Vegetables

This bowl of chicken porridge/congee with chicken pieces and eu char koay cost RM3. It has the chicken sweetness in it and is served with some spring onions, dash of oil and thin strips of ginger. The porridge is very smooth and thick. I had one and a half bow!

The BBQ chicken has an aromatic flavour. The meat is tender and tasty, infused with the soya sauce. This whole chicken drumstick cost RM6.

This place offers reasonable prices for their food…value for money.

Tags: Aromatic Flavour, Blanch Vegetables, Chicken Drumstick, Chicken Pieces, Chicken Porridge, Coffee Shop, Congee, Delicious Food, Food Value, Jalan Kuala Kangsar, Mui, Pig Trotter, Side Dishes, Soya Sauce, Spring Onions, Thin Strips, Whole Chicken, Wild Boar, Wild Boar Meat, Yoke

Steamed kampung chicken with Chinese wine. The chicken meat has the pungent smell of the wine and best of all, the gravy goes well with a bowl of hot rice. We also ordered a plate of stir fry Hong Kong choy sum. I personally feel that they added too much minced garlic to it.

Braised tau foo with mushroom.

The taste of the food? The photo shows that my son and myself are very happy with our meal. We ended it with a dessert of hot soya bean milk with ginkgo nuts.

Tags: Bahari, Chicken Meat, Chinese Wine, Cucumber Pickles, Delicious Food, Foo, Fried Man, Fried Pork, Garlic, Ginkgo, Ginkgo Nuts, Gravy, Lobak, Man Tou, Mushroom, Penang, Pungent Smell, Soya Bean Milk, Stir Fry, Western Cuisine

We also had the stew pork trotter as a side dish.

Up to now, we still can’t find any stalls selling this dish in the island…. so whenever we feel like having yam rice, we will take a short journey up to BM to enjoy this delicious food.

UPDATES :

* The stall has shifted to a new coffee shop located just nearby the old place. Do drop by Eleen blog’s for a detailed map to this place.

Business Hours : 9am – 3pm
Closed : Wednesday

GPS Coordinates : N05º 21.690   E100º 27.787

Tags: Bukit Mertajam, Butterworth, Chili Paste, Chinese Celery, Coffee Shop, Delicious Food, Detailed Map, Eleen, Hing Hing, Hubby, Melor, Mix Ingredients, Penang Food, Pig Blood, Pig Innard, Pig Jelly, Place Business, Pork Slices, Pork Soup, Rectangular Pieces, Side Dish, Trotter, White Rice, Yam, Yam Rice