***The restaurant has since closed down.

* This article was published in the New Straits Times (Life & Times) on 26th July 2011.

Bagan Bar & Restaurant is a place like no other in Penang. Located near Gurney Drive, it offers a special dining and social experience. Housed in an old, majestic bungalow, Bagan has a spacious lounge, dining area and bar.

Two of Bagan’s many unique concoctions – Bagan Blues and Apple Tini

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Tags: Academie De Toulouse, Apple Tini, Bagan Bar & Restaurant, Bagan Jermal, Blinis, Button Mushroom, Chef Christian Bauer, Chef David, Chef David Enjalran, Chef Lance U'ren, Christian Bauer, Core Element, Cream Lemon, Culinary Arts, Diploma In Culinary Arts, European Elements, Foie Gras, Frangipani, Frangipani Kuala Lumpur., French Cuisine, Grated Potato, Michelin Restaurant, Mushroom Ragout, New Menu, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), Papillotte Seabass, Paupiette with vincent sauce, Potato Pie, Potato Rosti, Roast Potato, Rsquo, Social Experience, Spacious Lounge, Trio Concept

It was to my delight and honor that I was invited to the new menu launching event at 7atenine, the trendiest dining outlet located in Ascott Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. I personally feel that the ambiance and atmosphere creates a savvy and suave dining, with a trendy new outlooks coupled with the beautifully designed cuisines to meet everyone’s taste buds.

The event was graced by the presence of renowned celebrity Chef Emmanuel Stroobant. He has his own program, Chef In Black which is broadcasted on the Asian Food Channel (AFC).

Chef In Black – Emmanuel Stroobant

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Tags: Accolade, Ambience, Array, Ascott, Ascott Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Ascott Kuala Lumpur, Asian Food, Big Boys, Capital Of Malaysia, Celebrity Chef, Chill Out Bar, Chocolate Cake, Cooking Demonstration, Emmanuel, Emmanuel Stroobant, Escargots, Flourless Chocolate Cake, Food Channel, Fried Calamari, Hotel Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Pinang 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Launch, Lively Chef, Longan, Maguro, New Menu, Organic Beef, Outlooks, Photo Coutesy, Platinum Awards, Refreshing Glass, Sense Of Humor, Sense Of Humour, Sevenatenine, Skewer, Taste Buds

* 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

TGIF at Queensbay Mall, Penang serves great food and happens to be the place that we went to last weekend. As we already had a late breakfast, we went in for a light snack and a drink instead. This unique miniature cable car caught my eye on my way in.

We were glad to see them having a new menu. While glancing through, I noticed that a few new items has been added to the appetizer, main course, desserts and juices.

My eyes suddenly sparkle when I saw this cute Mini Desserts. These desserts are served in mini glasses. There are a total of five mini delights to choose from. We had  three out of the five. The prices varies depending on the the number of glasses that you choose. For one mini delight @RM 3.90,  three @RM 9.90 and five @ RM 15.90. The more you order, the cheaper it gets per glass.

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Tags: Appetizer, Blog, Bloggers, Blogging, Blogs, Cable Car, Chunks, Cocoa Powder, Deco, Desserts, Domain, Duckie, Food Diary, Food Outlets, Giovanni, Guang Ming Newspaper, Household, Housewife, Juices, Light Snack, Miniature Cable, New Menu, Novels, Panasonic, Queensbay Mall Penang, Slurp, Snickers Bar, Sparkle, Strawberry Parfait, Sweet Chocolate, Tag, Tagger, Tgif, Time 2, Time Of The Day, Tropical Delight, Whipped Cream

Entrance of the restaurant is lighted up with red lanterns which you can’t miss. The interior decoration is simple yet nice; with soothing Japanese music playing in the background. The place is patronized mainly by Japanese and some of them were chattering away, giving this place a very authentic Japanese feel. We took some photos and browse through some Manga while waiting for our food.

This is my hubby’s Unagi Kabayaki – grilled eel. Grilled lightly brown on the outside with a sweetish sauce and yet soft on the inside. He likes the unagi for its rich flavour.

My Saba Shioyaki – Grilled saba with salt. The fillet was grilled until slightly char but not burnt yet maintaining the nice fishy smell. The skin was crisp and not too salty.

For an additional add-on of RM2.50, we get a set which include a bowl of rice, salad, miso soup, fruits and ice cream. This was a simple and tasty meal. They are introducing a new menu from this month onwards with more choices of sushi, sahimi and bento sets. Patrons could opt for delivery services too!

Tonki Bento is located in No. 2, Lintang Burmah, Pulau Tikus and it closes on Tuesday.

Tags: Bento, Bowl Of Rice, Burmah, Expatriates, Fillet, Fishy Smell, Grilled Eel, Interior Decoration, Irasshaimase, Japanese Cuisine, Japanese Music, Japanese Restaurants, Lintang, Miso Soup, New Menu, Penang, Rice Salad, Rm2, Saba, Tasty Meal, Tonki