BY CK Lam

Since 1993, Feringgi Grill has been nominated by the readers of Malaysia Tatler as one of Malaysia’s Best Restaurants for its exceptional cuisine and service. The restaurant with its exquisitely prepared modern grill cuisine, wide range of vintage wines and fine cigars was recently listed in first annual “101 Best Hotel Restaurants Around The World” by The Daily Meal, New York.

Today, the restaurant is helmed by German chef de cuisine, Matthias Tretbar, who focus on grilled dishes. He has 12 years of experience working in his home ground in Munich, West Germany before moving to Muscat, Oman in the Middle East and most recently in Bangkok, Thailand.

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Tags: Balanced Meal, Bangkok Thailand, Best Restaurants, Chef De Cuisine, Chef Matthias Tretbar, Curry Butternut Cappuccino Soup, Degustation Menu, Dijon Mustard, Feringgi Grill, Fine Dining, Flavors, German Chef, Green Salad, Grinded, Hotel Restaurants, Malaysia Tatler, Muscat Oman, New York Today, Oxtail Ravioli, Penang Hotel, Poached Halibut, Prawn, Pumpkin Seeds, Quail Egg, Rasa Sayang Resort, Seared Tuna, Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa, Sunflower Seeds, Tiny Size, Tomato Powder, Vintage Wines, Wasabi

BY CK Lam

Located in the heritage zone of Stewart Lane in George Town, Nostalgie Cafe is housed in a restored two-storey prewar shophouse. This was my first time visiting the place which opened recently.

The owner has transformed the ground floor into a cafe with homestay upstairs, where several rooms will be opened to the public in the first quarter of this year. The cafe, with a cosy and relaxing setting, comes with al fresco seating in the air-well and indoor seating.

The cafe comes with alfresco seating in the air-well  and indoor seating

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Tags: Al Fresco, Basil Pesto, Button Mushroom, Cherry Tomato, Chicken Cubes, Chicken Patty, Chocolate Brownie, Grilled Chicken, Homemade Desserts, Lemon Tea, Marinara Sauce, New Straits Times (Life & Times), Nostalgie Cafe, Nothing Fancy, Onion Rings, Pasta Pizza, Pizzas, Prawn, Raw Onion, Rm10, Spaghetti Aglio Olio, Sweet Desserts, Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich, Turkey Bacon

* This article was published in the New Straits Times (Northern Streets) on 1st February 2011.

Bukit Mertajam houses plenty of eateries, and Ah Meng Coffee Shop is one ideal eatery where one can find cheap and good teatime snacks. Located along Jalan Pasar, this coffee shop is famous for its Rojak Orang Hitam Putih and the Li Guang Popiah.

The ingredients of the popiah include fried bean curd, fried egg, prawn, bean sprout, crunchy lettuce and turnip. The popiah is dressed with chili and hoisin sweet sauce and topped with fried garlic oil, chili sauce and turnip-based gravy.

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Tags: 1st February, Afternoon Snack, Ah Meng, Assam Laksa, Bukit Mertajam, Bunga Raya, Chili Paste, Chili Sauce, Chilli Paste, Coffee Shop, Coffeeshop, Eateries, Fried Bean Curd, Fried Egg, Fruit Juices, Garlic Oil, Jalan Bunga Raya, Jalan Pasar, Kedai Kopi, Kedai Kopi Ah Meng, Kopi, Li Guang, Li Guang Popiah, Mouthful, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), Penang, Penang Hawker Food, Prawn, Rm3, Rojak, Rojak Orang Hitam Putih, Sour Plum, Sweet Sauce, Tea Time, Teatime Treats, Upmost

BY CK Lam

Public Cafe is just another neighborhood coffee shop in the pleasant surroundings of Gurney Drive. Located next to the famed Song River Cafe, this coffee shop is a favorite spot for me as it has a stall that serves up both delicious yet reasonable seafood noodles and porridge.

Take a pick from the striking mix of ingredients and several types of noodles.  The prices varies according to the seafood ingredients, with pawns, crabs, paddy frogs (tin kai/chui kay) and varieties of fish.

Piping hot bowl of Seafood Noodle

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Tags: Chopped Coriander, Claypot, Coffee Shop, Crabs, Favorite Spot, Fish Soup, Flavors, Fresh Fish, Fried Noodles, Gurney Drive Restaurant, Light Seasoning, New Straits Times (Life & Times), Pawns, Penang, Piping, Porridge, Prawn, Prawns, Public Cafe Gurney Drive, Rice Vermicelli, Sambal, Seafood Porridge, Song River Cafe, Spring Onions, Steamy Bowl, Sweet Meat, Thick Pieces

* This article was published in the New Straits Times (Life & Times) on 22nd November 2010.

Fish head curry is an all time favorite delicacy for many. The fish head curry is categorized into many different styles of cooking with their respective combination of spices: Indian style, Nyonya, Chinese and Malay! There are those which are spicy and sourish while others laden with thick coconut milk. All in all, there is plenty of variety when it comes to Fish Head Curry.

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Tags: 22nd November, Appetites, Chee, Chee Wah Curry Fish Head, Chinese, Clay Pot, Coffee Shop, Curry Fish Head, Curry Leaves, Curry Sauce, Decent Choice, Delicacy, Distinctive Fragrance, Fish Curry, Fish Head Curry, Fried Garlic Chicken, Garlic Chicken, Generous Dose, Gold Band, Indian Style, Kalak, Lebuh Melayu, Lunch Hour, Malay Cuisine, Malay Street, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), Nyonya Cuisine, Office Workers, Penang, Penang Food, Prawn, Side Dishes, Size Fish, Tender Lady, Thick Coconut Milk

Hilton Kuala Lumpur participates in the 10th successive MIGF 2010 with its three outlets – Senses, Iketeru and Chynna. All the three outlets will be serving a variety of Western and oriental flavors beginning 1st October to 31st October 2010.

This month-long festival period had the award-winning chefs from the three restaurants presenting innovative creations for the guests. Recently I had the pleasure of savoring the MIGF cuisines of Chynna.

Celebrate the magic of MIGF at Chynna!

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Tags: 2 michellin star, 2010, 31st October, Art Deco, Black Vinegar, Chef Lam, Chef Lam Hock Hin, Chef Lum, Chinese Chef, Chinese Furniture, Christopher Coutanceau, Chynna, Chynna Restaurant Hilton Kuala Lumpur 3 Jalan Stesen Sentral 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Ck Lam, Delicious Bowl, Duck Broth, Festival Period, Flavors, Hilton Group, Hilton Hotel, Hilton Kuala Lumpur, Iketeru, Innovative Creations, Kuala Lumpur, La Rochelle Restauran, Malaysian International Gourmet Festival, Migf, MIGF 2010, Modern Cantonese, Natural Sweetness, October 2010, Oriental, Prawn, Private Room, Radix, Seafood Platter, Senses, Sesame Sauce, Tangy Mustard, Western Cuisine

***The place has since closed down

* This article was also published in the New Straits Times on 16th June 2010.

Take a step into the past at Sri Malaya, an oasis of retro charm!

Tucked right in the heart of George Town, housed in a pre-World War II heritage building is the newly opened Sri Malaya Heritage Restaurant. This restaurant, conveniently located on Rope Walk, is near to the entrance from Chulia Street.

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Tags: Advocado Smoothie, Braised Lamb Shank, Chulia Street, Creativeness, Crunchy Salad, Curry Mee, Delicacies, Dining Hall, Fresh Juices, Fresh Seafood, Fresh Vegetable, George Town, Heritage Restaurant, Hot Beverages, Lamb Chop, Malaya, Mango Smoothie, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), Ocean Seafood, Prawn, Pre-World House, Red Wine, Retro Charm, Rope Walk, Seafood Platter, Sirloin Steak, Size Portion, Sri Malaya, Style Lamps, Two Choices, Vegetable Salad, Warm Ambience, World War Ii

A visit to Sunshine Bay for dinner had the few of us indulging in several types of seafood dishes. This eatery, located in Kedai Kopi Sin Eng Huat at Tanjung Bungah is just right beside the traffic light junction, directly opposite  the famous Penang Tanjung Bunga Goreng Pisang stall. The place looks quite old with the fluorescent lightnings going on and off during our visit on a rainy day. Anyway, the food was awesome!

I am sharing the absolutely scrumptious noodle dishes first. The Kappa Mee Suah and the Stir Fried Noodles with Crab are two lovely choices that we started with. Meesuah was smooth on the tongue and extremely flavorful with the egg and fresh kappa.

On the other hand, the yellow noodles are stir fried with crab, robust with the crustacean juices. The noodles are best left absorbing the gravy as it tends to get slightly moist and more flavorful. I could not resist a second helping of the noodles! The crab flesh was juicy, and with the gravy coating it, the dish was heavenly!

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Tags: Appetite, Bay Seafood, Business Hours, Chicken Pieces, Chili, Chu Char, Delicious Feast, Delicious Noodles, Dish, Eng Huat, Fish Lovers, Fishy Smell, Flesh, Flouresent, Fried Noodles, Garlic, Ginger, Gravy, Guiness, Jalan Tanjung Bungah, Juices, Kappa, Lightnings, Noodle Dishes, Pee, Penang, Penang Restaurant, Prawn, Rainy Day, Seafood Dishes, Seafood Restaurant, Stingray, Sunshine Bay, Sunshine Bay Seafood, Tanjung Bunga, Tanjung Bungah, Tanjung Bungah Penang, Traffic Light Junction, White Rice

I have dine at Miraku Japanese Restaurant many times and this time around I am returning for their Sushi Buffet. Miraku has successfully introduced the All-You-Can-Eat Sushi Buffet with a selection of Sushi and Temaki.

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Tags: Accompaniment, Avocado, Belly Roll, Delicious Blend, Herring Roe, Japanese Restaurant, Japanese Sushi, Miraku, Miraku G Hotel, Natto, Natural Sweetness, Pickle, Prawn, Raw Fish, Refreshing Spring, Salmon Skin, Soy Sauce, Spring Onions, Surf Clam, Sushi Bar, Sushi Lovers, Tobikko, White Fish