SAMBAL

Sambal serves modern cuisine inspired by both Oriental and European influences—with a twist. That said, I personally noticed more Oriental elements than European.

Overall, it’s a great place to visit, especially for a quick meal or when dining with a group of friends. Price-wise, it’s on the higher side, but you won’t regret it.

One downside is the location—it’s situated along one of the busy streets in Penang, such as Beach Street, so parking can be challenging. However, no worries—there’s a large paid parking compound directly opposite the restaurant, though the parking fee can be slightly pricey.

Now, let’s move on to the food.

We started with a few appetizers. The first was 3 Girls with a Dirty Guy—what a catchy name, right? I assume it refers to a combination of comfort food with a rich, savory (“dirty”) concept. This dish features fluffy steamed baos paired with grandma-style traditional salted fish pork patty, served in three ways: Original, Sambal Butter, and Char Siew Sauce.

On my next visit, I’d like to try their 3 Nuns with a Monk (a vegetarian starter).

Next was the Kerabu Glass Noodles with Prawns. It’s similar to Thai kerabu, but Sambal replaces the usual base with glass noodles. The dish is refreshing, though we felt it could have been spicier.

For the main dish, we ordered Udang Entangled. The soup is made from their house recipe broth, enhanced with fresh milk and Shaoxing cooking wine, and served with two large fresh prawns.

We also had their signature Lap Mei Fan, which was actually the main reason for my visit. This is a must-try entrée—don’t miss it!

 

Another dish we ordered was the Rempah Ribs with House Special Pickled Lotus Root. The pork prime ribs are marinated with house-blended local wild herbs and slow-roasted in fresh coconut water for up to six hours.

On top of that, we also tried the Char Siew Bip Rice—aromatic jasmine rice paired with caramelized BBQ pork belly (char siew), a free-range sunny-side-up egg, and chili padi.

Lastly, we had Teo Chew Nang before heading elsewhere for dessert. So what is Teo Chew Nang? It’s their handmade Teochew noodles served with bean sprouts, Chinese chives, dried shrimp, and crispy pork crackling. It was super delicious!

I will definitely be back to try their other signatures such as Sambal Udang, Grilled Rempah Chicken (which takes about 30 minutes to prepare—worth the wait!), Grilled Barramundi with Kerabu Mango Salsa, Japanese in Malaysia, and many more.

Address:
300, Lebuh Pantai, George Town, 10300 George Town, Pulau Pinang

Phone:
017-567 4778

Picco Polo Cafe

A new addition fusion cafe is set up in Penang that serves a vast variety of western, fusion and local delights. Apparently I was told their specialty is their home baked polo buns which I didn’t have a chance to try it out, perhaps another time. From the display, we could see they have original flavour that comes with butter and matcha flavour that pairs with matcha butter. A bit too fusion for our liking, but will definitely give it a try.

 

They are also serving simple American or French breakfast too, from breakfast to pasta, risotto, burgers and also Malaysians’ favorite Nasi Lemak. 

We didn’t really get to try their specialties but had their breakfast set on that day… more of a brunch for us.

A big breakfast that is less than RM30 (to be exact is RM24.90) is considered reasonable for us, excluding a cup of Americano  (RM9, hot). Seriously, the entire taste is kind of salty to our preference.

 

 

Croque Madame (The "croque" is pronounced somewhere in between "crock" and "croak." The "o" sound is slightly elongated, but not entirely and "madame" is pronounced "ma-daam.") that is a choice of sourdough or brioche, turkey ham, topped with poached eggs and bechamel that costs RM17.90 is honestly reasonable.

Why would it be called Croque Madame? When a sandwich is topped with a poached or lightly fried egg, the sandwich is called a croque madame, so it’s named because the egg is said to resemble a woman's hat. That particular sandwich name dates to about the year 1960. What a beautiful name, is it?

I’ve been missing Picolo Latte from Secawan Hutton which is currently closed for repair and maintenance work. Since Picco Polo has Picolo Latte (RM9), I wouldn’t want to miss it.

 

Italians name everything for a reason…. Piccolo translates into 'small' from Italian, but this drink isn't simply a small latte. The piccolo latte, or piccolo, as it is commonly referred to on coffee menus, is a small milk beverage that's typically served in a 3–4 oz/85–114 ml glass.  (source: https://perfectdailygrind.com/2020/03/what-is-a-piccolo-latte-how-do-i-make-it/). It’s absolutely perfect for my morning breakfast.

 

Besides the main meals, they also have a variety of pastries and choices of cakes to choose. Think we’ll come back for more. 

 

Address & Contact Number
284 Lebuh Pantai
Georgetown
Penang 10300
Tel: +604-226 2776

http://piccopolo.com  

 

 

豆豉青椒炒雞塊 Stir Fry Chicken with Fermented Black Soybean and Capsicum

After a long break, I guess it’s time to pick up blogging or writing some recipes that I recently developed.

Probably this recipe has been developed by others, but it will never be the same when you add something extra on it.

 

All these while I never like the smell of Tochi or Douchi that you called it… as far as I know it’s actually a fermented black soybean. And recently I fell in love with it and tried all sorts of ways of cooking it.

 

This time I am trying it with chicken and coupled with Capsicum.

 

Ingredients

2 Chicken Thigh (debone, chop into cubes)

1 Capsicum

1 tbsp of chopped garlic

1 tbsp of chopped chili padi. If you like it more spicy you can add more

1 tbsp of fermented black soybean

 

Marinate
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp Chinese Cooking Wine
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce
Pepper

Marinate chicken for 20 minutes

 

Step-by-Step
Heat the wok with 2 tbsp of oil
Stir fry the chopped garlic, fermented black soybean and chili padi till fragrant.

After that, add in the marinated chicken thigh and stir fry. Cook until it’s 90% cooked, you may add in 2 tbsp of water to make the sauce of this dish. Alternative if you want a dry version, you may keep stir frying it.

 

The tips of this, you would have to cover it with the wok lid and cook it. The chicken by itself may produce some water. That will make the dry version of this dish has more kick if you added more chili on it.

 

Once done, serve with steam rice. 

Lemon Cake with Crunchy Topping

Malaysia MCO (Movement Control Order) has created many home bakers… does that includes me? Well, not quite. But I would have to say, that actually triggered me and inspired me to go back to bake again.

It’s been exactly a year I didn’t bake after the Cempedak season. And lately found new lab rats in the office, and lab rats also give me good comments and criticizes that gives me some idea to make the cakes better.

Baking to me at times it’s rather painful…. Why? I’ve been suffering from migraine whenever there’s a hot weather or lack of ventilation or to the point it’s not cold enough. That actually stopped me from baking, the suffer can be killing. It can drag for many days as well. But yesterday weather was rather gloomy, and since I have plenty of Self Raising Flour and lemons at home, might as well bake something different. Here comes my Lemon Cake with Crunchy Topping.

Preparation Time: 25 Minutes

Total Cooking Time: 1 Hour 20 Minutes

Cake Tin Size: 22cm (9 inch) Square Tin

Ingredients

250g (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened (I used Lescure French butter, it’s more fragrant)

200 g (6 ½ oz) caster sugar

2½ teaspoons finely grated lemon rind/zest

4 large eggs, lightly beaten (I used grade AA)

2 cups (250 g / 8 oz) self-raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tables spoons lemon juice

¼ salt

Topping

½ cup (125 g/4 oz) sugar (I used less than ½ cup)

¼ cup (60ml/2¾ fl oz) lemon juice

 

1. Preheat the oven to warm 170°C (325F/Gas 3). Lightly grease a 22cm (9 inch) square tin and line the base with baking paper.
   
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a small bowl with electric beaters until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the lemon rind/zest, then add the egg gradually, beating thoroughly after each addition.
   
3. Transfer to mixture to a larger bowl. Using a large metal spoon, fold in the combined sifted flour, baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt, as well as the lemon juice. Stir until the mixture is just combined and almost smooth.
   
4. Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth the surface.
   
5. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake. Remove from the tin and turn out onto a wire rack.
   
6. For the topping, mix together the sugar and lemon juice (do not dissolve the sugar) and quickly brush over the top the warm cake. The juice will sink into the cake, and the sugar will form a crunchy topping.  Leave to cool.

Cempedak Butter Cake

I have been a cempedak fan for a long time, I always love to eat Cempedak Goren / Fritters.  But recently many bakers turn it to Cempedak Cake and it has managed to capture many glutens’ heart and stomach. Honestly, it was my first time trying on this and it turns out to be everyone compliment comments on my Facebook. It was indeed an honor.

Well, here’s the recipe which I’ve slightly twit from JeannieTay’s Blog.

Ingredients:

• 250g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 160g soft brown sugar (as the fruit is already sweet by itself, thus, I cut down the sugar intake)
• 5 eggs (65g, A1 egg), room temperature
• 250g plain flour (all-purpose flour or rose flour)
• 1 tsp double-acting baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 40g full cream milk
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 250g Cempedak (weigh without seed) cut into tiny pieces
• 8” square pan

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150°C for 20 minutes. Bake on 2^nd rack counting from the bottom. Line an 8” square pan. Sift flour and baking powder together.
2. In the stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter, salt, and sugar until light and pale. Add eggs 1 by 1, beating well after each addition. Add in a tablespoon of flour after each egg if the mixture curdled.
3. Add vanilla extract then add half the flour and milk and beat on low speed until well incorporated. Add the remaining flour and mix again. Lastly, fold in the cempedak and mix until combined.
4. Pour into prepared pan and smoothen the surface before baking.
5. Bake 170°C for 1 hour. Once done, use a skewer to insert into the center of the bake, it should come out clean, with no streaks of batter.  

Passion Heart Cafe

I am not sure you will agree with me, good friends are hard to come by; especially friends that love to eat and searching for good food. Circle of friends can be varied from many interests, some just love food, some loves cars, movies, etc.  Some even formed a book club.

A spontaneous lunch get-together is often arranged within the gang, and this round we were yearning for cempedak. Thus, we all agreed to have our lunch in Passion Heart which is located in Muntri Street.

Apart from cempedak cakes that they have, they also have other dishes like mushroom soup, or pasta for lunch and breakfast too.

But again, we were not going for anything like that but going for some locals instead - Jawa Mee. 

Honestly the bowl of Jawa Mee is big, for a small eater, may have to share out. The bowl of Jawa Mee consists of crispy prawn fritter, prawns, bean curd, hard boil egg, yellow noodle, small amount of lettuce for garnishing, deep fried shallots, and last chili paste.

Currently is the season of cempedak. You will find lots of road side stalls selling cempedak fritters, and with the recent trend, people are now going for cempedak cake. 

 

And the best cempedak cake that I can find so far is Passion Heart, per piece is about RM11 if am not mistaken.

  

Cempedak Crumble Cake is about RM12 per slice.
 

Cempedak Cheese Cake also not to be missed.
 

Chocolate Mint Cake is refreshing too.

If you are lucky enough, you may bump into Nelly Koon the founder of Passion Heart. She will share with you many life stories. And you will learn from her in terms of her philosophies. There’s always ups and down in life, and how we tackle it and move on with it.

Address &Contact Number

Passion Heart

83 Jalan Muntri
10200 Georgetown

Penang
Tel: +016 - 443 1336
Email: nellcis49@gmail.com
Business Hours: 12:00pm - 10:30pm (Mon & Wed - Sat) 
                           12:00pm - 9:00pm (Sun) (Closed on Tue)

煲粥婆 Summer Time Restaurant

您同意嗎沒有東西可以比和一群朋友和同事一起吃午餐, 更令人高興的是每個人都期待著從繁忙的工作中偷偷溜出來吃一頓午餐。 管他是豐盛的午餐還是簡單的午餐。我們期待的是一陣短暫的歡笑和聚會。

煲粥婆曾經位於 Kampong Malabar (日本新路), 我一直試圖在這裡用餐多次，但很多次都讓我失敗, 要不它關門還是什麼的。我相信煲粥婆的前身是蘭亭粵菜小廚, 也是我試圖要光顧的地方之一。


據說許多網友和博客都介紹煲粥婆的招牌菜是螃蟹粥。
在檳城有許多地方都可以找到螃蟹粥，但是，如果您要像粵式粥這樣的粥，那麼這裡就是您的最佳選擇。 為什麼？因為他們煮的粥煮至軟綿綿, 加上他們用新鮮的材料例如螃蟹和蝦, 和撒些許芝麻油,那芝麻氣味簡直撲鼻使您感到飢餓。那芝麻氣味和新鮮的海鮮可以讓您吃上兩大碗粥。

一只独创手撕鸡必須提前一天預訂。我想他們需要一天醃製，這樣才可以使味道更完美。聽說手撕鸡是一道中国的地方传统名菜，属于川式凉菜。一般选用三黄鸡为原料，其中，外皮金黄可谓手撕鸡的卖点之一，在金黄的鸡皮上，晶莹而散发甘香，肉质细腻，油脂适中，鲜美含汁，嚼之既不油腻也不柴硬，并带有浓郁的鲜香味，直至骨髓。可是煲粥婆的作法和中国的传统名菜有點不同。煲粥婆的作法是燒烤的, 還有蝦餅和沙拉伴飾。還蛮不錯的。


炒青龙菜豆芽 - 青龙菜是近年來才成為桌上的最紅的菜肴。聽說只有怡保附近的金馬侖山上才有栽種，是一名劉姓退休的農業科學家近年才新培育成功的。青龍菜顏色淺綠，外觀似韭菜，口味也接近韭菜或青蒜，不過氣味淡一點，口感更爽嫩。大部分的人是拿來清炒要不就與綠豆芽同炒。


另一道菜就是川菜的水煮魚, 但我們選了石斑鱼。石斑鱼含有的蛋白质、氨基酸、脂肪丰富，而且吃的时候，也是比较容易消化，对身体各方面，都是不会有任何的损害。水煮魚是川菜經典, 香麻辣的麻辣湯底,蒜末,辣椒,花椒粒和乾辣椒還可以发挥御寒、益气养血功效。


龙皇豆腐，一道名字高档的菜肴。为什么会叫龙皇呢？有龙有皇吗？这里，我们要从它的做法说起。 先说龙皇豆腐的材料。制作龙皇豆腐，需要用到菇香,蛋青,鲜虾仁，还有豆浆豆腐,鲍汁等。可见，这道龙皇豆腐菜肴，用料还是挺讲究的，至少给人一种高档的感觉。不错，龙皇豆腐的确不是太大众，但自然也不是太贵，太贵了就不好消费了。


东坡肉，咱們朋友最喜歡吃的其中一個的菜肴, 它也是眉山和江南地区特色传统名菜。东坡肉在浙菜、川菜、鄂菜等菜系中都有，且各地做法也有不同，有先煮后烧的，有先煮后蒸的，有直接焖煮收汁的。 东坡肉的主料和造型大同小异，主料都是半肥半瘦的猪肉，成品菜都是码得整整齐齐的麻将块儿，红得透亮，色如玛瑙，夹起一块尝尝，软而不烂，

尤其我們对建康頗有講究的,最重要的就是东坡肉最好是肥而不腻。 对吗?



Address & Contact
煲粥婆 Summer Time Restaurant
24, Lebuh Nanning
10400 George Town
Tel: +604-226 3191

Two Frenchies

When you were on strict food diet for 100 days and all because you are just to comfort your mother and didn’t want to go against her wish. When the 100 days curfew lifted, I bet you will be like me, you will go all out to find food, to replace what you’d missed.

I’ve been wanting to visit Two Frenchies Restaurant which I believe it was founded by 2 French friends whom once been here in Penang for 13 years and another one wanting to operate a restaurant here in Penang.

When I called for a reservation, first word from Bruno the owner of the restaurant was “bonjour” . Oh ya, “bonjour” means “good day”.  That made you feel like am in France.

7 of us that used to lunch in in our cafeteria and today we decided to lunch out, a break from the hectic schedule. And also find time to meet up with an ex-colleague whom has decided to have early retirement.

To cut the crap short, we enjoyed the laughter and companionship and non-sense that we cracked. It was a wonderful gathering despite we need to rush back to office for some meetings, but overall the meet up was fruitful.


Salade Nicoise RM22 (tuna, French beans, olives, anchovies on a bed of greens)

Soup of the Day RM11.90 (creamy potato and leek soup)

Soup of the Day RM11.90 (creamy potato and leek soup)

Mediterranean Seafood Pasta RM34.90
(tiger prawns, mussels and clams cooked in garlic and wine. Tossed with butter noodles)

Roast Chicken RM66 (whole butterflied-roast chicken with a a hint of cayenne, potatoes gratin, roast head of garlic and a side salad) Good for Two

Signature Pancake RM11.90

Add caption



Quinoa Bowl RM25

(quinoa and bulgur bowl, sundried tomatoes and olives, rocket leafs, lettuce and sunflower seeds) 

Quinoa Bowl RM25

(quinoa and bulgur bowl, sundried tomatoes and olives, rocket leafs, lettuce and sunflower seeds)

Address & Contact Number

No 36, Bishop Street, 10200 Georgetown, Penang

Tel: +604-261 2000

Business Hour: 11.30am to 10.30pm. Closed on Monday