Lazy Ember

Penang Open fire grill Barely 3 months old

Sometimes the best discoveries happen by accident. While deciding where to take our lunch gang for a dinner gathering, I stumbled upon this hidden gem tucked along one of the narrowest streets on Penang island. Skeptical at first — the restaurant is barely three months old and reviews have been mixed — I decided to take the leap and convinced the group to give it a shot.

Lazy Ember is an open kitchen concept, and that's a double-edged experience. On one hand, watching the chefs work over an open fire is mesmerising. On the other, the ventilation could use some attention — the suction needs a real upgrade. Worth noting: both chefs come with impressive pedigrees, having worked at Communal Table by Gēn 根 and Bakar in KL.

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Over Fire

By the time I arrived, the rest of the group had already ordered most of the Over Fire section. Here's how it all went down.

Lazy Bird

RM 68

Bearded chicken, banana leaves, fermented corn hot sauce

A crowd favourite — a few of us really loved this one.

Laughing Prawns

RM 58

Garlic chip, aromatic tomato sauce

The standout of the night. Fresh prawns, cooked just right — juicy, not overdone.

 

Pork Chop

RM 92

Kicap seaweed, fermented bean curd sauce

Nice on its own — skip the coconut pairing if it's not your thing.

Ikan Bakar

RM 78

Market fish, fish jus emulsion

Looks stunning on camera, but the taste didn't quite live up to the visuals. Proceed with caution.

Burnt Lala

RM 42

White clam, green peppercorns, burnt lemon sauce

The sauce is the real star here — bright, punchy, and worth mopping up to the last drop.

Baby Eight Legs

RM 48

Baby octopus, kedondong pesto, pumpkin seed mole

Surprisingly good — don't let the description intimidate you. A pleasant discovery.

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Claypot

I added these two to the order when I arrived, and I'm glad I did.

 

XO Pork Ribs Rice

RM 48

Belacan soy sauce, pickled mango ginger, Lazy XO

Decent and solid — some of the gang loved it. For me, the Kampung Fish Rice edges it out, but it's still a safe order.

Kampung Fish Rice

RM 42

Salted fish, cured duck egg yolk, aromatic tomato sauce

My personal pick — tangy, fragrant with basil, and deeply satisfying.

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Starter

Lazy Naan

RM 22

Chicken fat butter, aromatic tomato powder

The butter leans salty, but the overall combination is genuinely interesting.

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Overall, Lazy Ember is full of little surprises — the kind of place that makes you glad you took the chance. A few rough edges, but the food speaks for itself. Worth the visit.

 

Address
6, Lorong Toh Aka, George Town, 10100 George Town, Pulau Pinang
Tel: +6019-987 8164
Reservation is required.

The Mood Space

The Mood Space, Penang — When the Ambience Doesn't Quite Match the Food Rope Walk Road, George Town, Penang

 

I had been looking forward to dinner at The Mood Space on Rope Walk Road. It carries all the hallmarks of a modern European bistro — a carefully curated menu, thoughtful plating, and an intimate setting tucked along one of Penang's most storied streets. But as with many dining experiences, the devil is in the details.

A Birthday Dinner That Didn't Feel Like One

Before I even get to the food, let me set the context — this dinner was to celebrate my birthday. My husband made the reservation in advance, and the person who took the call never once asked what the occasion was, whether we had any special requests, or whether there were any dietary requirements to note.

This might seem like a small thing, but it isn't. At every other restaurant we've dined at for a special occasion, the reservations team proactively checks — Is this a celebration? Would you like anything arranged? Any allergies we should know about? That one conversation sets the tone for the entire evening. It signals that the restaurant genuinely cares about why you're there, not just that you're filling a seat.

Here, there was none of that. No acknowledgement, no preparation, no little touch that said we know tonight matters to you. And when that foundation is missing, every subsequent misstep feels that much heavier.

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The Food — Hits and Misses

We started with bread and butter, followed by their much-talked-about roasted cauliflower, which they proudly claim as a signature dish. I'll give credit where it's due — it genuinely impressed me. The caramelised, crispy exterior had real depth of flavour, and it was the kind of dish that makes you pause mid-bite. If you visit, do not skip this.

 

 

For the mains, I had the Chicken Breast served with a carrot purée, which was competently executed — clean flavours, decent texture, though nothing that lingered in memory. The Smoked Duck Farce was a letdown; despite its elegant presentation, it delivered almost no flavour whatsoever. A dish like this should sing with smokiness — ours barely whispered.

 

The standout of the evening, however, was the Abanico Iberico paired with Nam Chim Jaew. The bold, tangy heat of the Thai-style dipping sauce against the richly marbled Iberico pork was an inspired pairing — a genuine fusion moment done right. That said, the execution had one flaw worth noting: the meat arrived warm, but the sauce was served so cold that it noticeably brought the temperature of the dish down. A small but important detail — in a pairing this good, both elements deserve to be at their best. This dish shows what the kitchen is truly capable of; it just needs that final degree of polish to fully deliver on its promise.

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The Concerns — And There Are a Few

Beyond the missed birthday moment, a few other things dampened the experience.

The first hit me at the door — a noticeable sewage smell upon entering the restaurant. I acknowledge I may be more sensitive to odours than most, but first impressions matter enormously in fine dining. Scent sets the mood before the first dish even arrives, and this was not a promising start.

The second was a matter of hygiene perception. The Mood Space is pet-friendly, which I respect as a concept. But witnessing a cat freely roaming the bar counter gave me pause. There is a difference between a pet-friendly atmosphere and one where boundaries around food preparation and service areas aren't clearly maintained. Whether it poses an actual hygiene risk or not, it raises questions diners shouldn't have to ask.

The third, and perhaps most frustrating, was a failure in hospitality around dietary needs. I have a clam allergy, and I was interested in the Red Snapper. I asked whether the chef could accommodate me by removing the clams — a reasonable request in any professional kitchen. The chef offered crab as a substitute, which I also cannot eat. When I explained this, the response was simply that nothing more could be done. No alternative suggestion. No creative workaround. Just a door closed.

 In a restaurant at this price point, that is simply not good enough. Allergy management is not a favour — it is a baseline expectation.

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The Verdict

The Mood Space has genuine potential. The Abanico Iberico is proof of a kitchen with real skill, and the roasted cauliflower is the kind of signature dish every restaurant dreams of having. But the experience as a whole felt inconsistent — brilliant in moments, careless in others.

A birthday dinner should feel like a celebration from the moment you call to book. When the foundation isn't there — no warm reservation intake, no allergy check, no special touch — it's hard for even the best dish on the menu to fully compensate.

Sort out the front-of-house experience, train the team on allergy protocol, and address the environmental concerns, and this place could be something truly special. For now, it's a restaurant with a lot of promise and a few important lessons still to learn.

Food: 3/5 | Ambience: 2/5 | Service: 2/5 | Overall: 2.5/5

Address: 133, Jalan Pintal Tali, George Town, 10100 George Town, Pulau Pinang 

Phone: 017-960 6133

Coffee Addict

After a 3 years long break guess, it’s time to pick up myself to write something. Be it short or long, be it in English or Mandarin, or be it a criticize review or compliment one, I know I’ve been missing writing, or blogging. Some friends even asked me why would I stopping writing, my standard answer was busy at work, and my waist line is expanding, blah blah… but come to think of it, I truly happy when I see the food on my table.

Blogging for an interest wasn’t my ultimate dream, in fact, to me it’s more of writing down what have I eaten, tried, spent, or reviewed. Those days in my time, we called that writing diaries… but now with the IT era, this have changed to blogging, or writing journal. With regards the 2, the old fashion type is more of writing down what have had passed in your days, and life. The latter one could get you to earn some income.

In fact, my 11 years old nephew wanted to learn blogging, I am more than happy to give him my input. Blogging is a good hobby, that will train 1 person to be more analytical in writing, that would also enhance their writing skills. Probably in his future, he could be an author too.

I wrote diary for almost 16 years, the habit was rather consistent till I dropped it for personal reason and turned that into blogging in 2007 for another 7 years. Everytime the reason is almost the same, busy… lazy. On the other angle I know I’ve lost touch a lot. I know I need to pick it up again.

I like to write in a cozy environment, where a cup of coffee freshly brew smell surrounding in an enclosed room. And listening to some nice music, guess that boost up some writing thoughts in your mind.

Hmmm… that reminds me of Jessica Parker from Sex and The City where she wrote for New York Times in the series. 

Well, lately with so many cafes pop up in the island, basically I am not able to visit all of them. To be more selective, I accidentally bumped in to this café from a reknown blogger CK Lam’s post.

Happened to see the lady owner of Cozy in the Rocket and Amelie Café. And am sure the food or the drinks has its standard. Actually we were here for Croissant, a sinful bread that my hubby loves. Le Petit Four is a small baker in Coffee Addict shop, and she was trained at Le Cordon Bleu Paris, the world's largest hospitality education institution, with over 50 schools on five continents serving 20,000 students annually.

With that name, I believe you wouldn’t doubt on it’s texture and the result. But to his standards, he would rather prefer another piece that he’s always yearning for. 

Anyway, this is just another excuse for croissant the sinful bread. 

Address & Contact Number

Coffee Addict & Le Petit Four Patisserie

209 Hutton Lane

10050 Georgetown

Penang

Tel: 016 – 302 0283

Business Hours:

9am – 8pm (Sunday – Thursday)

9am – 10pm (Friday – Saturday)

Closed on Tuesday

Ben's

  

Many things had have happened in my personal life and in my working career recently, I guess if I want to share about it, it would take more than few pages to share. But writing it down it’s not that I want to talk bad about a person but more of pen down to remember what has happened, what measure to take to improve. Sounded very operational, huh? Well, basically that’s life!

In life, you will tend to meet all sorts of people, people that are selfish, taking people for granted or even very kind and straight forward, some are even very very … extremely ignorant, some are naïve. When you encounter such person at work, how would you deal with them? Do you give them more opportunity to learn, to change for a better person or you would actually fire them?

In a management stand point, I believe an organization will either coach you thru and developed you or they will fire you after a time of period like 6 months or a year. That’s the reason why there are many companies down the road are practicing probation, however, there are companies like American Multi-national companies that I know do not practice that. One main reason is due to they give the trust to their employees and they empower them that could do the job.

So?? Probation is a better choice or not?? I know some management are struggling to keep this type of employee, and in fact, when the time has come, like performance appraisal time, that’s the time the management will rank the employee with a very bad ranking. And some organization will require some kind of improvement plan for the particular employee that doesn’t meet the expectation. This is more of a management to come up with a even distribution between the bad, the good and the best.

I seriously came to know a colleague with such attitude or rather character. Not that that particular colleague is not able to work, some how he’s missing something. That something could be the logical sense, or rational thinking where many of us needed in work or in personal.

I believe you would be furious boiling when your staff is not listening carefully and give you a result that’s not what you want. Or, answer the wrong questions, or not giving the right attention to the question,  and so on. When comes to such situation, what would be the better advice? Fire him? Coach him? But, again… with current pace, each of everyone needs to be fast in making decision and waste no time. Would you a manager spend more time on coaching him or send to human resource department to guide him?

This sounded like a dilemma kind of situation, uh? Well, there’s always the situation in many organization that I know off. Some even think that you’re not able to perform, however, in another new organization, they think they have hired a right attitude employee that proven good results.

Honestly, with all the management talk, that has nothing to do with this post on Ben’s.  But, think through, having you pen down how good is the restaurant, how good is their service and food, why not writing something out of it like management talk, political view, personal thoughts, etc. I don’t am a good write or blogger in this field, and not to see that am changing from one to another, but, with the recent work load, I am truly writing everything down regardless on food, on recipes, on work, on management, on organization or even on EQ (Emotional Intelligence).

Ok, back to Ben’s in Paragon. Heard a lot of about Ben’s, a bistro type of café from KL has expanding its wing to the northern region, Penang. With that has caught many bloggers or many reviewers’ attention and wanted to spare their thoughts on them. Some has written their food was just like any other ordinary café, but it’s on the high side. And some even thinks that nothing to shout about. But, their service was something that made me ponder.

Many places right now win many customers with their attentive and excellent service, regardless you’re Michelin graded or fine dining restaurant. But, anyone of them are arrogant and yet not attentive, no matter how good is your food, end of the day, you’re basically draining off your revenue down to drain.

I was told and shared that they were like rushing their customers out from their restaurant. Serving food very fast, before you could finish your bowl of soup, your next plate of main course is on the way to serving.

My personal experience was, if you’re late for 15 minutes, they will straight away remove your reservation. Though they told you up front when you make your booking. But, my question was what if am stuck in the traffic where Friday is a chaos day in Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone area. Guess what the manager told me, or rather the person in charge, … he said then why don’t you leave your work place early or you make your reservation at a later time. I was like, oh my god, is that your service?? The best advice would be find sometime to take up your phone to give your customer a call whether are you on the way so that I can hold your reservation. Unfortunately, no one has such personal touch anymore in the food or rather service industry now. Agree?

Anyway, too much of management topic and service debate could make anyone of us not digest right now. Let’s see what are the damages like, ok?

 

Steak Frite (RM52.90), char-grilled sirloin with black pepper sauce, its tender and juicy.

 

Grill Lamb Rack (RM59.90), lamb is my all time favourite, it’s a matter how the chef cook it and present it. But somehow, I’ll whack it without 2^nd thought.

 

Teriyaki Salmon (RM39.90), a bit too Asian to me to have it in such westernize bistro. Well, taste and preference is always subjective.

 

Grill Chicken Breast (RM39.90), from the outlook it looks so dry, but the 1^st bite was absolutely amazing and unbelievable. How can I not give the praises to those back in the kitchen that made such a wonderful dish for their customers?

 

Pasta Mushroom Mascarpone (RM25.90), this is something that I find it nothing special nor ordinary, though sounded a bit contradicting, but truly this is what I feel.

 

Chicken Ranch Salad (RM23.90), big serving for a salad. More like for a 2 person’s consumption.

  

Chunky Mushroom Soup (RM14.90), some said nice some said nothing to shout about. To me, a bit too creamy but consider pretty good to slurp it down to the throat.

 

Macadamia Caramel Sundae (RM11.90), dessert…. How can I not commenting anything about desserts!! Desserts in another word is stressed!! When you’re stress, you need dessert to distress it! Don’t you agree?? When I have 1 spoon 1 spoon munching it, sipping it or anything that you can name it, honestly it makes you feel like floating in the sky. Just 1 word – HAPPY!!

Berrific Sundae (RM11.90), BERRIFIC?? Another new word, huh?? But what can I say more?? Just wallop it!!

 

Classic Chocolate Cake (RM11.90), chocolate is my all time favourite, regardless it’s a moist choc cake or cheese cake or anything. Who doesn’t love Chocolate?

  

Lemon Meringue Tart (RM10.90), after all the heavy duty food and desserts, you definitely need something sour, acidic desserts to balance up whatever you’ve eaten.

After all the gluttons wallop all the food on the table, and with a big satisfy grin on the face, honestly, I find it a bit gross. Anyway, enjoy while you can!

Other Reviews

Welcome On Board

Ken Hunts Food

Delicious Foodies

Flash & Go

It’s All About Food

Address & contact number

163C-1-03 & 163C-1-04

Persiaran Gurney

10250 Penang

Tel: +604-228 8909

Fax: +604-228 8908

URL: http://thebiggroup.co/bens/

Operation Hours:
Sunday - Thursday: 11:00am - 11:00pm 10:00pm: Kitchen last order 10:30pm: Bar last order
11:00am - 12:00am
11:00pm: Kitchen last order
11:30pm: Bar last order

Friday, Saturday & Eve of Public Holiday: