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

 

 



Dān 单 | Moon Shop Gallery 月森

I may sound pathetic if I said after a two days’ work stress, I need some time to relax. But true enough a day of rest, of a ME-time is actually make me feel complete.

I am going thru the list that my boss sent me the other day, and I was sharing it with my husband let’s hop into one of those café from the list. And Dān 单 is in the list that I should try.

Dān 单 is the cafe name that serves coffee and dessert of which a business partner to Moon Shop Gallery that is occupied the bigger space. Happened that the partner is the fan of coffee, and whenever their friends came to visit them at the workshop, they served coffee and dessert. And with their friends’ courage, they actually operated a small corner aka a coffee bar counter to serve customers.

What is Moon Shop Gallery? Moon Shop Gallery is operated by a landscape architect name Vin Chee.  This is basically a workshop for plant in the glass in another words to describe it is called Forest in the Bottle. 

For a lazy person like me that do not have green fingers perhaps this is the thing that I should have to put in my office or home. Why would it be for the lazy person, because basically there's no need to water the plants, as the moisture will form on the inside of the terrarium and on the plants. That moisture will drip down and water the soil.  That's the knowledge that Vin Chee the owner that educated us.

Vin Chee told us that you could build a Zen theme aka Japanese Garden in your bottle, or a rain forest. As long as you put your terrarium under the light, that will grow the moisture from the plant and water the soil. 

Dān is the café that operates by his partner that loves to drink coffee hence the café that came about. This whole place is only plants, coffee, dessert and quiet time of your own.

This place is currently under going some expansions to cater more workshops for kids or for adults. Vin Chee has the dream to educate young children to understand more of local plants and a place for adults to conduct their team building workshops too.

What caught my attention was the Gula Melaka Cheesecake (RM12) that Crisp of Life posted in their blog. A dessert person like me wouldn’t want to miss out something that I’ve never try before. Of course a piece of cheese cake will not be complete without a cup of coffee too.

The choice of coffee was basically advised by the Barista, we two opted for hand brewed coffee which recommended by them, I chose the one that is sweet based and fruity type, Nicaragua COE Pacamara (RM18).

 

And hubby chose Honduras Comayagua El Retono (RM18) which is a sour based kind of coffee. 

Hand brewed coffee would be nice if you know you can’t take too strong coffee after 1pm. Some people or rather me would not be able to sleep after 12pm if you take coffee.

You may wonder what is “Hand Brewed Coffee”. Hand brewed coffee is also call Pourover coffee which starts with ground coffee, a filter and a filter holder. And it’s often called a “pourover dripper”. The basic level, pourover brewing involves in pouring water over the through the grounds to the extract the coffee flavors into the cup or the serving vessel (source Serious Eat).

Why would Dān’s coffee serves in wine glass, according to them the coffee does have the sweet taste of its own and it’s has the fruity taste too. Thus, serving it with a wine glass would be a better choice.

Anyway, I told myself I am going back there again for their Lava Matcha Cake which is their signature too. 

  

Address & Contact Number

Dān 单 | Moon Shop Gallery 月森

38/1 Lebuh Farquhar

George Town

Tel: +604-251 9415 / +6016-467 4011

Operation hours: 1 pm - 10 pm (Closed on Sunday)

Other Reviews

Crisp of Life

Penang Foodie

Take A Break

Ken Hunts Food

Constant Gardener Coffee

今早收到我老闆的一個短訓，原來是告訴我當我需要咖啡提神的時候就看一看以下的咖啡店吧！

換言之，我這老闆超級可愛！

第一站來到這裏 - Constant Gardenere Coffee. 規模並不很大的地方，可是可見這裡蠻其全。有多樣化的咖啡和巧克力飲品。

蠻喜歡這裡，也許這裡超靜，無人打擾，也可以安靜的工作或是讀書。

不多言了，我們只叫了一杯"拉鐡" (Latte) 和一杯"長黑" (Long Black)。以及一個"黑美人" (Black Beauty)。

我只能說以我個人的的喜好，這裡可以説是個好地方來看書或做工，至於咖啡我想還有些空間的進步。

Address & Contact Number
No. 9 Lebut Light
Chinese Chambers of Commerce Buidling
Georgetown 10200
Penang.
Tel: 604-251 9070

Business Hour: 9am to 12am (close on Tuesday)
URL: http://constantgardener.coffee/


Other Review
Penang Foodie
Crisp of Life
食在好玩 

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

El Faro Tapas Bar & Wine

It has never been easy to find someone that has the same interest as you, or someone that can click or rather we term that as chemistry. But I guess I do have a group of friends that loves food. Whenever we are out for dinner with our superior, we will definitely love the food that we had. Be it is something high end or low end or even simple comfort food. I guess it’s the company that counts.

Sometimes, we can laugh things out without realizing we are disturbing the other table. Sometimes we take that opportunity to share out our working problems, or even family matters. I treasure every moment we spent together even we do have dispute at work. Well… who doesn’t have right? As long as one could think rationally and let go without keeping everything in the heart, I believe any friendship would be stays strong and firm. And am sure everyone would agree with me that that’s the way we build the friendship.

El Faro… a place where I discovered long time ago, and couldn’t find enough of food lovers to join me for “walloping”, “slurping” and  “gluttoning” till this day. You know when you enter to a place where you are not sure what to have and what to order, best to find someone to recommend their specialties to you.

We were lucky that time to have a chef that came to us and recommend us a few signature dishes from them. The best is their dessert. I know I shouldn’t be writing dessert before the main course, well… as a dessert person, you just can’t resist for not writing anything about it.

 

Am sure you will be wondering why? What’s so special about their dessert. I was having a very skeptical thought when they recommend me the strawberry tiramisu. A tiramisu without any liqueur, would you call that tiramisu? I wouldn’t, but after tasted, to my surprise, that tiramisu honestly surprises me.

 

In El Faro you can choose your dishes in either tapas or main course serving. Main course serving would be a bigger portion, tapas is more of like an appetizer kind of serving. But in El Faro they are will specially designed many different tapas and combine them to make a full meal for their patrons. And that kind of serving definitely designed to encourage our conversation, laughter and ‘photo shooting’ too.

 

Boquerones – Spanish white anchovy served on top of the juicy watermelon with a splash of olive oil and sea salt sprinkles on it. Honestly, it was a perfect combination.

   

Caviar on Angel’s Hair – it’s like a beautiful picture that you wouldn’t want to spoilt it, really do not know how and where to start when I first look at this.

  

Anchovy and eggplant mash on top of the light toasted bread – for those that do not like eggplant, you may not able to taste that out, it was nicely done up and never regret to have it.

Patatos Bravas – Potato that is deep fried into a low heat oil and served with Bravas Sauce, a special sauce that the chef created.

 

Spanish Bacon – whoever see this will definitely commented high cholesterol, don’t have it frequently, it’s oily, later you will be guilty and so on. But, if I were you, I will wallop first, cuz, you will not regret and it’s not even oily. It’s like so nice with the splash of lychee salsa that they created for this special bacon.

Seafood Paella – it was sent to us by mistake. Thanks to our camera to have the food first, else, it will straight down to our belly. By looking at it, you could tell the chef is a serious chef that make sure all the ingredients are fresh. How I wish we could eat that.

 

Gambas a la Plancha – Fresh prawns that charred with the sea salt when it served it was piping hot. It looks so delectable.

 

Tomato Salad – for the green lovers. It was rocket leafs with 2 types of tomatoes, eg. cherry tomatoes, and another type which is rather costly according to the chef and the dash of Balsamic vinegar & olive oil. The chef was telling us taste it with your quiet mind, you should be able to taste out the sweetness of the tomato that she was commenting about.

 

Seared Chicken Thigh.

Ham platter comes with 4 different types – Bellota Ham, Serrano Ham, Lomo Iberico & Salsichon, and to have it with bread that serves along.

 

Chorizo Sausage and Sofrito Sauce – Sofrito is a sauce used as a base in Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American cooking. Preparations may vary, but it typically consists of aromatic ingredients cut into small pieces and sauteed or braisedin cooking oil.

In Spanish cuisine, sofrito consists of garlic, onion, paprika, peppers, and tomatoes cooked in olive oil. This is known as refogado or sometimes as estrugido in Portuguese-speaking nations, where only onions and olive oil are often essential, garlic and bay laurel leaves being the other most common ingredients. Source Wikipedia.

 

Sautéed Baby Octopus.

Clams with Chorizo & White Wine.

Stewed Mushroom with Rosemary – The mushroom is nicely done up, it was good to have a bread dip into the sauce. That was absolutely perfect.

Truffle Parmesan Fries – Fries that won’t make you feel guilty but wallop lot more.

  

Last,  another plate dessert which I can’t recall but it’s equally good that shouldn’t be missed.

Address & Telephone 

El Faro Tapas Bar & Restaurant
231 Jalan Burma
George Town
10050 Penang

Tel: +604-2272310

Business Hour: 3pm to 11.30pm

Closed on Wednesday