Restaurant Sea Palace

Came here with my relatives one day for an 8 course dinner. This Restaurant called Sea Palace is located in Taman Pekaka area. You will never miss this huge building there. Restaurant is on the 1st floor. Never been here before for any dinner occasions, so this was my first time trying.

Dish 1: Four Seasons
We were served with 4 different types of dishes here all served in a huge plate. The black dish was paddy chicken (frogs) cooked with dried chillies. I stayed far away from this dish though (goose bumbs standing). Then on the left side, it was a jelly fish dish with slices of abalone cooked in a sweetish spicy sauce. The abalone had some fishy-ness taste to it. Then the next dish at the bottom was chicken followed by some fish cake thing which had bits of water chestnuts in it. Pretty interesting.

Dish 1: Four Seasons

Dish 2: Sharks fins soup
It actually had a tiny bit of real sharks fin in it and alot of crab meat and crab eggs in it.

Dish 2: Sharks fins soup

Dish 3: Roasted Chicken
Chicken here was roasted I guess as the skin was really crispy. What was unique about this dish was that you are suppose to dip the chicken in the special salt they gave. It was quiet nice.

Dish 3: Roasted Chicken

The special salt

Dish 4: Brocolli with mushrooms
Something normal. It had brocolli and cauliflower with all sorts of mushrooms

Dish 4: Brocolli with mushrooms

Dish 5: Nestum Prawns
If there is nestum with prawns, it is always my number 1 favourite. Nestum was tasty and had slices of finely sliced kaffir leaves in it.

Dish 5: Nestum Prawns

Dish 6: Mango Fish
This was good. Instead of the whole steam fish with bones, this dish served fish slices (no bones!) cooked together with mango and onions. It tasted good. It had a sweetish-sour taste to it. Something like a kerabu mango taste.

Dish 6: Mango Fish

Dish 7: Fried Noodles
The Chinese call this noodles Emperor Noodles (Ong Tei mee). The noodles were fried together with chicken, pork, prawns and vegetables. It looked simple but it was tasty. I loved it.

Dish 7: Fried Noodles

Dish 8: Dessert
We had Honeydew Sago served for dessert. It was really refreshing. What they used was so simple; put some sago, melt some vanilla ice cream and toss in some ice cubes. Simple but lovely as a dessert.

Dish 8: Dessert

So this is about it. 8 dishes tried that night. Food was good. Price I am not sure how much it cost. However am not sure if the place can survive. That whole night, we were the only table there eating.

Restaurant Sea Palace
2-1-9, 1st Floor, Bangunan Lip Sin, Lebuh Pekaka Satu,
Sungai Dua, 11700 Gelugor, Penang
Tel: 04-6593826 or 6593827

Batang Kuih

Have you ever noticed this stall just outside of Hutton Lodge along Hutton Lane?
An old uncle sells a kuih called Batang Kuih. It sounds rather obscene though. Anyways this is something like Yu Char Kuih but perhaps the Malay version of it. Preparation of it is similar whereby you have the dough, you cut it, shape it and then deep fry it.

Tong Hooi Restaurant

This coffee shop, Tong Hooi has a chicken rice stall in it that sells quite good Char Sui Pork. You can find this coffee shop along Dato Keramat just opposite to Ah Leng Char Koay Teow and next to the Clark Hatch Gym. Stall is managed by an elderly uncle who is very friendly and speaks good english. It was comfortable for me to order here as there were no communication breakdown or no moody attitude treatment here with this uncle.

See the Char Sui's hanging. Yummy licious. What I like about it is that it is sweet and has sort of a strong garlic taste to it. Then it is also crispy on the outside, soft and juicy in the inside. Lovely.

This was our first plate (left: Siew Bak; right: Chai Sui). We enjoyed it so much that we ordered a second helping of the char sui. The brownish gravy here is the special sauce which has some hoisin sauce in it. It goes well with the siew bak.

Rice here is not plain boring white rice but it is the fragrant oil type which chicken rice shops should serve. Chilly sauce here had ginger and garlic to it, so if you are going on a date after this meal, you ought to think twice eating this chilly sauce.

The soup served was a diluted version of the kiam chai ark (sour soup). So it was not that wonderfull.

This is the roasted chicken we had. Chicken was good. Juicy and tasty at the same time. But for me I would certainly come back here for the char sui only.

Baan Thai Restaurant

Last Saturday, it was a Mother-Daughter day and I thought it would be nice to have some Breakfast at Delifrance Bistro at Sandy Bay. I was imagining having Croissants and bread pudding for breakfast that morning. Little did I know when I reached there, it was actually a coffee house for Sandy Bay serving basic breakfast food such as nasi lemak, porridge etc. There were no Croissants or anything close to the Delifrance in KL. I was so sad and disappointed. I went out and I drove to Hillside to Bake and Take bakery for some croissants. instead. Another big disappointment, they no longer make the big croissants but miniature ones which on that day were very few on the tray.

So being hungry and disappointed now, I decided to have lunch instead nearby. Ended up at Baan Thai Restaurant along the row of houses that turned into a food business area along Jln Sungai Kelian.

First time being here so I tried to order as much dishes I could to try.

This is what I had

Belachan Rice

I was expecting the plate to have meat, mango slices around the rice. But it was served all in one, already cooked together. I did ask the waiter twice if he got my order correct. Guess this is how they serve their Belachan Rice here. Looked really like any ordinary Fried Rice. Taste wise, it had some belachan–ness taste in it. But somehow I did not really enjoy it cos presentation wise, I got all disappointed.

Green Curry

This was good. Gravy was very lemak-ish and it had a lot of green vegetables in it such as brinjals, long beans, cabbage. It was not so spicy so I could enjoy it without feeling my tongue burning.

Seafood Otak Otak

It was served in a round shaped tin foil. They used cabbage leaves to give the backbone support for the shape. Pretty creative. It had a lot of goodies in it, such as prawns, fish and squid. Taste wise, I loved it. Very tasty indeed. You could even taste the Kaffir Lime leaves in it. And it was lemak too and the spicy-ness I could tolerate.

Deep Fried Kang Kung

This was good. The batter was nice and tasty and I noticed that it has sesame seeds in the batter.

Som Tam Salad

This dish is made out of young papaya slices made as a salad dish that had fish sauce, lime, peanuts, chilli and other ingredients in it. Some places even pound in small little crabs together. Taste wise, it was good but extremely spicy for me. I specifically asked the waiter only 1 chili padi allowed but it came served with 6 chilies in it. Ahhhhh!!!!! Rocket Fuel for me. Naughty waiter, your not forgiven!

House Special Beancurd

Beancurd used was Japanese Beancurd cooked with some minced meat and a special sauce. It was alright for me.

So these are the 6 dishes which I manage to try. I guess I would be back here again to try out other dishes. So I shall have a part II to this post sometime soon.

Road Map to Baan Thai

Baan Thai Home Thai Restaurant

No. 27 Jalan Sungai Kelian,

11200 Tanjung Bungah, Penang

Tel: 04-8997211

Opening Hours: Lunch- 11.30am to 2.30pm

Dinner: 6.30pm to 10.30pm

Liu Li Xiang Klang Bak Kut Teh

This place you can find along Bagan Jermal just before the Penang Chinese Girls High School. It is called Liu Li Xiang Klang Bak Kut Teh. I have never tried a Klang Bak Kut Teh before, so I cannot compare how it is. So all I can say is how it tasted for me.

We ordered two types of Bak Kut Teh, the dry one and the soupy one. Between both, I liked the dry type better. It has a stronger taste and herby fragrance to it. Where else the soupy one, not that strong taste in the herby department.

Dry One

Soupy One

As for side dishes, we ordered a plate of prawn mantis cooked with dried chilies. It was good.Followed with Fried Sambal Kacang Botol which was way spicy for me and a plate of special Taufu with the Thai Chilly sauce on it.

Fried Sambal Kacang Botol

Taufu

Then my eyes caught these small fishes which reminded me of my grandma's fried fish, so we ordered a few fishes. It was deep fried and served while it was hot and still crispy. It looked good, but it did not have enough salt on it. Was not so tasty for me. Was a bit disappointed by it. Left me with a huge craving for my Grandma's fried fish.

So drop by here one day if you are like me who have not tried a Klang Bak Kut Teh. However if you know of other places selling better ones in Penang, do drop me a comment. I am always looking for places to pig out.