Glorious Food Pictures for the Week

I have decided to make the photos a little larger for clarity in this blog. By tweaking a little with the width of the main body and side bar, I managed to get what I wanted instead of spending too much time looking for a suitable food template. So what do you think of the pictures? The photo above shows the ambience of the dining area in Royal Hotel along Larut Road in Penang. It displays wall paper consisting of photos of collonial Chinese pre-war houses by the side with cloth covered chairs that make a contrast to the sight.

For the weekend, I stayed in Royal Hotel in the deluxe room with an additional room to work that comes with a fax machine and writing desk. The lounge chair here looks beckoning and comfortable withh plush cushion against the thick curtains.

Here comes the food where we had breakfast the following morning. It consists of toasted slices of bread spread with a myriad of jams and butter. In this close up photo, doesn't it look appetising?

While waiting for my colleague at Royal Lake Club in Kuala Lumpur, I decided to take a little tea break and ordered black forrest cake and butter cake with hot chocolate. Decided to indulge myself a little after coming out from the library while he attended to the contractor for the synthetic turf tennis courts that are being installed by the company. Since my work requirement is to handle all the computer and administration work, I am not required to be physically present on site at the tennis courts.

This was my dinner of quiche that was ordered from Delifrance along Mont Kiara, an upmarket place with many high-end condominiums and many expatriates live here. The quiche was just so-so; I would have prefer if it has spinach in it like the one I have tried in Singapore which was tastier.

Recently, I went to Food & Tea Restaurant in Gurney Plaza and had prawn mayo with rice and soup set. The prawn mayo was mixed with cut honey dew melon and mixed with Thousand Island cream. I kind of patronize this place and will always order the same kind of food as it is quite delicious.

This is chicken lasagna from Delifrance but I find it too oily and did not finish it as I was too full. It looked scrumptious but since they did not have seafood croissant, I had no choice but to order what is available. This will be my last time going to Delifrance in Mont Kiara as the service was slow and bad, even though I love dining at Delifrance for their seafood croissant.

This salmon-egg croissant was ordered in Northern Beach Cafe in Penang from the French stall. It is not often to find a true French man to prepare food for you except for this stall here. The portions are adequate and just right - neither too much nor too little.

I had seafood lamien again in Dragon-i Restaurant in Gurney Plaza without calamari or sotong and extra fish slices to make up for it. It is like eating noodles in soup prepared by trained Chinese chef.

This was my friend's order of stir-fried seafood with pan fried Hong Kong noodles that are crunchy to taste - also ordered from Dragon-i. Gurney Plaza is the high end premier shopping mall that I visit often to dine and also to read books for free at MPH readers' circle since I am a member.

I hope you enjoyed looking at the photos as much as I enjoyed putting them together in this culinary journal of mine. You are free to comment as to how I can improve this blog while I read more food articles in the press to improve on my writing style and food vocabulary.

My Birthday Treat This Month

July is my birthday month and last week, I treated my family to a Chinese cuisine in Fong Wei Restaurant along Jalan Bahari, off the famous Penang Road. A must, I will always order sauteed brocolli with scallops which is my favorite dish. Green brocolli is rich in anti-oxidant and also helps to prevent cancer, as claimed in the news.

This is 'choong piah' or meat mixed with vegetables and spices and wrapped in thin batter which is then deep fried to taste. I also love this Chinese cuisine as there is crispy and crunchy feel to the mouthful of 'choong piah'.

I also ordered stir-fried pomfret with an assortment of veggies and it is know as 'tau teh nor bi' or simply translated to mean pomfret cooked in 2 styles - first is the sliced fish cooked with vegetables and secondly it includes the bones mixed with batter and fried till they are crispy which can be eaten as a whole. The picture is below.

The fried bones together with some batter is quite flavorful and crunchy. Not a single bit of the fish goes to waste and the different styles of cooking pomfret is simply fabulous.

This shot is taken with most of the dishes ordered that were served piping hot on the table covered with auspicious red table cloth. Fong Wei Restaurant is famous for its sumptious food that is affordable yet will not burn a hole in your wallet. That is why I love Penang for its economical food that is abundant everywhere. Malaysia is indeed a melting pot of cultures with the various cuisines to whet your appetite.

A birthday meal is not complete without 'lam mee' or simply known as birthday noodles for longevity. 'Lam mee' consists of meat stock boiled for a long time for the essence and flavor and mixed with crab meat, slivers of pork, prawns, shallots and spring onions in long yellow noodles.

This is a set meal from a Taiwanese restaurant in Queensbay Mall which consists of seafood broth, soup with some veggies and my favorite champaign turquoise blue boba drink. Bobas are brown tapioca pearls which are mixed into bubble teas and sucked up with a large straw.

This is a close up of the seafood broth from the Taiwanese restaurant. The unusual container looks interesting and creative but it may be a bit difficult to scoup up the broth from the small aluminium container placed in a wooden box. These are thre pictures for the week as I snap them during my culinery pursuits at dinner time around the various dining places.

Mix of Chinese, Japanese and Thai Cuisines in Penang

This photo was taken this afternoon during my lunch at a hawker food cafe along Penang Road which is famous for its wanton noodles. The are 2 types - dried as seen above with brown delicious soya sauce mixed with sesame seed oil or the soup type. This order was specially added with more vegetables for RM5 per plate. It has black shitake mushrooms, shredded chicken, 4 wanton sui-kow, green vegetables, char siew or barbequed red pigmented pork and a bowl of soup. The yellow noodles blend well with the sauce and it tasted scruptious yet enough to fill any stomachs.

This ala carte side dish was ordered from Sushi King consisting of my favorite red crab sticks lightly fried in Japanese batter for taste. I love the tangy seafood taste of the crab sticks that are a popular ingredient in sushi. There are several Sushi King outlets in Penang and this was taken at Gurney Plaza - an upmarket lifestyle shopping mall where I patronize frequently.

This is a pot of Japanese green tea with 2 beautiful small cups made from bone China. I sipped the warm green tea as I waiting for my main dish to arrive in Dragon-i restaurant that was just opened less than 1 month ago on the ground floor in Gurney Plaza.

This Hong Kong fried rice was ordered some time back at a popular food haunt in Northern Beach Cafe. The special fried rice has additional ingredients and vegetables to it which explains the higher price than normal for this tasty dish. This blog does not have any recipes as I don't cook even though I studied Home Science which includes sewing, cooking curries and baking cakes in my secondary school. I have the luxury not to cook and always dine out after work.

One of my favorite dishes is the pie tee (above) which is actually an edible small container made from fried batter that is filled with julienned turnips, carrots, shallots, dried shrimps and topped with eggs and chilly sauce for taste. The pie tee is enough for a delectable mouthful that melts in your mouth as you chew it. All the juices from the vegetables mix together to form a delicious meal together with the crunchyness of the fried batter container.

While sipping green tea at Dragon-i Chinese restaurant, my main order of seafood soup finally arrived with extra fish fillets without any calamari to reduce cholesterol intake. The soup was delicious and infused with all the flavors of the fish fillets, prawns, scallops with vegetables and sauces - that was brought to a constant boil before serving.

I simply love this Thai influenced flavored lorbak or marinated chicken with secret spices for that delicious bite in your mouth. This lorbak was ordered near Weld Quay in Penang at a Thai restaurant that is always full of regular patrons such as myself - simply for its affordable, fast service and delicious servings.