Via Pre – Tavern on The Harbour

Italian restaurants have not been too popular in Penang in the past. But all that may be changing, with Via Pre, the newest purveyor of Italian food, which is set to satisfy even the most discerning of palates.

Located along the busy Weld Quay, the thinking behind this non-halal Italian restaurant was very simple: to pamper diners’ taste buds with authentic Italian food prepared with ingredients brought in from Italy. And the menu of course includes an extensive range of native Italian wines, beers and ales.

At the recommendation of a friend, we visited the restaurant — a restored pre-war house with a charming white facade. Inside, the tall interior dining hall features an industrial look, with huge black steel columns supporting the higher floor which houses a lounge and grill. The ambience was soothing with Italian music in the background and lots of dark timber for the paneling in this newly refurbished pre-war house.

The restaurant motto of not using any processed and flavoured food is written on a huge chalkboard. The large menu offers eight mains, 11 pastas, 10 pizzas, a wide selection of antipasti and also desserts. There is a short list of salad dishes. Our order had a bit of something to suit everyone.



We started with the basket of bread, served with earthy olive oil and vinegar. All the bread is made in-house, with choices of focaccia, flat bread, rustic bread and more.

The Tagliere Rustico with assorted cold cuts, cheese and antipasti goes for RM72 (for two persons). It has a good mix of textures and flavours. The olives and sun-dried tomatoes were bright and appetising and the cheese has a nice savoury flavour. Via Pre also offers diners the option of buying these cured meats and cheeses.



We ordered Trancio Alla Griglia which is steamed and then roasted fish smothered with cubed tomatoes and salads drizzled with generous portion of virgin olive oil. The fish is served with a special sauce that tastes exquisite with a hint of herbs added.



Next on the mains was my order of Del Porto, which was salad with slices of smoked salmon topped with braised prawn.



To accompany our mains, we also ordered 2 types of beers and ales which are similar to Guiness Stout which uses barley instead of grapes as the raw ingredient.



You cannot find these ales locally in the market except Via Pre which specially imported them from Italy. It reminds my friend of his varsity days in United Kingdom where he used to treat himself ales as a student then.



I had a glass of freshly blended celery juice for RM 11 and another glass of bottled apricot juice, also specially imported from Italy which you cannot find on the counters in supermarkets.



As the mains and salads were so appetizing, our last entree was a dessert to finish off our meals. Here is IL Tortino Del Monaci where we had to wait for at least 15 minutes for the cakes to be baked fresh from the oven with the insides full of melted chocolate and nuts. There is a generous portion of chopped pistachio nuts with condensed milk and a scoop of champagne ice-cream. A range of cakes and pastries are displayed at the dessert counter that takes center stage in the restaurant.



After our last entree, we headed to the second floor to a large lounge for some music with computer ensemble or songs and instruments. There is a bar counter and for those preferring to enjoy a view of the harbour and docking cruises, then they can go outside the balcony for some fresh air and sea view. We finally adjourned after paying the bill which came up to RM 222.70

If you want a taste of Italian and appreciate warm service (from the Italian owners), then visit this tavern on the harbour. Parking is limited at the front but there’s plenty to be found in the neighbouring streets. It is located diagonally opposite Chin’s Stylish Chinese Cuisine.

Via Pre
5 Weld Quay
10300 Penang

Tel: 04-2619800 & 04-2620560

Food from Various Places

 

Just recently, I had lobster thermidor in Fishing Village in Teluk Bahang, Penang. As seen from the picture, lobster thermidor looks scrumptious with fillings of button mushrooms, onions, succulent lobster meat and lots of cheese. It was garnished with juliened cabbage, carrots and greens. 100gm of frozen lobster is about $13.00 or USD 4.35. This meal was 1kg lobster served on a huge dining plate.

 

Our next ordered meal was baked crabs - we prefer it baked to retain the flavor so that it is not masked by other sauces like chilly crab with eggs, lots of gravy, et cetera. Here, we had 2 baked crabs, one for each of us to fill our hungry appetites.

 

This is curry chicken cheese baked spaghetti on the 7th level of Gurney Plaza, next to Xuan Xin Steamboat that was opened 2 weeks ago. As we were catching a movie soon, it was only convenient to have our dinner on the same floor as the movie screen cinemas as we don't want to be late for any cinema show. I don't like it when it is all dark with the lights turned off and the movie has started while you have to search for your seat numbers. It is like searching for a needle in a haystack.

 

I love this Siamese 'belacan' fried rice consisting of chopped long beans, onions, mango, dried prawns, chicken, egg omelette and sambal. The whole combination was just simply delicious when mixed together and eaten as a complete meal with enough carbo from the rice and roughage from the veges.

 

The same meal together with spicy tom yum soup and a glass of fresh orange juice without sugar and ice - also from Gurney Plaza.

 

Here is coconut ice cream added with chopped peanuts, stripes of mango and water chess nut coated with red jelly-like substance which is typical of any Thai dessert.

 

The black pepper gravy for the fish fillet simply sumptuous. This was ordered at Clinic Cafe on the 4th level of Gurney Plaza. By now you might have guessed that I love to patronize Gurney Plaza, an upmarket lifestyle shopping mall.

Lunch at Food Gallery

I had lunch at Food Gallery in Penang Times Square a while ago and ordered the above sumptuous meal of fusili bolognise and almond chicken. The macaroni tomato sauce was tangy and well flavored. I added extra cheese powder to pair with the meal. The almond chicken was succulent and crunchy with almond flakes added to the batter that covered chicken. The presentation was appetizing as well and garnished with greens.

 

This was a set meal with a bowl of white rice, sauces, watercress soup and chicken stir-fried with mixed vegetables. This was my mum's order from Food Gallery where we dined recently. Food Gallery is the largest food court in Penang with more than 20 stalls of delicious Penang food cuisine. 

 

My dad loves Italian food and ordered this simple meal of western food with potato chips, coleslaw and pizza.

 

When I was in Kuala Lumpur, I had marmite chicken at Lorong Seratus Tahun restaurant. It consists of deep fried chicken with marmite dip, an egg cooked over-easy way and topped up with vegetables and rice.  Lorong Seratus Tahun serves genuine Penang food like ice-kacang, chendol, lorbak, etc.

 

This is ice-kacang with chendol ingredient of green pandan noodles, some longans, red beans, chopped peanuts, black herbal jelly, corn cream, shaved ice and topped with a scoop of strawberry ice-cream.

 

This is mushrooms that are deep fried and covered with batter to taste with cream sauce dip. It was served at Manhattan Fish Market in Queensbay Mall on the basement level. The food certainly makes me salivate and looking at it might just make you drool as well!

 I had Baskin Robbins ice-cream of chocolate mint and topped with delicious chocolate that was ideal to taste and not too sweet. It is topped with white cream, a red cherry and sprinkled with chopped nuts. I normally stop here in Tapah to unwind when returning back to Penang from Kuala Lumpur. Baskin Robbins has 31% discount on the 31st of the month every time.

 

This is a magnificent paint of food theme and vases of flowers. The framed paintings was taken at a local hotel when I was having buffet breakfast. I love the play of colors and picture composition.