Penang Again – Day 3 – Kozue and Nagore Road

Slept really late last night writing the previous post and woke up wayyy past lunchtime today. Decided to go to Gurney Mall and snoop around to see what we could eat. We’ve gotten the idea that most restaurants in Penang close between 2.30 and 5.30pm, which really sucks.

Browsing the food section in the information directory in the mall, we impulsively decided to visit a classy looking Japanese restaurant on the 3rd floor.

 Their menu was very stylish. (Though hard to understand cuz there were no descriptions!)

 The decor was unique too. They had a Zen Garden!

But we soon found out that looks can be very deceiving. From the moment we walked in, we found out that most of the staff couldn’t even speak English. Those who could, could only manage bits and pieces. But never mind, at least we still managed to communicate in Malay and bits and pieces of Mandarin from Nic.

Then the food arrived.

 The Mango Ebi Maki, which was…okay. It looked pretty, but wasn’t wrapped very well and kept on falling apart.

The food was generally very bland, nothing spectacular. I had a Teppanyaki Beef set, and Nic had a Unagi Tempura set. Those were still alright. But the Soft Shell Crab Temaki and Sushi Moriawase Kozue which we subsequently received were terrible! The crab wasn’t just a soft shelled crab, it was also soggy. Even the seaweed wrap wasn’t crispy.

It looked pretty though…or maybe that’s just my photography skills improving. :P

However, if you think that’s bad, I can tell you, the Sushi Moriawase was worse. I forgot to take a picture of it, but I think their sushi chef should be shot. Twice!

Firstly, it came so The sushi was mostly rice, but the rice was so incredibly sour that it was totally inedible! We think they might have accidentally poured too much vinegar into the rice, or perhaps didn’t stir it properly so it all collected in one spot. That was fine, however when we alerted the staff to it, they did not even offer to replace the damn thing. They just went off and told the chef about it. Not wanting to spoil the mood, we just ignored the rice and ate everything else.

The bill came up to a whopping RM110.40. Not too bad a price to pay if the food was good, but for the crap we got I thought it was very expensive. We would’ve had a better experience even if we had decided to eat at McDonalds.

After we left, we still were not satisfied and meandered around the mall for a little while before heading to pick up my personal tour guide (RE: my Aunt – and she’s an actual licensed tour guide) from her office. She brought us to a quaint little dessert house called Sugar Dynasty on Nagore Road.

I forgot to take a picture of it so I grabbed this off someone else’s blog. :P

Despite my lack of photos, I would definitely recommend going there. It was a tiny little family run shop, with only about 5 tables for eat-in customers. Desserts were RM2.50 each, and were thick and tasty. My favourite item was the sweet potato balls served with a mixture of sugar and chopped up nuts. Doesn’t sound like much but it was goooooood. And cheap too!

After that we walked around the road abit. Penang has quite a number of quaintly businesses.

 They’ve got bicycle cafes…

Art galleries run by bugs… 

Don't really know what this is for but it's cute all the same. 

And even restaurants for cannibals…

Before we headed home, we made one last stop in my desperate attempt to squeeze in some internet time…

Sadly though, their Wi-fi wasn’t working properly. I hate not having a 24/7 internet connection.

Penang Again - Day 2 – The Quest for Food Begins

We left the hotel for a late lunch because I was feeling lazy and lounged around in bed for the better part of the afternoon. Because we were planning to meet up with my aunt for an early dinner, we headed to Segafredo’s on Burma Road which was about 2 minutes from the hotel for a quick lunch and some WiFi time.

I had a delectable Baked Rice with Fish which was on promotion for RM12.50 and Nic had a superb Antipasto Platter which consisted of smoked salmon, several thick cuts of ham, some salad, bread, crepe tuna rolls, cherry tomatoes and green olives.

A pretty good deal for RM25…and very nicely presented too!

After that, we met up with my aunt and she proceeded to guide us to Armenian Road/Lebuh Armenian, where we were to have dinner in a German restaurant that her friend owned.

After some wrong turns, we finally arrived in this quiet little back road with some quaint shops that have recently (I think) been granted the Heritage status.

There were even some quaint little cars to enhance the quaintness to the area. :P

Since we arrived a little too early and the shop wasn’t open yet, I decided to play tourist (for once!) and take photos of several of the surrounding shops.

There were several interestingly looking lots in the area too.
 

There were also some unique decorations along that street.




Heck, it even had a temple.

Or at least I think it’s a temple…

Anyway, by the time I’d finished my mini-exploration, it was time for dinner.

We were eating at the Edelweiss Cafe. Like in the Sound of Music.

*Sings ‘The hilllls are aliiiiveeee….with the Sound of Muuuuusicccc…*


Anyway, it had lots of delicious things on the menu.

Even airplanes.

Just kidding!

The food and drink were pretty good…most of it anyway.

Nic and my aunt had Mango Lassi, RM12. They thought it was yummy. I thought it was…ick.

I had a ‘Jumble Jug’, RM12, which had strawberry ice cream in it. Mmmm…

My ultimate favourite of the night was the salad, RM22.

It contained pomelo and mango and was totally worth it. Deeelish! 

As for our mains, Nic had the smoked pork belly, RM34.90.

 Fat, fat, fat but reeeeally good. The stringy stuff in the middle were the mashed potatoes. We all thought it was some sort of mee or pasta at first. 

My aunt had the B52, RM36.50.

Which was, a HUGE sausage with a salad and an omelette sized hash brown (which they called a Rosti). VERY good with mustard!

I had the pork ribs, RM34. Sadly, they were extremely tough and dry. 

The barbecue sauce was also mixed with Worcestershire Sauce, which tasted a little weird to me. The fries and salad dressing were excellent though. 

We informed the Lady Boss of this, and she was very apologetic, even offering to make something else for me. However, I declined as by this time I had already struggled through 2 of the 4 ribs, and was starting to feel rather full. 

So instead, she provided us with a complimentary dessert. 

Chocolate brownie and the Edelweiss signature Movenpick ice cream. Which we had already started devouring by the time I remembered to pull out my camera to take this photo.

After the food was gone, I started exploring. The place was decorated with lots of antiques which ranged from interesting…


 

To unique…




To funny.



  Then it was time to move on to someplace else.


Unable to decide which new place to try next, I decided to revisit Coffee Island grab some new photos.



Which, of course, I had no problems in getting.

Anyway, we had more drinks, and even tried the garlic bread.

My mango smoothie. Very refreshing.

Nic’s flower tea. (I seriously don’t know how anyone can drink this stuff. Tastes like crap!)

  Garlic bread anyone? It had actual partially cooked chopped garlic generously spread on it. Those who like their garlic raw or love spicy food would like this. I didn’t fancy it so much. 

After chit chatting for another hour or so, it was time to return to our love-nest and get some rest for the evening.

While I was trying yet again to get a hint of the free WiFi available in the business district of Penang, I saw this.


LOL. I find that I’m liking Penang more and more.