As an outcome from my fellow co-workers' good 'training', I've now grown very accustomed to indulging in 'better' lunches on working Public Holidays :)
On a recent PH, we chanced upon the opening of the much awaited Xian Ding Wei at Queensbay Mall and we checked it out!
Xian Ding Wei is yet another Taiwanese cuisine chain restaurant and this is the first one that landed in Penang.
The interior deco reminds me a lot of Canton-i, except that they have a lot more varieties in terms of table arrangements, and I felt cosy too:-
One thing Sha observed was that the folks working in the open kitchen was not wearing any mask covering their mouth, and some not even wearing hygiene hats:-
After flipping through the menu for quite some time, we all settled down with set meals (which was fairly pricey and did not come with drinks either)
I ordered a special drink called Vanilla with Longan and Sea Coconut (RM 6.90)
It was super rich and creamy.... which was how I liked it, BUT! Too bad that as soon as I hit the sea coconut, it immediately became waaaay too sweet as the sea coconut itself already came with syrup :( I could not finish this in the end
Michael ordered the Original Pearl Milk Tea (RM 4.90) which did not appear even after all our food were served, and it took many rounds of reminding before it finally arrived (-.-)"'
The rest of them had chinese tea (which was in fact Taiwanese tea actually according to Ann)
Moving on to our set lunch which comprises of:-
A soup of the day
a main course, 3 side dishes
and a choice of either white rice or braised pork rice:-
One plus point we observed was that each of the main dishes came with individual food warmers.
Sha had 3 Cup Chicken set (RM 18.90)
This tasted awesome with the gravy thick, fragrant and flavourful! Goes well with white rice too although all of us opted for the braised pork rice. Sha liked it as well :)
Ann ordered Fish with Tomato and Egg Set (RM 18.90)
This is a pretty appetizing combination as it resembles baked beans with egg in tomato sauce - nonetheless, I felt that the gravy was a bit too thick and sweet
Next up - Lye and Michael's Sweet & Sour Pork Set came (RM 17.90)
This is the least tasty of all according to them (and myself) - the pork was too hard, not flavourful enough, and the gravy could barely be seen too.
Last but not least, my Dry Shrimp Set (RM 19.90) :-
The presentation alone already caught many curious stares from neighbouring tables, some even from afar, I personally was impressed too! :D
Check out the standing prawns! Yep - it doesn't take a math genius to figure out that's 2 prawns in total
The prawns were kinda like tempuras - deep-fried to perfection, and the sauce that complemented it was slightly sweet and spicy - made up of minced meat, chilli, mushroom, etc. Goes well with rice definitely.
There was one thing we all agreed was that the braised pork rice was really good - it looked simple and plain but it was very fragrant and definitely a must-try!
While standing around waiting for our bill which never came, we saw all these fire extinguishers lying around... Sha commented that they purposely placed them there as a way of camouflage
Well, we spotted them anyway :P
All in all, service could definitely use a lot of improvement. Still worth a try (maybe a few months later)
It's been a while since I caught up with PChoon, and we opted to have dinner at this area for fear of traffic jam. It was my first time visiting this place and honestly, I never heard of it before when it's just a few shoplots away from Sumida (which I heard of and been to before)
Anyways, by the looks of this restaurant, I didn't have much expectation as far as the food quality is concerned but I walked out of this place with satisfaction in the end :)
As the name suggests, Taipei Food Avenue mainly serves none other than Taiwanese delights!
Our drinks:-
Honeydew Juice (RM 5.80)
Bubble Milk Tea - Original Flavour (RM 3.50)
PChoon ordered her all-time-favourite:- Beef Steamboat
A slight mistake was made as Prawn Steamboat was served to PChoon:-
But after we highlighted this to them, they took the set back and served the correct Beef Steamboat (RM 14.80) in the end:-
The personal steamboat set came with a full load of fresh ingredients, namely:-
1. Golden needle mushroom
2. Tofu
3. Variety of green vegetables
4. Eggs
5. Vermicilli
5. Beef soup base with generous amounts of beef balls
Most importantly, the raw beef slices were sliced very thinly and were well marinated - which makes cooking and eating a sheer pleasure
I had Zhar Jiang Noodle (RM 8.80) which is the signature Taiwanese food:-
It was chock full of ingredients - minced meat, greens, cubed 'taukua' (fried tofu), carrot, etc, and it wasn't dry too. Not bad
We also tried out their Mini Dumpling - Xiao Long Bao (RM 9.00 for 6) (which is another favourite of mine) - though this is not really aTaiwanese delight, nevertheless it was on the menu so we ordered it to share:-
The appearance don't look appetizing at all huh? :( wrinkled skin, wet surface and all. But don't judge a book by its cover - coz both of us liked it! Simply because the meat stuffing was juicy (though there wasn't a lot of 'soup' within), well-portioned and tasted good!
No complaints about the food here and I find the personal Beef Steamboat set a value for money.
Location : No.l 86-G-41, Prima Tanjung
Tel : 04-8900 993
I'm not sure if this is a Hokkien folks' tradition, but it seems that 'pungat' is always prepared and served comes the 15th (last) day of Chinese New Year...
And hey, I'm not complaining - why? Coz I super love Bubur cha cha!
Bubur cha cha is a type of dessert mainly cooked with coconut milk, 2 types of potatoes, banana, and some other 'unknown' soft pink substance which is my favourite of all!
Mom-in-law prepared lots of 'pungat' on this day and I was privileged enough to sample it and thoroughly enjoyed it til the last drop :D :D
Oh, and I loveeed the purple colour of this version - makes it much appetizing too!
After many 're-schedulings', I've finally managed to pin down a date and time to meet up with the super busy ladies Dorene and Candice over the Chinese New Year. Since no one got any idea where to pig out, I chose Strada as I tried it once and it was not bad :)
The moment my car was parked right in front of the restaurant and I stepped out, I could see a board adorning specials of the day, and immediately this caught my eye:-
"Pork Knuckle with Mint Sauce"
Just the name alone is enough to make me drool and exclaim 'We must order this!!'
So in we went upon browsing through the pretty simple and straightforward menu, we settled with an appetizer, 2 mains, 3 drinks and a dessert - all for sharing.
One thing to mention about the menu was that they are attentive enough to have a Kid's section where the variety of food and portions are more suited for kids and 'kids-at-heart' alike :P
Time to check out the food!
Appetizer : Bacon Crostini (RM 14.50)
All of us loved this.. the bread was toasted just right and the bacon super crispy. Not sure what ingredients they used alongside cheese and spread on top of the bacon/bread but it was GOOOOOD.
Main : Almond Cod (RM 27.00)
When this plate was set down at our table, I could almost sense all of us with speech bubbles going 'wahhh so small!'
The portion of the Cod was very small and one thing I had to mention was the fact that the menu that Dorene had stated the price of this as RM 17.00 while mine was 'updated' with a sticker labeled RM 27.00 - what a jump huh? Did price of Cod fish doubled or so?
Nonetheless, the almond cod was unique and it was prepared, cooked and garnished quite well.. the sauce that complemented tasted special and went surprisingly well with the fish. Candice loved the wedges as she likes 'original' stuff :)
Last but not least, here comes the star that we have been waiting for
Main : Special of the Day : Pork Knuckle with Mint Sauce (RM 58.80)
Yes - you saw right - it was a whopping RM 58.80 for this baby alone!! :-O moral of the story : do not get over-impulsive and always enquire for the price before making your orders peeps
Portion-wise - the knuckle was decently-huge (if there's such a word) and we dug in!
The skin was crisy as pork knuckle dishes should be; with the meat tender and still juicy. This was the first time I had pork knuckle served with mint sauce - and it was surprisingly a good combination! It kinda toned down on the 'jelak' feel of too much meat - we all loved it!
I must say this dish did not disappoint us... except for the fact that the porky-smell was still present, which kinda puts us off slightly (and reminded me a bit on the one I had in Macau - urgh)
We all had their yoghurt drinks which were freshly made from fruits, ice cream and yoghurt! Yummmmzz~~
Mango Lover (RM 8.50)
Mango was the main ingredient used
Pink Lady (RM 8.50)
Strawberry was the main ingredient used
Tropical Paradise (RM 8.50)
Pineapple and Strawberry shared equal portions in this one
They were all thick and refreshing - just the way I like it :)
Being sweet tooths as both Dorene and Candice are - we ordered Creme Brulee (RM 9.50)
It was rich and creamy. 'Nuff said.
In case you still don't get it - it means "good stuff" :D
Overall - I was pretty satisfied with the meal - except for the fact that some of the food prices could be 'adjusted' better.
However, I have to compliment the fact that I loved the clean lines, the ambience, and most importantly, the food and the service. It never fails to leave good impression with a waiter who says 'you're welcome' everytime we say 'thanks'.
Definitely looking forward to bring hubby here :)Strada is located at Pulau Tikus, diagonally opposite Tan Mark Book Store.
Add : 238, Burmah Road, 10350 Penang.
Tel : 04-229 0882
