Salsas Restaurant, Upper Penang Road

It’s nice to be on leave from work and out for lunch somewhere further from work place sometimes. Best of all, you get all the time in the world to slowly savour and enjoy the meal instead of fast fast fast…. we only have an hour!!

It was Monday, where most of everyone wakes up early like every other day, to work. I on the other hand, enjoy my leave by sleeping an extra couple of hours and then head to town for lunch. It was early, not knowing where to go, we settled for Salsas for lunch. Arrived there only around 11 plus… so we were kind of one of the few early customers… It has got a nice setting and since they are the corner lot, they actually had glass window panels overlooking the busy road and the view of the night life area, Upper Penang Road instead of having plain closed up walls..

I have to say they made full used of it and also used a lot of mirrors to actually make the dining space look more spacious.

Set lunch was offered with extensive choices, and of course with different price tags, depending of what your order is. Prices ranging from MYR 13.50++ and above. You are certainly to be spoilt with the picks available.

Each set comes with either soup or salad of the day, soft buns and butter, a main course of your choice, desserts and coffee/tea/ice lemon tea/fruit juices (not the fresh ones)

My friend and I both decided to go for the soup, it was pumpkin soup that day and I have to say the portion is very generous. The soup plate is quite deep actually… the taste is pretty good, rich and thick….

Served with soft buns and butter, and ice lemon tea…

The buns has got kind of hard skin but very soft in the inside… nice!

They have a lot of stained glass art too, dividing 2 dining areas….

See what I mean with utilizing the mirrors to make the area look more spacious….

The colour combination is attractive, very lively…

We were early and it was pretty quite for the first 30 minutes…..

The our main course came.. first up was the mixed grill… can’t really remember the price.. but it’s somewhere MYR 20 something ++…

Consist of chicken, beef, lamb and fish, accompanied by poached vegetables.. and kind of the signature.. cauliflower coated with if I’m not mistaken, bread crumbs….

Presentation was good, served pretty and taste at par. All the meat was tender, not overcooked, still succulent and freshness maintained, with some sauce to complement the dish..

I was pretty happy with my meal… portion is also not bad… very filling.. perhaps it’s because it’s all meat meat and meat!

Can’t remember what it is called but some kind of seafood platter at also around MYR20 something++. I think around MYR 2 to 4 more expensive than the mixed grill…

It has got one huge tiger prawns, mussels, fish and scallop accompanied by the poached vegetables as well. It’s not as filling I supposed.. but all grilled to perfection.. served with some sauce…

Desserts were served once we’re done with our meal… it has got one small piece of banana crumble cake, caramel pudding, and mixed fruits in shot class topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream….

The cake is actually nice but a little too sweet for our liking… the pudding was also just so so… The ice cream and fruits though had got no complain… :D

But it’s a nice touch, that we get to taste few types of desserts instead of just one…

By 12:30, it’s already full house… patrons from office buildings nearby come in for lunch… some even enjoy a bottle of cool nice beer on a hot Monday afternoon…

I like the glass art…

Many of my friend have been patronizing Salsas and they highly recommend Salsas for both lunch and dinner.. I actually agree… cause they serve good food, with good service and also very much reasonably priced. Looking forward for dinner some day….. or perhaps another lunch on off weekday :D

Salsas Restaurant, Hotel Continental (Ground Floor)

5, Penang Road, 10000 Georgetown, Penang

Contact ☎04-2633 923

Business Hours: 11.30am – 2.30pm

6.30pm – 11.00 pm

Kocha Taiwanese Delight (台湾古早味), Burmah Road, Penang

I’ve been here several times but have never actually blogged about it… usually I’ll choose the set meals from the extensive menu… they offer a variation of dishes ala carte, hot pots, also set meals, and of course bubble milk tea….

The menu… the door to your Taiwanese delights experience…

Bubble milk tea of many different flavours… we chose the honey dew bubble milk tea and the yam bubble milk tea both with pearls @ MYR 4.30 each

It’s not exactly a huge outlet, but has it’s fare share of loyal and regular customers.

We decided to go ala carte this round… so we ordered rice and few other dishes… Plain rice with minced pork sauce @ MYR1.70.. the sauce adds a nice appetizing flavour to the rice… yummy…

Stewed tofu, with iron egg @ MYR6.50… would prefer if the tofu is infused with stronger flavour… iron egg is harder than a normal hard boil egg… so i guess it got it’s name iron egg from that…

Stir fry Brussels sprouts @ MYR 6.50. kinda oily though…

The cold drunken chicken @ MYR 10.50. It’s nice… better with more chinese wine…

Beef ball soup @ MYR 7.50. It has a very strong spices flavour. The beef balls are very chewy.. not bad… but also another oily fare.. :D

Our dinner meal for the day….. costs us MYR43…  also recommended to try their hot pot and set meals…. all pretty reasonably priced….

View from my seat….

Decorative items.. if I’m not mistaken, some are for sale too…. and it has few small aquarium tanks as the dining area divider… with pretty colourful fishes! Nemo and Dory is there too :P

Kocha Taiwanese Delights (台湾古早味)

229 Jalan Burmah, 10350 Penang

Contact ☎ 04-2275048

Sany’s Char Koay Teow, near Snake Temple, Penang

There are a few branches of Sany Char Koey Teow, I’ve only tried the one opposite USM at Sg. Dua, same row but the other end of KFC. It was long time ago when I was still studying… not sure if it’s even still there… It was also my first time eating malay char koey teow… to them, char koay teow is the wet with gravy version served with medium sized prawns. The normal dry fried koay teow would be the koay teow goreng.

This one is located facing the main road along the FTZ, walking distance from the snake temple.

Caged kitchen area…. 

Milo O’ kau! haha.. really kau…. cannot have too much of this…

Look at the menu spread for fried rice! they have like over 30 types of fried rice… well, some is basically the same fried rice with different sides… but still.. the variety is really wide… for both fried rice and normal white rice with a dish…

The char koay teow… the basah “wet” version.. compared to a normal dried oily ones…

I still somehow feel the ones I tasted previously at Sg Dua is better… but this one is actually not that bad la… the flavour is still as rich, prawns not that fresh though…

Not many actually enjoy eating this kind of fried koay teow… I remembered someone asked me.. and was like in awe… something like “have you seen malay char koay teow?? it’s wet one lerr” haha…

Nasi goreng ayam kunyit ( fried rice with pan fried turmeric chicken)… my friend commented that it’s just so so… hmm… it’s okay… still got another 30 plus others to try… hahaha…

It’s basically normal fried rice, accompanied by pan fried turmeric chicken and vegetables… drier verison… no gravy, compared to padprik or masak merah…

Sotong goreng tepung.. deep fried tempura squid was not impressive…  when they served it, i thought it was deep fried cempedak fritters… the flour was not crispy… it was soft and practically coated the whole squid ring…. have i ever mentioned that the one behind Gold Coast Condo tasted really good?

So this was pretty much a disappointment… anyways, meal was just okay… might go back once in a while to try other fares offered in the menu :D

To order/catering : Sany Char Koay Teow

Call Aman @ 019-4565493 or Die (I have no idea why the name) @ 013-4682796

Mee Udang Ilyana Cafe, Teluk Kumbar, Penang

This was actually my first ever mee udang.. I’ve never tried any, so I’m not fit to judge which is better until i get to taste more from different restaurants/stalls.

My colleague brought us here and it was just next to Salwa’s Mee Udang, the other more favoured and more famous one, apparently la… :D I do believe Salwa has nicer view but I did not manage to go take any photos as I was busy chit chatting with them…

Just got to know that this cafe has got branches… in Bertam and also my hometown, Sungai Petani besides Teluk Kumbar. Beside mee udang, the also offer like zhu char or ala carte options.. even mee udang has got set for XX pax with a jug of drinks at a specific price… Also available are zhu char set, on like few dishes and rice as certain pricing as well.

Front view of the cafe…

Inside the cafe….

Mee Udang (Prawn Noodles) for prawns B size, MYR 9.50. For prawns size A, it’s charged at MYR 15.00.

Each plate is served with 3 big fresh prawns, I wonder how big is prawn “A” size!!

Gravy is made of tomato sauce etc and very flavourful…. noodles are being drenched with tomato sauce gravy with spring onions, some vege and fried shallots… It’s yummy…. So if Salwa’s better, then I can’t wait to try theirs… so I can finally make comparison… one fine day… :D

Next round will go to Salwa’s to try the mee udang and also to enjoy the sunset view there…

Ilyana Cafe Sdn Bhd

No 10 Gerai JKKK, Kampung Nelayan, Teluk Kumbar, 11920 Bayan Lepas, Penang

Contact ☎ 04-6492120