Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Kocha Taiwanese Restaurant

I've read the review on The Star but on that time I wasn't sure where it is located. So I totally forgot about it until Hubs move to his new office. Went we were at the junction, just about to turn in, I went like, "Oh!!! So here it is!". Hubs was curious on what I saw that made me so excited. When I pointed to the signboard on the outside of the restaurant, he still could not get it. Of course, he also forgot that I had mentioned about this restaurant after I read the article. We decided to try it on day but kept procastinating. It was not until one day, two other friends wanted to go over that I suggested we have dinner there since it was so near.
The interior is so cozy and nice. There was two aquarium filled with beautiful corals and fishes. One of the photos I took which I thought it looked artistic. Never mind the lady at the back... ;p
The plates and utensils used for serving.
A set meal cost roughly Rm15 which consist of fruit, drink, main course and dessert. For that price, I think it's quite a catch.
One of us ordered 3 cup chicken set. It comes with plain rice, green vege, soup appetizer and that black thing on bottom left, it was a cake as dessert.
A good amount of chicken for dinner...just a slight taste of spicy
Mine was noodle with fried pork or something like that. I didn't get the exact name. The mee is smooth and the broth is clear and just nice.
Another big piece of pork.
Hubs and another friend ordered the famous beef noodle but sad to say before I can whip out my lovely digicam, they were slurping away already. Too good to wait, huh?
I couldn't get enough of it in Kocha so I recommended my another group of friends to have birthday dinner there last Tuesday. It was not difficult to make them all agree, just forward the convincing post by KY and StevenGoh. This time I managed to try the paper steamboat. I was not in the mood to take picture that day, so no photo of any dishes we had. But I had to suggest you try out the paper steamboat. It was quite nice, something new for me and the portion is quite big. Next time, I wish to try for the spicy pork steamboat, the one KY had in his blog.






Sunday, March 30, 2008

Edelweiss Cafe

28th March marked the day I turned 25th. As usual, Hubs will take me out for dinner. As usual, it was a place we have never been to also. The magnificent restaurant was not in the hot spot where you can spot it from roadside. In order to get to this restaurant, we had to park our car at a junction and walk for 5-7 mins to reach (might exaggerated a bit ;p) as there is totally no space to stop your car, what more to park. The street in front can onlu allow one car to pass, thus it was made into one way street. After what seems like 7 mins, we finally came upon this.....Edelweiss Cafe. It is a German restaurant. The moment I saw it, I knew this place will be a must-blog place.
They serve set meal too but Hubs had the orders in mind already.
The main entrance has the Chinese-y feeling
While the whole place has a mix of Chinese-y and Germany and definitely ANTIQUE
This was what made all my photos to be in yellowish color.
Even the lights was unique, taking the shot from directly below.
This photo totally don't do justice to the bar. You can't see how lovely they custom made the shelves. It was made of wood carving. Even the bar table was made of wood.
What caught my attention the most as I step into the restaurant was the big gigantic clock. Compare the human head on the bottom right corner with the clock itself.
What is so special about this clock is, it operates using mechanical touch. It used to be so accurate to second but some people couldn't keep their itchy hand to themselves. Thus the clock was almost damage in their hand. Though it still works, it will never be the same again..
The owner loves to create an illusion of bigger space, so you can spot mirrors around the restaurant.
Another big clock in the house.They turned the antique dressing table into part of the decoration, a place where they keep their packet sugar, packet creamer, etc.
Smoking are allow in house but they have a special section. This section has an open roof to let the CO2 escape thru the opening.
As Hubs know the restaurant is full most of the time, he made a reservation to be safe, even though our dinner is quite early.
The setting on the table
My favourite cake....chocmud. Now you know where my URL come about? Hubs bought it from Secret Recipe during lunch and being in an office without fridge, it was a disaster. The chocmud melted into what you can see in pictures below.
The waitress (lets call her W1) was so sweet, seeing the melted cake, she offered to freeze it first, to which we gently decline. Nevertheless, we still put a candle on top, Hubs sang birthday song for me, wish was made and candle were blown before we gulfed down the entire piece.
First to come was my drink order, Mango Lassie. (RM8). It was so rich of pure mango and yogurt, you will even feel full drinking that whole night. Hubs ordered Carlsberg (RM10). Nothing special to take picture.
Next, Edelweiss Mushroom Soup (RM10). This has to be one of the best in town. It's creamy, not like those cheesy creamy but more to rich in ingredient. You can taste bits of everything in its every spoonful. Even the toast was crunchy and perfect for the soup.Here come the main dish, B-52 with Rosti. Big smoked pork sausage, German style. You can choose the original taste or with curry sauce. We had the curry sauce. Trust me, it's more flavourful with curry sauce and No! it's not hot at all. This set consisted of a huge sausage, a wedges like pan cake (Rosti) and side salad.
Can you see how big is the sausage yet? No?
Well, Hubs willing to model his finger for you to compare. Now you see...
The sausage meat was so smooth and tasty. The set usually comes with fries for RM29 but for additional of RM3, you can opt for Rosti. You will never regret this. The Rosti was made of potatos, shredded into strips, a lil seasoning and fried till golden crispy. Simply delicious. This whole set was RM32, if you have not done the calculation.

Another set was Barbecued Pork Ribs.
A close up. This was also yummy, just that I could not tolerate the fats in between the meats. Hubs loves it that way. He said the fats are what make it more aromatize (my own word).
Overall, the portion of the food is big enough for a heavy eater but for someone like me (light eater), I suggest you order 2 main dishes for 3 paxes or go for one main dish and another snack. After our meal, I tried to drink my Mango Lassie but found that it was not cold anymore. Hubs asked W1 to add some ice to which she replied, "Was it too sweet?". We found that their service was great in a sense that they will go all out to make a customer satisfied. She constantly asked how's the food and even when clearing up, she saw our food was not finished complete. Again, she asked, " Was it too big a portion?". We totally love this kinda service. Even the restaurant was quite full, they still serve with great intensity.

While on the way to toilet (more pictures!!) I came upon this. It reminded me of my wedding where the dowries was send in it. Hehe...so much of a memory.
Then I came upon the cashier counter. Nothing special, just another antique after you've seen so many antiques in less than an hour.
Hubs told me there was an old sewing machine behind, so I went looking for one. I only managed to find this. Haha...it turned out Hubs mistaken the Ais kacang machine for a sewing machine Isk Isk.
The board read, 'Sorry, this toilet is "taken". Gently pull the end to verify the above. More toilets around the corner'. Well, do you think I'll just pass on this?
Totally NO! I pull the string and a loud eerrie siren and evil laughter came up. And slowly, the skeleton head showed up. I had to do it the second time to get a shot for you. Thus the loud noise created brought Hubs to me. He was curious on what I was up to. With a slight nudge, he pulled it too...together we made the whole "toilet" area so noise ;p
I managed to peep into the kitchen too. Well kept and clean.
The music box was airing lovely songs we had to ask the waitress (W2) for the CD cover. As she was still at the kitchen when I blew the candle, I assume it must be W1 that told her it was my birthday today. She wish me well when I returned the CD cover to her. How sweet.....
When it's time for for bill, I really had to take another picture. Their bill plate was so cute. The horse will keep the bill intact while the light is used when the condition is too dark to see.
Just a gentle press on the button will reveal this. Total damage = 96.60 including service charge and gov. tax. Hubs did gave extra tipping for their excellent service.
Here's the map to the great restaurant. I think we parked at somewhere near Tua Pek Kong.
You can get more info on their lovely Edelweiss Cafe website.

Address:
Edelweiss Cafe
No.38, Armenian Street,
10200 Penang
Tel: 604-2618935

A visit to Dragon I, QB

Since it opened for so long, I've only been looking at it from afar. Never has it cross my mind to try it as I've heard numerous feedback stating it was very expensive and the portion is very small. That a basket of Siew Long Pao costed more than RM5 (>RM1 for a small pao). Everytime I passed there during meal time, there will always be a long queue waiting outside. I used to wonder how good is the food in there that is attracting such a long queue. I was lucky to be given a chance to dine there when SIL treat us for a dinner on one fine Saturday night. We reached there before 7pm, so immediately we were ushered into the semi full reastaurant. As we entered the dining area, I observed the structure and found it's interesting lighting. The lights that looks like it's made of paper and hanged on the ceiling.
The seatings are also quite unique as there are several different theme. This section is overlooking the sea outside QB.
Ours was placed just beside the above area, facing the butt of a stones warrior ;p


The plates and spoons are like those in normal restaurant.
Ok, here comes my favourite siew long pao a.k.a Shanghainese Steamed Meat Dumpling (RM8)
Get a closer look...ain't they look so juicy and tender? *droooling*
Next to come is the Sauteed Spare Ribs with Signature Sauce (RM20). Quite a small plate for this price.
Stir fried string bean with minced meat (RM14) definitely a cut throat vege. Although it's expensive, I still will order it the next time as the taste is very delicious.
Sauteed diced chicken with dried chilies looks like their signature dish. It taste a tad too spicy for me although I'm a chili padi myself.
Definitely loves this dish...my favourite egg. The bottom was eggs cooked in steam style with vege and mushroom, an egg was cracked and pour on top part while everything is still hot and ready to serve. Sauteed egg white with fish and dried scallop (RM16)
Something tofu...Casserole Beancurd Seafood (RM18). Another delicious dish
As all the dishes are satisfactory, we decided to give it another try on the Sichuan style La Mien (RM12). This is not to my liking as the taste is a bit weird. Grinded peanuts were put on top giving it a peanut taste while eating the mee...not matching at all. I'm not a peanut lover for sure.
As we finished our dinner and make way to the exit, we came upon the usual long queue. Thank god we were early. Overall, we are so satisfied with food and ambience. Will definitely go for it again next time, but not so soon as the price is a constraint ;)
Price: above average
Ambience : Terra Cotta style
Food: Delicious
Service: Good