Buzzing with FOOD

Sirarom Restaurant - Thai Cuisine

 This new outlet which serves Thai cuisine is located at Jalan Bagan Jermal (used to be Flame Steamboat Restaurant)

Let’s take a look at the interior

 It’s very relaxing and conducive for formal meals with clients or just a simple get-together with family/friends.

A lot of antiques and Thai items on display

The menu. They are aware of customer’s dining experience and inform right on the first page about Thai spiciness and your choice to request your preference.

Set Lunch and Set Dinner

Ala-carte. All names are in Thai and description in English below it.

First up, as usual in Thai restaurants, raw veggie as appetizer. The sambal gives a good kick to start of our meal.

Tomyam seafood (RM 15.90). Perhaps the most look-forward item when dining in a Thai restaurant. The version here is aromatic but perhaps less spicy because my friend requested to keep it milder. But it lacks the ‘oomph’ and sourness.

Beancurd Crabmeat (RM 9.90). Nothing ‘thai’ about this dish. Just a normal deep fried beancurd with crabmeat gravy.

Pandan Chicken (RM 9.90). This one is not fragrant and taste quite dry + hard. It is also not well marinated and taste bland if taken without adding the sauce.

 Kana with salted fish (RM 8.90). Normal style of cooking. Everything just taste better when added with salted fish!!

Som Tam (RM 8.90). Thai style salad with shredded young papaya, carrots, long beans, onions, tomatoes, peanuts and dried shrimps. I would prefer the mango version as the sweet and sourness of the mango adds flavour to this kind of salad. The papaya is kind of flat.

Som tam (Thai: ส้มตำ, IPA: som ɗam), known in Lao/Isan language as ตำมักหุ่ง (IPA: ɗam mak huŋ). grated papaya salad, pounded with a mortar and pestle. There are three main variations: Som tam poo (Thai: ส้มตำปู) with salted black crab, and Som tam Thai (Thai: ส้มตำไทย) with peanuts, dried shrimp and palm sugar and Som tam plara (Thai: ส้มตำปลาร้า) from north eastern part of Thailand (Isan), with salted gourami fish, white eggplants, fish sauce and long bean. 

Rice @ Rm 1.50 per bowl

Tea @ Rm 1.00 per cup (free refill), Plain water FOC

Now dessert, which we look forward to…

Dessert Special (RM 3.90) aka thub tim krob. Taste funny as it is added with yam!! We asked do they usually add yam and the captain says they added more ingredients for us to try. (Is it coz I asked to snap photos of the surrounding earlier and also the food??)

Not sure whether this is charged as the receipt registered as ‘titbits’ @ Rm 2.00 

The chef comes from Thailand but there’s a few things which can be improved to make the food more authentic and savoury. Or did we choose the wrong/unpopular dishes? Hope their set meals are better. A second visit maybe?

Contact:

20, Jalan Bagan Jermal, 10250, Penang.
Tel: 04-2295 988

Free WiFi

Easily located as it’s just directly opposite the old Phor Tay Primary School, on the way to Gurney Drive. If you are coming from Botanical Garden, it will be on your right. Just be on the look out after passing a field which has some warehouse sale.

GPS:

Map:

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Penang have so many Japanese restaurants, giving us ample choices where to go hunt for yummy Japanese cuisine.

Japin Restaurant have been established in Penang for quite a long time with their 1st branch in Island Plaza. Maybe the location is not so well-known, so they didn’t really grow to be a famous dining outlet. Finally when Queensbay Mall opened, they made their way into the mall and open another branch on the 2nd floor to cater for Penang southerners. (My earlier post on Japin)

They now spot a new menu and I don’t think ‘tong sui’ is served anymore.

Not a very big outlet but comfortable enough

They recently hav this Oishii Promotion at RM 7.90 and drinks promotion where you add RM 1 to get a free-flow of green tea or genmai tea upon ordering a set meal or ramen set.

Green tea and genmai tea.

Genmaicha (玄米茶^?, "brown rice tea") is the Japanese name for green tea combined with roasted brown rice. It is sometimes referred to colloquially as "popcorn tea" because a few grains of the rice pop during the roasting process and resemble popcorn. 

Genmai tea is a little different from green tea, with a taste of roasted rice. Some can’t stand the taste while others feel it’s another flavourful tea, just like me since I’m a tea lover!!

Kim Cyahan Set (RM 14.80). It’s Kim Chi fried rice and miso soup, some kim chi and 2 pieces of watermelon as side dish. Looks very simple but the fried rice is very nice, enough ‘wok hei’ and the kim chi flavour spice up the otherwise plain fried rice. It was a surprise for me that a simple dish like this can be as delicious.

It’s also not oily. However, the miso soup fell short of expectation as it’s too diluted.

Teriyakidon Set (RM 14.80). Teriyaki chicken cubes on steaming white rice with the same side dishes as the above. The teriyaki chicken is well marinated and very juicy. There were bits of seaweed and sesame seeds in the teriyaki don. The teriyaki is very aromatic and taste very lovely. I ate up all the chicken but couldn’t finish the rice

The word teriyaki derives from the noun teri (照り^?), which refers to a shine or luster given by the sugar content in the tare, and yaki (焼き^?), which refers to the cooking method of grilling or broiling.

Japin Restaurant is locate at 2F-147, Queensbay Mall. There’s no service charge or government tax, something quite uncommon nowadays.

Dim Sum Food Restaurant - such a common name for a dim sum outlet. But does it make itself less noticible?? Obviously not. And especially during weekends, it is lucky if you can get a table when you reach this restaurant. We were there at 8am on a Saturday and we could barely see any empty tables. After walking a few rounds, we spotted one and quickly "jom" (reserve) the table.

This same restaurant turns into a buffet-style steamboat (Town Steamboat) at night but also serves dim sum while you are enjoying your steamboat!!! Value for money huh?!

There’s a section for pan-fried yong tau foo items too.

Fried items. So many to choose from!!

Black Pepper Siew Mai. I didn’t put high hopes when I took it, judging by the looks but it was surprisingly good.

Siew Mai, the normal version. Smaller piece but contains 4 per basket instead of 3.

Har Kau. Sweet juicy prawns wrapped in soft skin.

Fish ball wrapped in beancurd skin and steamed.

Fried prawn roll. Lots of small prawns with spring onions wrapped in beancurd skin and deep-fried.

Chai Thao Koay - Radish Cake. This is a pleasent one, not too soft or too hard (from over-fried) and have nice taste of radish and grind dried shrimps.

Fried Har Kau. Very crispy and again yummy prawns inside.

Zhim Tzo?? Dunno what it’s called but it taste like artificial crab meat wrapped in beancurd skin and glazed with sweet and sour sauce.

Something like Siew Pau but it’s in rectangle shape. I believe the filling is the same as the siew pau. Very crispy and flaky outer layer.

Here’s the Siew Pau. Take-away for my grandma!! (but I ended up eating one of it)

Hong Kong style Chee Cheong Fun. This is the only place where they let you help yourself with the amount of soy sauce and chillies. The chillies was good, with chunks of dried shrimps to give a flavourful taste. The Chee Cheong Fun was a little too soft though.

There’s also a variety of noodles which you can order from the waiter/waitress. We had Char Hor Fun (RM 4.50).

The gravy is very thick. Taste is normal, nothing spectacular! They have crispy noodles (sang mien), singapore fried mee hoon, tang hoon, and even curry fish head (if my eyes serves me right) too. What an abundance of choice!

We planned to take-away the Char Siew Pau but couldn’t resist the temptation. So we ate one before leaving.

My parents say the filling is a tad too sweet for them. I wonder if it’s only our tastebuds or others think so too.

Weekends are self-service. You go to the counter and grab what you want but remember to take the card along with you so that the staff can jot down the pricing. At the end, go to the payment counter with this card.

3 of us ate 12 plates of Dim Sum and a plate of Char Hor Fun. Tea cost RM 1 per head. Total bill came to RM 37.

This time we miss the Egg Tart (was still in the oven when I asked for it) and the Wu Kok - Two of the must-eat items . Will go back again next time!!! Check out Lingzie’s post on this!!

Dim Sum Food Restaurant
63, Macalister Road,
10400, Penang
04-229 7273

Opening Hours: 9am - 3pm (Mon-Fri) & 8am - 3pm (Sat/Sun/Public Holidays)

This restaurant is just opposite UMNO building at Macalister Road. If you come from Komtar, the restaurant will be on your left, at almost three-quarter way to the other end. It is located just beside Sun Yat Sen Memorial Centre. Parking is available behind the shop (fixed charge per entry).

Map: