Buzzing with FOOD

 75° C Restaurant & Bar has recently opened its doors to Penangites and tourist alike to come and savour their western cuisine. It’s just beside Coffee Island Cafe and a stone throw away from Crepe Cottage. Strategically located along the stretch of Gurney Drive, one won’t miss the huge blue signboard but would wonder what 75° C is all about.

(Thanks to Ken for extending the invite to all of us and to the management of the restaurant)

The restaurant is at the facade of the building. It is mostly set up with steal tables and chairs.

You can choose to relax and dine at the sofa and coffee table or if you prefer, there’s a bar corner.

I believe during the football season, this place will have brisk business as there’s a huge screen and a projector to screen some live telecast events.

The beverages made up half of the menu so in Part I, I’ll focus on the that.

You can choose from an array of coffee, ice coffee, coffee with liquor, ice blended, milkshake, juices, tea, cocktails, and liquor.

(click on the menu to view a larger image)

Dawn of the Beauty (75° C top drink) and Caffe Baileys (espresso with Baileys)

Ice Blended Chocolate (chocolate and choco fudge blended in crushed ice) and Michael Jackson

Left pic: (from left) Ice Espresso, Philadelphia (3 mix top-up with soda), Michael Jackson

Right pic: (from left) Strawberry Milkshake, Vanilla Milkshake, Chocolate Milkshake, Green Tea Special, Baileys Milkshake

Wildfruit (orange, mango, strawberry, pineapple blended with crushed ice) and Dawn of the Beauty (on both sides of the Philadelphia)

Lemon Temptation (fine lemon with Sprite) and Lemon Drop (alcoholic)

Alcoholic: (from left) Screwdriver, AK 47, Tequila Sunrise

Coffee: Hazelnut Cappuccino (top) and Cappuccino

We were later served with appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, pastas, and other main course.

Stay tuned for that in Part II.

~

Do you realise that the places/shops that you usually pass by is the place that you don’t remember the name? That’s because we are so used to the area that we can instantly project the image in our head, thus leaving out the details such as the name of the shop.

My family usually frequent this ‘chu char’ stall at this coffeeshop for its Char Hor Fun/Yee Fu Mee. But the usual practice was that we will take-away and have the nice Char Hor Fun at home. This cafe is just beside the Chong De Vegetarian Restaurant and also a walking distance from Bandar Baru Air Itam Supermarket.

How I finally got to know the name of the shop - Hill Park Cafe, is while we were seated and waiting for the dishes to be served.

Pai Kut Ong - Pork Ribs

A little wet but it was fragrant and the meat is very tender. But it’s actually pork slices instead of the real ribs.

Hot Plate Japanese To Fu

Very interesting way of presenting this dish. Egg is spreaded on a steak-like hot plate (can you see the bull shape?) and serves as a base for the deep fried japanese tofu with mushroom, chopped pork meat and spring onions.

Chinese cabbage

A plate of greens to balance thing up from all the meaty dishes. It is stir-fried with salted fish and garlic, a very simple way but aromatic and delicious.

Honey Chicken

It took quite some time for this dish to be served but it was the best dish among all. Reasonable-sized chicken meat is deep fried and then glazed with honey. The meat remains soft and tender although it was deep fried. Sweet flavour of honey is prevalent with every bite!!

Overall, this place serves reasonable and tasty ‘chu char’ dishes at a very affordable price. The bills adds up to just about RM 30++.

Business Hours:

6.00pm - 10.30pm
(Hawker food from other stalls are available during day time)

GPS:

5°23.301′ N   100°17.001′ E

Map:

(this has got to be the hardest map drawn so far. Isn’t Farlim-Bandar Baru Air Itam overpopulated?) 

(click on the map to view a larger image)

~

 (long post, please allow time for pics to load)

Continuing on the Penang Bloggers Gathering held on 15th August 09….

Earlier on in Part I the focus was on the ambiance and setting of Vintage Bulgaria Restaurant.

Now in Part II, let’s take a look at the main dishes served for the night.

We had a standard set meal of RM 40 nett per pax.

Menu:

Drinks
Cordial Drink
Coffee/Tea

Soup
Mushroom Soup
Seafood Soup

Main Course
Plovdiv Ribs
Baked Cod Fish with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Chicken Stroganov
Bulgarian Pork Djolan
Bulgarian Platter

Now let’s take a look at those main course individually. The six of us sitting at the same table agreed to order one of each and two plates of pork ribs and then share so that we can try out every single one of them.

Bulgarian Pork Djolan

Traditional roasted pork knuckles

This is the best of the night, at least agreed by those sitting at our table. The pork knuckles was well marinated with special sauce and herbs. It is then roasted till golden brown but still leaving the meat juicy and tender.

Baked Cod Fish with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

The cod fish was skillfully baked with the right amount of time and the outcome was a very soft and moist texture. It even taste almost jelly-like according to some comments.

Chicken Stroganov

Boneless chicken drumstick cut in strips, cooked with mushroom, wine, cream, herbs and spices. I enjoyed this dish too as it was real easy to eat for one, and it is also very aromatic and infused with the combination taste of wine, herbs and spices. The creamy gravy of onions, mushrooms and red chillies adds a zing to this dish.

We almost finished the dish even before one of our table-mate managed to get a piece!!!

Plovdiv Ribs

Pork ribs grilled till tender. We highly anticipated this but it came out a little short. I feel it was a little salty while others commented it was too sweet. Could it be that it was not thoroughly marinated?

Bulgarian Platter

Mixed grill trio of kebapche, kyofte, karnatche (traditional recipe of in-house homemade Bulgarian sausages and succulent pork fillet) This dish was too meaty for me. The beef patty, beef sausages and pork fillet are a little dry. This is one dish which I would give a miss for the night.

Dessert
Chocolate Soup with Vanilla Ice Cream

I prefer this to the creme brulee. Enjoying cold vanilla ice cream while sipping chocolate soup is something I’ve not tried before.

Chocolate Creme Brulee

The custard base flavoured with chocolate is sweet. Topped with caramelized sugar, this dessert is really for the sweet-tooth. I stopped after two spoonful.

We also had the chance to sample some gelato, courtesy of Gelatissimo brand, which has a branch in Gurney Plaza. Among the five choices brought by them, I love the mango and green tea flavour!!

We were also treated with an array of cakes courtesy of Winter Butterfly Homemade Cakes.

Cream Cheese Mousse Cake - Soft but quite plain

Oreo Cheese Cake - very rich taste of cheese

Chocolate Brownies - a little dry and hard but I guess if it was allowed to cool in room temperature for a little while, it would be alright.

We were full to the brim and had to call it a night as the time approaches midnight. It was definitely a great session to mingle around with other bloggers and to catch up with each other.

Thanks to Alan and Allie again for generously putting in time and effort to organize this fun gathering!!

Details of the restaurant:

 Time sure flies. And we have yet again gathered like-minded friends for a session of Fun, Wild and Intimate, as the theme cleverly interpreted.

The venue:
Vintage Bulgaria, Tanjung Bungah
Located at Jalan Sungai Kelian, Tanjung Bungah, this area is popular among expatriates and tourist who enjoys a drinking session at pubs/bars and tying out international cuisines. Vintage Bulgaria is a neighbour of Ingolf Kneipe, a German food restaurant and bar.

The event:
Penang Floggers 4th Gathering.
Thanks to the owner of Vintage Bulgaria for putting up this simple but spot-on banner.

I still vividly remember the 1st gathering held at Hainan Town Restaurant @ Weld Quay. All of us were so new to each other that we behaved and speaked accordingly. It’s like when you made new friends in school or in your social life!! There was more introduction and the "about-me" than other conversations.

But fast-forward to the 4th gathering, although there’s more new faces joining the group (Yay!!) we blended much better and talk like we’ve known each other for years. We’ve even identified a few as our "mommys, brothers and sisters". Haha that’s the joking part.

As time goes by, with more of such gatherings, I believe we will be more acquainted to each other rather than just being friend in the virtual world.

Back to the venue, I’m pleasently surprised by the beautiful interior deco and clever design of the shop although it only occupies a rather small lot.

At the front, there’s a few tables and chairs for those who prefer to ‘people-watch’ while eating/drinking.

The entrance (left) and a bar on the mezzanine floor.

At the lower ground of the shop, the place is very cozy and cottage-like. Very suitable for a romantic meal with your partners.

And this is the upper floor, which is reserved for the event. The whole floor just for us!!

Bulgarian village painting on the wall.

After waiting for all to arrive and snapping photos of the surrounding, we had a very short introduction and then comes the main VIP of the night. If you know us, it’s not a person who is a VIP, but the FOOD!!!

The Food:

Soups are served first.
Mushroom soup served with ‘Vintage’ garlic bread (cheese-baked garlic bread)
The mushroom soup is the blended version where there’s no chucks of mushrooms visible. Not too creamy and just the right amount of herbs. The garlic bread topped with cheese is something different and is very aromatic. Ours was slightly under-baked, which makes the cheese a little less burnt and hence not as nice as the one in the photo.

Seafood soup
Also another blended version. We tasted some crabmeat and tuna?. It doesn’t have an overpowering pungent seafood smell so it taste quite pleasant and delicious. But I was thinking maybe by adding a little more herbs will do the trick!

We then linger around and talk and talk ’til the main dish arrived.
That’s next in Part II.

~

 Have you felt when you woke up on a lazy weekend morning and crave for some dim sum? There’s ample of dimsum shops around Penang. One that I’ve been to a few times is Red Tea House in Farlim, opposite the old Sunshine Farlim Hypermarket.

This place is smaller and not as famous as the Dim Sum Food Restaurant @ Macalister Road but it is always pack with patrons during weekends. Even by extending their tables to the corridor of two shops beside it, customers still have to wait for a table if they come at around 8-9am.

During weekends and on public hoildays, it is in self-service mode. But they do not have a big area where they placed the array of dimsums, so be ready to crowd around and fight for your share. Luckily, they dish out the freshly steamed dim sum pretty fast, so do not fret.

While choosing some dim sum, I saw behind the kitchen, the workers are constantly wrapping/steaming the dim sums for the demanding weekend crowd.

Most of the dim sum here are prawn-based.

Prawn Siew Mai. As you can see from the picture, it’s really filled to the brim with chopped prawns. The prawns are very fresh and juicy.

 Siew Mai. Size is much smaller than the ones above. Taste-wise it’s just normal.

Prawn filling and crabstick wrapped with seaweed. A nice alternative to the usual ones.

Har Kow with scallop.

This is something like siew mai but with prawns and chickpeas inside.

Another prawn-base dimsum. The green thing is just an extra layer of green-colored skin. At first I thought it is some kind of vege.

Prawns and ku chai har kow.

On to the fried items. There’s a variety of snacks like egg tart, sesame balls, and many others.

Prawns wrapped in beancurd skin

Prawns wrapped in wantan skin

Chai thau koay (Radish cake)

Wu kok. I love the crispy outer skin layer!! And the yam is very soft but yet doesn’t stick all over your mouth.

(pictures turned out a little green because our table was under a green awning)

Other than the steam and fried dimsum above, they also have steam fish fillets, braised chicken leg, porridge, loh mai kai, pau, chee cheong fun, shark fin soup, xiao long pau, and others.

Overall the ingredients used are fresh and constantly steamed batch by batch, so you don’t taste like you are eating overnight stuff.

Prise-wise, it’s reasonable, 3 of us ate a total of about RM 35++ (can’t remember the exact sum).