There’s this restaurant, unnoticeable from the main road leading to this new housing area of Setia Pearl Island. I said unnoticeable because other than a big signboard shouting out the name of this restaurant and an arrow pointing in, it would cross no one’s mind that Pearl Palace Restaurant is located at the Pearl Island Country Club.

Driving straight to the end of the road after turning in from the traffic light, you will see this huge club house.

A little underutilized in my opinion, this place has a magnificent hilltop view of the mega construction happening at the lower ground of the area.

 

Pearl Palace Restaurant is located on the first floor of this building.

 

This is a very nice corner to have some tea and chit-chat away.

 

The restaurant caters more for corporate dinners and also wedding dinners.

 

 

This is the bird’s eye view from the restaurant. As night falls, you can’t help but stare at the beautiful view of lights sprawling over the vicinity.

We started the meal with a Fish Steamboat. Three different sets are available -

Set A (RM 68 +) for max 4 pax. - 1 Fresh Fish, bean curd, fish balls, vegetable, chicken meat, crab rolls, meehoon/white rice
Set B (Rm 128+) for max 7 pax. - 1 Fresh Fish, bean curd, fish balls, vegetable, chicken meat, crab rolls, prawns, fresh mushrooms, sotong, meehoon/white rice
Set C (RM 228+) for max 10 pax. - 1 Fresh Fish, bean curd, fish balls, sotong balls, vegetable, chicken meat, chicken meat balls, crab rolls, prawns, fresh mushrooms, sotong, fish maw, meehoon/white rice

The sweetness is attributed to the fried fish fillets that was boiled with the soup and also the cabbage. Some condensed milk is also added. The soup is very sweet and fragrant. Another good thing is that the fishy taste is not too apparent, hence gaining the approval of taste from most of us.

 

Steamed Beancurd with Salted Egg and Prawn

The beancurd itself does not contain much taste but the sweetness of the prawns and saltiness from the salted egg yolk gives this dish a balance taste. The gravy is of egg-based, something like in the char hor fun. Boiled brussel sprouts adds some green here, which I think is suitable. You cannot be adding some long/huge leafy vegetables here as it would look out of place.

 

Braised Fresh Mushrooms with Bamboo Shoots

 

This dish taste a little bland. The center is enoki mushrooms, and circling the side is the bamboo shoots. I applaud the presentation here - looks like a blooming lotus, but maybe more ingredients can be added in to make this dish more exciting and special.

Braised Dry Abalone and Sea Product in Claypot

Among the sea products found in here other than the Japanese Abalone are scallops, dried oysters, fish maw, sea cucumber, cuttlefish, and pacific clams. With all the high quality ingredients, the outcome is of course good. Gravy is of enough thick consistency while the broad beans and carrot springs some color to this dish.

 

Scallops, Japanese Abalone and pacific clams.

 

Deep Fried Chicken with Marmite Sauce

I thought this dish would come out to be of darker shade since it’s uses marmite sauce. But I think the chicken fillets are marinated with the sauce and then dip in batter and fried. Very crispy even after being left exposed for quite some time and fragrant thanks to the pandan leaf added into the oil while deep-frying. However, the overall taste was a little sweet for such a dish.

Behold the hidden dragon!!! Very nice presentation isn’t it? Imagine how long it took for the chef to carve out this carrot dragon!!!

 

Pomfret in Two Preparation

The sliced pomfret is prepared in two ways, one steamed and added with brown gravy, another is stir-fried with celery, carrots and cashew nuts. I personally prefer the stir-fried version. The fish maintained its softness and juiciness even after frying and the cashew nuts, although little, adds a fragrant nutty flavour to the overall taste. Not to say that the steamed version is not good, but when compared side by side with the stir-fried version, I will happily give my vote to the latter.

 

Fried Wet Hor Fun with Sliced Abalone

This huge plate of hor fun can serve for about 10 people!! The ingredients only consist of mushrooms, some greens and egg (abalone and other seafood, eg. prawns, sotong are added upon request)

It was a little unappetizing with the poor condition of the mashed up hor fun. But as the saying goes, ‘never judge a book by its cover’, so this is the same as well. After eating it, we found that it is very smooth and slides right through the throat. The gravy is also not too watery. If they can purchase some better quality hor fun, then this would be perfect!!

Double boiled Aloe Vera with Red Dates

 We ended our meal with this clear and sweet dessert. The aloe vera are specially planted by the chef to make this dessert. Some say that it’s a waste cooking aloe vera this way since the vitamins will be gone. I do agree to a certain extend but feel that this combination is much more healthier than most desserts that you will find in restaurants elsewhere. Red dates, wolfberries and aloe vera - all the traditional health food of the Chinese folks. I do enjoy this dessert but wished that it could be a little less sweet, since nowadays most people are not so favourable to too sweet stuff.

The Manager aka the chef, Mr Wong was very open to feedback and suggestions, which is a bright aspect of any business outlets because they put the customer’s word into consideration and practice. This restaurant focuses on serving food using good ingredients, hence not compromising the taste. Targeted to customers with wedding dinners and corporate gatherings, but more can be done to attract groups of family or friends to come here and have a good meal. It might not be able to change it’s location, but maybe a certain kind of promotion can bring more customers to this restaurant.

 Contact:

 Pearl Palace Restaurant
Pesiaran Kelicap, 11900, Bayan Lepas, Penang
Tel: 04-644 9355

Direction:

 From Jalan Tengah, it only takes about 4.4km to reach Pesiaran Kelicap. The map is only showing partially of Jalan Tengah, reaching the T-junction where the Chong Cheng Chinese School is located. Turn left and go straight all the way, passing by the Toyota workshop, a chinese cemetery and when approaching another traffic light (a large signboard showing Pearl Palace Restaurant), turn left into the new housing area of Setia Pearl Island. Go straight all the way uphill till the end of the road to reach the club house.

Map:

(long stretch indicates a few km away)

More detailed map 

~