Buzzing with FOOD

Now on to the food available in Noodle Station. For a look at what beverages they have, look here.

With over 70 items to choose from, here are some of the more widely ordered dishes. 

Curry Springy Noodle With Prawn & Fish Ball (No. 25) @ RM 7.50
Springy Noodle Soup With Tom Yam Seafood (No. 32) @ RM 7.50

This two dishes came out first. Curry was a little tad salty and tomyam was sweet instead of hot+spicy. Nevertheless these two are the more popular dishes here. I do agree too that these two are some of the better choice to order.

Curly noodles are used in all their noodles dishes. Not as springy as I thought it would be.

Fried Springy Noodle With Thai Style- Spicy (No. 40) @ RM6.50
Fried Springy Noodle With Prawn- Non Spicy (No. 39) @ RM6.50

 Look almost the same except that one is in a darker shade than the other. I know ‘al-dente’ does not cover this kind of noodle category but not al-dente is what I feel about these two dishes. There’s also not much ingredients other than a few prawns and greens.

Springy Noodle With Fried Chicken Dumpling (No. 7) @ RM 6.50

It’s a little dry and that’s why this dish is accompanied by a small bowl of clear soup. I think making the soy sauce seasoning more fragrant will enhance the noodle’s taste.

 Springy Noodle With BBQ Honey Whole Leg Chicken (No. 15) @ RM 8.00

The first look of this dish is indeed impressive but as you dig in, you’ll realise that the whole leg drumstick is a little of a hindrance. Chopping it into a few pieces but presented it in the same way will make it more realistic I think.

Spicy Fried Kuey Teow (No. 44) @ RM6.00

Before I talk about the koay teow, compare the drumstick below with the one above. What’s the difference? Shinny right? It’s the wonders of honey!!

The spicy fried koay teow taste ok but as we all know, Penangnites are spoilt with great choices for char koay teow. But this version is of course halal and that’s a plus point for some.

Fried Rice With Prawn (No. 53) @ RM6.00
Tom Yam Fried Rice With Prawn (No. 54) @ RM6.50

Both fried rice lack the thorough frying effect. The tomyam version has more flavour than the normal version but the tomyam paste seems a little too much.

Ladna Kuey Teow (No. 45) @ RM6.50
Fried Yellow Noodle Hokkien Style Kicap Hitam (No. 49) RM6.50

Dishes such as these two seem very little when served but this is actually due to the plate size, not the portion. If you prefer something not too dry, then try it. Can’t fight the hawker version though.

Honey BBQ Chicken Wing- 6pcs (No. 72) @ RM14.50
Fried Chicken Dumpling- 10pcs (No. 73) @ RM5.00

The BBQ chicken wings are of the same style as the whole drumstick served with the springy noodles. I feel it’s a little dry, i.e. not juicy. The fried dumplings is very crispy but the filling is quite little. Nevertheless, it makes a good finger food!!

Super Sandwich With Smoke Turkey (No. 67) @ RM7.50
Chicken Chop With Brown Sauce (No. 57) @ RM10.90

If you want to take something light, then go for the sandwich. I like the fact that they use the thick ‘roti benggali’ style of bread and lightly toast it. The chicken cop is one of the western food dish available here. I don’t fancy the brown sauce and funny thing is that a fried egg is served with this dish.

Overall, Noodle Station does serve with it’s mission of providings food with fast service. Lots of choices and and cafe-dining concept is a plus point here. Food-wise, some hits and misses, but with further improvements, they should be able to cope in this business.

Here are some of the branches available across the country. 

Noodle Station at Kulim Landmark Central Shopping Complex. This complex also housed the Giant supermarket. So if you are unsure how to reach this place, do look out for Giant’s signboard along the road to this area.

Noodle Station started from Kota Bharu, Kelantan in 2005. Their concept is to create a dining place of fresh food with fast service at an affordable price.

The first branch opened in E-Gate, Penang and soon after, many other branches have mushroomed, from northern region (Sunway Carnival Mall Penang, Taiping Central) to central region (Ampang, Setapak, Subang Jaya, Damansara, Kajang, etc.)

Part of the Menu. There’s over 70 (food) and 100 (beverage) items to choose from. Talk about extensive!!!

(click to view a larger image)

I’m going to do something a little different here. The beverages standard will be based on awards I’ve come up with (IMHO). So feel free to interpret the goodness or worth-ordering factor!! (Not all beverages are featured and given award. The complete serving are shown in 2 photos above)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee Island @ Gurney Drive, established last year was more tuned towards a trendy hang-out place for youths and young adults to come and have a drink over some business or coffee talk. After it started for a few months, we tried it out.

When we asked for the menu, they said they only have this order form for us to choose our order. That was a little funny.

The interior

We ordered a snack, Tempura Bowl. Pieces of brocolli, carrot, mushroom, cauliflower and corn. Nothing spectacular and certainly way below par of real Japanese-style tempura.

Seafood Spaghetti Marinara. I think any of us can attempt to do this at home and give this dish a good fight. The sauce was not tantalizing enough and there’s no sight of Italian herbs or the taste of it. 

Fish in honey sauce. Nothing to shout about for this one. A little too plain in my opinion and the fish is not grilled well enough.

That was my first visit.

Then recently…..

We were undecided that night on where to have dinner, and it’s already quite late, some shops are closing already. Since my dinner-mate has not been here, I said ok but forewarned her that there shouldn’t be any good expectations towards the food.  

Now they have a menu for the customers to look at what they have to offer.

The new menu, with lots of food photos. Don’t fall prey to the looks though…it looked better in the photos.

They served western and local cuisine. This page is showing the western food

And this is the local food.

New ordering form

Cold Chocolate Island (RM 5.90) and Mango Smoothies (RM 7.90)

Dragon Silk Shrimp Roll (RM 8.00). Some crunchy snack. Lots of crispy threads (made of flour??) coated on the shrimp rolls.

Cheesy Fish Cutlet Rice (RM 10.50). This has got to be the worst cheese bake rice I’ve tasted. Goodness, how can they even think of putting this in the menu??? The cheese taste just like the square cheddar cheese we buy to make sandwiches and turned real hard and tasteless after baked. The fish cutlet is not well-marinated with seasoning thus taste bland and also very dry.

And the funny thing is they serve this dish with sambal!!!! But the sambal was the only thing which pushed me through to finishing this dish without wasting food. In fact, the sambal, with crushed dried shrimps turn out much better than the main dish itself!!! What an irony!!

Southern India Chicken Curry served with tomato rice (RM 12.50). This one fared much better, at least. The curry and sambal was ok but the whole dish was served cold. Hmmmm….

Maybe they are better at local dishes. Western food needs improvement for sure.

There is far more choices of drinks for those who just want to hang out. Lots of tables in open air and near the roadside of Gurney Drive but be careful not to simply pay the bill when you are approached with out requesting for it. Heard of a case where an outsider acted as the waiter and ask for payment, then ran away with the money.

They have free WiFi and even a mini room equipped with 5 computers for you to go online!

You’ll definitely see this outlet when you drive by Gurney Drive. It’s near to Bali Hai Seafood Restaurant.

Now can someone tell me what decent food is worth ordering here??

Young Heart Restaurant hardly needs much introduction. With a motto of ‘healthy living starts with healthy eating’, this restaurants strives to offer healthy home cooked food to its customers but with added quality and comfortable environment. 

Publication in various local dailies are a testimony of their wonderful offerings.

Ground floor setting 

VIP room setting 

They were recently spotted with a new menu and a lot of new dishes have been added to the long list of offerings.

Start of the meal by having some tea. Young Heart offers a really wide variety of tea, including flower tea and some not so well-known tea combination.

Pu Er Tea (left) and Natural Flower Tea Mixture - Rosehip, Hibiscus, Green Apple (right)

Mid Autumn Reunion Package (4 pax) @ RM 123 nett 

 
(pic courtesy of Jason)

Reunion Dumpling Platter (5 flavours-10 pieces) 

One of the main attraction here are the steamed dumplings (jiao zi). 5 different types are served in this package, 2 pieces each. The flavours/types are (from left) Prawn + Pork + Scallop, Pork + Spinach, Pork + Cabbage, Pork + Pumpkin, Fish + Water chestnut.

The fillings are finely chopped and equally distributed. I personally like the prawn + pork + scallop and also the pork + spinach type. The fish + water chestnut is quite similar to the other pork flavours but the addition of water chestnut makes it slightly more crunchy and juicy. Do eat the dumplings while it is hot or else the skin will hardened.

Soup of the Day - Green Papaya with Spare Ribs

Unriped papaya is used here, hence the yellowish-green cubes you see in the soup. The soup as a lot of herbs and spare ribs, making it very sweet. I can’t help feeling very homey while slurping down a bowl of this soup. Very ‘cheng tnee’ as hokkiens would say, meaning clear and sweet.

Cod Fish Ala Twin

The cod fish is steamed to perfection with light soy sauce and garnished with deep fried ginger. Accompanying the steamed cod fish is it’s twin but the fried version. Some places will offer deep fried fish which is hard and overdone but over here, there’s no complains at all as it still remains juicy inside while the outer layer is crispy.

Orange Pork Chop

Pork cubes are deep fried and coated with tangy orange sauce. The meat remains soft eventhough it was deep fried and the sauce adds a zing to whip up the appetite. This is a winner for the night. 

3+1 Cup Chicken

I didn’t realise this is the sort of 3 cup chicken dish as it was not drenched in dark soy sauce but just lightly seasoned. The taste is also not as strong as the one I tried in another chinese food restaurant. However the version here is slightly altered. This is where the +1 comes in - the red chillies. It was a good choice as the chillies added another dimension to the taste of this dish.

Stir Fry Kai Lan

This dish was originally meant to be Stir Fry Chayote Leaves with Shredded Chicken but due to rainy days, they were unable to get fresh stock of the Chayote Leaves. The name was intricate enough to raise a hope of trying for the first time but unfortunately it didn’t happen. So a simple Stir Fry Kai Lan is substituted. It’s a simple dish, with garlic as the main source of taste.

Deep Fried Young Heart Bean Curd

Cube-sized home-made bean curd which is cripsy on the outside but very soft on the inside. Eaten together with thai-style chilli sauce, this will be a hit for adults and children alike. 

The set above comes with a choice of clear hand-made noodle or rice (total of 4 servings)

The noodle is only lightly seasoned with sesame oil but don’t let it’s appearance and perception foul you. The noodle texture is very springy and the sesame oil give just the right amount of taste without overshadowing the real focus, which is the noodle itself.

Mid Autumn Romantic Package (2 pax) @ RM 55 nett

(pic courtesy of Jason)

Deep Fried Young Heart Chicken Wing

I kind of prefer the ones I had last time (which has the fragrance of kaffir leaves). This one is crispy but lacks a distinct flavour. Nevertheless you won’t go wrong with fried chicken, it’s just a classic which is enjoyed by everyone.

Deep Fried Prawn and Cheesy Dumplings

This is like a snack to enjoy while having your meal. Very proportionately sized and has a very crunchy skin.

The fillings inside. Do eat while it’s hot as the juicy prawns really squirts in your mouth when you bite it, while the cheese melts instantly when you cut it open. 

Steam Pork Stuffed Snake Squash with Egg Sauce (check it out here if you want to see how a snake squash look like)

Something similar I had the last time. The quality still maintains.

Stir Fried Enoki Mushroom with Brocolli

A simple stir fry vege to balance the meal. I love the addition of enoki mushrooms.

 Ying Yang Stuffed Egg with Sweet and Sour Sauce

This is something very unique and lovely, pleasing to the eyes and also to our tastebuds. Minced pork is stuffed in the egg and slightly pan fried and cooked with sweet and sour sauce.

Golden Osmanthus Pumpkin Pudding 

Both of the set meals above includes a dessert consisting of Golden Osmanthus Pumpkin Pudding. More like puree in liquid rather than pudding, this dessert is great for those who prefer to have a mildly sweet ending to their meal. Sago is added to the pudding to give some bite to it.

But if you are a mango lover (like us), it is highly recommended to substitude the pumpkin pudding with Mango Puree and Sago Pudding (additional RM 1 per bowl is charged). You can never go wrong with mango and since Young Heart uses fresh mango, this bowl of dessert is really heart-melting!!! I can slurp up 2 bowls of this!! Thumbs-up

This is the dried osmanthus flower and the syrup made out of it. 

To keep the mid autumn spirit alive, Young Heart is giving out complimentary home-made mini mooncakes with special flavours when you choose either packages above. This is more like "Kung Cai Peng’ (canto) or ‘Ang Kong Ngah Piah’ (hokkien). The crust is quite similar to mooncakes but the filling offered here is sambal dried shrimps!!! What a treat! The crust is real soft and the filling is very fine and tasty. If you can’t get enough of it and want to buy more back to satisfy your tummy, do ask the staff.

 If you are still feeling hungry after ordering the above, then here are two more highly recommended items to order. (Note: Not available in the package)

Stir fried Sambal Seafood with Fried Brinjal @ RM 10 (medium-size), RM 15 (large-size)

I was surprise how such a simple combination will bring out such flavourful taste. The deep fried brinjal was like eating tempura while the sambal seafood was not spicy but very aromatic and savory. By combining both, it worked wonders to the crispy brinjal and the rich seafood sambal.

Fiery Hot Noodle @ RM 8.80

If you are longing for ‘lat chiu pan min’ (Chilli Pan Mee), look no where but here. The hand-made noodle is topped with minced meat, fried anchovies, spring onion and a ‘medium raw’ egg. Add the chilli according to your preference but mind you, the name of this dish is Fiery Hot Noodle, so beware of the chilli power! We added the whole saucer of chilli and it was really super hot! But I liked it very much since I love spicy stuff!!

The aftermath of egg oozing out and addition of chilli, all stirred together. Tempting isn’t it?

Young Heart Mid Autumn Package will be available starting from 18th Sept 09. Yes, that’s 2 days away to get a taste of a healthy yet delicious meal. This offer will be valid until 11th Oct 09, so don’t wait too long. Please be aware that they are closed on 28th, 29th and 30th Sept 09.

Young Heart Restaurant is just opposite Bandar Baru Pulau Tikus Supermarket and a stone-throw away from the Pulau Tikus market. 

Map:

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A continuation on the offerings of 75° C Restaurant & Bar. To view the beverages choices, click here.

(The descriptions below in orange are as written in the menu)

Snack selection:

Tempura Calamari (RM 8.50)

Very crispy and the calamari does not taste rubbery. A good snack to start off the meal.

Tempura Prawns  (RM 9.90)

Crunchy outer layer and juicy prawns added with thousand island sauce. This is also good as it was snapped up in seconds!!

Fish Cocktail (RM 8.50)

Blended fish made into balls and deep fried. I would prefer the earlier two snacks to this as this lacks a definitive taste of fish. (it could be my tastebuds/preference)

Cheesy Garlic Bread (RM 6.90)

Very crispy externally but the softness remains inside. And the cheese + garlic is a great combination to this simple yet wonderful dish.

Mushroom Bruschetta (RM 7.90)

The word bruschetta comes from the Italian term "to roast over coals." So, the most important part is to toast the bread.  You can make different variations of bruschetta. One possibility is to rub the bread with a cut tomato after rubbing it with garlic. You can also make a salsa for the bread. Chop some ripe tomatoes, then cut some fresh basil. Put the tomato and basil into a bowl. Add a little olive oil, and then spread a thin layer of the salsa onto the bread. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve.
video on how to make  bruschetta

Stewed mushroom served with butter toasted baguette. If you are aiming to get a light meal, then this would be a reasonable choice. The stew is made with a few different kinds of mushrooms and herbs.

Lamb Bruschetta (RM 8.90)

This one has a stronger flavour than the mushroom stew. The lamb was very tender and fully infused with herbs.

Salad dish selection:

Chef’s Salad (RM 11.90)
Mix garden green with cherry tomato, onion, black olive, tuna flakes and filament stick served with thousand island sauce.

Very fresh greens mixed and topped with tuna and thousand island sauce. Oh and the olives, I love olives!!!

Crispy Chicken Salad (RM 12.90)
Deep fried chicken in mix garden green, cherry tomato, onion, black olive served with oriental dressing.

Same kind of salad as the chef’s salad but this is added with deep fried chicken pieces. This is for those who want a balance of some greens and some meat as a meal!!

I can’t help but see the little similarity of this and the chicken ban ban in Heaven Delights (Penang Times Square)

Soup dish selection:

Creamy Tomato & Bacon (RM 6.90)

Sourish tomato puree with bits of bacon. It has a thick consistency and whips up our appetite with its sour taste!

Creamy Mushroom (RM 6.90)

I like this among the three. It’s very creamy with a strong flavour of wild mushroom and herbs.

Oxtail (RM 8.50)

After tasting the two above, this is quite mild.

Sandwiches/Burger dish selection:

Turkey Fresco (Rm 12.90)
Toast butter croissant add in smoked turkey roll, lettuce, cucumber and tomato served with french fries.

Fresh greens with crunchy croissant and fragrant ham makes a good combination to this dish. The french fries is sprinkled with chilli powder.

Hamburger Delight (Rm 16.90)
Grill juicy beef burger, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onion and cheese served with french fries.

The hamburger was a winner in this category (according to others as I didn’t managed to get a bite - it disappeared so fast!). The grill beef patty was very thick and satisfied the craving for a meaty sandwich! The baked cheese on top adds a bursting flavour to this delight (living up to its name).

Tuna Supreme (RM 12.90)
Toasted butter croissant add in tuna and filament mayo, lettuce, tomato and cucumber served with french fries.

Same set as the Turkey Fresco but with tuna as the filling instead. I would prefer the turkey fresco to this as the filling is rather moist and missing the chunky tuna pieces. But for those who are into tuna, you can give it a try.

Cheezy Beef (RM 15.90)
Saute beef slice, onion and mushroom add on roasted pepper baked with cheese, served with french fries.

Did not try this but others mentioned that taste-wise, it’s nothing spectacular.

Pasta dish selection:

Alla Carbonara (RM 10.90)
Saute beef bacon and capsicum add in cream sauce served with spaghetti.

This also totally disappeared soon after photo shoots. It’s either really great or some wants to get rid of it fast! From the looks it’s creamy enough. I guess it should taste as good as it looks.

Aglio Olio (RM 15.90)
Saute garlic, mix herb and chilli flake with olive oil add in tiger prawn served with spaghetti.

This is a little spicy and one of the dish which I enjoyed. There’s a mixture of ham slices, brinjals (eggplants) but not sure if I spotted any tiger prawns though.

Alla Marinara (RM 16.90)
Thai style tomato sauce add in mix seafood served with spaghetti

This dish is quite dry and the tomato sauce is nothing exceptional.

Baked Cheezy Seafood (RM 16.90)
Small shell pasta served with mix seafood and creamy tomato sauce

Looks good but not recommended in my sense as it has a funny taste -  like fishy taste to it. And it’s also very creamy and since it’s cheese baked, it’s better to eat it while it’s hot from the oven.

Fish dish selection:

Fish and Chips (RM 10.90)
served with french fries, mix lettuce and tartar sauce

Deep fried fish fillet and french fries - a classic I would say.

Lemon Butter Fish (RM 12.90)
served with french fries, mix lettuce and lemon cream sauce

Similar to the fish and chips in every sense except with the addition of lemon cream sauce. The sauce is kind of diluted and taste quite bland.

Tagarashi Salmon (RM 17.90) (below left)
Grill roll salmon, mash potato ratatouille with mix lettuce, served with curry cream sauce

This salmon is uniquely rolled with seaweed in the inner ring and added with curry cream sauce. I did not taste any strong flavour of curry, just creamy. As salmon is naturally quite dry and bland, the sauce should be more flavourful to cover the dryness, while the seaweed comes in to cover the bland part.

Lamb/Beef dish selection:

Lamb Cutlet (RM 22.90)
Served with mash potato, ratatouille, mix lettuce and mint yogurt sauce

The mint sauce is a special addition to the lamb cutlet and taste quite good. (By know you would have realise too that they like to garnish their dish with carrot strips very much!!)

I can’t help but photograph this nice-looking cube of mash potatoes topped with ratatouille. Only the two dishes above are served with this mash potatoes + ratatouille side dish. It was quite engrossing eating it, spoonful after spoonful.

The only dish served in a hot plate is this Jacuzzi Beef (left pic).

Jacuzzi Beef (RM 17.90)
Served in hot place with french fries and black pepper sauce

The beef slices was stir-fried with onions and mushrooms before black pepper sauce is poured on top of it and served in a hot plate. I feel that the black pepper sauce is actually not spicy and fragrant enough.

Spice Lamb Leg (RM 18.90)
Served with rosemary potato, mix lettuce and pineapple JD sauce.

The lamb was tender and goes very well with the potatoes which is sauteed with butter and rosemary.

Chicken dish selection:

Black Pepper Mushroom Chicken (RM 10.90)
Served with french fries, mix lettuce and mushroom pepper sauce

Same sauce as the jaccuzi beef, hence lack in spiciness and fragrance as mentioned earlier. This dish is something normal which can be cooked at home or found in other western food restaurants/stalls. 

Roasted Chicken Drumstick (RM 15.90)
Served with rosemary potato, mix lettuce and orange ginger sauce

The sauce of orange and ginger combination is indeed something different and adds some zing to the roasted drumstick. Sauteed potato with rosemary comes as the side dish.

Chicken Chop (RM 10.90)
Served with french fries, mix lettuce and oriental sauce

The drumstick is deep-fried and maintained its crispiness even after being drowned in oriental sauce for quite some time before we started eating.

Teriyaki Chicken (RM 15.90)
Served with saute potato, mix lettuce and teriyaki cream sauce

Teriyaki by name but I can hardly savour any teriyaki taste. And it’s also a little dry.

Overall, the ambiance of this restaurant is good (albeit the hotness during day time), the beverages served are really interesting and covers a wide range, the food presentation is good and taste-wise, there’s some hits and miss but averagely it’s considered not bad for new emerging western restaurants.

 This restaurant can be clearly seen at the stretch of Gurney Drive, being neighbours to Coffee Island Cafe and also Khaleel Restaurant. This place serves western cuisine and a 10% service charge is applied.

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