Pastry Chef Sunny Yaw of BigBoysOven will be having their inaugural macaron baking class in Penang! Not one but TWO classes!

Details below:

Date: 13 September 2008

Times: 9.00am-11.30am OR 2.30pm-5.00pm (each class limited to 10 persons only!)

Venue: Hong Yap Trading (Baking Ingredients supplier)

Address: 56-B Siam Road, 10400 Penang.

Price: RM220 (prepayment required)

5 macaron recipes with demo & hands on, inclusive of coffee break and a box of freshly baked macarons to take home

Photo courtesy of BigBoysOven

To register for the class, kindly email: bbonorth@gmail.com

SMS/Call: 012-4209433

Hurry! Don’t miss this great opportunity!

Months passed and still no news…until… The Eclectic!

I immediately told my family and so we gleefully headed up to Batu Ferringhi last night. I wasn’t exactly sure where it was, armed only with Gill Gill’s map and explanation that it was at the row of shop houses somewhere opposite Rasa Sayang Resort and Golden Sands Hotel. We drove pass Ferringhi Plaza….no sign of The Eclectic… then we passed Bella Italia… and there it was!!!

Its just by the road so there wasn’t any parking. We decided to turn back and park at Ferringhi Plaza and took a short walk to the restaurant.

I loved the spanking new Eclectic the moment I stepped in.

A small stage on the left of the entrance where live music happens every Friday and Saturday night from 10.15pm onwards, a very cool bar, comfy lounge area, the dining area and an outdoor dining area at the back with a small man made fountain. Even a pool table out front (I cant really tell if its a pool or snooker table, cos I so obviously don’t play either game… but me thinks its a pool table)

We were shown the menu and I was delighted to find that they still had the Brazilian Carvery from before. The Brazilian Carvery set now retails at RM70 (which includes a salad, soup, carvery and coffee/tea). The menu now offers some local fare, mixed with a bit of Italian and Western.

There was no doubt that we had to have Brazilian Carvery.

The piquant salad from the Brazilian Carvery set was amazing as expected. Crisp, fresh vegetables lightly coated with their signature tangy sauce.

The soup of the day was Leek Potato Soup - a creamy treat!

The carvery menu did not change from before. We were served a variety of meats - chicken, fish, beef, lamb, sausages (chicken and beef) and to help digest all that meat - juicy sweet pineapples coated with a dust of cinnamon.

The carvery meats slowly grilling away in the oven outside.

For more photos of the Brazilian Carvery, see here.

What was new with the carvery set was a side of vegetables and garlic mash potatoes which were amazing!

My grandfather opted for the “Sang Har Meen” (RM20) crispy noodles with egg sauce and prawns. We were rather disppointed to see that it turned out to be similar to hot plate noodles instead. Taste wise it was alright but too salty for my liking.

My dad had the Hainanese Chicken Chop (RM30). He took one bite, and refused to let me anywhere near the dish! He had wanted it all for himself! So when I countered that I needed to taste the dish in order to blog about it…. he told me “just say that this Hainanese Chicken Chop is reminiscent of the 60s Kwan Lock kopitiam”. Apparently, this kopitiam in the 60s was famous for its Hainanese Chicken Chop when Western Food was something of a novelty. I suppose this would mean that the Eclectic’s Hainanese Chicken Chop is a winner!

Meanwhile, we also had the Black Pepper Sirloin Steak (RM50). The thick steak was juicy and cooked just nicely medium as we had requested.

For dessert, we shared a Bread and Butter Banana Pudding (RM12). While this dessert certainly looked visually stimulating, the taste was just not that spectacular for me. But then again, I am extremely fussy when it comes to my desserts!

We left at around 9pm. The restaurant was packed, the interior dining area was full. And people were still coming in for a drink while waiting for the live music to start.

I would love to come back again, for dinner and to stay on for the live music. In fact, I’m thinking this would be the perfect place to have a relaxing girl’s night out just before a friend ties the knot!

The Eclectic is opened 7 days a week in the evenings only from 5pm-1am (2am on weekends). Kitchen closes at 12am. Live music starts 10.15pm on Fridays and Saturdays. The Eclectic is located at 149 Jalan Batu Ferringhi, 11000 Penang. (along the main road row of shophouses in between Bella Italia and Magic 1 Restaurant, opposite Rasa Sayang Hotel) For reservations, call 04-881 4287.

And it is here that a number of eateries have opened its doors, one of them being Annabelle’s Place.

Annabelle’s Place is very prettily decorated, with quaint white chairs and pretty fairy lights. We went on a Fridy evening, about a month since it opened. Browsing their menu, we noticed that they had rather limited choices for main meals. Mostly pastas and sandwiches and some local fare like fried rice. They had a more extensive drinks and tea list including their English tea sets.

Although it was way past tea time, we still decided to try their basic Enligsh tea set which comes with a pot of tea and 2 scones (RM3.50 if I’m not mistaken)

I’m not too sure how authentic scones should taste like. I’ve only tried scones which are rather crumbly and hard. So it was a rather pleasant surprise when the scones at Annabelle’s Place tasted rather chewy.

We also had their Hot Chocolate which was quite pleasant. But my favourite hot chocolate still has to be the one from Starbucks or Old Town Cafe.

On to the mains… we had pastas and an Ocean Delight.

The seafood spaghetti was nice and light. The spaghetti was cooked just right - al dente. A definite plus!

The carbonara was tasty too. Rich and creamy.

Meanwhile, the Ocean Delight was a serving of stuffed crabs baked with cheese.

In general, the portions here may be a bit small for most. But it was just nice for me. Prices are reasonable (possibly because of the not so big portions). Pastas are about RM12 while the Ocean Delight was around RM15 (if my memory serves me well).

Service was a bit slow during our visit. Possible because there was some staff shortage on in the kitchen on that day.

I do look forward to coming back here to try their Windsor Tea Set (for 2) which has sandwiches, cakes and scones!

Annabelle’s Place is located at 10 Lebuh Lembah Permai 4, 11200 Tanjung Bungah, Penang. Tel: 04-8901098. Opening Hours: Tues- Sat 11.30am-2.30pm, 4.30pm-10.30pm. Sunday - 9am-10.30pm. Closed on Mondays.

To get there, from the main road, turn into Casa Permai 2 housing area (you’ll see a red color signboard that says Home Recipe restaurant). Follow that sign in and turn right towards the row of shophouses. Home Recipe is the chinese restaurant a the corner that looked really really packed. Another must try soon!

The occasion - to finally put faces to our online personalities

The result - Lots and lots of fun, food, laughter and photography!

I walked in at 7pm. Only to be intercepted by Buzzing Bee, who immediately stuck out her hand to say hi! I was a bit surprised that she could recognize me so fast! And in that moment, didn’t register in my brain that she was Buzzing Bee.(apologies yeah… I can be blur as a bat sometimes!)

The waiter had indicated that our table was inside the room… I thought we were early.. but the moment I entered the room, a vibrant shout of my name greeted me! It was CK Lam from What2See and seated next to her was Cariso.

And so the mood was set for the night. Everyone who came in later (PenangTuaPui, Criz Lai, Gill Gill and hubby) were just as friendly and warm. Excitement was clearly in the air, as we talked and talked and talked like we’ve known each other for years!

In fact we got so ‘distracted’ that we only managed to get around ordering the food at 8.30pm!

And for the night, the food was pretty much secondary to the company. Because the company… totally rocked!

But as a flogger…duty calls…so we excitedly snapped away at the food, the guys being gracious enough to let us ladies do the snapping first. As our room had full glass doors, all our photography antics were in full view of the other patrons outside. 1 table, 10 cameras. Mai siao siao! (Dun play play in Hokkien)

You must be thinking…hmmm 10 floggers and only 5 dishes?? Sure or not?

Well… fear not. We definitely brought our appetites. But we had to leave room for the other more exciting ’side dishes’….

These mini tarts were courtesy of Criz Lai. You can read more about them in his review here.

Then we had these lovely fruit tarts made by Bee… they were really delicious Bee! And on your very first attempt too! Kudos!

And since it was Cariso’s birthday… I had originally wanted to bake cupcakes. But was unable to do so due to time constraints. So, I did the next best thing, walk into one of my favourite bakeries in Penang and bought a green tea cake. Which incidentally turned out to be Cariso’s favourite cake from Ritz!

Before we knew it, it was almost 11pm. Time really flies when you’re with good company!

We had so much fun meeting kindred spirits that a second gathering is in the works… scheduled for the end of September, it’s gonna be a pot luck this time! Stay tuned for details really soon!

Oh and as for Hai Nan Town Restaurant? It’s now got a nice outdoor bar area. And we spotted some people Salsa dancing too. I’d come here more for the ambience than the food.

To CK Lam, Bee, Cariso, PenangTuaPui (all 3 of you), Criz Lai and Gill Gill & hubby, thank you for being so warm and friendly and for really fun evening. Pot luck here I come!

You Are Barbeque Sauce

You are a social person. You enjoy cooking for other people. You are both skillful and competitive. You enjoy mastering hard tasks. You appreciate complexity more than simplicity.Your taste in food tends to lean toward interesting flavors. You appreciate exotic spice combinations. You tend to like cutting edge, fusion cuisine. You get along with all personalities from a distance. Except salsa personalities, who always seem to annoy you.

What Condiment Are You?

Looks like both Precious Pea and I are barbeque sauces! haha (who need to stay away from Salsa people) … so fellow foodies… kamu apa jenis condiment? (ok lah I dunno how to say condiment in Malay)

Uncle John’s durian season starts quite late, so July would be a good month to go and his durians are still available right up til August.

The sight that greeted us upon arrival… the durians all piled up and waiting for us… hehe..

We wasted no time and soon Uncle John was swiftly opening durian after durian. Since there were so many of us, and only ONE Uncle John… there ended up being a ‘queue’ to get our hands on the durians.

Pretty soon, we had finished one load of durians… and were still going strong! Keep those durians coming!

Lots of durians on the tree…

This time around we had a lot of D24, ‘chiu ji’ (Ring in Hokkien) and green skins… I loved the ‘chiu ji’ - thick creamy flesh and tiny seeds.

Uncle John also prepared juicy pineapples, ‘cempedak’ (Jack fruit) and rambutans for us much to our delight!

Many readers have emailed me asking for directions to Uncle John’s place. Its quite difficult to explain as there aren’t any landmarks or signboards leading into his farm. Your best bet would be to give Uncle John a call to arrange a date for your visit. Make your way to Balik Pulau and wait for him at Sacred Heart school, which is very near his farm. Uncle John can be contacted at 012-4098027. Uncle John speaks perfect English as he used to teach.

And as creatures of habits… after that lovely durian buffet, we made our way to this laksa place. I had told myself right before the trip that I would pay attention to the road and draw a map to the laksa place…but the durians took over my brain and I was too stuffed to concentrate on where we were going! Ok lah… next year I promise I will draw the map!!

So fellow Penang floggers, what say we have a get-together? Meet up for some food, some photos (of the food!), a few good laughs, and finally put a face to our online personas.

The Makan-makan get-together details….

Date: 2 August 2008 (Sat)

Time: 7.00pm onwards

Venue: Hai Nan Restaurant at Tanjung City Marina (next to the jetty) 

All floggers welcomed! If you’re interested to come along and do what Penangites do best (eat la! lol), do email me at lingzie@gmail.com

Preferably by July 31 so that I can make arrangements with the restaurant.

Please feel free to spread the news too. Thank you!!

~prays that people will actually email to say they want to come!~

Cheap and good is what you will find at Terubong Seafood. Usually packed with locals tucking into fresh seafood, my dad told us we’d go at 6pm to avoid the rush crowd!

I left the ordering to my parents as they have been to this place more times than I. A short while later, we were presented with our first dish…their signature deep fried tiny prawns (RM8)… these were crunchy and absolutely delicious! A great snack!

We also ordered another signature - ladies fingers (RM6). This was cooked with the similar marinade as their ‘ikan bakar’ (grilled fish). I loved this dish! Spicy but really good!

Next up was their home made fish ball soup (RM15). The soup was flavorful with a hint of Chinese wine and the fish balls fresh with a slight crunchy bite to it.

Then came the sweet and sour prawns (RM17) which were just perfect! Not too sour.

Finally came the steamed fish Teow Chew Style (RM45). Their other very popular fish dish is the ‘ikan bakar’ but we decided to try the steam fish this time. And this steamed fish did not disappoint!

Finally we decided that we still had a bit of space left in our stomachs, so we ordered a plate of fried maggi mee (RM3)… which was definitely one of the best fried mee’s I’ve had in a long long time. Definitely got ‘wok hei’ and not too salty or oily. Thumbs up!

My saliva is dripping already as I type out this entry, despite the fact that I’ve just had dinner… must visit this place again soon!

Terubong Seafood can be contacted at 04-8660903, 012-4103303.

This review by Food4Thot has the full address as well as directions to this place. For other reviews hop on over to BackStreetGluttons page.

Sakae Teppanyaki is now our current favourite dining place if we happen to be in the Juru area. My fascination with teppanyaki began at a young age, due to one particular Cantonese movie which featured the lead actor as a chef in a teppanyaki restaurant. I do not remember who the lead actor was, nor the name of that movie. But the sizzle of the food being skillfully cooked right in front of your eyes left a deep impression in me.

And so I was more than delighted to find another teppanyaki outlet in Penang! Sakae Teppanyaki offers set meals which comes with a refreshing salad with a tangy dressing and rice.

For an additional RM3 you can opt to have Garlic Brown Rice…

I do find that the set has a bit too much food for just myself alone, so we usually share.

Watching the chef in action is part of the fun… as he whips out portion after portion of piping hot food…

We’ve tried a variety of meats including the salmon, squid, chicken and beef.

The salmon is a cooked just right. While the squid is excellent!

Recently we also tried their lobster set.  There was a slight confusion when we ordered the lobster set (which was RM90/set if I’m not mistaken). It states in the menu that you have to order a minimum of 2 sets,  because one set consists of half a lobster, including some other meat items. So, we ordered 2 sets and were presented with this…

And finally, after all the meats, came the stir fried veggie. Some sets come with stir fry assorted mushrooms which I also love!

Sakae Teppanyaki also offers ala carte items if you don’t fancy the set. Overall I would say this place offers good food at affordable prices. Business hours are Mon-Thurs 11.30am-10pm,  Fri-Sun & Eve of Public Holidays 11.30am-11pm.

Sunny of Big Boys Oven showing us the way…

We were delighted when our macarons had ‘feet’! Horray! Them macarons can be temperamental I tell you…. not easy to make… all the elements have to fall into place - oven temperature, drying time, etc… But we were still so proud of the result. (PS: can you tell which were the ones we made, and which were the ones Sunny made?! lol)

Sunny’s tea time treats… which we look forward to almost as much as the actual class itself.. (sometimes more!)… drools..

Now this… is one orgasmic tasting tiramisu I tell you!!

For more macarons and other orgasmic desserts… hop on over to Big Boys Oven’s baking class schedule. July classes are up! Happy Baking!