Note: This restaurant has ceased its operations at Penang Times Square and has moved to Gurney Plaza, Penang, under the name of Xiao Nan Guo Cuisine.
UPDATED 26 MARCH 2009: Effective today until a time the management had decided to cease this special promotion, the EAT-ALL-YOU-CAN Daily Buffet would be from 10.30am until 11.00pm. Each person would be entitled to order as many items as he/she could eat within the stipulated 2 hours time frame at RM49.90+ per person. No matter what time of the day you had decided to walk in to have your buffet, count down will start the minute you start ordering your food. Please take note that for every 100gms of food wastage, an additional RM10 would be charge.
Prior to the grand opening of another of Penang’s glamorous landmark, Penang Times Square supposedly scheduled to be in June/July 2009, a few restaurants had already popped up recently within the premises, namely Haven Delights, Express Café and Tsuruya Sushi Bar. One of the notable ones would be Haven Delights, a restaurant that served many varieties of cuisine from Shanghai, Japan, Hong Kong and Korea. Strategically located at level one of the mall facing the main road of Jalan Dato Kramat with panoramic view of Komtar, Sunway Hotel, Red Rock Hotel and Grand Continental Hotel, this restaurant has set another great standard within the Georgetown area for serving delicious food.
Haven Delights has an extensive range of dishes to tempt your every desire. In fact, the restaurant has over 240 dishes, desserts and beverages for you to choose from. I had also faced a hard time trying to figure out what I should have, especially not all the items have photos shown or they were in some foreign language that I could not understand. The best would be to get those experienced staff to recommend to you what’s the best in the restaurant.
Well, the waiters and waitresses sure knew their jobs well with what was recommended for my dining experience. The first dish which was Red Dragon Prawns with Jammy Sauce (RM20) had already caught me off guarded. The whole presentation was so colorful with balls of dragon fruits, capsicums, carrots, yellow pickled ginger and 4 batter fried king prawns stir fried to perfection with a hint of apple cider, lemon and mustard in the sauce. This is a must to order.
Chicken Ban Ban (RM10) was next. The presentation was awesome. Big chunks of batter fried chicken meat were topped with crispy fried egg white and seaweed strips. The dish has 3 different types of garnishing sauces such as mayonnaise, wasabi and a spicy sweet sauce. Again this would be another dish not to be missed.
Suddenly, I sensed a unique seafood aroma moving closer to my table and there was my Soft Shell Crab (RM12). Two whole soft shell crabs were deep fried to crunchiness with a generous amount of salad in the middle of the plate. The salad sauce was quite spicy but sweet. It blended in real well with those crunchy soft shell crabs. I would surely order this dish again during my next visit.
I had also ordered another a small side dish to try out. The Salted Pepper Mantis Prawns (RM15) was indeed salty as the name but still great for my consumption. It has some crispy fried mantis prawns (tasted more like shrimp paste aka belacan frying flour) stir fried with some chopped chillies, spring onions and ginger. This dish would suit well with rice or noodles.
To compliment with the above dish, I had ordered a plate of Japanese Yaki Udon (RM12). Before I could finish taking shots of the rest of the dishes, I had to switch to video mode. You know why? MY FOOD WAS ALIVE!! Here’s a short video on what happened.
Basically, the hot steam emitted from the Udon has created a sensational effect on the paper thin bonito flakes (Katsuobushi/dried, fermented and smoked skipjack tuna shavings) garnished on the noodles. It was real impressive. As for the taste, it was indeed a beautifully sour and salty combination of their secret Japanese sauces. This large plate of Japanese Udon has a generous amount of prawns, chicken meat and vegetables. You should try out this dish too.
Another of their most sought after rice dishes would be their Hong Kong Fried Rice (RM10). Wow! The fried rice was extremely delicious. The Cantonese sure knows how to fry their rice with enough of “wok hei” (high heat frying). Every single grain of the rice was so flavorfully coated with the right taste. The dish had cut prawns pieces, chicken slices, green peas, cashew nuts and egg, garnished with a generous amount of meat floss, chopped spring onions and fried shallots. This is another must to order.
If you would like something spicier, you can always try out their Cajun Fried Rice (RM10) as the Cajuns are famous for cooking well seasoned and somewhat spicy food. The dish had cut prawn pieces, chicken slices, corn kernels and garnished with chopped spring onions. No doubt this dish has the right spicy taste but my preference would still be the Hong Kong Fried Rice.
If you feel like having some side dishes, you can always order their Shanghai Juicy Meat Dumpling (RM8). The filling has all the fragrant taste with the well marinated meat. Somehow I find the skin a bit too thick and they should have more soup in each dumpling.
You could also order their Potato Salad (RM5) for appetizer. The dish has a large scoop of semi coarsely mashed with the right amount of cream, butter and herbs on top of a bed of finely sliced greens. This would be good for light eaters.
As for desserts, basically the choices are quite limited with many items being ice cream based. The only warm dessert which happened to be my favorite too was the Silky Egg with Water Chestnut (RM6). The dessert had sliced red dates, white fungus and finely sliced water chestnuts simmered with in a beaten egg white broth, mildly sweetened with rock sugar. This is really good.
The rest of the desserts was rather common as all had ice cream scoops but with different presentations. The most eye-catching one in the menu would be the Tempura Ice Cream (RM8). It was just two large scoops of vanilla ice cream with raspberry sauce, garnished with some loose tempura batter and a sweetened cherry.
The bombastic named Ice Fire Golden Banana (RM8) was another case. It was just a rainbow colored scoop of ice cream presented with some raspberry sauce and batter fried slices of a banana. I felt that this is a bit pricey for the amount served, especially when it was served on a large plate.
At least the Kuru Gama Ice Cream (RM8) was rather unique with some black sesame seeds blended into the ice cream. The ice cream was mild in black sesame taste, with lots of crushed peanuts. I also felt this dessert to be a bit overpriced as two scoops would at least justify the amount paid.
Overall, the food here could be real good if you know how to combine them well especially for a family or group eat out. On top of the Ala Carte Menu, you can also check out their other quality food and set meals such as the Chinese Dome Set with 5 dishes priced at RM46+, Grilled Cod Fish with Potato Cream priced at RM35nett or quality Kobe Beef option namely Kobe Beef Tataki (RM88nett), Kobe Beef Ishiyaki (RM58nett) and Kobe Beef Sashimi (RM88nett).
They do also have daily buffet lunch and dinner where you have the options to order anything from their 90+ dishes buffet menu priced at RM49.90+ per adult. Children would be at half price. There would also be free flow of finger food, broth, ice cream, etc of the day at another side table buffet line. If you intend to visit the place, do take note of the 2 hours time frame for the buffet. Buffet hours would be as 12.00noon-2.00pm, 2.00pm-4.00pm, 5.00pm-7.00pm, and 7.00pm-9.00pm daily. Everything in the restaurant would come with a 5% service fee.
Just let me share with you some of the night scenes at Penang Times Square prior to the official launch for Phase 1. Phase 2 would be completed within the next two years.
The best way to reach the shop would be by using Jalan Magazine (Traders Hotel). Drive into Jalan Dato Kramat (2nd junction at the right of Gama Supermarket) until you have reached Penang Times Square on your left. Find a parking space along the road or within the allocated parking bay. Just walk into the mall and go to Level 1. The restaurant is very prominently located either by mode of escalator or elevator.
Name: HAVEN DELIGHTS
Address: 77-L1-34, Jalan Dato Kramat, 10150 Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-210 8855, 210 8856, 016-492 1658 (Ms. Angie Ng)
Opening Hours: 10.30am-11.00pm
Buffet Hours: 12.00noon-2.00pm, 2.00pm-4.00pm, 5.00pm-7.00pm, 7.00pm-9.00pm
GPS: 5.414701, 100.331871
RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 9/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 8/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7.5/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
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AN INSIGHT VIEW OF HAVEN DELIGHTS @ PENANG TIMES SQUARE
THE OPENING OF BUKOTSU RAMEN HOUSE AT PENANG TIMES SQUARE
TOP OF THE LINE BUFFET PROMOTIONS AT CAFÉ LAUREL @ EVERGREEN LAUREL HOTEL PENANG
THE OPENING OF THE BIGGEST TAO AUTHENTIC ASIAN CUISINE RESTAURANT AT PENANG TIMES SQUARE
THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF YEA JAPANESE BARBEQUE AND SHABU SHABU AT PENANG TIMES SQUARE
wah…seems everything is a must try dish?! so geng? heee
Well, those food that I ordered were good… There are still 230 more dishes, desserts and beverages to try out 😛
wow i didn’t know that times square is open already!!!
Jane.. it’s not officially opened yet but there are a few restaurants within the premises that had started their business.
like the soft shell crab-the v clip was great.
Thanks Leong for the compliment. I hope you can drop by one of these days to try out the food there. 🙂
That is a MASSIVE menu! I’m kinda cautious when a restaurant tries to cover too many dishes… a potential jack of all trades, master of none??
So far those recommended dishes that I had ordered were delicious Min. Give them some time and I would think they will excel above the rest especially with their experienced chefs for each different cuisine. I had told the manageress that she had to look into more improvements, prices and choices for their desserts section. 🙂
Hey, The buffet is like TAO’s style. Criz, organize a buffet dinner for all of us lah, we go together and can order MANY MANY dishes and snap LOTSA photos! 🙂
Give me and them some time Carrie as they are still busy with their workloads. I’m trying to liaise with them on some publicity by the floggers once they have settled down comfortably. 🙂
WAH….. u really geng ah…. so many foods! hahahhaah…..
You did not realized that my tummy can fill in a lot? LOL!
Hey, you came here first!! That’s a LOT LOT of food!!! You must have gone with a big group of ppl!:)
Your first dish has already attracted me lar, and they seem to have lots of seafood dishes huh?:D Thanks for the sharing, I am heading there soon too!:)
Good Luck.. haha. Actually there were only two of us there 😛
Colourful and neat presentation. An up and coming location.
For sure this will be the next hangout for family soon. 🙂
Waaa!!!u make me soooo hungry!I feel like i can smell n devour the food that u had so marvellously taken.Sure looks damn good n i can attest to your opinions as i had lots of good remarks about this restaurant esp.their buffet it seems its really worth it from those who had tried it out.
You should drop by whenever you can to experience the cuisine yourself Benny. 🙂
meaning to say, none retail outlets have opened, but only those restaurants?
you shouldve gone for the buffet instead. 🙂 then can try a lot more items..
since you’re raving almost all of the items, I’d be definitely going for a try if I’m around the area. thanks.
It’s definitely a great place to visit J2Kfm. Call me when you are around 😛
having so many malls in the island will not make the island shine… most important is the maintenance….
if a mall didn’t maintain it’s standard, no matter how good the food is… some how they will lose their biz…. i never have good feelings on local property management… a very good example would be Prangin Mall… though this is new, and we should pay a visit… dont know i am still very reluctant to step in.
Well… this do happen quite frequent. Once a new mall open for business, the older ones would suffer unless the property management do something like holding more interesting events regularly to capture the crowd. At the moment, I would think Aeon Jusco, Queensbay and Gurney Plaza are still doing quite well with new outlets and events. The rest looked like dying a natural death as I had heard of shoplots within those almost deserted malls losing 50-70% of sales since the economy downturn. Anyway, Penang Times Square should be a good place for family outings once it’s completed within the next 2 years. The only hiccup would be the traffic jams once it is officially open for business.
Nice intro to this new mall and the food…thanks for the details.
No problem CK. I’m here to share. 🙂
ah i’m still waiting to try this place after my family went without me!! 🙁
the dishes look interesting. cant wait to go try the buffet!
I’m also trying to arrange for our group’s visit. I hope it can happen soon. 🙂
Hi criz i had the buffet on sunday nite.Wa lau eh!I had my tummy filled to the brim!!!Though there was a crowd i guess it was a weekend the service is still praiseworthy.Excellent,n the food quality is really good.So many to choose from n im loss for words,except to tuck in as many as i could.They must think that we r eating machines.,back from the stint in Sahara.In addition we couldnt help but also ordered some a la carte that u had recommended.I like the lamb terriyaki,yaki udon,HK fried rice,General chicken,scallops,n aiya cant finish the list la.Brain is not working after eating too much.That s all.
See Benny! I told you the buffet was good. I had a peep at the buffet menu even before it was launched.. haha 😛
is all the shops in Penang Times Square open already?
Not yet… only a few food shop lots. 😛
I am aiming for the buffet lor… hehe
So am I.. 😛 but it’s better if we can go in a group so that we can order more dishes for photography.. haha 😛
Hi criz from what i know it seems that u can take the buffet throughout the day,that means u can start the buffet anytime u like but u will be alloted 2 hours ,irrespective of when u start it.,no fixed timing for the buffet.I was told by the management that in this way its only fair to evey customers that evryone has 2 full hrs to eat irrespective of the time u start it,sounds fair to me anyway.
I’m not aware of this arrangement. I will check with them later on that. 🙂 By the way, how did you find this site?
Hi criz i used to browse the net esp.on food n i was attracted to the quality of yr blog.Probably u have the best camera shots too n i used to find yr opinions very reliable.When i was there for the buffet that was i was informed by one of the waitress that it was a most recent changes that their boss had offered .Seems that it is for the convenience of the customers.If that is so im glad it is so flexible.,unlike when i was once in Tao,i had barely an hr to finish my food.It was however very rigid but rules r rules so i cant blame the person in charge.However at Havendelights,i was made to understand that it will be somehow flexible in the interests of the customers.Maybe u could confirmed it again for me k.Im actually new in foodbuzz but im very active in tripadvisor as im also one of the destination expert for Shanghai.,having spent much of my time there n some in Penang.Glad to hear n also read yr interesting column always criz.
That’s what I heard about the strict dining period for Tao. I’m glad that you find this newly opened restaurant suited you better.
Hi its becos im a big eater of Japanese n chinese food.They have very high standard japanese food n the chinese food is definately much better than anywhere else i had tasted in the island.For example when i ordered HK fired rice or Chicken rice its what i had expected from a good chinese chef.,full of wok hei!!!Not in certain other places which i had experienced i doubt they r prepared by real chionese chef or maybe nepalis as i had seen in a number of eateries around the island lately.Even in some notable places like KimGary,n a few famous ones i was shocked to see a Bangladeshi or nepali preparing/cooking my shanghai rice!!!Thats what contribute to the decline in standard.However this is only my opinion some others might differ as these places still enjoy very good patronage.Happy eating lor.
Bingo! You sure know your food well. The Japanese/Korean section is handled by a true Japanese Sous Chef whereas the Hong Kong/Shanghai section is handled by a Hong Kong Sous Chef. They are both foreigners. 🙂
Ha Ha!criz.its also i can see the chefs cooking thru the glass kitchen,i can see how good they perform by their moves.Also its a good thing they have a see thru kitchen.In some restaurants where the kitchen is closed up i shrink at the idea what they will do to my food if i anger them.,so no matter what i always keep quiet.,cos i heard enuf stories of what happen behind the kitchen walls hahhaha..
Haha.. I don’t want to mention about those “horror” stories I have heard right from the mouth of the “ghost” too Benny. 😛
Criz, tried it out on Saturday .. the food is “havenly” .. lots of choices, service was excellent .. but the 2hr timeline is really short despite the time they require to serve the food. It takes around 5~10minutes for ur orders to come .. so you need to order in advance. Last Sat was raining thus I parked in the carpark on the 4th floor, walking from the carpark was horrible .. lift & escalator was not functioning and spooky too. Adding to it, it was the night of Earth Hr when I was done with my buffet, lights were off !!! Suggestions for those interested to check out Haven Delights is to double park on the Dato Kramat Rd .. safety purposes!
It’s great to hear another person’s view on the food in his restaurant. Regarding the waiting time, I’m sure the friendly management and staff would understand that and some additional dining time would be allowed here. Regarding the parking, I would agree on a person’s safety and security reason. Did you consider parking your car along the roads on both sides of Penang Times Square (Jalan Kampung Jawa Baru to be exact) or Jalan Timah behind the mall? There should be ample parking spaces there. All you need is an umbrella. 😛 I would not advise anyone to park along the heavy trafficked Jalan Dato Keramat as you might get an additional “yellow/blue” bill on your dining bill. 😛
p/s: Thanks for dropping by Rebecca. There are two Rebecca in here now 😛
Hi i always park by the road too.,much easier as i had heard its a winding path up to the mall parking lot.Maybe there will be more people in the mall as im told that Nice day n Chocolate,Alan hair studio r opening very soon as they had completed their renovations.I went on the sunday,almost full but i heard that sat.was fullhouse n ihad a rewarding 2 hrs buffet there.Still i like to see how fast n frantically the staff n the chefs work.They r so professional n good.Also i dun get reminders like food wastage.In fact the waitress approached me many times to place orders!!!!!without been asked to.Such a delightful haven of food.Cheers!!!
Wow Benny! You never seem to get enough of their food right? Care to share how many times you had visited the restaurant? 😛
Aiya criz.Only 4 times la.But im leaving for Shanghai on this wednesday.So after this can only think of it ma.Let me know of updates ok.,thanks.n enjoy.
Bon voyage Benny! I hope you have a safe journey. Don’t forget to freeze pack some Shanghai Siu Loong Bao for me. LOL!!
Hi all! I’m Jo from Singapore! going to penang this june and can’t wait to taste all the food that you guys had recommended!! can provide more info?? 🙂 Benny?
Benny? My reader? I guessed he’s lost somewhere in Shanghai now.. LOL… I’m Criz here. 🙂 Thanks for dropping by here Josephine. Feel free to check out all the great food in here. 🙂
Hi Criz! tks for your response! Can’t wait to shop and makan at times square! this site would be of great help! :0
Well… so far there are 4 F&B outlets in the yet officiated mall. This is the only one that has great food at economical price. 🙂
cool! will update you what i’ve tasted when i m there! tks Criz!
That’s cool Josephine. 🙂
Wau, new location to enjoy the food. Found that you are very good in writing and giving comments. Like your sharing.
*do you know who am I??
Yo Lil’ Bro! Since when have you decided to join with “Y” in coming out with this domain? Congrats! It’s a smart move. 🙂
[…] please do bear with me on a long post with a detailed study into Haven Delights. Ever since my first visit to Haven Delights, I must admit that I just could not get enough of their various ranges of cuisine from Japan, […]
[…] for more. The preparation for the dessert was totally different compared to the one I had at Haven Delights at Penang Times Square. It was truly yummilicious! A large scoop of Vanilla flavored ice cream was […]
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