CRIZ BON APPETITE

Swez Brasserie @ Eastin Hotel, Penang, for the month of May 2013 (1-31 May 2013) will be having its Italian Flair Promotion to serve you the delectable spread of Italian cuisine from the Land of Michelangelo. This promotion would be under the skillful hands of the Jr. Sous Chef, Chef Kelvin Cheong and Chef de Partie, Chef Rizal bin Hashim.

To start off the meal, there would be a few selections of appetizers for you to savor. One of them would be the Panzanella Salad (新鮮番茄乳酪沙拉), a fresh tomato salad with crusty bread and cheese. This Florentine salad which basically would consist of tomatoes and bread is also quite popular during summer in Italy. The version here had added mozarella cheese and sweet basils in some olive oil and vinegrette. It was simply refreshing.

The next appetizer was the Assorted Bruschetta (意大利式烤麵包). Simple as it was, the bruschettas came in 3 variants such as mushroom, chicken and seafood. Taste wise, they were not bad except I personally felt the baguette slices were a bit too thick for such a small bite size. Luckily, we had some soup to moisten them up.

The Cream of Tomato & Basil Soup (番茄香菜奶油濃湯) was awesome. You can practically taste the freshness and sweetness of the tomatoes used. With the some added dashes of basil oil and cream, it was a great bowl of soup. I won’t mind having more croutons in it too.

There would be some main dishes presented during the promotion too. One of the notable ones would be the Chicken Milanese (米蘭式燴雞) which you can have with other starch dishes such as Tomato Rice or with other green salads. The chicken was basically a lightly breaded piece of nicely marinated boneless chicken which would suit just any diner. There would be some gravy served with it as well.

Another of the main dishes would be the Verze alla Capuccina (意大利式燜洋菜), a Capuchin Savoy Cabbage dish which basically had some boiled purple cabbage, carrots and tomatoes tossed in parsley, butter, Parmesan cheese, anchovies, salt, pepper with some toasted almond flakes. Though creamy, this dish was not to my liking as it was overpowered with saltiness. I would prefer to have some fresh greens salad instead.

There would also be 3 options of main dishes available during their semi buffet dinners. One of them would be Lasagna al Spinaci (菠菜芝士千層面). This main course dish would be quite ideal for those who love to have something not so heavy. The lasagna sheets had some stuffed boiled spinach in creamy cheesy sauce. Though it was a nice combination, I found the spinach to be rather fibrous for a smooth bite. Either the kitchen should find a younger spinach sprout or the vegetables should be chopped finer to avoid choking any diner.

Another option would be the Braised Osso Bucco or you can just call it Italian Braised Lamb (燜燉小羊頬), a Milanese specialty of braised cross-cut veal shanks. Though the meat was braised to the perfect texture and tenderness with just the right usage of herbs, it somehow lacked a specific sweetness – white wine. How I wished the restaurant were to be “non-halal” to be able to apply the usage of alcohol in their dishes.

The last option would be the Beef Meat Balls with Cheese (芝士牛肉丸) served with pasta. The meat balls were rather flavorful with just the right amount of herbs and Parmesan cheese used. However, they have to tweak well on the usage of cheese as I personally found the meat balls to be rather salty. Moreover, I prefer my meat balls not to be so tough with the addition of some chopped onions.

As for dessert, there would be quite a number of delicious treats. One of the dessert to aim for would be the Tiramisu (提拉米蘇). The non-alcohol version of the cake was still fine but with a rather heavily boosted coffee flavor. I somehow quite like the bitter sweet taste of the whole combination.

Another dessert we had was the Banana Pudding (香蕉布丁) served with vanilla sauce. It was not bad with some nice chunks of banana inside.

Overall, the taste and flavors of the dishes were still within the acceptable level. The only little thing they would need to monitor is on the usage of salt as some of the dishes were rather heavily salt infused for this round. I do also hope to see more dishes during this coming promotion such as the many kinds of bread, pizza, pasta, rice, seafood as well as cured meat available too.

Here’s the summary on the promotion.

ITALIAN FLAIR PROMOTION (1-31 MAY 2013)
Lunch (12.00 noon – 2.30pm): Monday – Friday
RM48++ (adult), RM24++ (child)
Hi-Tea (12.00 noon – 3.00pm): Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays
Normal weekend: RM55++ (adult), RM28++ (child)
Festive Occasion: RM68++ (adult), RM34++ (child)
Semi Buffet Dinner (6.30pm – 10.00pm): Monday – Thursday
RM48++ per pax

For MAYBANKARD, Standard Chartered Bank, OCBC Bank, CIMB Bank and CITIBANK card members, you can enjoy 15% discount for the Italian Flair Semi Buffet Dinner (Monday to Thursday) and Weekend Buffet Dinner (Friday to Sunday) from 6.30pm – 10.00pm.

The Swez Brasserie is located at the ring wing of Eastin Hotel, Penang (next to Queensbay Mall). If you are coming from Georgetown towards Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone via Bayan Lepas Expressway, do watch out for the Pulau Jerejak signboard (leading to Pulau Jerejak jetty). Ignore the turning and drive on to the next left junction. Turn left into Jalan Aziz Ibrahim and drive on until you a roundabout. Turn 3 o’ clock and drive on until you see a big Eastin Hotel signboard at the first right junction. Turn right and drive on. Park your car at the basement car park. Take a lift to the first floor lobby and you would see the restaurant there.

Name: SWEZ BRASSERIE @ EASTIN HOTEL
Address: 1 Solok Bayan Indah, Queens Bay, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-612 1128, 604-612 1138
Business Hours: 12.00pm-2.30pm (Lunch), 6.30pm-10.00pm (Dinner)
GPS: 5.33643, 100.306345

RATING:
Ambience: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 6.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

For your information, Kürtős Kalács is a traditional Hungarian pastry (with or without addon ingredients) which is hollow and eaten by unwinding the twirl like pastry, torn in between and taken plain or with selected dips. The pastry is baked on wooden dowels, rolled slowly on an open fire or a customized oven until golden brown. Kürtős Kalács is the oldest Hungarian pastry which stems from the Hungarian words kürtő that refers to “chimney” and kalács meaning “milk loaf or cake”, thus getting its nickname as “chimney cake” or “stove cake”. Kürtős Kalács was first made in Covasna County (Transylvania region) by Hungarian settlers and the recipe is one of the best kept secrets of Eastern Europe. For maximum taste and aroma, the dough has gone through 16 hours of yeast-raised process. The next step would be to ribbon roll onto the dowel and to leave aside for further yeast raising. Prior to being baked in a customized oven, the dough has been brushed with some sunflower oil and heavily sprinkled with castor sugar. Thus, the baked pastry would have a crispy caramelized surface while maintaining its soft and smooth interior. Now you can try the delicious pastry at Kürtős Spiroll, located at Queens Street, Level 3 (North Zone) of Queensbay Mall, Penang.

So what are the topping flavors available at Kürtős Spiroll? You can start with the Original Kürtős Kalács (RM3.70 each), followed by Favorites Kürtős Kalács (RM4.50 each) such as Sesame Seeds, Chocolate Rice, Sunflower Seeds, Hawaiian Coconut and Cinnamon Sugar or the Premium Kürtős Kalács (RM5.90 each) such as Premium Chicken Floss, Nutella Walnut and Peanut Butter n Chocolate Chips.

Somehow one of the favorites (4 types as shown at the front row on the above photo) amongst the rest was the Original. You can simply taste the milky and buttery flavors from the soft pastry and at the same time savor the sweet caramelized exterior.

The next topping would be Sesame Seeds. I somehow found that the sesame seeds were not thoroughly toasted well enough to emit that fragrant flavor as you would have expected from sesame seeds products. It would be great if they could mix some black sesame seeds as well since the black ones are more flavorful than the white ones.

No doubt Chocolate Rice are widely used in pastries, I do find them to be normal to my preference. I would say this topping would suit children more than adults.

For those whole love the earthly flavors of Sunflower Seeds. The next option would suit you real well. The portions given were very generous.

There was also the imported Hawaiian Coconut as one of the toppings. It tasted like having some sort of dehydrated fiber without the distinctive flavor of coconut. I would think that the grated local coconut has more flavors but then keeping them fresh daily might be an issue for an outlet which might go franchised in the future. Somehow, I don’t find this topping an ideal one for long term usage.

The Cinnamon Sugar was a hit as it was just the perfect evening snack to go with a cup of coffee or tea. The flavor of the grounded spice merged perfectly with the milky and buttery pastry. It would be great if some raisins or even thin apple slices were to be added into the dough with just a light sprinkle of grounded cinnamon. It would be even perfect just like the Cinnamon Bun.

Premium Chicken Floss may be the in-trend of most bakeries in Malaysia but I found the ones served here to be quite normal without the distinctive toasted flavors. Maybe they should consider a spicier version by replacing it with Spicy Prawn Floss (Sambal Hae Bee) instead? Moreover, I found that the thin spread of mayonnaise was not sufficient enough to give that moist to the chicken floss.

Nutella has always been the favorite chocolate spread for any pastry and it has proven that the Nutella Walnut was also a hit here. The Kürtős Kalács with a thin spread of Nutella and added slightly salted toasted walnut was my favorite. At least the light usage of salt here did neutralize some sweetness on the product which suited me well.

Lastly, there was the childhood favorite of Peanut Butter n Chocolate Chips. This was not a bad salty sweet combination but still a bit too sweet to my liking. The culprit might be the generous usage of sweetened chocolate chips rather than dark chocolate chips. Ideally, I would prefer to have some nicely toasted crushed peanuts on mine than any chocolate chips for that extra nutty experience.

There were also some homemade dips such as Butterscotch, Garlic Cheese and Chocolate (RM1.50 each or RM0.90 each for a combo of 3 flavors) available for extra boost on your Kürtős Kalács. I found the Butterscotch Dip to be a bit too sweet and lack of creaminess and buttery flavor to my liking. The Garlic Cheese Dip on the other hand was a hit amongst us as the savory flavors blended in well with the pastry, especially on the original one. The Chocolate Dip on the other hand was a bit too much for me as there were already a few products with chocolate base. Alternatively, I would recommend jam instead such as passion fruit butter jam or even a bitter sweet marmalade ginger jam. Who knows maybe our coconut jam (kaya) might go well with the pastries?

Here’s the menu on the 9 topping flavors available at Kürtős Spiroll:

Overall, Kürtős Kalács would be best taken when they are fresh and hot from the oven or you won’t get the best in texture and taste. I personally find that the products here would suit those more feminine consumers as they are the ones with higher urges for sweetness. Personally, I do find that the outlet lacked choices as those toppings tend to be quite normal on the market. They should consider having more fusion savory options such as cheese spread with garlic flakes, tomato puree with diced mushroom plus gherkins or even tomyam paste with kani sticks. As for nuts, there might be quite a large group of nuts lovers around and they could consider adding more options such as crushed peanuts, hazelnuts, pistachio nuts or toasted almond flakes. There are still more rooms for improvement here to think of some combinations that would be more localized to suit the general taste buds.

If you are coming from Georgetown towards Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone via Bayan Lepas Expressway, do watch out for the Pulau Jerejak signboard (leading to Pulau Jerejak jetty). Ignore the turning and drive on to the next left junction. Turn left into Jalan Aziz Ibrahim and drive on until you a roundabout. Turn 3 o’ clock and drive on until you see a big Eastin Hotel signboard. Queensbay Mall is just after the block of shop houses. Find your parking space either at the open space car park or drive further up after the roundabout and turn around towards the mall to find more parking spaces. As you walk into the mall, move towards the North Zone of the mall and you will see Kürtős Spiroll just after the Habanero Mexican Restaurant.

Name: KÜRTŐS SPIROLL @ QUEENSBAY MALL, PENANG
Address:
3F-01B, Queens Street, Level 3, North Zone, Queensbay Mall, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia.
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/kurtosspiroll
Contact: 012-5020 331 (Ernie Goh)
Business Hours: 10.00am-10.00pm
GPS: 5.335073, 100.306268

RATING:
Ambience: 6/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 6/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 6/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

Our lovable pair of floggers finally tied the knot after so many years of courtship. It was about time too. LOL! The owner of 43 Café, Jacgy Chan, sealed the vows with his beautiful wife and co-partner of their food blog, Cynthia Lim, at the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Penang, and thereafter to a wedding dinner reception at the new CRC Chinese Restaurant on 7 April 2013. Let’s wish our lovely couple here many happy and prosperous days ahead with at least an energetic “fire horse” baby next year. Haha! Being the 7th animal on the Chinese Zodiac Calendar, the horse carries the characteristics of nobility, class, speed and perseverance to strive for the best in life. With a “valid license”, I’m sure Jacgy would know what to do next, right? Haha!

Here’s the video on their grand entrance:

Since Jacgy is into pork burger and ice cream business, the event was indeed a porky affair. Even their wedding cake had a pair of cute pigs on it with multi-tiers of red velvet cupcakes, specially created for them by another of flogger/baker, Lingzie.

Don’t you think those 2 pigs (errrr… I meant the ones on the cake) are so adorable? 😛

Here are some quick snapshots of the newly wedded~ 🙂

Here’s a peep at my personalized ang pow packet I had designed specially to be given to the couple. Only two couples in my lifetime had received it and they are one of the lucky couples~ 🙂

As usual, a flogger (food blogger) would always take any advantages to blog on any food on any given opportunity. LOL! Let’s dig into the dishes served on that night. Firstly, it was the unexpected starter – Ice Scream!!! There were 4 choices of flavors to try out for the early birds (White Bunny, Purple Magic, Malta & Black Dog), all courtesy from Jacgy’s own homemade ice cream choices from his 43 Café and with toppings of your choice as well. No commercial ice cream would have these unique flavors. It was simply delicious~ 🙂

Next was the “thank you” gift, a red velvet cupcake with lemon cream cheese topping. This was another moist and flavorful cupcake baked by Lingzie. Thumbs up!

The actual dishes which cost around RM500 were served once the couple, family members, relatives and friends were seated. The first dish was the Hot & Cold Platter. The weird part was that it had 3 items rather than the usual 4-5 items palate. I guessed 3 which meant “alive” in Cantonese would be a significant number for weddings.

One of the items in the platter was the Deep Fried Bacon Wrapped Fish Cake. It was nice and filled with the flavors from the bacon.

Next was the Almond Fish Paste on Toast. This was another nice item with the flavors coming from the almond flakes used. At least, the restaurant did drain the oil well.

The third item which was the Prawn Salad on Fruits was quite fine. It had a generous portion of cooked fresh prawns on green apple, honey dew and carrots. The only setback was that the mayonnaise used was a bit too much for the likings of many healthy conscious diners.

The second main dish was the Eight Jewels Soup which had mock sharksfin, crab meat, ham, fish maw, sea cucumber, wood ear fungus, dried scallops and prawns, was somewhat normal without the flavors from the usage of some high stock. Somehow the whole combination lacked the sweet flavors from some meat stock. Compared to my regular one at Starview Restaurant down the road, the version here was rather diluted.

Why the next dish had the name Dragon & Phoenix or sometimes known as Double Phonenix as roasted chicken and roasted duck would always come onto the same plate during wedding dinners as a symbol of prosperity. I would say both the dishes were prepared rather tastily. However, it lacked the actual condiment which was plum powder and salt. Instead, we were served with just plum sauce.

From the look of the eyes, the next dish which was the Steamed Red Lion was slaughtered in a brutal manner – a sign of shock! Very obviously, it was a reared fish as the flesh was fresh but did not have the firmness as it should have after steaming. Soy sauce wise, it was just a normal grade of sauce.

When we thought we would have the normal Broccoli with Mushrooms, we had a surprise instead. We were served with Braised Mushrooms & Scallops, a higher grade of dish normally meant for Chinese New Year which symbolized prosperity. The dish had a base of steamed white cabbage, topped with braised mushrooms, hair moss and dry scallops, dressed in abalone sauce. Overall, it had the required taste but the dried scallops would have tasted even better if they were to be steamed in high stock with a few slices of ginger.

The last second dish would always be rice based and we had another surprise. We had one of the rarest serving for any Chinese banquet meal which was the Steamed Glutinous Rice with Waxed Duck & Assorted Chinese Sausages. I would say this dish was the best I ever had in any banquet dinner. The glutinous rice was steamed to the perfect texture and combined with the waxed duck, Chinese meat sausages and Chinese innards sausages, this dish was the next best to heaven. Though lacked a bit in the taste of pepper and saltiness, it was still awesome.

We had double desserts. One of them was basically canned local mixed cocktail and jellies in ice cubes. The usage of canned local mixed fruit with the presence of papaya cubes just did not blend in well as a dessert. I found the dish to be rather weird tasting and extremely sweet.

On the other hand, the Sesame Glutinous Rice Balls with Pandan Flavor Lotus Seed Paste were bonuses. The texture and the fragrant from the mixed sesame seeds were bite perfect.

We were entertained by one of the top bands in Penang – Starz Band. The duo had very serenading voices, just the kind that I like for a nice cozy evening.

Overall, the dishes served here are of a better standard than most of the banquet dinners I had attended. However, they still need to buck up on the flavors of some of their dishes. Somehow, I really detested having canned stuff for my dessert.

The new venue for the CRC Chinese Restaurant is located just opposite the club’s sport field along Jalan Pangkor. As you turn in through Jalan Burma into Jalan Pangkor, you can see the new restaurant located within the premises of a clan association named North Malaya Cheah Si Chong Soo.

Name: NEW CRC CHINESE RESTAURANT (美麗華魚翅海鮮酒家)
Address: 22 Jalan Pangkor, 10500 Penang, Malaysia.
Business Hours: 12.00noon-2.30pm, 6.00pm-10.00pm
Contact: 604-229 9737, 604-229 9757
GPS: 5.425386, 100.317358strong>

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 7.5/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 8/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)

If you are driving into Farlim, Penang, via Lebuhraya Thean Teik, you would notice that there’s a premier lifestyle destination known as the All Seasons Place built by Belleview Group, where they promised that the whole family would get to enjoy the best shopping, dining and entertainment experiences all year round. I would say there are quite a number of eateries over there ranging from fruit tea, desserts to many overseas franchised cafes and restaurants. What caught my attention was the café named Who’s Bryan, which has another two outlets in Butterworth as well as in the heart of George Town, Penang. Food choices would range from breakfast/brunch, afternoon tea (1 pax: RM21+, 2 pax: RM38+ with 8 different types of cakes & snacks), salad, soup, chicken, fish, red meat, sandwiches, burger, croissant, tortilla wrap, pasta cheese bake, pizza, pasta, local cuisine and light bites.

To start off the meal, we had Pumpkin Cappuccino Soup (RM8.90+). Who said we can’t have pumpkin soup the cappuccino style? Of course, surely there won’t be any espresso added into the soup but it’s the frothing of the added milk as in cappuccino that had the soup named this way. The serving came with a deep fried mantou rather than croutons as shown in their menu. Frankly speaking, I would rather have some croutons in my soup than a quite dry and chewy mantou. Moreover, it would be great if they had garnished the soup with some chopped spring onions and/or toasted pumpkin seeds or pine nuts. Overall, the soup was reasonably nice to my liking.

Next we had their much recommended Who’s Crumbly Chicken. It was a piece of well marinated boneless chicken drumstick plus thigh coated with some batter and lots of cornflakes prior to deep frying. It came served with some fries, fresh greens salad and mushroom gravy. Taste wise, it was fine except that I personally felt that they used too thick a batter in order to get such a thick coat of cornflakes. Moreover, the cornflakes were a bit too hard to munch. They should consider another brand with thinner flakes.

They also do serve pasta. We tried out their Carbonara Seafood (4 choices: Vegetables–RM13.90+, Turkey Ham–RM15.90+, Chicken–RM15.90+, Beef Bacon–RM15.90+ and Seafood – RM16.90+). I guessed I made the right choice as they dish was remarkably delicious for the price paid. It was creamy and the seafood (scallop, mussel, fish, squids & octopus tentacles) was rather fresh and there was a large amount of added Parmesan cheese. Yummy! However, they only use carrots, onions and celery to sweeten the sauce. I would have expected some sprinkles of mixed herbs on the dish.

For lighter bites, you could always order their Mushroom Chicken Bruchetta (RM10+). The dish would come with 5 thin slices of toasted baguette, some fresh greens salad and a container of mushrooms and chicken chunks in cheesy sauce. I quite like the flavor of cheese. However, I found the sauce to be a bit too salty to my liking. Moreover, the sauce lacked the flavors from some black pepper and herbs.

Finally, it was dessert time. Currently, they have a promotion for two pieces of cakes from their chiller at only RM13+. The Green Tea Marble Cheese Cake (RM9.90+) looked impressive but it was one of the most disappointing cakes I ever had. How could they use sponge cake as the base? With such a heavy based cream cheese, the cake would have been squashed flat. Moreover, the moist within the cream was drained by the sponge cake until it was so dry and thus having the sandy texture from the green tea powder used. Whoever produced this cake was a total failure. The cake was not fit for consumption at all.

The second cake which I ordered was the Chocolate Banana Cake (RM10.90+). This was again another miserable product. I did not expect the banana used to be so limited and filled with sap taste from what I suspected to be unripe banana being used. On top of that, the cream was filled with an overpowering taste from added banana essence. The ganache was still fine but the decorated macaron was really soiled. This is another flopped dessert.

As for beverages, we had an Iced Peach Tea (RM6.50+) which was a bit overpriced for a sachet made version. However, I should give compliment to their Bee’s Latte (RM8.90+). It had added honey and the espresso flavor was really distinctive. It came served with a slice of biscotti which was just average tasting.

Overall, this café would still be a great place to hang out over some cups of coffee and some light snacks. They do have some in-house bands to entertain you but the music could be quite loud to the ears at times. However, from my point of view, the desserts were totally not presentable and not up to par if you are looking for something to tempt your sweet tooth. They were rather cheap looking but would come with a high price tag.

Who’s Bryan is located at the center span of All Seasons Place, Farlim, Penang. If you are coming from Penang Bridge along Jalan Mesjid Negeri, keep a look out for the traffic lights at the flyover next to Convent Green Lane. Turn left into Lorong Batu Lanchang and drive on while keeping left until you reach another traffic lights T-junction. Turn left into Lebuhraya Thean Teik and drive on for about 600m and you would see the mall on your left. The entrance to the mall would be near the Giant Supermarket. There would be ample parking space there, provided it’s not a weekend when shoppers would do their weekly groceries intake.

Name: WHO’S BRYAN @ ALL SEASONS PLACE
Address: 6H-1-1, All Seasons Place, Lebuhraya Thean Teik, 11500 Farlim, Penang, Malaysia.
Contact: 604-826 9951
Business Hours: 11.00am-11.00pm (Weekdays), 10.00am-11.00pm (Weekends)
GPS: 5.397044, 100.290785

RATING:
Ambience: 7/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 classy)
Food Choices: 8/10 (1-4 limited, 5-7 average, 8-10 many choices)
Taste: 6/10 (1-4 tasteless, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)
Pricing: 8/10 (1-4 cheap, 5-7 average, 8-10 expensive)
Service: 7/10 (1-4 bad, 5-7 average, 8-10 excellent)