Reach up to the top, Eat for Scenery...

Somewhere in Penang, there is a place where you can reach to the top to have a nice meal there while enjoying a beautiful scenery of Penang island, especially the beautiful sunset of the orange sun. You've to drive there as it's an outskirt area further away from the busy city and you've to pass through a lot of narrow roads of single lanes before you reach the bottom of the hill. Well, I don't encourage hiking as the journey to reach the hill top is with 45deg steep slopes and they don't facilitate any lamp posts. Oopss, I've forgotten... this place is called 'Bukit Genting Hill'.

Bukit Genting Leisure Park & Restaurant is located on top of this Bukit Genting Hill and it's opened daily from 1130am till 1030pm. Once stepping out from the car, take a deep breathe of the fresh air and looking to the greenish nature, it's surely and enjoyable moment to be out from the hustle bustle of city life. I really enjoy the air-cooled and cozy ambient of the soft blowing wind while viewing the island and blue sky. What I'm grateful at is, how I've enjoyed the sunset view; seeing how the sky is colored with the orange sunshine.

We're first served with the 'Tomyam Seafood Soup'. The reddish color of the soup is appetizing with the richly ingredients of prawn, squid and fish meat inside. The soup is the thicker type and I think that it is a little bit too sweet instead of sour and spicy. Next is the 'Kerabu Mango' that has surprised us of it's simplicity. This dish is purely mango, onion, cili padi and some fried shrimps, with the lime sauce as seasoning. The mango is little bit too 'old' whereby it has lost the crunchiness and its natural sourness.

Then, we've ordered the famous 'Fried Kangkong', 'Pandan Chicken' and the 'Fried Fishcake'. The Kangkong leaves are fried till golden color and it's a must try dish that is not to be missed for its crispiness. This dish is garnished with some dried shrimps and the addition of cili padi and chopped onions have helped to reduce the oily taste of the fried Kangkong. The 'Pandan Chicken' is a dish whereby the chicken meat is being wrapped with the pandan leaves, into a triangle shape before frying. The chicken meat is preserved with some special herbs and it's absorbing the aroma of the pandan leaves, resulting with the just-to-taste and tender chicken in the mouth. The chicken is wrapped nicely whereby the juiciness is still locked inside the meat itself. Talking about the 'Fried Fishcake', it's just like the fried 'otak-otak'. The blended fish meat has been mixed with various herbs and being flatten before the frying pan. Dip the fishcake into the homemade sauce that is spicy, sweet yet sour; releasing the special aroma of the herbs on every single bites. We're recommended with the '3-taste Fish', with the appetizing sauce of chopped garlic and onions to enhance the aroma; but too bad to say, they've over-fried the fish that the meat is too hard, losing its juiciness and tenderness.

I've forgotten the name of the dessert, some sort of 'Tab Tib Dam...'? Anyway, it's the mixture of ice with some coconut milk and it's decorated with the colored 'red ruby' and the yellow 'nangka' fruit. Everyone loves most the 'red ruby' for its crunchiness. I hope that the ice can be smoother and the coconut milk is thicker.

The 'Bukit Genting Hill Restaurant' is the same owner as the 'Cherry Blossom Restaurant' in Sg. Ara whereby they're specialising in Thai food. I've never been to the one in Sg. Ara, so I can't draw any comparison here. Overall, the food tastes averagely here, nice to eat but not to highly expect at. However, it's worth to sit here for the natural view and the beautiful scenery...

Edelweiss, does it remind you to 'The Sound of Music'?

'Edelweiss', a white flower that is found high in the Alps. In 'The Sound of Music', the song 'Edelweiss' is sang by the Captain Von Trapp; the defiant statement of Austrian patriotism in the face of pressure to put him into the navy of Nazi Germany.

'Edelweiss' Cafe is located at Armenian Street, the corner house of the old historical building. The decoration inside the restaurant is very traditionally unique; a large round clock on the wall, the metal fan, a big-chained clock tower standing in the middle of the dining area, the lanterns on the ceiling, a wooden dressing table with the black-and-white ancestors' pictures, every marble table is matched with the wooden chairs and at the centre hall, is the wooden bar area with a wide selection of beers or liquors. Here is very quiet and I do enjoy the peaceful ambient.

My starter is a colorful garden salad that consists of red cherry tomatoes, green cucumber, red and green pepper, purple cabbage and it's garnished with the appetizing sweet and sour sauce; I guess it's some sort of Sacha sauce with vinegar? We've never forgotten to ask for the soup of the day; the thick and creamy mushroom soup. The black button mushroom is giving a natural blackish color to the soup itself. Every spoon is rich of the chopped mushroom and every single bites in the mouth is spread with the strong aroma of the wild mushroom. One point of difference, the soup is more starchy and thicker than any restaurants outside whereby it tends to make people feeling fullness. Please share the portion, so you can allocate some space in your stomach for the main course ;)

We've ordered a sausage platter that comes with salad and french fries. The German sausage is almost 8" inch long and it's garnished with chili sauce and some curry powder that has given an Indian-alike influence to this dish. The sausage is solid yet it's tender and the portion is enough to feed my Boyboy and I.

The recommended dessert, I've chosen the famous apple flan with a cup of Madras coffee. A heart-shape is created on the coffee with some chocolate powder. The bitterness of the chocolate powder is neutralizing the sweetness of the milky coffee. Every single slices of the apple is arranged nicely rounded the pie and every bites is crunchy with the just-to-taste sweetness of cream to melt in the mouth. My Boyboy takes the ice-cream, with a strong aroma and mouthful taste of mango's sweetness.

'Edelweiss' as its name; an exquisite place with a cozy environment to spend the day here...

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'7th Village'; a bowl of hot Koey Teow Th'ng, please!

'Boss, a bowl of Koay Teow Th'ng, please...'! Talking about Restaurant Lin, none will ever forget the delicious 'Chit Long Koey Teow Th'ng' there.

'Chit Long' means 7th Village and it's the Chinese name of Restaurant Lin. Why it's called 'Chit Long'? I was there 18years ago, when this famous Koey Teow Th'ng was still located at the Butterworth area called 'Chit Long'. It has started business from a small stall with few wooden doors and chairs into a two-shophouses restaurant nowadays.

Koay Teow Th'ng is the flat-typed rice noodles in clear soup. Alternatively, if you dislike Koey Teow, you can ask for meehoon, yellow noodle or Bee Tai Bak. The specialty of 'Chit Long' is for its soup and the minced pork meat. The soup has a strong pork taste with natural sweetness and the marinated minced pork meat is delicious, with sufficient tenderness when biting in the mouth. I've ordered the new dish Ramen soup that comes with egg, minced pork, sliced pork, fish balls and green vegetable. The portion is little bit too big for my appetite. My Boyboy dislike soupy food, so he has asked for a bowl of dried Koey Teow.
The all-time favourite side orders are the soft and tender steamed chicken and also the fresh vegetable in soya sauce. To those whom like oily fried food, do try out the fried lobak whereby the meat is wrapped inside the tofu sheet and the fried 'Guan Chiang', a type of yam cake roll with the tofu sheet.

In the morning or during the weekends, here will always be packed with customers, for a bowl of delicious Koey Teow Th'ng... Yum Yum!

Coffee Lane... 'Brewed Coffee is Best without Sugar & Milk'!

'A brewed coffee is the best without sugar & milk'... this is the slogan of 'Coffee Lane' where it's famous with 'Kopi Luwak', so-called the most expensive coffee in the whole world. It's also being published in the 'Guang Ming Daily' newspaper dated 17th Jan 10.

What is 'Kopi Luwak'? Shared by my friend, Leong: Kopi Luwak (pronounced ['kopi luak']) or Civet coffee is coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets. The civets eat the berries, but the beans inside pass through their system undigested. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, in the Philippines (where the product is called Motit Coffee in the Cordillera, or Kape Alamid in Tagalog areas) and in East Timor (locally called kafé-laku). Local lore in Vietnam has given the name "weasel coffee" to civet coffee, in what is considered the closest recognizable translation to English.

'Coffee Lane' is located opposite the Esplanade field, the shop row behind the Great Eastern Insurance company, nearby the Sire Museum. It's the old-style building at the corner lot with gold-painted wooden doors and windows; also a big plaque with the words '咖啡坊' that means 'Coffee Lane', a place for coffee.
Walking into 'Coffee Lane', my 1st impression is traditional. The home-liked ambient is comfortable and warm, it's nice to relax down for a peaceful coffee time. Let's talk about the specialty of the famous syphon brewed coffee... There are 3 main steps to complete the coffee brewing. Picture from left; firstly, the coffee seeds are blended in the coffee machine. Secondly, the grounded coffee powder is poured into the glass container. Meantime, the water is pre-boiled in the glass-bulb. Thirdly, the container part with the coffee powder is linked on top of the glass-bulb stand that is with the boiling water, letting the vaporization process to take place and condensing into the coffee. Here comes my cup of brewed coffee, with a pure and nice aroma.

My Boyboy has asked for a cold coffee-based drink; the mixture of ice-cream with coffee. The coffee naturalizes the sweetness of vanilla ice-cream, leaving a cold smoothies to melt inside the mouth. Besides, we've ordered a homemade butter cake that is freshly made by the shop owner's mom and it's without preservative. The butter cake is very moist, doesn't taste as great as any well-known bakery but every bites is the warm homely feel.

If you wish to have a closer feel to the nature, you can choose to sit at the opened area whereby the corner is reserved with few rotten chairs and grew with some green plants; to indulge yourself in a peaceful and cool environment.

If you're a serious coffee lover and wish to hand-on coffee brewing at home, you can choose to buy the coffee tools and beans here. The shop owner will teach you on how to use each coffee tools to brew your coffee.

Do drop by 'Coffee Lane' to enjoy a nice cup of real coffee...

Location Map