Sesame + Soy - a hot new dining concept at G Hotel

Sesame + Soy, G Hotel's Pan Asian Chinese Cuisine restaurant offers dining experience like no other in Penang. As a start, it is already unusual to find two complimentary yet different dining ambiance in one space.

As you walk into the restaurant, you will be greeted first by Soy, a modern Asian bistro of sort, which is the more casual of the two. Soy offers fusion contemporary Asian cuisine that are also moderately priced. Soy is famous for its value-for-money Business Set Lunch where you select any two dishes with your choice of steamed or fried rice, soup and dessert of the day at only RM30++ per person.

Sesame is the perfect epitome of Chinese fine dining, a rare find in Penang. Don’t be surprised if Sesame if not your traditional Chinese restaurant. Sesame prides itself in its Pan Asian Chinese Cuisine with a fusion of contemporary Chinese cuisine from across the region and classic Chinese dishes.

The soft ambient lighting and plush setting makes Sesame a favourite for private dinner party, wedding party or corporate group dining. The restaurant offers attractively priced set menus ranging from Rm58++ per person to RM138++ per person.

Soy is opened from 12:00 pm to 2:30 pm for lunch while Sesame is open from 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm for dinner.

Sesame + Soy has graciously invited us for a food tasting session with a few other food bloggers. The following are the fine dishes crafted by Chef Chiam in the menu. Chef Chiam is very particular about plating and decoration. The dishes are not just tasty but they are also very pleasing to the eyes.

We started off with the appetizer which is a combination of fruit tart, fresh scallop skewer with baked mashed sweet potato. I especially liked the concoction of smoked duck breast, mango and roe with rasberry dressing in the fruit tart.

Sesame's Treasure Combination - with smoked duck breast, fruit tart with rasberry dressing and fresh scallop skewer with baked mashed sweet potato

We were then presented with a Superior Broth ala Western with Seafood Dumpling. The broth is made of pumpkin while the seafood parcel is full of treasures like crab and sea cucumber.

Braised Golden Superior Broth with Seafood Dumpling

The pan seared chicken was crispy and yet tender, served with a traditional "Xi Shi" sauce.

Pan-seared Chicken with "Xi Shi" Sauce and Asparagus in Cream Sauce with Baby Carrot and Edible Flower

Wok Fried Diced Salmon with Brown Bean Sauce with Crispy Corn Cake

Grilled Blue River Prawn in Korean Spice accompanied by Marmite Sauce



Crunchy Jack Fruit Kataifi Roll with Honey and Chinese Herbal Jelly with Jamoca Almond Fudge Ice Cream

The dessert was a creative twist with the sweet jack fruit roll and ice cream and the slightly tart and bitter herbal jelly.

Pink Perfection

Watermelon Pudina

Chef Chiam passionately sharing the fine details he puts into his dishes

Elegant dining

Private room

If you have a change from the Penang Chinese dining scene and you want to pamper yourself with fine Chinese cuisine in a luxury cum trendy setting, then Sesame + Soy is definitely worth a try.

Sesame + Soy

G Hotel

168A Persiaran Gurney 10250 Penang

Tel: +604 238 0000

Website: www.ghotel.com.my

Suffolk House Restaurant

The Suffolk House

The recently restored Suffolk House has opened its doors to public after much anticipation. For those who do not know, the grand mansion Suffolk House was built on the Suffolk estate owned by the late Captain Francis Light, along the Air Itam river. In its hey days, the Suffolk House was once the home for early governors and the venue for many social and official events. Please check out the Penang Heritage Trust site for more history of the Suffolk House.

The house is now also home to the Suffolk House restaurant, which is under the same establishment as some of the finest restaurants and food joints in Penang i.e. Thirty Two at The Mansion, Beach Blanket Babylon and Bagan.

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The Suffolk House Restaurant

Private Room

Open Air Verandah for Pre-Dinner or After Dinner Drinks

I think we have been to Suffolk House four times now since its opening and the most recent one was to celebrate my birthday with the family.

Suffolk House only serves course lunch or dinner. The set lunch comprises of soup or salad, main, dessert and coffee or tea. The set dinner is more elaborate.

Baby schrimps, kyuri cucumber, mixed nuts and mini shell pasta with Asian pesto dressing

Curried parsnip & apple soup with scallion, almond flakes and fresh cream

Chargrilled cajun spiced chicken with parmesan cheese glaze, roasted chunky potato and buttered snow pea

Chef's dessert selection of the day

They ran out of salmon so most of us ended up ordering the chicken as our main. The chicken was surprisingly tender and thus was a good choice after all.

This is a somewhat short post which doesn't quite do justice to the place. Watch out for future posts on our other visits to Suffolk House here.

Suffolk House

250, Jalan Air Itam, 10460 Penang (next to the Malaysian-German Society)

Tel: +6 (04) 228 3930 (restaurant)

Website: http://www.suffolkhouse.com.my/

Chin's Stylish Chinese Cuisine

Grand entrance

We found Chin’s Stylish Chinese Cuisine from My Food My Love’s post. I immediately called to make a booking for the two of us to celebrate the birthday of yours truly. :)

Before we went, we had one reservation about the place and that is the parking issue. Our fear was confirmed when we were asked by a “jaga kereta” or parking attendant to pay RM5 for parking at an MPPP lot by the road side opposite QE2 (at close to 9pm). We had to fork out the sum requested for fear that he will induce harm on our car, or worse still, on us. :(

They have a few set menus to choose from ranging from RM88++ per pax to RM218++ per pax. Sam Chin (the restaurant owner Dave Chin's son) was patient with us and actually recommended the set for us (RM88++ per pax) and explained each and every dish on the set menu.

Chic and stylish decor

The décor is chic and stylish just as the restaurant name suggests. I absolutely loved the large framed paintings hung on the ceiling and ambient lighting from the grand chandeliers. The view from the restaurant is great and we actually caught a glimpse of the Superstar Pisces (which recently made Penang its home port) as it was leaving the pier for the open sea for its 2D / 1N cruise.

Excellent view from our table

Dave and Sam Chin with famous TVB actor Ron Ng

Waiting area after the grand entrance

Cabinet displaying beautiful hand painted plates

Chin's menu

Love at First Sight tea

Bar

Beautiful chandelier and great ambiance

Hot Appetizers

Heavenly Blessed Joysticks

Sesame Prawns on Toast

Smoked Chicken

Cold Appetizers

Garlic Cucumber

Crystal Bean Noodles (Approximately 1cm wide transparent noodles made of mung beans. The texture was springy and chewy and excellent when served cold)

Delicate Tree Fungus

Century Eggs in Grilled Red Pepper

Cold Appetizers

Specialty – Chin’s Aromatic Crispy Duck.

The aromatic duck (not to be mistaken with Peking Duck) is deep fried and shredded into small strips at the diners’ table. It is served with pancake, cucumber, spring onions and sweet sauce. According to Wikipedia, the crispy aromatic duck was created by the Chinese community in the UK in the latter half of the 20th century and is served by most Chinese restaurants as a signature dish on the menu, thus explains why it is Chin’s specialty.

Beautiful hand painted plate

Main Course

Steamed Frog Leg in Bamboo Tube Pepper

Sauteed Hot & Sour Chinese Cabbage

5-Colour Unpolished Organic Fried Rice

Cumin Mutton Skewers

Spicy Hot Poached Fish (Shui Zhu Yu)

Beef Tenderloin in Hot Stone Oil

Beef tenderloin cooked in hot oil at the table

Dessert

Jasmine Jelly / Sea Coconut / White Fungus

Even though the restaurant was running on full capacity that night, the service was most of the time prompt with just some slight hiccups which was quite excusable. Sam Chin was all apologetic about it so kudos to him for making his customers feel special. :)

Above and over all else, I will definitely recommend this place for a one-of-a-kind Chinese / Cantonese / Szechuan / Fusion dining experience in Penang. I had the opportunity to talk to the man behind this unique establishment, Mr Dave Chin himself and was told that he has tried searching for a restaurant with this concept in some countries in Asia e.g. Singapore but has yet to find one.

The only thing to be prepared for is, just like most Szechuan / Hunan cooking, some of the dishes could be a tad oily for some to palate.

Chin’s is actually not officially open yet and I think is currently only available via advance booking only so please call to book to avoid disappointment.

Check out Helen Ong's post on Chin's here.

Chin’s Stylish Chinese Cuisine
Tanjong City Marina

Church St Pier (Next to QE II)8A Pengkalan Weld

Georgetown, Penang
Tel: 04-2612611 / 012-4716128