Fairwood Cafe - Chinese Traditional Herbal Soup

Fairwood Cafe serves primarily traditional Chinese herbal soup. It is probably the only one in Penang with its signature Chinese herbal soup served in a traditional claypot.

What is more unique about the cafe is the two "giant" pots placed right next to the entrance to the cafe. The pots are used to heat up the soup and keep them steaming hot.

We ordered one pot of the Chicken with American Ginseng and Cordyseps soup. The soup was cooked well to taste.

We also ordered the Pork Ribs with Yam, served also in a claypot to go with rice. I liked the fact that the yam was still crunchy and not overly cooked. The dish was a little spicy, just the way I liked it.

The total bill was ~RM32 for two (including drinks and a plate of stir fried bitter gourd from the economy rice section). They also serve economy rice with limited dishes only since their specialty is the herbal soup.

Cafe interior

Fairwood Cafe
302F-1, Jalan Dato Ismail Hashim Sungai Ara
11900 Bayan Lepas Penang
Contact: Robin Lim (Manager)
012-4815227 / 012-4119399

OXO Cafelab

OXO Cafelab is a new restaurant just opened on 9 March at Persiaran Bayan Indah, next to Queensbay mall.

P/S: The photos were taken with my phone camera so they do not really do justice to the nice decor in the restaurant

They were already enjoying brisk business probably due to their opening promotion.

They have quite an elaborate menu with a fusion of Western and Oriental dishes.

They serve set lunch and set dinner which come with orange cordial, salad or soup (with bread of the day), ice cream and desserts.

Mushroom Soup

The mushroom soup was a dissapointment as it was very starchy and lumpy with no mushrooms in sight. They have also forgotten about the bread and did not serve with the soup.

Deep Fried Fish with Potato of the Day, Summer Vegetables and Homemade Tartar Sauce (RM11.60 per set lunch).

We ordered the Grilled Fish with Emperor Prawns as main from the Set Lunch menu but instead were served with Deep Fried Fish with Potato of the Day, Summer Vegetables and Homemade Tartar Sauce (RM11.60). We didn't even attempt to ask for a change as it will probably take another 30 minutes (we waited for 30 minutes before our food was served). The deep fried fish was okay but we probably would have appreciated grilled fish more.

Ice Cream & Desserts

Desserts were two choc chip cookies and a small slice of cheese cake.

Healthy Steam Set

They have two types of Healthy Steam Set. The sets come with a variety of herbal soup that you can choose from.
Set A Main: Tofu / Egg / Vegetables / Beancurd (RM11.60)
Set B Main: Chicken / Fish / Prawn / Beef (RM15.20)

I took Set B with chicken since that was the only main they have that day for that set. I expected the chicken to be steamed since this is a "healthy" set but the bite-size chicken pieces were deep fried.

The set also comes with white rice with steamed minced pork with mushroom and salted fish, stir fried vegetables and orange cordial. The steamed minced pork and herbal soup were good.

Double Marinate Chicken Piccata (RM15.90 ala carte)

The contemporary and nice decor were dampened by the chaotic crew and kitchen. The wrong orders and long wait didn't help either. This is probably expected of a new restaurant but the restaurant may want to buck up soon or their new customers will leave dissapointed.

They currently have an opening promotion of 15% discount for their set lunch and set dinner. Enquire within for details.

OXO Cafelab
Block G-32, Persiaran Bayan Indah
Bayan Lepas, 11900 Penang
Tel: 04-6466881
Web: http://www.oxo.com.my/

Set Lunch (12 to 3 pm) Set Dinner (6 - 9 pm)

Opens 8 am to 1 am